Ghost of Thornton Hall for the iPad!

Hooray! Today is a historic day for Her Interactive! We have launched a full-length mystery onto the iPad! Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall used to be available exclusively for PC and Mac computers, but is now available in the iPad App store here. The Android and Kindle Fire versions will release later.

I'm excited! Are you going to get Nancy's scariest case on your device? (I've seen the animation run a lot more advanced than on the computer version...it looks so great!)

Side note: we have a flash sale in honor of Mardi Gras today! It only lasts for a few more hours, so if you don't have Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull, it's a grand time to get it!

Not green and pink...that was in Venice.
~Little Jackalope~

"I'd like a bowl of gumbo, please!"

The day has finally come when a food truck came by our office building that serves gumbo! Hooray! Bess in Legend of the Crystal Skull has the opportunity to visit a nearby food truck, called "Granny's Cajun Cooking". I got to experience this Nancy Drew--er--Bess Marvin Moment in real life today:

Our artist, John, was the one who worked on that very environment for the game. He, too, tried gumbo for the first time today!

It's not the prettiest picture, but gumbo is sure good! (And a bit on the spicy side). This gumbo had white rice, chicken and spicy sausage, as well as various spices. It was amazing! I'd recommend trying it someday when you get the chance.

We've had a lot of great fan art come in lately, and I haven't had much of a chance to show it off with all the news about The Silent Spy lately. Check these out:

 

Sometime next week I'll share all the fan art for The Silent Spy.
~Little Jackalope~

Old Secrets Lead to Scotland

With all the excitement we had over our last game, Ghost of Thornton Hall, it was quite easy to forget the old secrets hinted at for this year. Remember the old post 13 Hints for 2013 in January? There was one hint that I forgot to answer for GTH...

Next

Hint #7: Talent. This vague hint given at the beginning of the year was referring to Harper in Ghost of Thornton Hall. The actress who voiced Harper was the same person who brought life to Professor Hotchkiss in Treasure in the Royal Tower, Legend of the Crystal Skull, and more recently, Tomb of the Lost Queen. She's been a favorite to many since the early days, and we were excited for her performance as crazy Harper.

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Now, there are at least two more hints from January that point toward the next mystery: The Silent Spy. One I can reveal at the moment:

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Hint #6: Whistling. While our Design team comes up with a brand new story and mystery for Nancy each game, they do their research ahead of time and take a look at inspiring Nancy Drew books. One inspiring book for the design of The Silent Spy was, of course, "The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes". This book has Nancy traveling back to her own country where she plays bagpipes at a few points to communicate across a distance.

13.

Here is where we stand with our 13 hints/clues checklist:

More spy stuff to come!
~Little Jackalope~

Sonny Tries Gumbo

As some of you may know, I went on a vacation a couple of weeks ago, taking flat Sonny with me for several photo opportunities. If you are traveling around your hometown or far away, print out flat Sonny to take pictures with to post to our Facebook page! Learn more about the contest here. (You may enter as many pictures as you'd like).

In the pictures below, Sonny and I went to the Old Town in San Diego, where we stumbled upon some old buildings. Two small wood buildings side-by-side had once been an old drug store and general store. Now, one building is a kitchen and the other is a dining room as the Creole New Orleans restaurant.

We ordered a bowl of gumbo and a bowl of spicy jambalaya...which was a bit too spicy for me. This was the first time I had ever tried gumbo, and it reminded me of the bowl Bess gets to eat in Legend of the Crystal Skull. However, instead of shrimp, I had sausage in it. I count this as a Nancy Drew moment in real life: getting to try delicious gumbo!

On another note: today is Nikola Tesla's birthday! Head over to our Facebook page and check out the picture we posted, because if you use that promo code, you can get 25% off your purchase of The Deadly Device! Hurry, Nikola Tesla's birthday only lasts 24 hrs, and so does the sale!

Also, there is a Twitter Quote contest happening today...!
~Little Jackalope~

Marathon of Scares

I was trying to be more creative with my blog title, by re-using similar words from the past...eh...
Anyways, as we continue the Nancy Drew "Scary Game" marathon in preparation for Ghost of Thornton Hall, we finish up Legend of the Crystal Skull this week and begin The Haunting of Castle Malloy for the weekend.

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For those who are following along, do you have a favorite part about Legend of the Crystal Skull? I sort of wish I could toss marshmallows to Bernie the way Reneé mentioned Henry Sr. did. And then I'd eat some marshmallows myself...I mean as Nancy. XD In real life, I've added "try gumbo from a food truck" to my adventure list of things to do. Haven't found a truck with that food item yet, but when I do, it would be a bonus if the server or chef wore a red plaid shirt....haha.

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A few more things to share! (Insider tip: if you really really want the physical copy of the BONUS EDITION for GTH, I overheard that we only have a few left. If you plan on ordering it, I would suggest ordering as soon as possible, like before the end of Saturday!) Anyways, we interviewed one of our artists, Jayme! Check out the YouTube video for an inside look to part of the creation of Ghost of Thornton Hall:

Weekend puzzle #195 is here, I promise. ;)
~Little Jackalope~

Art from the Games

If I may say so, I personally really like the cover art for Ghost of Thornton Hall. :) So much so that I bought a kindle case from our own merchandise store with this art on it:

And while I was there I also had to get the Sonny Joon notebook design (from Ransom of the Seven Ships) placed on a mouse pad. This same mouse pad can be found on Mason's desk in The Deadly Device.

I'd thought I'd share these because I'm really excited about adding to my own fan collection. XD

While the poem, logo, and cover art are already available in our merchandise store, behind the scenes we are about to begin work on more art that can be found in Ghost of Thornton Hall. It should all be up in time for the official launch date of the game. *Insider secret: we are super close to really, truly running out of the physical copies of the BONUS EDITION. I overheard the team already discussing the announcement of this for later...I hope you pre-ordered your preferred game version already!

Side note: Has anybody already begun playing Legend of the Crystal Skull this week?

~Little Jackalope~

A Lovely Spring Day....with Tacos

Yet another Taco food truck stopped by today in the next-door parking lot, so of course I rushed over for elevensies to get tacos...which looked like a glorious mess and therefore I didn't take a picture. But they were amazing! A couple hours later I went back for a second lunch to try the gorditas, which are fried and one was stuffed with onions, another with meat, and the third with sweet potatoes. Going on food adventures is really interesting and adventurous. I'm still waiting for a food truck to come by with gumbo like from Legend of the Crystal Skull. Seriously, where is Granny's Cajun Cookin' around here with a fake Shorty Thurmond serving crazy spicy food? XD

Anyways, when I returned to the office, I had to stop to take a snapshot of how pretty it is in the spring here:

Sounds like several of you have finished MHM and have begun DOG! I love DOG...
~Little Jackalope~

Awards, Trophies and Badges

We have gone through many end-game awards over the years. At first, we were left to feel proud of ourselves over the accomplished game, which, after the closing letter, would drop us into the end credits. But when we made The Haunted Carousel, we added something a little extra to say "Well done!"

Game awards!

Because of Nancy's subscription to "Sassy Detective" magazine, we tied in the "Sassy Detective Awards" that awarded you a digital certificate named after what you were best at or did the most of when solving the case, like solving puzzles, calling friends, finding Easter Eggs, etc.

Later, in Legend of the Crystal Skull, we changed it up to a list, so that you can read all of the awards you can possibly get. The ones you earn would be checked off. Also, in the end credits would appear a detective's badge (either Junior or Senior) with as many stars as awards you earned.

And now, we have reached my favorite award: In The Deadly Device, at the end of the game you get special trophies that light up when you achieve it. I find this the most beautiful display of awards we've had yet, but that's just my opinion. XD

Are you good at remembering character's quotes from the games? Try identifying this week's Twitter Quote in today's contest!
~Little Jackalope~

Passwords and Technology

I've talked often about keys and locks...but not so much about passwords. Passwords are simply codes of words, characters, numbers, shapes or colors presented in the right order at the right time to gain access to a new location or gain new information. At least, that's my quick definition...

In my viewpoint, passwords are primarily meant to protect something. Only those who are "in the know" may gain access to the valuables. One example is in Legend of the Crystal Skull, where, as Bess, you must provide the password in the right outfit to gain access to a secret group of people, seen here:

Bess had to know several things: What to dress up as, where the location was, what group she was trying to gain access to, when to meet, and most importantly: know the password.

Technology today requires passwords to protect your information, and are also used to protect valuable items. Our store has the ability to save customer's information so it's quick and easy to make another purchase without filling everything out all over again. This information is password protected, and only the company and you know the password. It's protected, just like a safe that you provide the secret combination.

Speaking of passwords and codes...we are celebrating the kickoff of Bavaria's Oktoberfest by offering The Captive Curse on sale for 50% off (digital only) until the end of October 1st, 2012. You must use the password code BAVARIA12 to gain access to this awesome deal. If you don't have this German-themed game, I would highly recommend it, it's high on my list of favorite games!

Also, Happy 21st Birthday Mike!

~Little Jackalope~