MID ranked so low? But they came up with the genius idea of having two different keys in the inventory represented by the same “key” logo! That DEFINITELY didn’t cause unnecessary confusion during gameplay that could’ve been resolved by just showing images of the two keys!
I like how the modern UI has everything easily visible by default now, but the Nancy's Desk era will always be my favorite! Maybe it is just the nostalgia (since I was introduced to ND in the CRY-RAN era), but looking at Nancy's scrapbook and souvenirs has a special charm to it. I also love having the save/load/settings right there, instead of having to navigate through a menu. The minimalist containers with detailed icons has a very 2000s charm as well! The other 3 "main" UIs are really hard to choose from... I like the "blue box" and modern styles' items, the UIs from the second and onward actually having a journal and tasklist, the sort of regal feeling of the blue and red elements, and the sometimes multipurpose use of the little ND in the corner of the first one.
personally, I love the second ui the most, this stack of burgundy books is imprinted in my mind. also, I've just recently found out, that ND games were marketed as educational, for some reason I'd never heard of this before! maybe, you would like to make a video about which ND games are the most educational and/or factually correct ones?
I'll always prefer the first two UI designs. However, one thing I really liked about the UI in ICE was the fact that it allowed me to multitask and open the inventory, journal, and tasklist during phone conversations. I'll never understand why they removed that functionality in the very next game. 😕
The renaissance UI is the most nostalgic for me because I almost played the renaissance games the most as a kid. Actually one of my favorite games if not my top game was Haunting of Castle Malloy, because I played the games as a kid to feel like I was in the places Nancy went. There are many other mystery game franchises, but ND games do atmosphere so well and I loved it. Castle Malloy makes you feel like you're on a dark foggy moor at night, and the stars through the castle wall with the moon and the torn flag waving in the wind is one of the most beautiful screens in any game. Waverly makes you feel like you're at school in the fall, and it makes you feel studious and hard working. Icicle Creek made you feel like you're traipsing around in the snow in Canada. All the games do atmosphere so well, but the renaissance just does something distinctly different that I love so much!
To start, I didn’t realize had so many thoughts on UI before I watched this video. In the poll I voted for the renaissance era UI which I do really enjoy but thinking about it I remember really liking the UI in Tomb of the Lost Queen and it was the first time I really noticed it. I miss Nancy’s desk and her intro from the renaissance which makes it hard for me to choose but in terms of actual game play I do really like the modern era quite a lot. The title screen was really the only thing that was a bummer although the art was always gorgeous.
Yeah and even based on technical advancements it’s the smoothest of all in my opinion. I would have been very happy if they had kept this interface longer.
What would’ve been super cool was if instead of a static image, there were elements that moved. Like imagine the ship in Sea of Darkness rocking in the waves. ❤️
UI Design is a fascinating aspect of video game production. How do you present game information in an effective and interesting way? There’s a fascinating playlist on the subject called “Good Design, Bad Design” from Design Docs, analyzing the pros and cons of various game UIs. Love the video as always WK!
Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake had the PDA item for notes so the first UI did have a clunky version of notes. My big problem with the switch in Tomb of the Lost Queen was how the Junior and Senior Detective modes were changed. I switched to junior from that point onward because no phone hints from friends was not ideal. No task list and less hints is what I like, not task list but phone friends are no help. We don't talk about Midnight in Salem.
i'll always love the second one the most, mainly because of the task list and journal being actually on paper. I am on board with everyone who likes bits and pieces from all though and wish they could combine into one ideal UI! I will give MID points for having the most readable speech boxes/bubbles, maybe the only thing they did better with the UI compared to previous iterations lol
WK: "I was willing to try something new for a more modern, sleek look." In what way was it more modern, other than that it was different and more recent? If we're not careful, this can become a circular argument. ("I like the new look because it's modern, and it's modern because it's new.") What people liked about the Nancy's Desk UI was the idea of Nancy having a set base of operations. She might not return to it at the end, but she always started there, rather than just being dumped unceremoniously into a case out of the blue. Adding The Task List was a definite improvement, as was adding the phone games that you could fiddle around with while trying to think what to do next. The Awards at the end gave you other things to do besides just winning the game. Of course Interface 4 had most of those things too, but it didn't have the set base of operations feel, or the scrapbook (Why they'd eliminate a free advertisement for the earlier games, I can't imagine). Interface 4 didn't make you feel this was part of a larger series as much as Interface 3 did. What you call the Nancy's Desk look, I always called The Windows Vista look, as I just assumed that the translucent Windows were consciously based on the look of Windows Vista and Windows Seven. (And Icicle Creek came out less than a year after Vista was released, so it seemed clear what they were imitating). I assumed the interface was abandoned, not because it wasn't modern enough, but because a whole new design team came in that wanted to put their own imprint on the games, whether it was an improvement or not. Notice that when the new team came in, they did one last game more or less the old way (Alibi in Ashes, which does have the desk, but looks very different with the sunlight streaming in, and the good view of the back yard), then scrapped it in favor of their own design. Now, one change that really was done to be more "Modern" was changing the "Nancy in Long Skirt" silhouette to "Nancy in Short Skirt" silhouette, which debuted in... Kapu Cave, was it? The stack of books was gone long before Tomb of the Lost Queen, probably right after Kapu Cave, so we can't blame that one on Interface 4. I still hate the word "nostalgia" that gets overused up in a lot of people's videos, as it usually means either nothing at all, or means "inertia". Probably the worst change of all was the total loss of the main theme. They should have kept that as the closing theme, at least, rather than having a different closer every game. The best changes were adding the full Task List (in Shadow Ranch?), and adding the option (in Thornton Hall) to cut conversations short rather than having to listen to them in full every time. Also, adding a camera option in Nancy's phone, so you could just take pictures of evidence you wanted to remember, rather than having to write it down or just remember it. One improvement in Interface 4 was letting you see what the Awards were before the game was over, so you could actually try to get them on the first playthrough. Not part of the interface, exactly, but I was sorry when they got rid of the Nancy Drew Central program, that let you access all the games from one spot. It wasn't strictly needed, and I guess they got tired of updating it, but it was kind of nice. It also nagged you to buy the games you didn't have, so they wouldn't be greyed out in the list.
Something I hadn't noticed until today. Games 16-23 have the same view through the window by Nancy's desk: leaves pressed right up against the window in two panels, so you can't see out, and an off-kilter view of the house across the street in the 3rd window. For Captive Curse, it's basically the same, but with frost on all three windows, so you can barely see out at all (but from what you can tell it's the same view). Then Alibi has the streaming sunlight and a clear view out out of all three windows. Not sure why Captive Curse was different, the game didn't seem to take place in winter. Maybe it was that team's way of saying that it was their last game.
For me the second UI must be the best one for me and my favourite games quite exactly fall into its' range. It is clean enough to set the immersive scenes, big enough to be accessible and readable and very obvious to a new player. Introduction of notes was a life-saver for the games since many players cannot sit through the playthrough in one go and have to come back to it a couple of times. The phone may be not much, but it made its' use for example in Shadow Ranch, giving Nancy a lot of useful information from in-game internet and not putting it in not-so-subtle-tutorial dialogues. To summarise, the most important thing in the UI for me is the accessibility of it. It must be obvious, self-contained and readable. And that's what it took for the second UI to win my heart.
I loved the stack of books title screen and the original ND theme song. I even made up a piano version of it. Very nostalgic. That said, I prefer Nancy’s room/desk. It works better and I just love her desk and the stuff on it. I didn’t mind too much when they got rid of the desk-I get it, it’s more modern. And user friendly. But it’s not my favorite.
I wonder if there is a difference between gen z and millennial nancy drew fans favorite intro screen. You brought up that the stack of books is nostalgic for people, but for me the desk is what is nostalgic. Being gen z, My first games were capu cave and white wolf, so it makes sense.
"At the start of the game, Nancy would introduce the game with a spiel many of us could recite verbatim in our sleep" I feel called out 🤣 This was a video I didn't knew I needed but the data was really fascinating to hear. I loved the Nancy's desk intro, I felt like it was unique compared to just a regular start screen, how we got to read a case file and pick up a plane ticket and other relevant stuff like a dictionary. I also thought it was fun how they would change the weather outside the window or make the lightbulb in the lamp burn out. One random thing I liked was when you could finally move the mouse outside the text box during a conversation if you needed to save or pause, I have memories of running through dialogue as quickly as possible if I needed to take a break from the game suddenly. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I disliked when the task list started giving you hints and a solution, and when you could skip through dialogue. I found myself speeding up the game play and not trying as hard on the puzzles since I had the options.
Skipping through dialogue is an option. You don't have to use it at all if you don't like it, in which case it's the same as if it wasn't there. But if you ever want to blitz through a game to find something in the middle, you'll find it makes things much easier.
I have to admit I accidentally hit classic before I read!! But I very much think the renaissance might be the best. But all good points you made for each! I just love Nancy’s desk and the check list upgrade was wonderful
If I had to rank them, I would say: 1) Renaissance Era. Love the desk (charmingly immersive), I like that you can still scroll through an inventory box, you can pause the game during dialog (very important to me), and for being organically integrated into the game visuals, i.e. the semi-sheer (?) text box. Saving your game is also very easy with unlimited saves and longer text boxes, which is helpful to someone like me who likes to leaves a short summary of where I am in the game when I sign off. 2) Modern Era. Hate the bottom line inventory scroll (very impractical) and I miss Nancy's desk, but the menu image + music always makes the game stakes feel more heightened, especially for games like Silent Spy or GTH. 3) Late Classical Era. Great nostalgic charm for the OG Nancy games AND book source material, iconic music, BUT the books and border menu always felt VERY dated to me, even when the oldest games were still coming out. I do like, however, that you get a fuller screen, the inventory box, and (I think) the ability to pause during suspect conversations (again, very important). 4) Original Classical Games. Again, the coloring always felt extremely dated to me, even when I was a kid, and playing them as an adult makes the games feel even older than they actually are. ^-^" I also don't like that saves are very limited (as with the Late Classical Era) and that you cannot stop and save your game during dialog (very impractical if something suddenly comes up, which can make you miss conversation clues). I do like the stack of books a lot though (love the homage to the original novels), iconic music, and pocket watch. I miss when time was more of an element in the games. 5). MID. It's not even modern looking for being the most recent game LOL It's really lacking in charm and artistry, which is a real shame. I really hope we get at least one more good game with a return to the previous format, because I would hate for such a wonderfully fun and challenging game series to finish on such a lame note.
I also dislike the 4th UI from Tomb and onwards. However, my reasoning is slightly different from most people since I'm not a particularly nostalgic person. My issues stem from the fact that the UI became "Industry Standard." You wouldn't know this unless you play tons of PC games, but most HO and adventure games particularly from BigFishgames have the same UI. It will usually open with an exciting scene, then move onto a still shot either from in-game or as an overall representative photograph. They will always have the same options: New game, Profiles, Settings, More Games from X series, and Quit are there. If it's a CE, then it will include a Bonus tab to take you to extras. As for gameplay, it is always walk from screen to screen using arrows, pick up objects with a generic hand icon, and the inventory is a bar that pop-ups from the bottom of the screen. While this is an extremely general overview of the trend, it does lead to that issue. What I described is essentially the ND UI for Tomb. The new design to me felt like HER was trying to conform to industry standards rather than keep what made the series unique, charming, and well-ND. One of the reasons why Nancy's interface is so iconic for UI's 1-3 is BECAUSE they weren't standard. They were original to the game. It's why something as simple as the wheel of inventory style in Puppet show feels unique. It feels like it's a part of the game's charm and mystique. By trying to emulate other games, it made ND feel like it was made by Bigfish, not HER. The artistic designs around it didn't help because that didn't scream ND to me especially when I've similar basic design choices in a 100 other PC games before. It doesn't stand out well in a crowd. My other issue is that well the size is terrible for people like me with glasses. I can still read the font, but it's significantly smaller and more difficult to differentiate. It isn't fun needing to focus more to make sure I'm picking up the right item by reading it's description. Also, as someone who does regularly read the journal, it again doesn't help me if the words are tiny enough that the information feels squished onto a page. I respect that UI 2 was way too big (even I agree to that), but UI 3 did a much better job keeping it big enough to read while also colored so you could read it over any screen. I think that was a much better decision and helped give ND a unique spin. There's almost no game with a literal Save file as a floppy disk/folder. That was a neat touch and I appreciated it a lot more than the more basic style of the 4th UI. Then again, like I said, my opinion differs predominately because I play so many PC games. At this point, the industry standard design is so ingrained that anything close to it is just the same UI to me at this point. I'd also say MID's UI tried to be too much like the Witness and other super Modern games that I'm like "No stop. Be yourself HER please." That's essentially the core of why I don't like post 3 UIs. It felt like HER stopped trying to make Nancy Drew distinct from other companies and games which is a shame (and dumb since its being unique that makes you stand out MORE for new players).
I guess I’m the only one who doesn’t care for Nancy’s desk. Most items are just repetitive each time and I prefer the OG theme song playing instead of awkward silence. However I do prefer the larger game screen and the modern cell phone. I love the newer games where you can change her phone background and whatnot.
I'm lazy; I like seeing everything without having to click to open. Scrolling doesn't bother me. In the original few games, the ONLY time I spent in menus was to save and reload files. In subsequent games, I felt like 'inventory management' was eating up more of my time. I also disliked the clunkiness of reloading your file in the Nancy's Desk era and instead of being greeted with a static title/menu screen and some theme music, being met with Nancy's tutorial monologue starting up and the screen moving to her desk. If they had made reloads jump to the desk with just the ambient noise playing, it would have felt more like a home screen, and less like you're starting a new file every time you load a file. I also hated my screen space being taken up by windows like Nancy's task list. It would have felt less obtrusive to keep it to the dialogue/inventory border. The brown UI is great for functionality but it looks bland. I'm not sure why they'd ditch such a prominent visual cue that this is a *Nancy Drew* game, not just a random mystery point and click. They could easily have stuck with the earlier black and teal theme. As for the title screen, they could have chosen to do something thematically consistent... like featuring a row of books with one showing a cover depicting the current title. Whether your favourite is the original green theme, the green reboot, or Nancy's Desk.. people clearly like iconic, recognizable, familiar images and sounds that are functional. Sometimes you don't have to change EVERYTHING in order to improve on the latter.
One of the worst things in the first interface was the crypto-Awards. End-of-Game Awards actually started in Haunted Carousel. But you'd always get one and exactly one award at the end of the game, whether you earned it or not. But you couldn't even see what the awards were until you earned them. I counted FIFTEEN Awards for Shadow Ranch, but nowhere near that many for any other game. Does that mean there are lots of Awards I've never seen? Or does Shadow Ranch have more awards than the others? Who knows? And with some of the awards, it's either unclear how you got them, or it would be impossible NOT to earn them if you completed the game. Take these, just from Danger by Design: DEBUTANTE DU THE: For taking the time to master the art of good tea making. CHASSEUR DES CAFARDS: For bravery and alacrity in wrangling vermin. GRANDE GOURMANDE: For your overall joie de vivre. FEMME GRENOUILLE: For your love of the water. ELEVE: For your love of the language of love. DETECTIVE SUPERBE: For being the best detective on either side of the Atlantic. Starting with Interface 3, at least you could see all the awards at the end, and have an idea for next time what to shoot for. And starting with Interface 4, you could see them from the start, and whether or not you had earned them yet.
I'm probably alone in this, but I really liked using the blue magnifying glass to turn in the first two games. To me, an all-purpose magnifying glass feels more... immersive, compared to direction arrows.
im torn between the 2nd and nancy's desk being my favorites. The 2nd because i can easily read all the text and see all the items and then nancy desk because nancy's desk is charming and handy even if i have to squint. The 4th Ui is just ugly and mid is ugly and super hard to parse.
I think my vote is for the late classical era. Original classical era is nostalgic for sure, but the UI takes up way too much of the game screen and it just looks old-fashioned and outdated by today's standards. Late classical era retains the iconic book stack menu, theme song, and turquoise color scheme of the original, but takes up less of the screen and just looks sleeker. Renaissance era looks purely functional to me. No charm or style whatsoever. And I've been an ND fan since the original classical era, so Nancy's desk has no nostalgia factor for me. Modern era looks very nice and has a style of its own, but the menu is seriously lacking and underwhelming. The book stack and the original theme were iconic. And MIS UI looks like some unpaid intern slapped it together overnight, so it's hardly surprising it got no votes xD
