Merry Christmas, 2012!!

So apparently today was scheduled to be the end of life as we know it, but as long as I'm still breathing, I shall write to you all!

The team here wishes you all happy holidays!

We will be out of the office all week next week to celebrate Christmas, including Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 for the New Year. But...our customer service or tech support (and I) will be here Dec. 26th, 27th and 28th If you really need some assistance.

It's the season of spending time with friends and loved ones, and Nancy would likely be preparing some gifts for her dad, Carson, and favorite motherly housekeeper, Hannah, along with spending quality time with her best friends. That's what I will be doing as well! (And in my spare time, playing though a few Nancy Drew games to find some fun quotes to share in the future. (~.^)

Check this out! Our cover artist designer sent us this magnificent gift basket or treats! (This is an example of when people bring us cookies...there are at least 2-3 different cookies in here...yum). And since it came late in the day, most people here have left the office....MORE COOKIES FOR ME!! Mwahaha...I mean....it's the season for giving...making I will share some with *looks around* oh hey! Scott and Jayme and Josh are around...I'll clue them in.

 

No weekend puzzle this time, but I do have one challenge for you: re-play your favorite Nancy Drew game, or play a new one over your holiday break. ;)


See you later! And Merry Christmas!!
~Little Jackalope~

Her Interactive Christmas Video!!

Grr, yesterday's post was set to a delay...It's up now.

Hooray! We posted a new Christmas greeting video to our YouTube Channel today! After a week and a half of planning, organizing, writing, filming, editing, and graphic creating, the entire Her Interactive team finished putting this awesome video together! My original plan was to send you something really cool and secretive, but apparently somebody stepped in to change it up a bit. ;)

Thanks to everyone on the Her Interactive team for participating, and especially to Nik, our Writer, who wrote this script out and helped direct Megan and I. Thanks to our prod team including Rob who provided some sound effects, and to Megan and Jared for there impeccable critique.

Merry Christmas from Her Interactive!

Oh, and Happy belated 14th Birthday to Lydia!

~Little Jackalope~

Her Interactive Logos

I was digging around our archives and graphics folders the other day and came across our old logos. Our name has gone through different designs since the beginning, check them out:


I like to look at these and reminisce of the older days when we had the teal and gold website, although the pink looks much more professional and updated, I think.

We have a very nice sign featuring our old logo (we've had this for years) on the wall when you reach the top of the stairs to our office (yep, we take up the entire second floor). It's a nice welcome to our visitors. :)


~Little Jackalope~

Office Christmas Potluck!

Sorry everyone! I was out sick yesterday and therefore missed Monday's post since I wasn't in the office. :( That means we have a lot to catch up on! First things first: the weekend puzzle was a rather easy one. Just find all of the letters that were bold and underlined in the last post and you will learn this: [Christmas Greeting Video.] That's right! We have a silly video that is involving most everyone in the office. :P Stay tuned and subscribe to our YouTube Channel where it will be posted soon!

Second thing: There is a new poll to the right, and this one is multiple choice and will last until the end of the month. We want to hear your opinion! If there is something that was missing on the selection list, share your thoughts on the post we have on Facebook, or write a comment to the blog here.

Thirdly, we here in Washington had our first snowfall overnight. It was only a couple of inches, and not very cold out, so it melted before I even came into the office...sorry, no picture worthy for the blog on this! (Oh, and Jayme, one of our artists, spotted a raccoon outside, but since it was too far away, I wasn't able to snap a photo of it, either.)

What I was able to snap a photo of was today's company Christmas potluck and white elephant gift exchange. Here lies the feast, which will pose long enough for the camera, unlike raccoons and melting snow...

In the gift exchange (which is most like a game where we select random gifts to open from the large pile of colorful wrappings) I received a very interesting thing! It looks to be a fun science-y fish tank kit to grow your own Tripos, or prehistoric sea monsters).

o.O

It is very difficult to explain, but perhaps I can show you later when they successfully grow after a four-weeks' time. If I can actually make them live that long... XD

Also, an answer to LadyLinda's post on the Message Boards: Yes, those were all filled with Lickie Loo Lollipops. ;)

Weekend Puzzle #178

It's Friday, and the second-to-last weekend to go Christmas shopping! Of course, there is also (what I've heard as the smart way) online shopping, where the hassle is taken away and all that's left is to receive it (and some instances wrap the gifts yourself). As for me, I will be making a few things to give as gifts. Note to self: Make some food for the company potluck and gift exchange this next Tuesday...!!! (Yay!!) Wow, I just realized that I like parenthesis and brackets and things in my typing...

Stuffed envelopes going out today from the Her Interactive office:

We are also up to a little mischief, which has taken at least three days so far and required a lot of hard work and time from our Writer. Mwahaha.

Have a great weekend!
~Little Jackalope~

Secret Behind the Clock's Secret

Sounds like a few of you (especially many of those on the Message Boards) have been pondering the secret behind the cracked clock face on the cover of Secret of the Old Clock. If you have never noticed until now: the Roman Numerals skip the number 9 and add on the number 13. Very peculiar since there is no 13th hour on a standard analog clocks...

The reason behind this? It was just for fun. We play with cover art and make it artistically beautiful and intriguing, and there is no real reasoning behind the 13th number. It's only mysterious. :)

Hey howdy hey!! We have another Facebook Caption Contest! This picture features Mason and Ryan from The Deadly Device. Head over to post your funny or creative caption of what they are saying to each other (yes, you have to have a Facebook account to do this, but you do not need an account to simply view all of the great entries so far.)

Extra behind-the-scenes secret: today our Writer and Designer went to record some phone characters for Ghost of Thornton Hall.
~Little Jackalope~

Lickie Loo Tuesday

Look what we got in today! Yep, everyone who ordered a game last week in the U.S. will get a fun-size package of Lickie Loo Lollipops. The team had a small assembly line to get them ready to send to all the lucky recipients.

 

Head's up! Twitter Quote Contest is going on right now, fly over to Twitter to enter for a chance to win a digital guide to Danger on Deception Island!
~Little Jackalope~

No Monday Post? Whyever not?!

So I completely missed yesterday's post...and therefore I must explain myself (because the truth must be revealed!)
I forgot, but for this very important reason: We have been working hard on getting a special new merchandise item up (actually it's secretly been up since Friday, but we didn't say anything until today.) We are sneaky like that; I'm surprised no one noticed this new addition over the weekend: Key Chains!!!

Yep! The dream is now living! You can get double-sided key chains in our merchandise store. There are six different shapes: Megaphone, Football, Heart, Rectangle, Square, and Round. We hope to get more images up, but at the moment they are mostly all game cover artwork you can choose from, as well as this Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake Jr. Park Ranger Key Chain!! (*Insert Jackalope screams here*). Oh, I am so definitely getting one of these for myself! But I won't until I can decide what is to go on the reverse side....*sigh* Oh dear, decisions, decisions. :P

Not to worry! I didn't forget about the weekend puzzle! Here's how this Nonogram (puzzle featured in Shadow at the Water's Edge a few gazillion times). I love this type of puzzle. Can you see what I see? Spoiler: [A mask].

Head's up! New poll on your right! What is on your wish list for Christmas? :)
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #177

Head's up! There are only a few Lickie Loo lollipops left for those who order a game before the end of Sunday!

To continue with our bug episode from yesterday, I'd thought to mention that a large wasp found its way into our office today, and was buzzing around the light above my head. Since I'm rather short, I had no way of reaching it, and since it doesn't scare me as much as spiders....I left it alone. It's gone now...no idea where to, but at least the buzzing has stopped!

This weekend's puzzle is just for your entertainment. However, it does relate to the next Nancy Drew Game: (Click the image for a larger view).

~Little Jackalope~

Attacks in the Office

That's right. A few us were *attacked* by the presence of a bug. Not really, but it seemed like it was out to get us. A flying, long brown beetle the length of half a finger flew in and scarred three of us today. It happened so fast that I did not have a moment to take a picture. A sales team member jumped up when it flew at her and another member armed herself with the best weapon around: cleaning spray! She drew her weapon, and took aim, bringing the ruthless beetle to the desktop, where I quickly scooped it up, now a clean bug, and let it outside. We don't know if it is alive or not, but the important thing is that he is not in here. XD

Kind of reminds me of this guy:

:P
~Little Jackalope~

Classic Guides

One of our long-kept secrets is that we had half-created information and pictures ready to put together strategy guides for The Final Scene and Message in a Haunted Mansion. o.O These have been in our office for some time, but that is all I will share with you. We have other secrets that we keep as well...

Today (yes, today exactly) they have become available for digital download purchase! Yay! For those of you who have never ordered a digital guide, here is a great tip about these: When you are in a game, say for example Tomb of the Lost Queen, and you need a little guidance how to solve a puzzle (like the amulet sorting in the tent), you can hit the Windows button on your keyboard, which pauses your game right where you are, so that you can take a look at the guide page, then click on the game at the toolbar at the bottom of your screen to get right back to the part of the game you left off at.

I have done this before, and it is super easier to use than the physical guide. *Special note: all newer games' guides are in color!

Head's up! Twitter Quote Contest is going on today! Head over to participate for a chance to win a digital guide to Shadow at the Water's Edge!
~Little Jackalope~

Picture: Caught in the Moment

Ok, so someone happened to take my picture while I was, *ehem*, very focused on working. I was NOT very focused on the lollipop that I was enjoying. I think the important message here was that I was not goofing off, but in fact working. The lollipop was not distracting me (nope!), and therefore it cannot be blamed for finding its way into my hand...

Ok, I confess! (>.<) I took an extra cherry Lickie Loo lollipop!! The secret stash has been invaded from the office! Don't worry, though, I made sure there were at least 999 left.

Just kidding.
I took from the samples stash, not the 1,000 going out to the fans who place a game order this week. I wonder if they'll notice if I took a grape one, to...

Head's up! New poll question to your right! -->
Also,

~Little Jackalope~

Lickie Loo Monday

Let's solve the weekend puzzle so I can explain our secrecy over the past few weeks...Here's how you solve it:

1. Re-arrange the images in order (the first part of each number is their placement/position on this chart).
2. Identify the game the image belongs to.
3. Count the letters of that game title to get a single letter.

Here's the solution (click the image for a larger view):

And here's the answer you should get: [Lickie Loo Monday], which is the highlight of today!

That's right! Lickie Loos are here for a short time and only for those who order a game this week by the 9th, and if you are among the first 1,000 orders placed. (For more information on this, click here. To shop for a game and place an order, click here.)

And to answer a few questions in the comments: these flavors are what I have been taste-testing, 'cause only two are in the pack, not 10,000 like the box in Trail of the Twister has to offer. That would be crazy, taste-testing 10,000 different flavors.... XD

Another thing: We will not stop making Nancy Drew games at #30; we hope to make #40 and #50 and even more in the future! So no worries, we currently have no plans (or fears) of stopping the making of Nancy Drew games. ;)

~Little Jackalope~