Ice Cream Moments

We shared this Nancy Drew moment the other day:

Is it just me, or do you all like to try (as Nancy) every single flavor and food item that is available to you in the games? Sometimes there are rewards for you if you do... like in Alibi in Ashes. Where other games, it can be a punishment to eat too much of everything (like the Koko Kringle bars in Legend of the Crystal Skull).

Yeah. I've got ice cream on my mind. I wish there were an ice cream place just like Scoop in real life.

Are you creative with coming up with photo captions? Head over to Facebook and participate in our Facebook Caption Contest!

Also, check this out below! One of our big fans, Amy Christine, sent in some fan art, showing off some love for Sonny Joon!

~Little Jackalope~

Sharpening Your Spy Skills

Some of you like to "game marathon" before the next mystery is released, which I find really fun. I have recommended a few titles to reply (in case you had decided not to replay ALL of them) but I wanted to narrow down the "why" part of the titles I selected.

There are elements of game play features in the following games that can relate to The Silent Spy. Here are a few clues:

1. Alibi in Ashes - The closest to Nancy's home and personal life you can get so far. Plus you get to check out her bedroom and living room in the game.
2. Tomb of the Lost Queen - Bess, over the phone, will mention Nancy's mom, hinting that Nancy is the way she is because her.
3. Warnings at Waverly Academy - Here you get to do some snooping through people's things and their rooms. A few areas in the game you need to act quick in snooping without getting caught. Plus the game-play style feels a bit similar to SPY, I think.
4. The Phantom of Venice - Perhaps the best game to play before you dive into The Silent Spy. There are several spy and undercover missions in this game that make you feel like you really are in the business. Plus...you will want to know a few things that go on here before you get to Scotland...

Are you caught up with your Nancy Drew collection? If you have already pre-ordered The Silent Spy, now is the best time to start catching up on those missing mysteries, or even replaying any of the above-mentioned titles, in preparation for your big mission in Scotland.
It's going to get personal...

Birthdays!

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy's House in SPY

(Hey all! I was out yesterday, therefore no post was made).
As for today, we posted this fun Nancy Drew moment:

This scene was shown in the SPY Trailer a few times, meaning it will be shown, of course, in the game. What did you think of Nancy's home? You got to explore it a bit in Alibi in Ashes, but only the living room and Nancy's bedroom.

Did you notice this about the living room scenes in the trailer? They borders are blurred a bit...

We have another Twitter Quote Contest going on this week! Head over and participate for a chance to win a digital guide! (Contest only lasts all of Wednesday).

Birthday! (Belated, which is my bad.)

~Little Jackalope~

Early Puzzles from the Archive

I was digging through my really old photos I took from over a year ago. These were from Ghost of Thornton Hall, and they are the early design sketches for some puzzles. Although these have been changed a bit since the early design, can you identify them from the game?

As for the weekend puzzle, looks like several of you were easily able to pick up this Drop Quote puzzle and solve it with ease! (Drop Quote can be found in The Captive Curse and Alibi in Ashes, as well as potentially coming back in future games!)

Here's the solution:
(Click on the image for a larger view).

Also, we have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Interview with Stuart + Weekend Puzzle #205

We interviewed our CEO Stuart! Watch his video here:

Now that you have heard from Stuart, what specific things do you wish to see happen for Nancy Drew in the future? I know I'd certainly like to be able to play a Nancy Drew game on a tablet...!

Weekend puzzle! Let's see if your skills from The Captive Curse and Alibi in Ashes have trained you well enough to solve this puzzle:

We have a weekend birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Gelato and Tea

Do I talk about food too much? Perhaps. But food can be quite an adventure! Especially when trying new things.

In Ghost of Thornton Hall, you have the option to make tea. In the parlor, by the door, is an old-fashioned tea set where you can pour yourself a cup of tea and if you'd like; add a spoonful of sugar, a sprig of mint and a lime. Or any combination of those you'd prefer...

In real life I often have a cup of tea, but not usually in a fancy old tea cup with saucer. I usually have an English Breakfast tea in a huge mug with a little bit of hazelnut coffee creamer. That's just how I like it. Is iced tea better? Or do you like tea served hot?

Today, a few team members and I went on an afternoon ice cream hunt since it was really hot outside today...particularly in search for Gelato...which is different by the way. (Gelato is made from milk, while ice cream is made from cream). We went to a little outdoor Gelato shop and there I tried two flavors: salted caramel and Nutella chocolate. The salted caramel was best.

I failed to get a snapshot (my hands were full) of this cute stand and treat. The Gelato did remind me of first of Alibi in Ashes with all the crazy ice cream flavors, but more accurately I should mention The Phantom of Venice. At Velina's flower stand are several flavors of...you guessed it...Gelato! If you ever get the chance to try Gelato, add that to your secret list of real-life Nancy Drew moments, 'cause it totally counts.

Psssst! We have a contest coming up soon! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay updated.
~Little Jackalope~

Rated E for Everyone

If you have looked carefully at the box art for Ghost of Thornton Hall, you may have noticed that the game has been rated "E for Everyone" (and with "Mild Violence"). I have noticed that a few message board members brought up the question "Why is it rated E and not E10+ since we (Her Interactive) claim this is going to be the scariest game to date in the Nancy Drew game collection?" Well, I can answer this for you! :)

We have already submitted our game and have received this rating, which is official. The ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) judges games based on several criteria, (and you can learn more about these here on their site) including Violence, Language, Humor, Blood/Gore, Suggestive themes, Drugs/Alcohol and Gambling. The only category that really affects our games rating is the Violence found in them.

One example why Shadow at the Water's Edge received an E10+ (for Everyone ages 10 and up) is that at one point towards the end of the game, you the player (as Nancy Drew) are physically grabbed and forced into water to be drowned. This is considered more violent than say, if Nancy was going to suffocate from smoke in the burning town hall of Alibi in Ashes.

Ghost of Thornton Hall will not have such specific violence as SAW. After all, can a ghost really grab you? Maybe in some way she will in the game, I won't say...but if she does, it will not be like that "ghost" in SAW.

Scariness is not a factor in the ESRB Rating. Since being scared is more a state of mind, it could mean different scare levels for different players. Think of Curse of Blackmoor Manor: it's one of the scariest games we have released, yet it, too, is rated E for Everyone.

As for the scare level in GTH...you will just have to wait and experience it for yourself! Mwahahaha! XD

As for the weekend puzzle...to solve it, first highlight the entire poem with your cursor. Find the extra letters [GIZROVIZKIRO]. Then write our the alphabet forwards, then underneath that write it backwards. The letters written above are found when you reflect them against the real alphabet. Example: A=Z, B=Y, C=X and so on. Your end answer is [Trailer April]. Now how exciting is that?

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy's Wardrobe

Over the weekend I impersonated a spy....or someone...stole a sapphire and bugged a pigeon. As in fed the pigeon a tracking device. If you guessed correctly, you'd know I've been playing The Phantom of Venice.

The game, as well as some projects I've been working along with some snooping through art files here in the office led me to ponder Nancy's wardrobe. At times we see her clothes in an old suitcase, or hear what she's wearing (like her flouncy dress in Secret of the Old Clock) and a few times we also get to dress her up, like in VEN.

Here's my question for you: what sort of outfit do you imagine Nancy wearing regularly? Does it vary from game to game (or book to book)? Do you prefer she wear a 1940s dress or a plaid skirt or khaki pants with a lovely blouse? Is she a sneakers kind of girl, or does she wear ballet flats? I'd love to hear your comments!

Ah yes, the weekend puzzle... From the looks of it, many of you were able to figure out this drop-quote puzzle that can be found in The Captive Curse or Alibi in Ashes. But it appears that the second part of the puzzle (the numbers below) may have stumped a few of you. Here's the solution: [It's an Ottendorf, or better known, a book cipher]. Here's the jist of it all: figure out by process of elimination what letters above are to be dropped down into the empty spaces to create full sentences. The cipher below works like this: [count the line, then the word, then the letter in that word]. Once you complete your deciphering, the end answer should be [Look above door]. A reference to something specific in Ghost of Thornton Hall.

~Little Jackalope~

More Eggs = Fan Art!

One of our fans, Isabel sent in some great pictures of her work over the course of this year. She's been hollowing out eggs and decorating them, one just like the egg in Alibi in Ashes, the other from my silly Sonny Joon drawing a while back. And her egg looks far better than mine, I think. :P

Thanks for sharing Isabel, and nice work!! One of my eggs has really come to life! I'm so happy! :')

Today Phoenix and I will be recording footage for her next blog video. If you haven't checked out all of her uploads, watch them now on our YouTube Channel!

Head's up! Tomorrow we are having a caption contest on Facebook!
~Little Jackalope~

Real Game Content

Although the Nancy Drew games feature fictional characters, fictional stories, instances, fictional brands and such, a lot of the game content is derived from real world... stuff. Some history and actual facts are indeed real: Marie Antoinette, Harry Houdini, ohm resistors, shanghaied sailors etc. Or they were real... or had existed at one time.

Some things you just might be lucky to find out there in the real world. Like tornadoes, or shorthand stenography or even better, these things a few fans found here:

That's right! Jackalopes live on, not just here in the Her office:

Thanks to Madison for sharing this photo!

And check out Molly's real snowflake ice cube that she made with her sister! Looks like she pulled it directly out of Alibi in Ashes, no? XD

I'm pretty excited that we will be featuring another real, historical person in our next game. ;)

Weekend puzzle answer! If you've seen our latest postings, then the answer will be familiar.
The letters represent the colors, and the numbers represent the level of that color in the web. (S = Silver). 1 = the level closest to the spider (the inner-most level) and the 3 is the outer-most level. After doing the math requested, you should get: [office tour videos]. Referring to Phoenix's uploads to YouTube.

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy Drew Spaces

We have been *cough*purposefully*cough* keeping you in suspense for a few days with the secret YouTube video. Cue evil laughter: Mwahaha! Cut evil moment: The "private" video on intern Phoenix's play list is now viewable! Check out our YouTube channel and subscribe to stay informed on all the latest uploads she adds. ;)

 

This is my favorite video so far, because it's really cool to see what our office looks like. Although to a non-Nancy Drew fan, it might look just like any other office. There are still tiny secrets around, you would just have to look harder, with keen eyes. The story behind every room and every cubicle and every space is most interesting. Perhaps Phoenix will enlighten you on some while she snoops further.

You also get a sneak peak at my desk in this video. Oh dear! Now you know how much of a Nancy Drew nerd I am... XD The game collection on my top shelf, posters on my wall, the tin on my desk with the Earth's remaining Koko Kringles, a box of crayons and colored pens next to my monitor...*sigh* This cubicle is my Nancy Drew dream space. Although, I think I would love to have a living room designed the same way Nancy's looks like in Alibi in Ashes. It's so homey! That would be the dream space for me.

I would have to put up the coat rack somewhere, the mugs and coasters on the coffee table, along with a magnifying glass and a few Nancy Drew books on some shelves or side tables. That would be amazing.

How would you decorate your space Nancy Drew style? Would it be Nancy Drew memorabilia, or would it look like an environment from a game? Say, Nancy's bedroom in The Captive Curse, or perhaps decorate it like the Wickford Castle in Treasure in the Royal Tower? The artist in me wants to go crazy with all these possibilities...now where's my canvas? 

Weekend puzzle answer will be posted tomorrow. For those who are new to these, you do not need to submit your answers, these puzzles are just for fun. But if you'd like, you may discuss them on the Message Boards here.
~Little Jackalope~

Unlocking TMB's Answers

First off, I would like to give a shout-out to one of our fans!

~Happy Birthday Daniella!!! Hope you have a great one! :D~

I was only trying to sound poetic in this post title. Really all I'm taking about today is Tomb of the Lost Queen. (Only 7 days left!)

Yes, this last weekend's puzzle was rather easy, but that's OK, because it's good to practice Morse Code! The more practice the better, since it is a great detective skill to add for sleuthing . The answer to the Morse Code weekend puzzle is this: [Real Outtakes]. And I wanted to clue you in on this fun tradition to our games.

Outtakes are either silly things that are created by our humorous workers here, or they can be deleted scenes, or goofs that occurred. This feature is available at the end of the newer games, after you watch the game credits. While The Captive Curse has some silly outtakes, Alibi in Ashes had some more serious "goofs", but they were outtakes none-the-less.

~Me listening in on the outtakes~

In Tomb of the Lost Queen, we have some deleted content, concept art, and real behind-the-scenes audio from during the creation of the game. (You can barely hear a few of our workers giggle in the distant background in one place...you just have to listen for it.) This is what I meant by "real outtakes". I rather like these...I was laughing real hard when I first heard them...but then, I like to laugh a lot. XD

Oh hey!! If you like any of the Tomb of the Lost Queen wallpaper downloads for the desktop, you can download/save the Mobile Wallpapers that are now available, check them out and save one to your phone!

~Little Jackalope~

Easter Egg in Alibi in Ashes

So it has been discovered! Weekend puzzles #132, #133, #134, and #135 have all hinted at the mysterious third Easter Egg hidden in Alibi in Ashes. Here's what the weekend puzzle answers/hints meant:

*WARNING: major spoilers in spoiler code below, proceed at your own risk!
Weekend Puzzle #132 answer: [A fun Easter Egg Pic in ASH] gave the first hint that a third egg indeed existed, and therefore was meant to drive you crazy. >.<

Weekend Puzzle #133 answer: [Culprit was stopped for suspicious cargo] hinted at police lingo, and led you to look for someone who [might've received a parking citation. No real game character was involved.]
Weekend Puzzle #134 answer: [Animal plus Action] gave you a more specific direction to [enter something into the TicketShark in the police station].

Weekend Puzzle #135 answer: Two words. No vowels. No spaces. No numbers.] was a a nudge in the direction of exact spelling.

With a little luck, and deductive reasoning you shall guess that the animal was a [bunny] and the action was [drive]. Follow the clues to enter [bnnydrv] into the [TickShark]. Voila! One fun *Easter Egg!

*Note: An Easter Egg is not always the physical egg, they are also fun little tricks, images, additions into a game that generally have no other purposes than for fun. We purposefully made two actual egg inventory items, and then the picture for fun. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #135

Hooray for Friday! And so we continue trying to discover the Easter Egg hiding in Alibi in Ashes...here's another hint. Click the image for a larger view:

*Reminder: This puzzle is only for a little weekend fun, you do not need to submit your answer, but if you like, you may discuss it on our message boards here.


Do you have a Facebook account? If you do, we have a Facebook-only "Caption Contest" going on right now! Did you see yesterday's picture of Megan? Head over to our Facebook page and come up with a creative caption: Who is Megan talking to, and what is she saying? Be creative! You could win a couple of Koko Kringle bars!

My schedule for today includes:

• Try out the puzzles going into our latest game
• Play a game with the team during lunch break
• Keep an eye on how the people solve the weekend puzzle
• Eat a cookie
• Prepare a free wallpaper download for Monday...and preferences?
• Attend a meeting
• Make magic happen

Do you have any weekend plans? I think I might start playing The Haunting of Castle Malloy again...
~Little Jackalope~

Alibi in Ashes Officially Released!

October 18th has finally come! We are excited and pleased to present Alibi in Ashes, the special 25th game of the series, one that has been long awaited by fans! It's finally time for Nancy to return home to River Heights, where this time she has become the prime suspect. This is the first time you get to play as Nancy and all three of her friends (Ned, Bess and George) in one story. You can read the official press release here.In addition to today's excitement, have you tried the Number Punch mini-game on our site? If you have, you are not only well practiced for the real game, but also for the newly added Facebook app! If you have a Facebook account, you can play and compete with your friends' top speeds. This is what we've been testing over the last few weeks, and here in the Her Interactive office it has been a fierce competition between the players to see who can get the fastest score. (I walked past an artist's desk not too long ago and noticed he was back on, trying to beat the reigning champs). It's really fun to play!

How fast are you?
~Little Jackalope~

ASH and SAW in October

Alibi in Ashes comes out in stores tomorrow! And today we have two new ASH wallpapers for you: check out the desktop version or the mobile version.

We have a winner! Last Friday was the weekend puzzle #125 contest, here's the solution: the puzzle is a [keyword] cipher. Using the keyword provided (quick) you take the alphabet and [insert the word "quick" at the beginning, taking out all repetitive letters.] Here's the alphabet you should get: [quickabdefghjlmnoprstvwxyz]. Take the real alphabet and place above the fake alphabet. Now take a look at the crazy puzzle letters and find them in the fake alphabet, look at the above letter. For example: [s=t, m=o, and n=p]. In the end, you should get this final answer: [Top your friends at Number Punch!]
Of all the correct entries submitted, one random person was selected to win the digital guide to Alibi in Ashes. Congratulations to Jennifer D. who will receive her prize when the game is officially released!

It's been October for a while, and most attention has been on ASH, of course. I'd like to take a moment to consider the monthly special: Shadow at the Water's Edge. With Halloween coming, this is a great game to play in the dark, especially for the first time! I was looking at the art for this game, and thought how beautiful it was.
Sometimes it's really nice to take a good close-up look at one area and I favored this. Love the colors!
~Little Jackalope~

ASH Screenshots!!

Some of you found the clue hinting to today's special: Alibi in Ashes screen shots have been released!! Check them out and learn more about River Heights and the game on our screen shots page. This one's my favorite:
This is a day for more treats here in the office. Today we celebrated two of our artist's wedding by having red velvet cake and cheesecake, yum! (And congrats to the awesome happy couple!!)

I've got a few more pictures to share with tomorrow, when the weekend puzzle goes up. Stay tuned!

~Little Jackalope~