Q&A With Ghost!
Hi everyone, it’s your Ghost of Prague! You’ve all heard from the rest of the team by now, and recently I’ve also had the privilege of answering some of your questions. Here they are!
@shannonlane26 • Is Ghost new? If so, welcome!
I’ve been part of the team since March of 2020! I did tech support for my first year or so, so some of you may have actually spoken with me before. I’m glad to finally talk with everyone as myself ⭐
@goobaandjetpack • Why did you choose the name ghost? For the best game ever CUR?
Haha, actually, my goldfish of 7 years is named Ghost. I love him very much.
Our “ofishial” mascot won’t ghost you, unlike Nancy ghosting Ned!
@spralto1394 • How did y’all get started making video games?
I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember, and they’re still a huge part of my life outside of my job. As I grew up, I always loved animation but didn’t have my sights set specifically on games at first. Eventually, I chose to go to school for game art, where I discovered that in addition to animating, I also enjoyed just messing around with Unity in general, and actually managing the projects that I worked on. After graduating, I was employed as a 3D animator and technical animator using Blender and Unity. And now, here I am 🙂
@abbefer • What’s been the most exciting part of production so far?
There’s nothing like seeing something you made show up in a video game, no matter how small it is. It truly never gets old.
@elizmcbr • What’s the dev process been like?
Making games is so, so difficult. I really cannot stress that enough. When you turn on a video game, every single thing you see – from the sound your mouse makes when you drag it over a menu button to the areas where you can and can’t walk – was created or built by somebody. What happens if you try to do something a little earlier than the storyline expects? Are you able to do that, or not? If yes, how does that affect the story down the line? Someone had to think it through.
On the other hand though, it’s insanely rewarding. It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to work through all the tiny details of a game, but once all of that work is done, an experience like this next Nancy Drew mystery is ready to be shared with you!
As we continue to develop games, we’re exploring new ways to add to the features and experiences of the gameplay, as well as making our system as efficient as possible to help speed up development time and bring you more mysteries, faster.
In this scenario board, you can see a visual layout of all the paths you can take in one section of the game!
@kate.face • did HER consider fan feedback from the last game during dev for this one? So excited!!
Absolutely. Feedback from MID was critical in building many of the functions for the latest game.
@katherinehdolan • Any plans to reprogram older games so they can be digitally downloaded/played?
We’d love to do this, but it comes with a lot of difficulties. The biggest hurdle is that all of the older games were made on a proprietary engine, meaning that unfortunately none of the programming or art can be transferred to modern game engines. Basically, re-releasing an older game is exactly the same for us as making a brand-new mystery. This is the reason that we moved to a modern engine. In the future, we won’t find ourselves unable to keep up with modern gaming technology.
@nancy_drew5219 • Is the game play gonna be smooth and not laggy like midnight in Salem
The new game will be compatible with 64-bit MacOS operating systems. However, it is a 3D game, so you will need to make sure that your computer meets the requirements needed to play the game smoothly, or you may run into some graphical or gameplay issues.
@juless.osco • is the interface/navigation going to be the same as midnight in salem?
We have a brand new set of navigation controls in this game!
@emiliiss • Favorite type of puzzle?
My favorites are logic grid puzzles and any kind of word puzzle!
@amdavidovich • Who’s your favorite character?
Ned 
A “phantastic” time on video chat with our talented voice of Ned, Scott!
@kalex814 • Favorite second chance?
I’ll never forget that falling pot in phantom of Venice. I hadn’t had much experience with second chances yet, and I think it killed me like 3 times in a row 
@saffyl • What other video games do you guys like
Subnautica is one of my favorite games of all time. I played it all the way from when it was released in early access up until they released the second game, and even after. For my fellow underwater video game enthusiasts, I highly recommend it!!
@dicegoblinhoard • What was your first encounter with Nancy Drew?
I read some of the books in elementary school. I tragically never heard about the games back then, though. I missed out!!
@bullard_child_3 • What types of non-coding positions are available in a game company?
There are LOADS of things to do related to games. You can combine art and programming to create awesome VFX and textures. You could also rig characters, specialize in body or facial animation, design game mechanics like combat or crafting, be a story writer, lead or participate in QA, design game maps or handle open world design, build environments, create logic map layouts, marketing, create the camera work in cutscenes, design characters… if you are interested, I’m sure you’ll find something that lends itself to you!
Thanks again! Stay tuned for more ghostly content this October 
— Ghost
