Happy Leap Day!!

How often do we really get to say this? Not often at all! So I shall say it again, Happy Leap-- ah you get the picture.

In honor of Leap Day, we are having a sale via our Facebook page. So head over and click on the "Wall" button underneath the picture of Bess, George and Ned to view our latest post. The offer only lasts until midnight tonight!

Here's a few Leap Day pictures from our office: Frogs and a Lizard (leap, get it? Eh, bad joke...)These little guys have been happily perched atop the microwave for quite some time, just giving anyone the stare down as they place food in the microwave as if to say "I dare you to touch this machine...I just dare you". Or maybe it's just my wild imagination narrating my thoughts every time I look at them.

Anyway, it's Wednesday, and we have swung into the week's groove, focusing in on deep projects...speaking of which, I need to get back to preparations for our Merchandise Store. ;)

*Whisper* Head's up! This upcoming weekend puzzle will be a contest. So stay tuned for Friday! *End of Whisper*
~Little Jackalope~

Something Big! (Like a... Store?)

Ok, I shall finally delve into the Weekend Puzzle's answer. First of all, you need to rotate the squares from left to right, then top to bottom. You might notice that there is a small pattern to rotate the squares: [the starting letter M is correct and right-side up. You need to rotate the second square counter-clockwise once. The third square twice (so it's upside-down) the fourth three times, and then the next one will be right side up. Start the pattern again again you reach the end of the row and then continue this for the bottom row.] Once you get all of the letters right-side up (this is where the second puzzle comes in) you read the letters as you would a [rail fence] cipher.

Your end answer shall be [Merchandise Store Coming Soon]. And we mean it. It might not be similar to the gift shop in The Captive Curse, because well, it will not be a walk-in store, but we are working on getting a few simple things that has some pictures on them. And that's all I will say. Even if you send me cookies I will not give you more information. Weeeeell...

~The CAP gift shop has some cool stuff~

Last notes for today: Congrats to Abby L. for her Facebook Caption "You want to name the next culprit after me?!” Stay tuned for future Caption Contests featuring more fun prizes. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

TMB Release Date Announced!

First off, if you have not yet solved the weekend puzzle (yet still want to all by yourself), here's your hint: L-R and T-B mean [Left to right, top to bottom.] And the "ctr-clk" means [counter-clockwise]. I will post about the answer later. :)

Surprise!! We have just announced (well, a couple of hours ago) the official release date for Tomb of the Lost Queen! It will be in stores on May 8th, Tuesday 2012. Mark your calendars, because we will start taking pre-orders April 3rd. That's all the details we have to offer so far, and we will update you about shipping when the pre-order period gets closer.

In the meantime, if you haven't viewed the preview (as seen at the end of Alibi in Ashes) check it out on our YouTube channel here.

I've been reading all of the amazing comments on the Caption Contest we have on Facebook. Some of them make me laugh out loud. Of course, I am partial to ones that include my name, like this one here by Savannah K.:

• CEO: "Sorry, Little Jackalope I am going to call you back, someone just posted a weird photo of me on Facebook!"
• Little Jackalope: "OMG!?! The same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago!"

I think I've had nearly enough excitement for today, and since there are no cookies within arms' reach, I do think I will stop to go and find some.

Until tomorrow!
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #139

Today we have a rather tricky puzzle for you! *Cue evil laughter*. This one is particularly special, because the answer contains some top secret insider knowledge...sneaked in by yours truly. ;) If you've been noticing particular posts we've slipped in ever since December, you might already have a clue...

~Click on the image to view a larger version~

*Note: It's a double puzzle.
Directions: L-R, T-B. Adjust ctr-clk.
A specific cipher.

Good luck sleuths!

Oh! Side note, I'm loving what captions you are coming up with for our Caption Contest on Facebook!
~Little Jackalope~

CEO Looks Shocked!

I am super thrilled today because we have another caption contest going on!! Check it out: On our Facebook page we uploaded a photo of our CEO holding the phone to his ear, facing the computer monitor with a shocked face. Your challenge is to come up with something fun and clever to post as a caption. What is he looking at? Who is he on the phone with? Why is he making that face? It's up to you to decide. ;)

You have until the end of Monday to post to that picture (not here, but on Facebook) for a chance to win this prize: an iPhone 4 phone cover. Even if you don't have an iPhone, it would still be fun to frame as a souvenir...at least, that's what I would do.


Weekend puzzle is tomorrow!
Until then, stay sleuthy!
~Little Jackalope~

Real Artists = Real Sonny?

Forgive me, but I nearly forgot to write a post today! Ah!! I've been otherwise occupied with one of my favorite projects; digging through our game archives. Why am I doing this you might ask? I'll tell you: it's for a rather exciting....something....coming soon. That's all I can say. But perhaps in this weekend's puzzle answer, you will get the inside scoop, so stay tuned!

While in the archives I came across this! Our artists have Sonny Joon skills. They have to because they bring him to life by their own sketches....



...which then are turned into the in-game doodles you see here! How fun is that!?

Keep it real!
Twitter Quote Contest is today. ;)
~Little Jackalope~

Mardi Gras + Eagle

Happy Mardi Gras! And to those in Italy, Happy Carnivale! In honor of Mardi Gras today, we have a one-day sale going on for the digital downloads of The Phantom of Venice (takes place during Carnivale) and Legend of the Crystal Skull (takes place during Mardi Gras in New Orleans). Get 50% off using the promo code found on our Facebook page, or using the code you receive from your phone (ends midnight tonight PST). Costumes are all the rage right now, and in these games you, as Nancy, get to dress up in different costumes, and as Bess in a costume to do some spying in ... well... I shouldn't tell you if you haven't played the game. ;)

I got to solve a little mystery today; I couldn't find my camera cord to get some pictures off of my camera. After looking just about everywhere, and even sending out an office email in hopes that someone would stumble upon it, I eventually found it in my camera bag's "secret zipper pocket"...which I feel silly about since I hid it there and forgot about that secret place. >.< Now that I have access to my photos, here's an image I get to share with you:

~Perched in perfect view from our CEO's office window~

Weekend puzzle solution!
Step one: [identify the objects: Apple, pencil, clock, twister (or tornado), umbrella, mask, key, heart, magnifying glass, ice cream, flower, ring, jackalope, ghost, nut, book]. I noticed that there were a couple that tripped you up just a little. ;)

Step two: [take the first letter of each of these words/items. The ones with numbers mean for you to count backwards or forwards in the alphabet to get your letter. Example: pencil + 2 = R.]

Answer: [A Returning Friend]. Who do you think this could be? ~.^
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #138

Alright super sleuths! Here is your weekend puzzle, I've been really wanting to doodle, so good luck understanding my tiny pictures. ;)

~Click on the image for a larger view~

Puzzle reminder: If you would like to discuss the weekend puzzle and share your thoughts, answers and comments, check out our message board forum "Blogs and Tweets".

*Office note: we will not be in the office this Monday, as we observe Presidents' Day. See you on Tuesday!
~Little Jackalope~

Behind the Scenes: We Knit

There are a great number of us in the Her Interactive office who knit, and it has become such a great discussion topic that a group got together during lunch break and...well...knit! A couple little birdies told me about it so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots. Warning: when lingering for too long playing paparazzi, one is likely to get caught up in the activities, too. >.<

CEO teaching a Jackalope how to knit for the first time. That's right, our designer caught me in the act...

One of our 2D artists, Jayme, spins her own yarn!

This was for sure a new experience for me, and I only hope to become accustomed to this hobby enough to make something interesting, like the cardigan that our Lead Tester is working on, or our Controller's floppy hat. ^.^

~Little Jackalope~

Big Video Fans!

Last week some amazing fans of the Nancy Drew games posted a fun video trailer of Alibi in Ashes onto their YouTube Channel. We loved what they created and wanted to share it with you, so we interviewed them to get the inside scoop! Check out their interview below:

~~~

Her Interactive: Where are you from?

Emily: We, all the creators and actors in the YouTube series of game trailers by NDfan0123, live in the Sacramento metro area.

Her Interactive: How are you related to all the actors in the video?

Elise: We are a group of family and friends. On Fridays, we have piano lessons in our home. That is when our instructor’s daughter, Rebecca and our friends Gabriel and Elijah, join us, Emily, Jake, Ian and I for lessons. This is our core cast and our biggest film day. Occasionally, we have an opportunity to bring in new faces; mom, dad, and once a fencing club mate acted as Dr. Craven. He was a really good sport. He didn’t know his role required pasting on polyester fiberfill with spirit gum right before class but he did it anyway.

Her Interactive: What is your inspiration for these videos?

Emily: One of the HeR Interactive newsletters had a link to a You Tube video by Buhbing spoofing Blackmoor Manor. Rebecca and I enjoyed it so much that we searched for every Nancy Drew PC game video available. We were intrigued and sometime later were inspired to give it a try. After looking at all the approaches, it was decided that using the game audio and translating all the CG images into live action was in our range.

Her Interactive: What is your favorite video to date?

Elise: The core creators, Emily, Rebecca and I like the Captive Curse trailer. The trailer has a cohesive story line and our costumes and props were especially accurate. Jake likes it best as well because he enjoyed playing Karl. Elijah liked acting as Johnny Rolle, so his favorite is the Ransom of the Seven Ships. Ian, after 45 minutes of coaching finally learned to shrug in the Haunted Carousel (you can see his efforts in the credits), so that’s his favorite.

Her Interactive: How many people does it take to make a trailer?

Elise: It frequently takes two people to film action shots, like rolling the vase around in ASH, but the more faces we have to portray the game characters the better. At least one person on the team has to be able to edit video; for us that is Emily but I’m learning.

Her Interactive: What are your favorite behind the scenes moments?

Emily: Learning to green screen has been really interesting. Getting Ian to do the Il Fantasma stunts for the Phantom of Venice took a lot of creative problem solving. The horse scenes in the Secret of Shadow Ranch also required some invention. It took one painted, battery-operated Barbie horse, 10 pieces of fishing line and an hour of patient editing to make the footage work.

Her Interactive: Do you have a favorite Nancy Drew game?

Elise: Naming a favorite is pretty hard but I am a puzzle lover and like Danger on Deception Island best. Emily enjoys the suspense, setting and characters of Shadow at the Water’s Edge. Rebecca’s favorite, for similar reasons, is the Haunting of Castle Malloy. Elijah hasn’t played all the games yet, but from the ones to date, Trail of the Twister, with all the driving is his favorite.

Her Interactive:What do you like about making Nancy Drew videos?

Elise: What’s not to love?! Setting the stage, inventing costumes, being the characters, especially when it requires a wig, being a yurei, a banshee or “das monster in the hall” are all enjoyable steps to creating a video.
Emily: Editing is also fascinating. I had zero experience before taking on the Nancy Drew trailer challenge and have learned new skills with each video. We’ve had to upgrade our software and add memory to make it all work. By the way, thank you HeR for having such great musical scores. We can always find music with the right mood from one of the games.

Her Interactive: Was there a really tough scene that you had to shoot?

Emily: Every trailer has at least one difficult scene. Making live action versions of CG mini games often presents creative challenges. We use a lot of clay, fishing line, double stick tape and cardboard. Fire and explosions are particularly tough to make look convincing.
Elise: Trying to lower Quigley Kim out of a tree on a rope bruised us all. Ouch. Next time, we’ll invest in a real harness.

~~~

Check out their entire video collection on their YouTube Channel here. View their latest video, Alibi in Ashes trailer. Nice job detectives!

~Little Jackalope~

Valentine's Special!

A Valentine's Day Surprise! We are sweetening the Facebook deal by randomly selecting 5 people who purchase a game today using promo code LOVE25 or their Mobile promo code to win two Koko Kringle bars each! In a nutshell: purchase a digital game, and you could win chocolate. ~.^

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today we are showing our appreciation to our fans by having a sale via Facebook. Check out our Facebook page for more details! Stop by for a visit and like us, then you will get up-to-date info on sales and specials, where as you would have to wait forever for me to post here on the blog.

Today in the Her Interactive office, we had these for breakfast:

And on my desk was a bunch of pretty flowers from a fellow team mate:


Time to answer the weekend puzzle! This one comes from Ned to Nancy. First, place the month numbers of February for this year in the appropriate boxes. Then place [the alphabet in the spaces, starting with day one]. Now use the code to find specific letters. Example: TH4 means the fourth Thursday, which is letter W. Once you have gotten all of the letters, insert them into the website url, taking out the underscore like so [http://www.herinteractive.com/images/blog/wooglevalentine.jpg].

Now copy that address into your search bar and check out Ned's Valentine Card to Nancy!

Be sure to tell someone how much you appreciate them today, they will be glad to hear it! ;)
~Little Jackalope~

It's locked....but I have a key!

That title could mean a couple of things:

1. These doors to our office were really locked. It was after hours and I'm staying late because we have a busy week to prepare for.
2. I hold secrets that I lock away in my mind, just waiting for the chance to be unlocked and released...much like the unlocked secret that burst from my mind last Thursday. It had to get out!! I blame Sonny Joon...he is a bad influence. ~.^

Plans for this week include: Valentine's Day being tomorrow (when I shall reveal the answer to last weekend's puzzle, since it is more appropriate then), Wednesday we shall put a fun interview up on this blog, and another weekend puzzle comes Friday. Of course, there is much more we are working on, but I can't really say. I will say that today our writer and designer had another voice recording session for Nancy Drew...I'm curious to what lines they needed...suppose I will do some more snooping. ;)
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #137

To start off our Friday, a few people (who are my best friends today) brought in cinnamon roles and bagels for breakfast. Yum!

And then later we had a coffee fiasco where coffee spilled over the kitchen floor. If you like the smell of coffee, the kitchen is a great place to be right now!

This weekend is a little bit special! Let's see if you can figure out the puzzle Ned made for Nancy. Here you go!

http://www.herinteractive.com/images/blog/______________.jpg

*Note: This is not a contest, but you may discuss on the Message Board. It is ok to name the final answer on the board (in spoiler code), since the link is a part of the Her website.

~Little Jackalope~

I Blame Sonny Joon

I'm not going to admit it was me, so leT's just pretend that it was Sonny Joon who came, caused trouble, and left....without ever being seen.

Look what's on our hallway wall by the kitchen:


Kind of brings back some meMories from Danger By Design where you need to catch real live cockroaches, yeah?

I went rummaging through some drawers in the kitchen that happened to have some toys inside, and I found this palm-sized rubber cockroach toy, so I-- I mean Sonny taped it up so passers-by will get a little creeped out. It worked. Sadly, noBody here screams...either that or they are too smart and have good eyesight to see that it is not real, but it did give a few team members a jump. My goodness...Sonny Joon must be at it again. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

"Cheeseburger!" - Joe Hardy

Several adventurous Her Interactive team members (myself included) went out for lunch today. We tried out a new restaurant which specializes in burgers. While to some people, looking at food can be disgusting, I decided to go ahead and post this picture:

I may be exaggerating, but my burger was about 6 inches tall. You don't want to see how it looked after I attacked it with a fork and a knife. It looks like the burger won the battle.

Since they had so many weird and interesting types of burgers, this brought to mind how you, as Frank Hardy, got to play short-order cook in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon and make burgers. Can you imagine really eating a cheeseburger with peppers, peanut butter, and pineapple? Eh... I'm glad I stuck to blue cheese and bacon with sweet chipotle mayonnaise. Yum! Oh, and the drink you see was a mix of root beer soda, a kids' fruit drink mix, and cream. It looked fuzzy in texture, but was remarkably good.

Have you tried any weird food combinations lately? I dare you to try something adventurous the next time you go out to eat. You never know what discoveries you end up liking!

(Twitter Quote Contest is today!)
~Little Jackalope~

Historic Candy

I dropped a file folder in between my desk and the wall. It is a very narrow space and my hand was just too thick to reach in between and grab it. So I began to think like Nancy, and looked around at my resources. Pencil? Nope, too short. Thin notebook? Nope, it was too flimsy. Ruler? There wasn't a ruler anywhere around.

So then I decided to search the kitchen, where we keep all sorts of knickknacks and tools. After opening several drawers, I came across something that looked vaguely familiar, although I had never seen this specific piece before:

A candy stick! I heard a rumor that this candy was a helpful visual reference for a past game (can you name the game?). This looked sturdy, long and thin enough for my challenge. Amazingly, it did help to retrieve my folder in between the desk and wall. My point to prove: random resources can indeed help you overcome a challenge if you think creatively the way Nancy does. :)

I wonder how old that candy really is...and if it's still edible.
~Little Jackalope~

A Gorgeous Day....Just add Dave!

Ah February! After the snowstorms and terrible mess from the weather, we have a beautiful winter day. It was rather warm this weekend, and I managed to snap a few shots of the plant life on the way into our office. Check it out, you have to look carefully to notice that the leaf edges are lined with frost. It's so pretty!
Today we released a mobile wallpaper of one of our favorite characters: Dave Gregory from The Secret of Shadow Ranch! If you've played Shadow at the Water's Edge, you have the option of having Dave's picture on Nancy's phone, and now you can in real life! He's a classic favorite, (guiltily, I have him on my phone, too). >.>

Last weekend's puzzle is easy to explain. Here's how you solve it: [Write out what each item is and then count that specified number of that word to find the letter you need.] Here are what the items are: [Paintbrush, lantern, ukelele, spoon. Glow stick, pigeon, flashlight, gnome, pencil, key.] Once you have your letters, you should get these two words: [Step Wisely]. A reference to ND#26. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #136

Today is Friday (no way!) and therefore during lunch break a few team members and I plan on trying out a board game or two for "studying". Last week we were super thrilled to try out a game that our Creative Director brought in: a vintage Nancy Drew board game!! Check it out:

On to to the weekend mind-boggler! Here you go:

*Note: This puzzle can be discussed on the message boards where you can post your answer if you solve it. This weekend is not a contest :( but does give you a little note about ND#26.

Caption Contest Winner is Miranda Mason! Here's her entry:

"Nancy, I am way sneakier than you."
(listens closely)
"Seriously, how many times have you been caught when solving a mystery?"
(listens intently)
"More than that, sister. Can you guess who has never been caught?"
(listens carefully)
"Not Sonny Joon, me!"
(Glances up)
"Nancy, I've gotta go!"
"You guys had better not put that picture on Facebook!"

~Little Jackalope~

Couscous

Happy *groundhog day! Today a fellow team mate and I went out for a lunch meeting and I decided to be gutsy and try a little *gasp* couscous! I had never tried it before (it's only a grain, like rice) so I thought that with my burger I would give it a go. It tasted very onion-y since there were onions in it. (It's on the right side).


How fun is it to say that you finally understand what Professor Hotchkiss was raving about in Treasure in the Royal Tower!

Oh, and tonight is the last night to submit a caption for the picture on our Facebook page of me with my awesome sunglasses. Come up with something funny and creative! Speaking of Facebook, I'd like to give a shout-out to Philip F. on our Facebook page: you are awesome!!

~Little Jackalope~

Announcement: Store Updated!

Before I forget: Twitter Quote Contest is going on right now, and the prize is a Koko Kringle candy bar! (My favorite kind of prize). Head over to see if you know who said the famous quote!

Also, if you have a Facebook account, head over and post a creative caption to the photo of that one quirky person wearing the white aviator sunglasses. The most favored caption will earn a couple Koko Kringle bars. Contest ends Friday!

If you have signed up to receive the newsletter, then you will soon see what I am about to mention: we updated our store! Check out the official announcement here in our Newsletter Archive.
A few things I'd like to point out:

• When purchasing a game on our site (boxed game) it will have you create an account.
• If you have already created an account with us for the digital store, then you are already set and ready to go. :)
• We now offer International Shipping!!!!! Yay! Do you know what this means? Our Canadian and Australian and British and everyone-who-lives-on-Earth friends can order a boxed game from us! They can even pre-order!
• You will not have to hop back and forth between two stores since it is all in one store.
• Have you noticed already? Our first four volumes of the game Soundtracks are available again for download! Now you can purchase the music you listen to while playing in your car, on your MP3 player, use them as your alarm clock setting like some people here do... :P

~Me doing a cheer for the arrived package~

That's a pretty big announcement, I think I shall go and catch my breathe, and refuel with some cookies.
~Little Jackalope~