Mysteries and Their Causes
August 19th, 2019
I was recently pondering all the past Nancy Drew mysteries that our favorite detective has solved. Without giving away any spoilers and pointing out which games are which, I made a list of all the real causes for these mysteries. When you get to the heart of it, the motives and means are what bring you into solving the creative mystery:
Culprit Motives: (the ‘why’)
- Divert attention away from something shady
- Scaring away people to get something
- Treasure hunting
- Blackmail
- Weaken the competition
- Revenge
- Jealousy
- People manipulation
- To protect something or someone
- To get inaccessible or secret information
- Prevent a demolition
Culprit Means: (how it was done)
- Threats
- Sabotage
- Theft
- ‘Haunting’
- Curse diversion
- Monster scares
- Competition
- Play as a victim getting threats
- Tricks/illusions
- Murder
- Kidnapping
- Impersonating someone
- Forgery
- Arson
What other causes for mystery are there? Keeping in mind that Nancy Drew books and games always have explanation, but the stories and creative draw-ins are infinitely creative (ghosts, for example).
What are your favorite causes for mystery?
-Little Jackalope
Posted in:
Blogs
HMMMMMM…..That’s a toughy, I would say murder, Haunting, secret information, kid napping, I have quite a lot it’s so hard to choose,haha!
What’s your’s LJ?
So glad you have thrown this out there. Hoping this means MID will not contain any truly ‘paranormal’ activity but will rather contain plausible explanations. Rumors on the Message Boards have eluded to hope for this and I personally would be disappointed if HER went that way.
Back to the main point, revenge is always an interesting motive/cause. So much can go into it and the story can become quite fascinating.
i want to get the disc version, and cannot find your phone number, how will i contact you to preorder it.
Hello Susan! Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem will be ready to pre-order October 1st, 2019. You can pre-order on our web site on the MID page here once the buttons are activated to pre-order. You could also contact us at customerservice@herinteractive.com.
can i have an early shout out for my 23rd bday this friday?
You bet!
Don’t let those messages and rumors get to you I know Her Interactive would never do such a thing they make the games to inspire!
Do what, Jillian?
Well I just saw comment from someone under the name Guest worrying about rumors about the new game on the message boards that’s all so I was trying help her that’s all Emerald!
It’s nothing really Emerald don’t worry about it! Are you excited for Mid to finally come out? I am!
I think Guest is worried about changes in the game but I’m sure nothing else won’t.
I am wondering if the reason you had a big delay is to make the stock character models in the new game engine.
Hello Anna, the reason for the game delay is because we switched engines. We pretty much started from scratch in the new engine: new user interface, new design, new art, new characters, new puzzles, new navigation, etc.
Yes, I am.
There is also:
Assault
“Accidents”
Vandalism
Framing
Smuggling
Fraud
Wiretapping
If you want ideas for more mystery-lists, consider:
Languages or instruments Nancy learns
Historical figures (real and fictional) or historical eras
Science and technology Nancy interfaces with
Creatures that haunt
Compilation of the same sort of death (falling object, explosion, kicked out, forgot basic safety, etc.)
Currencies
Games within a game
Maps used to get around
Beds Nancy has had
Secret passageways
How Nancy gets involved in a case (possibly including a sublist of vacations Nancy never got to properly enjoy)
This is excellent, thank you!
There’s one game I can think of where the means was “haunting”, but it was difficult to work out the motive. When the culprit was revealed, I couldn’t understand why they were labelled a culprit and what their motive was. Sorry I’m being evasive, I don’t want to give away any details.
Hello Claire! Feel free to email us at feedback@herinteractive.com with your question – we’d be happy to answer! Also, feel free to head over to our message boards and find the correct forum to pose your question where you can talk about spoilers. (Where players have finished the game.) Fellow fans can answer and explain as well. 😉
To piggyback on Iglookat’s comment, nice list BTW, I was thinking of
-sequels to games, like one where we meet SPIED or one with Sonny’s grandfather thing explained
-more interational ones, i was thinking Africa, Middle East, Australia
-subtle world crisis acknowledgement like pollution (HUGE emphasis on subtle so it still stays mysteery)
-something with animals knowledge?
I like these ideas, Jules! Thanks for sharing! Maybe our future games will be like one of these. We’ll see!