a ghost doesn't have to be real to haunt you...

Secrets Can Kill: #1 Secrets Can Kill - of the “Nancy Drew Case Files” series.

Stay Tuned for Danger: #17 Stay Tuned for Danger - of the “Nancy Drew Case Files” series.

Message in a Haunted Mansion: #122 Message in a Haunted Mansion - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Treasure in a Royal Tower: #128 Treasure in a Royal Tower - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

The Final Scene: #38 Final Scene - of the “Nancy Drew Case Files” series.

Secret of the Scarlet Hand: #124 Secret of the Scarlet Hand - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake: 1. #2 Ghost Dogs of Whispering Oaks - of the “Nancy Drew Ghost Stories” Volume 1. & #167 Mystery by Moonlight - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

The Haunted Carousel: #72 The Haunted Carousel - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Danger on Deception Island: #153 Whispers in the Fog - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

The Secret of Shadow Ranch: #5 Secret of Shadow Ranch - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series.

Curse of Blackmoor Manor: #77 The Bluebeard Room - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Secret of the Old clock: #1 Secret of the Old Clock - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series, #2 The Hidden Staircase - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series, #3 The Bungalow Mystery - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series, & #4 Mystery at Lilac Inn - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series.

Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon: #8 Mystery Train - of the “Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Super Mystery” series.

Danger by Design: #30 Death by Design - of the “Nancy Drew Case Files” series.

The Creature of Kapu Cave: #143 Mystery on Maui - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

The White Wolf of Icicle Creek: #164 The Mystery Of The Mother Wolf - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Legend of the Crystal Skull: #81 Mardi Gras Mystery - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

The Phantom of Venice: #78 The Phantom of Venice - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

The Haunting of Castle Malloy: #168 The Bike Tour Mystery - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Ransom of the Seven Ships: #70 The Broken Anchor - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Warnings at Waverly Academy: #158 The Curse of the Black Cat - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Trail of the Twister: #155 The Mystery in Tornado Alley - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Shadow at the Water’s Edge: #12 Tour of Danger - of the “Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Super Mystery” series.

The Captive Curse: #64 The Captive Witness - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series.

Alibi in Ashes: #43 False Impressions - of the “Nancy Drew Case Files” series & #163 The Clues Challenge - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series.

Tomb of the Lost Queen: #25 Secrets of the Nile - of the “Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Super Mystery” series.

The Deadly Device: #165 The Crime Lab Case - of the “Nancy Drew Digest Paperback” series & #22 In and Out of Love - of the “Nancy Drew on Campus” series.

Ghost of Thornton Hall: #10 Uncivil Acts - of the “New! Nancy Drew Girl Detective” series.

The Silent Spy: #41 The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes - of the “Original Nancy Drew Hardcover” series.

The Shattered Medallion: #3 Real Fake - of the “Nancy Drew Girl Detective - Super Mystery” series.

Once you know how to make a good bento box, you’ve pretty much got the whole world all figured out.

- Realistic puzzles like flipping breakers until the lights work or fixing a water pump or soldering in a resistor as opposed to freakin zap up

- Atmosphere

Things I don’t miss:

- Doing the same puzzle over again because the box/room locked itself when you closed it

- The same 20 minutes long cutscene everytime you walk down the long passage

- The goddamn “web browser” on the T9 cellphone

Things I want back/more of:

- Simple tasks; flipping breakers, cooking meals, fixing the motor on the boat

- Day to Night changes with actual changes in game atmosphere; I loved this in DED and STFD

- Snooping; I want to find clues and more misdirections/useless info by being snooping through drawers, offices, filing cabinets

Things I want less of/to eliminate:

- Weird final puzzles that don’t make sense; the final puzzle in SAW makes no sense to me whereas how you stop the villian in MHM makes more sense to me

- Being able to guess the answer to puzzles without doing appropriate sleuthing; prime example is the box puzzle in SCK remastered

In the video game world there is SO much study in the subject of emersion there are books upon books and rules upon rules that game designers have pretty much had beaten into them by this point. 

The short hand, without offering all the terminology and technicality to it, is: “

Every time you introduce a “mini game” of ANY KIND into your “Evocative Space” you are breaking the player’s reality”

.  An Example is Skyrim; when the player is asked to pick a lock, the screen will change and a new set of rules (spoken or unspoken) is laid out to you the player. This breaks your emersion if only briefly. A Nancy Drew example is the floor tile puzzle in MHM.  As a rule game designers try to do LITTLE or as SEAMLESS as possible, especially for very immersive and world based games (

RPGS, MMORPGS, are the most noted examples

). 

It is argued that, creating these mini games among other things, gives the game designers more control with the narrative and over world. This leaves it less likely for the player to get lost, disrupt the narrative or in short “Break” the game. However it does rattle a player and causes them to “unlearn” their current situation and controls. If too much of this emersion is broken the player will not take the world they exist in seriously any more, because they are CONSTANTLY reminded they are simply playing a game, thus leading to loss of emersion, or disruption of what is called your “Intension” and “Consequence”. Intention being: “I bet this is the object I need”. Consequence being: “That worked- The plot is advancing.” - This makes us as players less involved in the game.

EX:  Instead of finding the combination for the lock to access the top of the light house and advance our plot in DDI, we are forced to break reality in SEA and solve an slider puzzle in order to enter a lighthouse and advance. You go from “let me find a combination so I can see what’s up at the top of the light house!” to “Let me just solve this puzzle so I can get on with it and hear these CGI people talk to me more.” 

 It is a delicate balance!!!

Arguably when HER first was making their games, perhaps they did not have the capabilities to create a multitude of what I call (obligatory puzzles). And as time went on, budget got better and programing evolved more and more they kept adding more and more fun mini games in favor of simple point and click logic. But to quote DR. Malcom, 

In short summary the reason MANY of us veteran players feel weird about the newer games and their puzzles is because they are constantly breaking their world’s reality and we NO LONGER take the world we as Nancy live in seriously. There is suddenly no consequence, no real dire need to continue other than to simply advance the plot, no grounding in the world you as the player exist. You are advancing the plot to get to the next puzzle, not solving the puzzle to continue plot.

I hope this helps. For anyone interested in Game design, or in the psychology as we as monkey brains understand and interact with the concept of “Games.” I highly recommend “The Game Design Reader- A Rules of Play Anthology” edited by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, which highlights the work, “Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon” by Johan Huizings. 

Part 1 - Nancy Drew and the Curse of the Pointless Task

Part 2 - Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Realism

Some ASH doodles this time. Thanks everyone for your positive feedback last time I posted art! It gave me a push to start sharing my art more. To be honest, I’m kind of iffy on these doodles (except the Ned one, I like that one haha), but I thought I might as well share anyway.

When she befriends people her nickname for them is just, another name and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.

Also I gave her a medallion