Memorizing the Games

For those of us players who like to replay the Nancy Drew mysteries over and over, we tend to memorize random parts. For example, certain quotes like "Fifty drumsticks, please! Chicken, that is. Cluck, cluck!" or even "You're asking the wrong amnesiac!" Other things we might remember would be where to find an Easter egg or where to locate a certain password, or remembering where to enter 3*72 to turn off an alarm.

Here's something that a few of us have memorized: the tapestry poem in Nancy's room in Message in a Haunted Mansion. "Listen my child..."

Have you been able to recite the poem by heart?

Head's up! Twitter Quote contest is today!

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #227

It's a beautiful day here at Her Interactive. The sky is blue, the sun is out, it's freezing cold, and the geese are ice skating on the slough.

During lunch today we played board games, as we often do on Fridays. When we get back to our desks, we are busy working on art and logic bugs to get ready for Beta week next week. (Beta is a decent, playable game build, but still has a lot of missing art or details to it.) Once we hit a Beta build it will get busy for me.

Random Picture of the Day: I have the feathered boa and feathers of shame from playing hackysack.

At the moment, I'm snooping through the latest game build files, and working on some merchandise things. What has been on my mind all day, though, is the music from Message in a Haunted Mansion, and wanting to play Treasure in the Royal Tower because it is winter-themed. Will you be replaying a Nancy Drew game this weekend?

Here's your weekend puzzle, good luck!

Ca B H Al Ca Sa F

We also have a birthday!

Also, if you are in college, love Nancy Drew, and know how to edit videos...check this out.

~Little Jackalope~

Playing for Second Chances

One of the fun things about playing a Nancy Drew game are "second chances". While they are very appreciated at the times where you fail at something or do something wrong, these second chance sequences can also be entertaining.

Have you ever purposefully made a mistake or purposefully done something wrong in the game just to see what would happen? A few examples would be these:

1. Curse of Blackmoor Manor: Down in the conservatory where the plants are, if you click on the giant carnivorous plant more than once.
2. Message in a Haunted Mansion: in the front hall, up on the staircase, you choose to unravel the chandelier rope for no particular reason.
3. The Final Scene: up on the balcony, when you look over the ledge to try to get something that is slightly out of reach.
4. Danger on Deception Island: Making a bad sandwich and giving it to Katie when she says she is hungry.

I love this moment:

The reaction I receive when I did something awful... is priceless. What is your favorite second chance sequence?

Instead of a weekend puzzle this weekend, I have another "tease" for you to ponder over and discuss among yourselves. It has to do with our next game, and will also be going into the merchandise store once I am finished formatting it:

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

The Little Spooks

We shared this classic Nancy Drew moment today:

It's another one of my favorites. When you hear the whisper "I seeeeeeee yooooooooou" on the staircase and when you look at just the right moment at the girl portrait on the wall...she blinks. This is perhaps one of the scariest moments playing a Nancy Drew game for the first time! The scare factor has left since that first play-through, but I will always remember how on-edge I was playing it.

As for the weekend puzzle, it looks like you have solved it! You use [binary or ASCII] code. The magnifying glasses indicate a digit in the column. The first column from the right is the "1", then next to it is "2", then "4" and "8" and the last one (first on the left) is "16". Simply do the math to find each row's number value and then then identify the letter in the alphabet.

You should get this: [Behind the Cameras] which indicates two different things. That's all I will say!

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Production in Rain

We've pretty much started our fall season here in Washington. Thunderstorms and heavy rain showers remind me mostly of Message in a Haunted Mansion, or at least the opening scene for it. I hope we have more thunder and lightning in our future games, because that is a classic scary-game-style element.

"So what's going on around the office?" You might ask. Well, I'm glad you asked! The production team is going through the final stages of testing and getting the game ready for Gold Master -- the final game build that gets sent for replication. All of your games will be made from that single disk. I think we call it "gold" because it's the heart of all the games. Something like that.

I may have already mentioned that lots of banging has been going on above us, because we are getting a new roof. I tried taking a few snapshots to share:

And today many of us (dodging the rain drops) ventured out to today's visiting food truck. Fish tacos, hooray!! I'm still waiting for a gumbo truck to come by with someone wearing a plaid red shirt...

We are releasing something tomorrow, something you may not have expected, but just as fun as everything else! It is SPY-related. Oh I wish I could say. I wish I knew how to read music. I'd give you a... arg!

Never mind. No more hints.

Stay tuned!

Aaaaaaaand we've got some special birthdays today!!

~Little Jackalope~

Startling Moments!

Today is a good day to start talking about the game play of Ghost of Thornton Hall. One of the true things about the older games (when I didn't know what was going to happen) that made me nervous was every time that I was about to turn a corner, or enter a new environment. Who knew that a shadowy figure would walk across the halls in Message in a Haunted Mansion? Or that a crow would nearly fly into your face in The Haunting of Castle Malloy?

Here in the office, one of the scare styles we like to incorporate to scary games, or thriller games, is the element of surprise. When you least expect it (or totally anticipate it) something will happen suddenly to startle you! Have you had this Nancy Drew moment before?

Did we startle you in Ghost of Thornton Hall? How about in Shadow at the Water's Edge? Does Message in a Haunted Mansion still get to you and make you nervous? If so, we recommend this Nancy Drew-type advice:

If you have played Ghost of Thornton Hall already, are there any other games you are missing from your mystery collection? With school letting out soon and summer being just around the corner, this may be a good time to catch up on some unsolved cases!

Head's up! Tomorrow we announce the 100 mask winners on our site!
~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~

Day Six for Pre-Orders

The pre-orders continue for GTH! Sounds like several of you solved the GTH weekend puzzle, some of you only mad it half-way, and a few were thinking there was supposed to be more to it... *insert evil grin*.

Here's what you do to solve it: First identify all of the missing letters (if you need help with this, simply watch the first half of the official trailer for Ghost of Thornton Hall. It's all dialogue from this video). The missing letters spell this: [Every third color]. Using this information, count [every third colored letter] to get this final answer: [See what he sees and leave]. Which is a reference to something inside Ghost of Thornton Hall that wouldn't make sense at this moment...but will once you have played it. ;)

The scary games marathon continues! How many of you have played Message in a Haunted Mansion (either this weekend or anytime in the past)? One of my favorite parts of this game was getting to see a ghost in this mirror:

And of course, anticipating every spooky or startling sound...

This week I shall begin Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake...and dream of having a basement someday of my own so that I can decorate it like Mickey Malone's speakeasy...but instead I will serve sodas from the spigots and ice cream from the fridge behind the counter. And my friends will play Scopa at the card tables. And I will have a dog named Xander who just hangs out waiting for someone to drop their ice cream...

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #193...and a Marathon!

Day four of Ghost of Thornton Hall pre-orders! From what I've been hearing/reading lately is that some of you are doing game marathons before GTH becomes available, this is awesome! However it's a little late to attempt to play 27 games before May 7th, it might be more doable to play all the "scary" games before then.

Let's see, 3 full weeks between here and May 7th, and 4 full weekends...and I personally count 7 games to be "scary" or "creepy", so that's 1 game on weekdays, and 1 game each weekend... anyone want to join me?  I'm starting with Message in a Haunted Mansion first. :)

But for the rest of us who have a little more time on our hands...and who want an insider clue from GTH, you can try solving the weekend puzzle here, enjoy!

It's a birthday crazy weekend! Happy birthday to all these wonderful super sleuths!

~Little Jackalope~

Designing a Room: Abby

I was digging through our art archives again (still one of my favorite pastimes) and came across some art I did not recognize in Message in a Haunted Mansion, so of course, I'm sharing. (^.^)

Check it out! Some early room designs for Abby Sideris! The first two, of course, were design ideas that didn't make the cut. The last one was the final choice, and what you see in the game.

The first seems like a room Nancy would stay in; it's pretty, simple and charming. The second looks more like a traditional country bedroom...or maybe even a Victorian-themed room which would be appropriate for the house. I personally like the last design, it best suits Abby with its dark purples and night-sky feel. Quite celestial!

Twitter quote contest is going on now, head over and participate for a chance to win a Message in a Haunted Mansion digital guide!

Also, new poll on your right!
~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~

Nancy Drew Castle Adventure (part 2)

As promised, here are a few more photos of Phoenix's and my Nancy Drew adventure from this last weekend.

As mentioned yesterday, we went to Manresa Castle, which inspired Message in a Haunted Mansion and Treasure in the Royal Tower. This castle is an Inn and a restaurant. There have been stories of hauntings here, and I heard that when the Her Interactive team visited and spent the night a long time ago, one of the team members got spooked and left in the middle of the night!

Phoenix and I only stayed for dinner (in the turret/tower!!), so we didn't spend enough time trying to find ghosts. Do any of these areas look familiar? (~.^)

Hey! We have a caption contest going up today on Facebook! When we post the photo, submit your best caption for a chance to win a prize! Head over now!

Also, Phoenix posted a new video up on YouTube for our Kickstarter page here. Also, Megan and Stuart provide an update to our Kickstarter campaign as well here.
~Little Jackalope~

Nancy Drew Castle Adventure (part 1)

Last weekend Phoenix and I went on a Nancy Drew adventure (check out Monday's post for the Danger on Deception Island adventure post). Look where else we went!

This is Manresa Castle! It's the very castle that the Her Interactive team visited and stayed the night at as part of research for Message in a Haunted Mansion and Treasure in the Royal Tower. We took pictures:

Look! They had a garden on the grounds! I couldn't help but think we were in Ezra Wickford's secret garden...

And these are just a few pictures from the outside, we had dinner reservations and went inside to explore a little...I will have to share these with you in another post. (~.^)

Head's up! Twitter Quote Contest is going on today!
~Little Jackalope~

A Play on Names: Louis

I discovered and learned something today that I did not know before! (So excited, I had to share.) I had to look up the word chandelier to make sure I was spelling it correctly, and the dictionary said that the word of origin was "chandler". I thought, "Hey, wasn't that Louis's last name in Message in a Haunted Mansion?" Indeed it was.

So I looked up the word "chandler", and one of the definitions said "...a person who makes or sells candles..." and another definition said "a dealer or trader in supplies, provisions...". How cool is that? Louis, the antique dealer of Chandler Interiors! Those of you who have played the game will understand the irony of his name and how funny the first definition is. ;) I won't spoil it for the others, but if you haven't played MHM, play it! It's sooo cool, and pretty spooky if you like that thrill!

I just thought this was fascinating, after 11 years I finally understood the connection, and it was a magical moment.

Has anyone else noticed Ralph, the security guard's last name from the second game? Guardino. Haha.

~Little Jackalope~