Hands on the Ranch

We interviewed our Executive Producer on the creation of the Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch, the new series’ first gamebook, for an inside look on how the story came together.

“For [Shadow Ranch] one of the challenges in the creation process was trying to think of what the tone would be. We decided to create separate stories, individual mysteries that you could go to when you play, like the collectables challenge for example. Each chapter was meant to have its own tone, but like the original books there was an overall larger mystery that makes up the story, and we wanted to turn that classic style into an interactive experience.” – Robert

Thanks Robert, for all of your hard work and taking the time to share your thoughts!

The Mobile Mysteries series focuses on stories where you can choose-your-own-path and interact with how the plot moves and unfolds.  While Shadow Ranch was initially designed to be a book with much more text and far less animation and imagery, more elements were added to make it more game-like. Images, mini-games, and fun extras were added to help bring some of our signature puzzles into the reading experience.  Many of these puzzles let the player engage with the case by find specific clues, or completing a challenge to receive necessary information or reach a new location. The Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries series may not look or feel just like the PC Adventure series many of our fans know and love, but we’re certain you’ll enjoy this game too.  Even with a completely new style with a different tone, you may find that it has an uncanny resemblance to a classic Nancy Drew mystery novel.  Maybe it’s time to head back to the ‘ranch.’

Have you read the story? Compare your reading experience of this new game book with the original yellow hardback and share your thoughts with us. New perspectives with fresh minds are always eye-opening!