Tasklist in a hurry for April

With the end of March comes the rush of hurrying and scurrying to prepare for April. Images are being edited and critiqued, printed art is being proofed, sound files have been edited, and words are getting typed up. I have a rather huge task list today. It includes:
1. Check to see if certain game quotes are accurate
2. Make professional friends online
3. Post something interesting
4. Update the monthly special image
5. Eat a cookie
6. Keep Sonny Joon from distracting me
7. Burn a CD

There's a lot more than that. It's sure exciting though, keeping on my toes, multi-tasking etc!
Oh, by the way, we're a little excited about making the New York Times list of best books on an iPad. Check it out!
Tomorrow's April Fool's day! I'll be sure to have a treat for you then. I hope you are a fan of doodling...

~Little Jackalope~

Secrets and Meetings

Hey all! It's Wednesday and that means Twitter Quote contest! Whoo-hoo! By the way, I'll mention this: if you are a winner, check your Twitter message box, because that's how we will communicate with you concerning your prize. Message us back the same way.

There have been several people coming in to the office today for really important meetings. See here:

Friday is coming, do you know what that means? April Fools! I may have something special for you then...but you'll just have to wait and see. It involves some sound effects (which I have been listening to lately). Just a note: there is some fun music in our games!

I've got to sneak into a very top-secret meeting, gotta go!

~Little Jackalope~

Fidget here, fidget there.

One of the 3D artists gave me a quick peak at what he was working on for an upcoming game! It was so awesome and I'm super excited about it! The little sneak I got was of a female character in a sitting position, and he showed me her animated fidgets. A fidget is a small movement a character makes, usually while in one position. When you watch a character from a distance, they are moving in some small way, so they appear more life-like. For example: Detective Beech moves his arm as he brings his drink to his mouth. Don't forget the tilt of his head and the occasional blinking of the eyes! Or there's Donal in The Haunting of Castle Malloy as he nods his head, trying to stay awake, or when he moves his hand to make a point.

~Donal making his point~

It's those little things that we sometimes take for granted that make up the intricate qualities of animated characters and makes them all the more realistic. Do you have a favorite animation sequence or fidget? I can't wait for you to see the new characters in the next games, the wait will be worth seeing these animations, I think!

Ta-ta for now!

~Little Jackalope~

Green in March

I've got a few things March related to share with you today. With this being the last week to purchase The Haunting of Castle Malloy for 25% off, we created a screen saver for it. (This is today's free download.) Download it here.

It's Irish month, and Sonny Joon thought it would be nice to balance out these characters' outfits, unfortunately the leprechaun gnome doesn't like his new look. (The coatimundi will always look evil. They are after all, very fearsome creatures.)

The weekend puzzle was solved rather quickly! Here's how it was done: [Find the answer to every line and then re-arrange the answers in numerical order.] The answers are: [1. Dread Isle 2. Applegate (MHM) 3. Necklaces (CRE) 4. GPS (TOT) 5. Easter eggs 6. Rentaro (SAW) 7. Owen Spayder (STFD) 8. Nick Falcone (FIN) 9. Dungeness crabs (DDI) 10 Enrico Tazza (VEN) 11. Carousel (CAR) 12. Edgar Allan Poe (WAC) 13. Pawprints (DOG) 14. Teeth (CRY) 15. Ingrid Corey (CAR) 16. Ohm (CAR) 17. Ned Nickerson 18. Isis (ICE) 19. Six (SSH) 20. Loquat (CRY) 21. Antoinette (TRT) 22. Noisette (DAN) 23. Dave Gregory (SHA)] Read the first letter of every answer to get the following: [Danger on Deception Island].

Nice job, detectives!
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #96

I came in to a dark, quiet office. It must be Friday, or vacation time. There is a little excitement, though. The March newsletter is here!! Check it out on our web site if you haven't susbscribed to it, yet.

Wow, only a few more weeks until we have had our 100th weekend puzzle! I'll be the one handing you over these puzzles, and I only hope to do as well as Novel has on updating you these past Fridays.


Here you go, click here for an enlarged version:


Cheers!

~Little Jackalope~

A trip over to production.

I'd thought to step out of my little cubicle and venture over to my favorite production department to see how the guys are faring.

Upon my arrival I heard the tail-end of an interesting conversation about ESRB ratings on older games, and something about comic books. Yeah, conversations in that corner are rather educational, so to speak.

One feature of the production department I noticed right away are the decorations. There's a lot of notes tacked up on their walls, here's an image; This one's from the Hardy Boys' Treasure on the Tracks DS game from a couple of years ago:
They also have pictures of one of their scripters posted everywhere. And I mean everywhere! There's a production department joke about it, too. His face is posted on the walls, a calendar, a life-sized poster called Jameolas (spelling debatable), is featured on mouse pads and even miniature-sized images on every key on the computer keyboard. It's awesome.



I'll have to drop by again because there's too much awesomeness to take in on one trip to Production. It could be overwhelming for some visitors. ;)


Hopping back to work,
~Little Jackalope~

Gloss and Embossing

I went snooping around, looked through a couple of boxes, got dust all over my fingers, and found something interesting. This was last year's embossing and gloss proof of the Nancy Drew Triple Threat set cover design. The green represents the gloss and the purple is where it will be embossed. We make sure that everything lines up and that the outlines and edges are accurate before it goes to print.

~The final piece is on the left (because it's shiny)~

Congrats to the sleuths who cracked the weekend puzzle! It's pretty easy once you know what code is being used. In this case it was the [Templar Code]. Once you have all of the letters, read it top-to-bottom, left-to-right. It will say [Green with CAP envy].

~Little Jackalope~

More on beautiful environments.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today at the office! Spring is good here; the rain does quite a good job at keeping everything green and colorful, fresh and new, so when the sun comes out, everything shines gloriously! I made a comment to a fellow worker about how the sun coming up behind the mountain and illuminating the vast green grass and tall pine trees made me think of Ireland. Not sure why, because I've never been to Ireland, and I'm also not sure what kind of trees they have over there. Note to self, ask somebody who has been!

Oh, wait. Does The Haunting of Castle Malloy count as 'been to Ireland'? Although it was dark, there were still plenty of foliage around the castle. The garden had plenty of beautiful flowers, along with the front arching entrance to the grounds. At least in-game we don't have to smell the nasty bog, or really get wet walking through it. By the way, this game is still on sale for 25% off through this March, so if you don't have it, check it out!

Random picture for the day: a miniature glitter globe on my desk. I love this thing! It's creates a party-like atmosphere for my cubicle.
Weekend puzzle still at bay? Yesterday's hint refers to an old code used by a secret group of knights, so to speak. Let's get code cracking! :)

~Little Jackalope~

A sad day...with bricks.

We had to say goodbye to a dear friend this weekend, because he is moving on to a new case of his own. His hard work, fun presense, and clever use of words will be greatly missed, but it is time to let him move on to a new adventure. ;(

Sad thoughts aside, I've been doing a little clutter organizing on my computer, along with some art cleaning. It's all in preparation for next month's specials, updates, downloads and everything else that might surprisingly pop up. We always try to remain one step ahead.

Take a look at this! This was left on my desk: a nicely wrapped package of 100% authentic (and heavy) red bricks. I learned this is a long-running joke between the Production and Marketing departments, something about when the cubicles got moved around. Now I get them, and I'm trying to find a reason to pass them on...or give them back. ^.^

~One of three huge bricks~

There are a few changes going on here in the office, so our home site might be delaying its updates, no worries, I haven't forgotten you! The download for the week is another Haunting of Castle Malloy bookmark. Here it is.

Weekend puzzle hasn't been touched, yet? Here's a hint to push you in the right direction [The code is medieval.]

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

We've wrapped up another week of mystery and fun! It looks like we've still got some interesting content coming your way, so make sure to stop back by next week and partake in the good times! I'm sure Jackalope will provide many amusing pictures to compliment the news updates. :) But to tide you over this weekend, maybe you're looking for a little mental stimulation, no? Alright, let's get to it.

- Weekend Puzzle -

Hint: For old things, left to right isn't the best way.

--

Good luck, sleuths! We'll be seeing you. ^.~

- Novel -

A bit delayed today

I apologize for the delayed post today, it's been a bit busy today. We've got some last-minute projects to get done before the weekend and boy, do our schedules get filled quite fast! I've been mixing some game screenshots together with images that don't normally belong together, which is fun, but it's a little tedious trying to make them fit together nicely. It's like I'm trying to hide the genuine work of art beneath a new image. Sneaky.

I find it fascinating how there are so many hidden compartments, rooms, and hidden objects that people from the past have worked so hard to get a secret, yet Nancy is able to break in in a matter of minutes or hours. She finds things so quickly, I wonder how well Nancy would be able to create a secret compartment. With her knowledge and experience, I doubt many people would be able to discover those secrets.

Lookie:

A Shamrock on my wall!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
~Little Jackalope~

Notebooks

It's been a rather slow day for me today, which is great. There have been a few projects I've been wanting to spend more time on and were put on hold quite a while ago. A little reading, sending a few emails, a little organizing, a little sketch here, a wallpaper there...yep, catching up is good.

Many of us keep a notebook or sketchbook by our side. We take a lot of notes, draw a lot of sketches, and write task lists like crazy. Many of our secrets and important information are hidden in between the lines of these dog-eared books, but there's a slight difficulty to reading them. You have to understand each person's unique handwriting. Pictures are more easy to understand, if you stare at it for a while. Maybe I'll give you a peak at a sketch in my notebook tomorrow.

Until then,Keep it real!

~Little Jackalope~

Familiar project and an iSHA outfit.

Decisions, decisions! I've been working on a familiar project that keeps everyone up to date. It's tricky sometimes trying to figure out what to write, how to elaborate or be detailed, how much to give away and where attention needs to be drawn. The fun part is choosing the correct images and color and laying it all out in a nice, organized, easy-to-look-at design. You'll get to see it soon, when Novel says it's ready. In the meantime, read the Dare to Play Blog posted today for a brief look at the creation process for Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch, we interviewed our Executive Producer for it!

Check it out, this is me in my Shadow Ranch get-up, complete with weird-shaped boomerangs in my holsters to defend myself from pesky coyotes.

Hip-hopping back to work.
~Little Jackalope~

Teasing and Puzzle Culprits

Lately a few of us hard workers have been contemplating the slow release of teasing clues and hints for the next game. I find it enjoyable to read every one's theories and thought process on the message boards, deciding if we nudged or gestured to something that may or may not be a genuine crumb trail. This is a creative time for us as we scheme and plot devious ways to introduce ND24. Mwa-ha! It's torture, isn't it? Well, just know that good things come in a timely manner and we don't mean to keep you in the dark forever. :)

We have a newly finished 3D puzzle that somebody put together (we aren't sure who the sneaky genius is who put in the last few pieces. I'm going to sniff them out, track them down and tell them that they almost got away with the last touches if they hadn't forgotten the missing spires). Congrats to them, though. This means I've got to find a new puzzle to bring in for us to do.

~Front Facade of Notre Dame Cathedral~

Congrats to the sleuths who cracked the weekend puzzle! Here's how it was done: [Find the missing letters to the song. The numbers direct you to the letter in the alphabet you need to move over to to get the correct solution.
Here are the missing letters: MEAETYDWKD]

Solution:
[M move 1 right = N
E move 10 right = O
A move 2 right = C
E move 3 right = H
T move 15 right = I
Y move 4 right = C
D move 7 right = K
W move 8 right = E
K move 3 right = N
D move 15 right = S]

Answer: [No Chickens]

Ta-ta for now!
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hey-o peeps!

It's finally Friday. We've had one doozy of a week here! Lots of game testing, Shadow Ranch review-reading, and puzzle building. Speaking of which; Jackalope has created yet another masterpiece for you all to solve. Let's get to it.

- Weekend Puzzle -

Ho_e, hom_ on the r_nge
Wh_re the deer and the an_elope pla_.
where sel_om is heard a discouraging _ord
And the s_ies are not clou_y all day.

Hint:
Over 1.10.2.3.15.4.7.8.3.15 End.

--

Good luck, sleuths! Stay awesome!

- Novel -

Sick faces and some laughter.

I've been following the latest episodes of the "Continuing Adventures of Detective Private iPad" (episode 5 went up today), and I must say; they are quite funny!

Continuing yesterday's work of collecting images, today I came across a picture of a character whose face I don't remember looking this way. When I found it, I started laughing. See this:

-Katie Firestone eating a bad sandwich-

Yep, it's that sick face. This got me thinking about all the other times Nancy got sick from eating something. I liked making jellyfish sandwiches, but I doubt Nancy appreciated that. I thought it a worthy second chance experience (one that I enjoy losing over).

Today has been a busy meeting day for many hard workers here. They have lots of planning, synchronising, debating, and creative topics to share with each other. While this is "very" serious business, I often hear laughter coming from the meeting room just down the hall. Think we enjoys meetings? I know I sure do. Even if I'm not in one, it sure is fun to here some laughter around the corner.

Hip-hopping to work,
~Little Jackalope~

Picture-taking and awesome glasses.

I've been digging for the right images that will go on our website. Sometimes after much archive diving and fishing, trying to get the right catch, I sometimes find it is best and fastest to simply turn on the game, play for a minute and get myself to the right environment. The characters are a little bit harder to work with. I want to capture just the right smile or fun facial expression, but getting them to say "cheese" won't work, at least for the non-Waverly characters it won't. I often have to strike up a conversation with a character, and while they aren't looking...*snap*! I take their picture and check to see if I timed it right. My "oh bother! Try, try again!" moments come when their eyes are closed, or if they have a silly expression on their face.

Speaking of silly faces, look what I found while snooping in the kitchen (again): Glasses that look just like Helfdan's from Resorting to Danger! Perhaps these were the inspiration for them. I wonder if Novel would try them on...

-Helfdan's Glasses-

Paparazzi out!
~Little Jackalope~

Little Squares of Art

Guess what I get to do? Create Avatars for the Message Boards!! Yeah, I get real excited about these little things. I've done a few before, but this new bunch is for a few of the newer games, and there's no telling when they will be available. It could be a while. Do you have a favorite avatar to use on the boards? I used to keep the same one, but now with newer and different images available from December, I like to switch out between a few favorites.

Some of the research I get to do for these include searching our archives for screenshots and saved working files for the best quality image, playing selected areas of the game to find the missing images needed, and of course, learning about what you guys like and want. I often come across images I've never really noticed before that are hidden in the game. This is super fun research! Let me know what the best sort of avatars are, so I can be sure to make better ones in the future.

Check this out! I was snooping in the kitchen through a few boxes near the snacks (guilty me) and came across these cool masks:

-Frankenstein and a Mummy-

Getting back to my avatars, (no peeking!)
~Little Jackalope~

The Build of a Climax

There' s a bit of a lull during this time in the office, being in between games and all, but we at Her Interactive are anticipating the rush of a million tasks that will jump out of the dark and say "attack"! Yep, we love a good build-up in game production.

Many good stories have good build-ups and climaxes that take our breath away and leave us asking for more after the story ends, it's what makes it so exciting. I remember reading a few Nancy Drew books where I'm anticipating the part where she gets caught in a suspenceful, thrilling chapter where she is snooping somewhere she shouldn't be, or is about to discover the final clue that would crack the case wide open. It's those moments I immerse myself into the story for, and it's also fun to live those moments, when we build up to the climax. I'm sure you all love the climax too, that is, when a new game comes out. We are currently working on the begining of the build-up, making sure our ducks are in a row and preparing to release them one-by-one. Keep a weather eye on the horizon! The build-up will eventually begin in front of your eyes.

Hooray for the sleuths who solved the weekend puzzle! This one was an easy one, of course.
First you [Find the character's corresponding first or last name.] Here's their correct names: [Foxworthy’s First = Emily (MHM)
Dave’s Last = Gregory (SHA)
John’s (glasses) Last = Grey (TRN)
Joon’s First = Sonny (SSH)
Randall’s First= Ollie (ICE)
Ned’s Last = Nickerson
Woodham’s First = Savannah (SAW)
Butterly’s First = Hugo (DAN)
Eustacia’s Last = Andropov (FIN)
Donal’s Last = Delany (HAU)
Spayder’s First = Owen (STD)
Lillian’s Last = Weiss (STD)
Joanna (striped shirt)’s Last = Riggs (SSH)
Richard’s (scientist) Last = Aiken (CRE)
Falcone’s First = Nick or Nicholas (FIN)
Elliot’s Last = Chen (CAR)
Rachel’s Last = Hubbard (WAC) ] And you take those name's [first letter to create this sentence: Eggs on Shadow Ranch] Ta-da!


Keep it real!
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle 93

Hello!

I hope everyone's had a great week. I see that Little Jackalope has managed to keep everyone up-to-date on all of the office distractions, and of course the latest on launches. We've been enjoying cake and cathedrals this week, so all-in-all it's been a pretty good one. Hopefully we'll have some great new surprises next week. ^.~

Time to test that sleuth-y brain of yours! This week's puzzle is pretty awesome, check it out.

- Weekend Puzzle -

Foxworthy’s First
Dave’s Last
John’s (glasses) Last
Joon’s First
Randall’s First
Ned’s Last
Woodham’s First
Butterly’s First
Eustacia’s Last
Donal’s Last
Spayder’s First
Lillian’s Last
Joanna (striped shirt)’s Last
Richard’s (scientist) Last
Falcone’s First
Elliot’s Last
Rachel’s Last

--

That's all for this week, we'll see you on Monday! Good luck sleuths!

- Novel -

Characters in Production

I had a nice chat with our Character Designer today. He's been working on some cool new concepts and a few of his characters have already been sent to get all rigged up (after going 3D they get joints and such so that the animators can move them). I'm excited to see the results of their work! It's also pretty amazing how fast and early a lot of the work here gets done, while some people are working on the finishing touches of a project, some are already working on the next. Ah, the cycle of production!

The office kitchen puzzle that we are working on is coming rather slow, and no, it is not a castle. It is (like a few of you so cleverly figured out) the Notre Dame cathedral from Paris. It makes me think of Danger by Design, although we didn't get to visit it in the game. We love cool architecture. :)

For those of you following the Nancy Drew Radio Mysteries, the 4th episode was posted the other day! Check it out.

Hopping back to work!
~Little Jackalope~

Focus and Mulit-tasking

Something odd about our weather (rain-sun-wind-rain-repeat, in one day) must be making everyone in the office sneeze. Just a ponder.

It's been a day of reading reviews (yes, we do a lot of this reading), and catching up on some smaller, yet important tasks. For instance: I've been trucking away on some Secrets Can Kill Remastered and Shadow At the Water's Edge art pieces for some web sites that need thumbnails, screenshots, box shots and the like. Making sure each image is the right size and format requires good focus, a trait also very important to solving a case (and determining the correct culprit).

Some workers here at HI are good at focusing on one project at a time, while others (like me) work better when working on two or more at a time. I find it fascinating how Nancy can take every aspect of a case and connect its dots to make sense of all random thoughts, clues, and twists, making everything connect. She seems to think and focus on everything often at once, which is necessary, definitely a multi-tasker and multi-thinker!

The office is working on a new 3D puzzle! Here's the base:

Keep it real, savvy?
~Little Jackalope~

Random Thoughts and Multiple Distractions

I have several random thoughts and tasks to focus on. So many little things in such little time to do them, maybe it feels like this because February just flew by and it feels too early to end a month. March is here, though green madness is just waiting to burst forth and present itself in a grand spectacle. I'm trying to think up crafty things to do in honor of this month, particularly with the Irish holiday coming up. Any ideas how to decorate a cubicle or get festive in an office? So far my only thought is to play The Haunting of Castle Malloy and cut out shamrocks from green paper to post on my wall.

Other random thoughts include:

1. Upload the last of the game trailers
2. Think about the newsletters
3. Eat a cookie
4. Eat another cookie
5. Put together a few thumbnails
6. Doodle pictures all over Novel's calendar on the wall
7. Make a bookmark or two, maybe a third for fun
8. Read the dare to play blog posted today
9. Don't get distracted by the puzzle in the kitchen

Random picture from last week: Chocolate Castle Cake!

~Little Jackalope~

Packages and Scares

Monday, Monday, Monday! I'm glad to come to HI on Mondays. It means a new adventurous week in the office (well, as adventurous as an office could be). Today I mailed out some games to anxious fans. See the tower of fun the mailman gets to take with him? It's practically toppled over. What should I call it? The leaning tower of mystery? Santa's bundle? Suspicious packages? Nah, nix that last one, we wouldn't want to send the wrong message. I've been testing the latest game build (still, it's taking me a while and I have distractions), but for the first time ever I came to a part where I really did fly back in my chair and yell out loud. Kind of an embarrassing thing to do in a quiet office. I am proud of this team for successfully scarring me. Three cheers for them, they got me!

Playing games kind take up a lot of time, note to self: sometime this week I should work on some missing wallpapers and bookmarks. Speaking of which, there is a new bookmark up from The Phantom of Venice! Check it out!

Congrats to the super sleuth who cracked the weekend puzzle in less than two hours! Here's the solution:
[Draw up an analogue clock. Beginning with 1 o’clock, label each number with letters. Continue lettering the numbers around the clock, stacking up doubles and some triples. Place the lined circle over this clock and connect the dots to the accompanying letter. The numbers from the puzzle reference which stacked letter to include. The starting point is at 8 o’clock and the clue refers to the second letter (T) and then the 1st (H). It then goes to 5 o’clock referring to the first letter (E) and so on. The “1st and 1st” means to double that same letter (LL).]

Spoiler Answer: [The Haunting of Castle Malloy]

Take care!

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hellos!

The excitement has been quite high, what with the launch of Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch. We released a whole slew of great entertainment to go with it; trailers, contests, radio shows, and more! You can check out a lot of the coverage in this month's newsletter. Have you had a chance to play Shadow Ranch yet?

We're getting you set up for the weekend with a brand new puzzle - check it out!

- Weekend Puzzle -

Directions: 2nd and 1st. 1st. 1st. 1st. 2nd. 2nd. 2nd. 1st. 2nd. 1st. 2nd. 1st. 1st. 1st. 2nd. 2nd. 1st. 1st. 2nd and 1st. 1st and 1st. 2nd. 3rd.

Hint: The alpha is at 1:00AM but the end isn't till 2:00AM comes around again.

--

Good luck, puzzlers!

- Novel -

Winter Celebration

Yesterday was up-beat and exciting in the office with the release of Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch. We celebrated with amazingly cute cupcakes (and yes, I did get my red velvet with butter cream frosting, it was wonderful). Today is much quieter and here's why: It is a winter wonderland over here! I suppose some office workers made a safe decision to stay at home. It's too bad, because many of us went out to lunch for a well-deserved meal after a hard week's worth of scurrying.

My to-do list includes testing the latest game and documenting a few things, and to think about weekend puzzles. By the way, you sleuths have been doing great on cracking them. What are your favorite type of weekend puzzles? Is there a type of puzzle you wish for more of? Any new styles come to mind? I'd be glad to hear your thoughts on this!

~Little Jackalope~

iSHA Released! Yee-haw!

Hiyo! Today is a very exciting day for us! Our new series Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries has finally released Shadow Ranch for the iPadTM, iPhone®, and iPod Touch®! The office is buzzing to keep everything in proper order and double-checking it all to see if everything works for this new game. We will have a little celebration today in honor of this (I heard rumors of cupcakes; I hope they will get red velvet with butter cream frosting).

Also, today we will be announcing some lucky contest winners, so keep your eyes pealed for further tidbits!

As for me, I'll be playing the latest game build (my first testing round) and I'm excited to see a complete environment (it's so unique)!! I might find the time to maybe possibly squeeze in some video uploading and art creating for a few websites...but I like the idea of spending a whole day testing a new game. We'll see.

Office update: it was supposed to snow here, but the snow decided to bypass the office and is down pouring in nearby towns. It may or may not impact our work this week, we'll just have to wait and see.
Office image: Our finished castle puzzle #2:
Props to you sleuths for solving last weekend's puzzle (and shame on me for overlooking that the other day)!
Solution: [You need to count the words in the Shadow Ranch PC game's page summary. The first number refers to the word, the second letter refers to the letter in that word.] Answer: [Dave or Ned].

~Little Jackalope~

iSHA Suspense Build-up!

Hey howdy hey! Have a good weekend? I was a bit bored (don't tell anyone, but I like working when it's working here at Her Interactive). Since we were gone yesterday, everyone has been thinking today's Monday and we are scrambling to get two days' worth of work accomplished in one day. Exciting but busy!

While working on a new daily task list I found a sketch in my notepad from many months prior. It was a doodle I did while in an important meeting. Yeah, our creative minds never cease the creativity output.Hey! New wallpaper is up for download featuring an image from Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch, which is releasing tomorrow!! (I'm excited.)

Nobody started the weekend puzzle from last week? Well here's a push in the right direction: "Our site is an important tool."

Gotta get back to iSHA projects!

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hello all,

I hope this Friday finds you fine. We're all excited for the release of Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch. The launch is happening next week on February 23rd! Can you believe it? Plus we'll be announcing the winners and answer to the "Case of the Missing iPad" contest on the same day. Next week is going to be busy. And as Jackalope said, we're out on Monday. Ahh well, that's just one extra day to crack this week's puzzle. Check it out:

- Weekend Puzzle -

(33.1)(52.2)(64.3)(4.7)(14.3)(2.1)(58.6)(8.4)(23.1)

Hint: Discovering The Secret of Shadow Ranch, is all in how you summarize it.

--

Good luck detectives! We'll see you on Tuesday.

- Novel -

Fussy Machines

I started my day off with spilling tea on my shirt and sweater. Oops. Next I uploaded a few trailers to our other channels and documented the ones already up. After that I was informed that a brand new video went up! Yay! The second episode of the Nancy Drew Radio Mystery series with detective Private iPadTM continues its suspenseful saga. Be sure to check it out.

Next on my task list was to print some labels, but the silly printer was giving me attitude. With the help of a savvy few people we were able to make it cooperate.

On the topic of machines and labels, here's our disc replicator: this super machine copies and shoots out games from a master disc. After awaking from a sixth-month hibernation it didn't want to work, as if it was still rusty and trying to stretch its muscles. After our tech team gave it stern talking-to, it grudgingly submitted, and is making an abundance of early game builds, ready for testing!

Here's a sneak peak at what a few of us do in our spare time: yet again, another teasing image of an awesome castle puzzle! This time it's an image of the front (last image was of the backside). Until Tuesday (oh, just a note: we won't be here for President's Day Monday, so enjoy the puzzle releasing tomorrow and all the cool trailers we have until then.)

Ta-ta for now!
~Little Jackalope~

On the matter of Castles.

So I suppose we've been teasing some readers with all the super awesome stuff we do here at HI, including the things we do on our break times. Building castles out of foam puzzle pieces is such a relaxing yet brain-teasing pasttime, and we love them. They make for nice trophy displays and conversation pieces here, especially for the season of castle creating in our games.

While the castle in Treasure in the Royal Tower was lovely and the ruined castle in The Haunting of Castle Malloy was creepy and ominous, the castle in our latest game will be different. It will be it's own unique environment with its own unique secrets and its own unique beauty (can I stress the beauty more? It's gorgeous!) If you have some spare time, I recommend doing a little research on German castles, it will be even more exciting when you get to play the game.

We've been working on a new, smaller castle puzzle during our lunch breaks. Here's a peak at it, albeit still unfinished:

New Twitter quote contest today! Tweet your answer for a chance to win a digital download game!

~Little Jackalope~

The World of Nancy Drew + Feathers

Isn't it amazing how many different things Nancy has done in the games? I find it so much fun trying things in the games that I would never get to do in real life, and other things I've never even thought of doing. How often have you climbed caves to look for bats, or disarm a bomb, or explore hidden rooms? Not to mention all the second chances (and still get to live through them). My personal favorite is getting to explore the different environments and cultures of different countries. These games offer a world (fictional and some non-fictional) of opportunities that we can enjoy in the comfort of our homes. It's fun to say to someone "the first time I drove a car was in The Secret of the Old Clock" or "I know what an ohm is and what a soldering gun does" or "of course I discovered a small fortune, it's just on the screen and not in my hands". How cool is that? What experiences were new to you when you played the games?

On a side note, I got to experience a new outdoor game with the HI team when I started here and just the other day earned the "Feathers of Shame". Here's my temporary trophy:I hope to pass these feathers on to someone else, but it's raining outside, so I will wallow in humiliation. (This is actually quite a funny situation among office folk).

Today's the last day to submit your entry into the Nancy Drew Missing iPad contest. Check out the video and send your solution to solved@herinteractive.com.

~Little Jackalope~

Valentine's Day Update.

It's a sure busy Monday! People brought in some cookies and cupcakes to share (how nice!). There is a lot of things I want to mention, oh where to start...?

There is new carpeting in the entrance to our offices (and we can still smell the new carpet adhesive), I saved a ladybug's life, had a coffee meeting with Novel, there was an office shout-out email to an artist working on a very important puzzle (which I heard is quite intricate and it has been a battle with making it work without any problems) and he has done such a wonderful job! I had to snoop through the art files to find this mini game, it's looking great!

We have been busy with getting these games ready, especially with the Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch (iSHA), have you seen any of the new trailers and fun old time radio show for the iPad and Nancy? Don't miss out on that new series! Also, check out the new iSHA wallpaper to download from our homepage. Who-hoo!

Congrats to the sleuth(s) that solved last week's puzzle without hints! For those who have not seen the solve, here it is: [Each set is a letter found on the buttons of a phone; (3.2) refers to button 3, 2nd letter which is "E".] Here's what it says: [Eye Shadow].

February's only going to get better!
~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hiyo!

I hope everyone is doing well. We've been busy, as I'm sure you've seen. There's been a whole bunch of new content in the past couple of weeks, and we've got a bit more to go! Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch is on its way, and we're giving it the "red carpet" treatment. Expect to hear more soon!

But it's Friday, so on to the brain-teasing:

- Weekend Puzzle -

(3.2)(9.3)(3.2)(7.4)(4.2)(2.1)(3.1)(6.3)(9.1)

--

Good luck detectives! See you next week. ^.^

- Novel -

Partner Contest Winners!!

Congrats to Kate and Jolee for winning the Nancy Drew Partner Contest!!
(Out of a list of the judges' favorites, these two were picked randomly).

Here's Kate's entry:

"Nancy Drew. You can just tell by her name that she is a determined, smart, and courageous girl detective. She is famous for solving hundreds of mind-baffling mysteries. Hardly anybody can match wits with Nancy Drew. So who has enough true grit to team up with this sleuth? Why, Samantha Quick, of course!

Samantha Quick was introduced in the Nancy Drew PC Adventure Game series in the Phantom of Venice. Nancy has to impersonate Samantha so she can meet Enrico Tazza at the Casa dei Giochi Club in Campo Santa Margherita. She wears a red dress, blonde wig, white gloves, and dark sunglasses to complete the impersonation. Samantha is from the states, but is being educated at the Doppeler Institute for Independent Industrial Arts in Switzerland learning who-knows-what (and is at the top of her class). Apparently, though, she’s a thief, and a pretty good one at that. Stealing the Sadal Melik sapphire (for which Enrico hired her) would probably be a picnic for her, even though Nancy Drew, sleuth extraordinaire, was caught a couple of times. Samantha even phones the detective at the Ca’ Nascosta, where Nancy is staying, right before she is about to steal the sapphire. Samantha knows all about River Heights, and even Ned Nickerson. Although Nancy hardly knows anything about Samantha, Miss Quick certainly seems to know quite a bit about Nancy.

It seems as though Samantha can dig up information about anybody, break into high-Tec security places, and deal with fellow criminals without batting an eye, and all without being caught. If she and Nancy Drew teamed up, they would be just about invincible. You’ve got the sleuth who deducts, snoops, and solves impossible puzzles, and the thief who is living incognito, one foot in the criminal world.

Of course, teaming up with Samantha could have a couple of downfalls, too. Nancy and Samantha would probably have several discussions about obeying the law and breaking it. We all know Nancy stays in the lines as much as possible, while Samantha might jump at the opportunity to bend, if not break, the law. And hanging around a thief could be strange for Nancy, especially if Samantha wore her weird costume all the time. But I’m pretty sure that Samantha and Nancy would resolve all arguments fairly quickly, and that Nancy would gain good experience from being teammates with Samantha-for when she needed to face a real honest-to-goodness criminal.

Even though Nancy and Samantha wouldn’t be the best of pals, they would get used to each other, and work together almost perfectly. Combine an amazing detective who has solved impossible mysteries, and a sly, unknown enigma, and you get a team that could stand up to practically anything and solve the toughest, hardest, most inconceivable cases ever."
_____________________

...And here's Jolee's entry:

"I think if there was any character from the Nancy Drew PC game series that Nancy could team up with best, it would have to be Hilda Swenson from Danger on Deception Island. First of all, Hilda is extremely brilliant- she created all of those puzzles in hope that someone clever enough would come across them someday. Hilda is also nosy (in a good, detective way), which allowed her and her husband to discover all of those secret passageways that they did. Hilda is a master at creating puzzles and passageways, Nancy is a master at solving puzzles and navigating passageways- and they are both very keen. Together, they would be the perfect dynamic duo in solving mysteries! Besides, I personally thought Hilda was a very interesting character that I would love to hear again from in future games and would love to see her in person, rather than over a phone. It would be good to bring back some aspects from older games before they are forgotten."
_____________________


We love reading your thoughts and creative ideas, so keep entering these contests and sweepstakes!
Happy Sleuthing!
~Little Jackalope~

Box Art and Old Radio Shows

We took a look at a proof of a box layout plus the embossing design, it's is pretty cool to see our boxes from its early stages to the finished product. Also, another cover design for a new game is in the process of being fully illustrated (now that the layout design was decided upon). I'm excited to see the finished result! Note to self: find (snoop for) images that will go on the back of the box without getting distracted by the Koko Kringle candy bar wrapper in every folder I look through. How do I always manage to find that when I'm going through files? Or maybe the candy is calling to me...

Contest winners are being selected, so keep an eye out!
Oh! We posted a new video up, it's an old radio-style program mini-series (and it reminds me a little of "Creepy Corner" from The Secret of the Old Clock, but modern 2011 updated).

Congrats for solving last weekend's puzzle! New weekend puzzle on the morrow, heading your way.
~Little Jackalope~

Smelly fridges and clues under our noses. *Sniff*

I'm having quite a different day today. Office updates include the following: There's a new office puzzle we are working on during our lunch breaks in the kitchen, (maybe I'll post a picture when it starts to take formation), something smells in one of our refrigerators and we have yet to find the cause, testing on a few major in-game puzzles have begun, and I get to do some extensive snooping for images of our newest working-in-progress game. Any excuse to peek at the latest work is fun, I can tell you this (and I may have said this before); there are some beautiful environments and puzzles in this game! I'm super excited for the overall look!

By the way, the winners for the "Partner" contest will be posted soon, the judge(s) are spending a lot of time reading the entries. Keep a weather eye out!
Twitter quote contest is up today! Check it out!

New hint for last week's puzzle: "Keys under your nose". (No grammatical error here.) Have at it!
~Little Jackalope~

Office Cases, art, and Cursed Puzzles!

Our production department is scurrying to get a beta build done for some serious testing. This is the fast and busy part for them and I'm excited to test out this early version of the game. (I occasionally sneak a peek at some environment art, which is so beautiful and rich!)

As for me, today I have solved the case of the missing wallet (in the car glove box) and am now on the case of the "Cursed Puzzle #83". Something weird about this puzzle is making it unsolvable and I am determined to find out what the trick is (starting with tracking down its origin).

I have also been busy editing some art from past games and creating a layout design with what we already have. It is really fun to present the games in a nice design that really catches the eye. Studying the game cover art is also real inspiring, which I got to take a peek at (talk about thriller art!) It will be nothing like what you have seen currently on the Internet (although those artists are quite talented) so no worries folks!

Anybody working on last week's puzzle? As soon as you know what to look at, the rest is easy.
Hopping back to work,
~Little Jackalope~

Fans have great minds.

Not much on office news today. It's a Monday and therefore it is the wake-up day of the week. I've been catching up on some art surrounding the game covers, and I've also been reading the message boards. We are very interested in reading about what our fans are talking about, it's so much fun hearing what you predict and expect of the upcoming games, and you always have great ideas for future situations to put Nancy in. Just letting you know that we do take to heart and mind what our fans want!

Oh! Lookie: our office puzzle is complete! Hooray! Now the sad part is going to taking it down...maybe I'll wait until someone mentions it. Can you identify this famous German Castle?

Ooh..the weekend puzzle isn't solved yet? Perhaps my being vague paid off! (I've been trying to best you sleuths for a while now, but you keep cracking these puzzles so quickly!) Here's a hint: "Key" as in verb or noun, not code word or unlocking something.

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

It's Friday!

Yup, that means two wonderful things. One - I get to stop by and spread some end of the week cheer. :) And Two - Weekend Puzzle!

Jackalope's been keeping things running well around here. It has been quite a busy Winter for us. Usually we get a little time to relax at the start of the year, but with the Mobile Mysteries coming at the end of the month we're in launch mode already! Plus I hear that The Captive Curse is starting to go in to some major testing rounds. We're making some good mystery here folks!

On to business - Puzzles. Check it out!

- Weekend Puzzle -

5.10.25.26.23.8.16.16.5.9.3.22.3.11.9.14.25.3.

Hint: Key first, 3x6 next.

--

Good luck to everyone, we'll see you next week.

- Novel -

P.S. Don't forget to enter the "Partner Contest" the deadline is on Monday!

Castles and Cover Art

A little excitement is stirring in the kitchen today; our 3D castle is becoming more vertical! Although there are a few confusing stone pieces left to put together, most of it has yet to be assembled. Here's an image of the courtyard:Besides that I've been working with the cover designs of all our past games, and touching up a few box shots that look so awesome without text. I love looking at them without text! Speaking of images, there are a few wallpaper requests coming in. I may have a talk with Novel about getting those (no guarantees when they will be available, though). I wonder if a Sonny Joon wallpaper would be popular...

Hopping back to work,

~Little Jackalope~

Excitement in the slow times.

This is a really exciting time for some of us in the office (and the perhaps the most infuriating for our fans). Ok, maybe it's exciting only to me, because it's a bit mind-boggling and slow at times. It's the halfway point in creating a game when most of the art is done, the puzzling process of piecing the game together happens, first round of testings have begun, and preparations of presenting the whole game is on our minds.

Earlier we were looking at our old cover designs and went over a few ideas in a discussion about the future cover designs. It's a lot of fun to be in this process to see how the final images are brought together. For an example of this, check out the Secrets Can Kill Remastered game's blog on the cover design process. I'm also excited that I get to work on some new (small) designs that go into the future games. So cool! I hope it works out well.

Twitter quote contest is today, check it out along with the new Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch (iSHA) feature tidbit mentioned earlier.
~Little Jackalope~

The mysterious sounds are not my imagination!

As I may have mentioned before, every once and a while I would hear a horse whinny. It would come from any direction in this office, meaning not only is it coming from different locations, it also moves mid-whinny!

After two months, I finally discovered the source: the new Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries®: Shadow Ranch game, of course. (That explains the moving sounds, it's on a mobile device). More specifically I learned from what part of the game it is coming from. Our executive producer has been testing and timing a few of us office volunteers on a small area where the horse whinnies repeatedly. It was such fun! I sure hope many of you sleuths out there will enjoy it as much as I did.

By the way, more info has been released on iSHA! Yay! Check out the product page and Dare to Play blog. Many tidbits of iSHA info will aslo be released daily via Twitter, so keep a close watch for that.

Happy gaming!
~Little Jackalope~

Life is a puzzle, and full of many little puzzles!

I've heard some people in the office have been testing early game builds, which is exciting. (This is when much of the art is finished and it is then put together like a puzzle, then we see if it works). It is a motivation to imagine every task of ours as a challenging puzzle, it makes the more tedious jobs more fun. Sometimes an art project is a timed puzzle, documenting is like creating a story, and file management is like sorting the books in Danger on Deception Island. This might sound silly, but that's how I sometimes perceive my tasks on my to-do list.

Speaking of puzzles, our lead tester mentioned my putting up an image of our office puzzle, found in the kitchen. It is going to be a 3D castle, but we are a long ways from it becoming... not flat. Here's a quick peek of the entrance. As you cannot tell, there is nothing much more completed than this part:

You super sleuths solved that weekend puzzle zippy fast! Guess we'll conjur up something weirder or harder for you next time.

Ta-ta for now,

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hiyo!

It looks like Jackalope has been keeping you very up-to-date on all the office antics. It has been a pretty crazy year already, and we've got a lot more coming up! Hopefully you saw the newsletter and are now honing your mobile sleuth knowledge. We'll be releasing more awesome content for the Mobile Mysteries series soon. All secrets revealed, all veils lifted. So to speak. :P

But now it's time for one more mystery, the Weekend Puzzle!

- Weekend Puzzle -

VIFKZMV USYEKEXUSU M

Hint: It's all backwards

--

Good luck to everyone, we'll see you next week!

- Novel -

The clues are in the details.

I'm having quite a wonderful day so far, except for the part about Novel being out. :( He will be back tomorrow, though. :)

Our Game Production Manager is such a trooper what with that broken leg of hers! She's here working with a smile on her face, although in a bit of pain. She is pretty much awesome!

All the workers here at Her are totally awesome; I was given a little tutorial on an art trick on my computer by one of our super artists, which was so much fun! I love learning new tricks from the pros!

While on one of my projects, I was studying a few game covers (again!) and thought how intriguing the designs are! Take a close look at a few of them and you'll notice tiny details such as the reflection in the water of the Yurei (ghost girl) on the cover of Shadow at the Water's Edge, or the number 13 scattered all over Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. I particularly like the small eye-catching ones like the lit window on the house in the image on The Secret of Shadow Ranch, or the treasure chest on the cover of Ransom of the Seven Ships.

Did you see the January newsletter? It's up with a slightly-new design, but the fun part is the content: finally more info on Nancy Drew: Mobile Mysteries Shadow Ranch! Whoo-hoo!! I'm excited.

Stay on your toes!

~Little Jackalope~

Attractive images and half-solved puzzles.

It is a beautiful, mellow day today where we can sit back in our chairs and quietly work on...whatever it is we do. (Magic, some might say). I myself am working on a new design that will be for drawing people's attention to older and current games. I hope it will be clean and catchy enough. What images interest you in a new game? Big, small, detailed, scarry, pretty, a cute cowboy...? For me, it's a perfect balance of one large image, surrounded by smaller images with detail, all in color sync. Yep, I think that's attractive.

I've decided to give you a half-solution to the mysterious puzzle #83.
The puzzle part is this: Dpd cm kp sfrasqcgovo
The numbers refer to the three different ciphers used in previous puzzles. Puzzle number 56 was a Playfair cipher, puzzle number 61 is a Vigenere cipher, and puzzle number 43 is a Railfence cipher. "Hut" is the keyword needed for the Playfair cipher, and "Hike" is the keyword needed for the Railfence. Let's see what you can do with this, savvy detectives!

Don't spoil a beautiful, opportune day! Carpe diem!
~Little Jackalope~

Commotion and puzzle relaxation.

There sure has been commotion all day today! Our printer was getting fixed this morning, people coming in and out of meetings, our Game Production Manager has a broken leg yet paid us a visit, the end of the month is coming and a few of us are scrambling to finish writing our plans and get what tasks we have left done... *Stop for air*. It sure is exciting, though! Thank goodness for fun 3D puzzles to relax with during lunch break. It's kind of a race to get it done for a meeting tomorrow. It would make a lovely addition to our discussions. Maybe I'll post a picture of it when it is finished.

Gotta hop back to some designs! I may just post the solution to puzzle #83 tomorrow; hopefully someone can solve it before then? *Wink.

~Little Jackalope~

Game perception: scariness!

I am guilty of snooping for info on the upcoming game, (unfortunately I can't share much with you) and looking through some semi-finished art for an environment got me thinking about how we perceive the games.

My current thoughts are what makes the games scary. Personally, I find the music and sound effects the most influential in the scariness of a game. The occasional squeak of a hanging sign or falling rock or swishing leaf makes me feel like I'm not alone. Dark spaces with spooky lights is another biggie, and of course, the monster animations and "boo!" moments are always an awesome touch. Does anyone else feel jumpy and jittery when Nancy is going through restricted areas or snooping in the dark? I love the feeling that I could get caught at any moment! How about thunderstorms and rain showers like in the intro to Message in a Haunted Mansion or the entirety of Legend of the Crystal Skull? Do you think the weather is a big enough factor to add to the scariness of the atmosphere?

This was something I found interesting, and depending on what you like in a game can mean a world of difference to how scary you think this next one will be!

Ooh, don't forget to check out the new wallpaper from The Secret of Shadow Ranch that's up, and be sure to try to solve and enter into the "Missing iPad" contest that we've got going on!

Congrats to you sharp sleuths who solved last week's puzzle! For those of you who are curious, here's the solve:
Puzzle: AOA OFX SKR PYM
Keyword: Clue

Solution:
1. Give each letter in the word “Clue” a number according to alphabetic order between itself. C=1, E=2, L=3, U=4.

2. Place the sets of letters (in puzzle) in columns
A O S P
O F K Y
A X R M

3. Arrange those columns in the order “Clue” is. Example: SKR which is in the third column belongs under "L" because "L" is the third in alphabetic order in “Clue”.

4. Read the message columns left to right.
ASPO
OKYF
ARMX
("X" is not counted in the read. "X" does not mean anything.)

Answer:
A Spooky Farm.

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hey Everyone!

I hope you've all had a wonderful week. We've got a lot of new content to tease out, particularly surrounding the "mobile" launch. I'm sure Jackalope will keep you "up on the up" regarding all our upcoming releases. In the meantime, enjoy the latest weekly puzzle!

- Weekend Puzzle -

AOA OFX SKR PYM

Keyword: Clue
step 1. stand tall
step 2. Use the key for order
step 3. Read it out - less one

--

Good luck sleuths! See ya soon.

- Novel -

Beautiful environments, beautiful colors.

Exploring new game environments for the first time is so much fun! I got to take a peek at a room and several mini-puzzles yesterday inside one of the games we are working on, and I must say, it is a very beautiful environment and the puzzles are so much fun! I'm super excited for the upcoming game...I may snoop around to find find more tidbits.

Today I'm taking a look at our website and the game box designs for an art project. Each game has a color theme to it, and the different colors on each box makes for a nice balance with all of them sitting on my shelf. Is there a color we are missing? I was thinking yellow earlier, but we did that with Lights! Camera! Curses! and Resorting to Danger. After all, many of the Nancy Drew books are yellow.

Another hint for last weekend's puzzle: Grid the alphabet, then number the letters.

Hip hop!

~Little Jackalope~

Check. Check. Che--Wait! Where'd that come from?

I'm feeling quite productive today. I checked off three things on my task list and hope to have four more done today. Of course, I did get totally distracted in my work when I stumbled upon a piece of art that I hardly recognized! See here:Can you identify which game this was from? I realized that there are several more inventory items that were collected in the games that often we don't notice. These mysterious items are the victims of Nancy-takes-then-gives-right-back events. We earn them, but immediately following is the part when we have to pass it along to another character or place. I personally like collecting a ton of stuff in the games, instead of losing my inventory. I suppose losing some for a purpose makes us sometimes feel accomplished, like putting a puzzle piece into the wall in order to solve it.

Suppose a hint for last weekend's puzzle would be helpful, yeah? The 4x7 refers to a grid.

Ta-ta for now!

~Little Jackalope~

Office life: Can't reach the snacks

Deciding it was time for a snack (wish we actually had Koko Kringles) I entered the kitchen and opened a cupboard. The last few bags of chips were on the top shelf, and naturally, I couldn't reach it. Thinking like Nancy, I had to choose one of the following options:
1. Get up on the counter (and hope I don't get caught)
2. Find something long to use to knock the chips off
3. Give up
4. Ask for help

Luckily our designer walked in before I chose #2, so I asked her for help. Yes, the workers here at Her Interactive are awesome! Sometimes they even surprise us with hot drinks. That was a nice treat this morning. I wonder what Nancy's favorite morning drink is?

You sleuths are reeeeally close to solving the weekend puzzle (and #83) by the way.

Gotta get back to some art documenting. That art better have not moved since I last looked at it...
~Little Jackalope~

Adding to the website.

After reading a dozen or more emails, I learned that there are a few things that could be added to our website. One fun project has me listening to music and re-sizing screenshots. Hopefully it will turn out nicely and not crash on me. Here's a picture hint:Other than that, it's Monday and schedules are getting arranged and re-arranged according to our task lists. Besides the part where I smelled something burning in the kitchen, and noticed that someone else had raided the unopened juice box case, it's been a mellow, quiet day. Maybe someone will stir up some mayhem later...just for talk.

Looks like you sleuths are busy hacking away at last weekend's puzzle...I don't think you need a hint just yet. You are on the right trail!

Hopping back to work,

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle

Hello, hello sleuths!

It looks like my partner-in-crime (Jackalope) has been filling you all in quite well with all the hubbub in the office. I've been demoted to just passing along the weekend puzzle. T.T

We'll, when you're busy, you're busy, I guess. On to the fun!

- Weekend Puzzle -

1-16-22-18-19-25-23-7-22-18-12-19-2

Hints: 4x7 a=t-b n=l-r

--

Good luck, puzzle-players. I know you can do it. ^.~

We've got some awesome stuff coming up, so be sure to come by next week. Keep it mysterious, y'all!

- Novel -

Second Chances and learning.

After making a mistake yesterday, I got to clean it all up today. Learning new software is quite a challenge, but one of the best ways to learn is through those mistakes. Now is a good time for a real-life "Second Chance" button, or maybe hitting Ctrl+Z a few times, but like Nancy, we've got to trudge through the tough times and not let anything stop us.

Lately I've been learning more about our new game launch of the Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch onto the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, and I think it is so cool! Books have never become more alive to me until now. The art is coming along very nicely and the stories are new, that's all I can say for now. I particularly like the logo:

Puzzle #83 still needs to cracked! Here's an added note about it: the letters are the actual puzzle, use previous puzzle types to solve it.

Keep it Real:)
~Little Jackalope~

Slow but Interesting...

It's a little quiet in the office today, probably because of the slush and snow scared people from coming in, or perhaps they are all here just being super quiet. I decided to walk around to see if they had anything interesting going on. Those artists are sure crunching through a lot of art! I walked by and saw an awesome project someone was working on...I couldn't figure out what it was for...or even what it was, but it was awesome! The process is interesting here, when one department is slow and easy-going, another is rushing to get their projects done, but later they switch. As for me, I've got some tedious work right now, but that's okay because the slow work makes the fun stuff all the more fun!

Here's something fun: there's a new contest that started yesterday! Check it out on the Dare to Play blog and tell us who Nancy's best detective partner would be!

You sleuths are thinking hard on puzzle #83, I've noticed. How about another hint to speed things up? You're looking for three different ciphers to solve this one.

Hop to it!
~Little Jackalope~

Creative thinking and its creations.

Oh how I love meetings! We just finished brainstorming some nouns, adjectives and verbs in Nancy Drew language. We absolutely love being creative, and coming up with new thoughts and ideas. Creative thinking first takes a little research to figure out what is needed, then brainstorming ideas, and finally it's about putting it all together. I am excited for this process in creating new things for this year.

This is me trying to be creative on the computer (or trying to steal some of Sonny Joon's work...)

By the way, you guys solved last week's puzzle super fast! Guess we'll have to trip you up a bit next time *schemes*.

Here's a big hint for puzzle #83 from weeks past:

The numbers are three different references and the "Hut" and "Hike" are clues for those.

Ta-ta for now!
~Little Jackalope~

Phone Charms and Katakana

I was reading some great quotes from the Shadow at the Water's Edge script. There are some funny lines in there! Here's one of my favorite conversations between Rentaro and Nancy:

Nancy: "Something weird happened...when I looked in the mirror I didn't see my reflection."

Rentaro: "Aha!"

Nancy: "You know what happened?"

Rentaro: "You're a vampire. Seriously though, that's pretty messed up. Maybe you need to get a little rest."

There were a few things I learned from this game as well. Take a look at this:

A real-live phone charm from Japan! I've had it for a year because I didn't know what it was and I couldn't read the katakana characters on the wrapper until now. As Yumi would say, "It's a phone charm! You can't not have one." Discovering new things like this at the office is always fun.

Peace Out!

~Little Jackalope~

1st Puzzle of 2011

It looks like we've got our first official Weekend puzzle of 2011! In an interesting turn of events, we're introducing a new puzzle-meister to the mix. She's starting you off with a lite faire; something to get the ball rolling so to speak. Without further ado:

- Weekend Puzzle -

HTCHNEASREWCORDEATHOSF

Hint: It's inside out

--

Good luck sleuths and we'll see you next week!

- Novel -

Sending presents to lucky fans.

I got to pack and mail some puzzles to some lucky contest winners today (super awesome). I hope they enjoy them as much as I enjoyed boxing myself into my cubicle (which looked like I was building a fort). Behold! The wall of winners:

Now that they are gone :( I get to snoop through some archives to find images of horses and ghosts for a Nancy Drew art project. That's always fun! Be sure to keep a lookout this month on the home page for some cool extras to add to your computer.

Peace out!

~Little Jackalope~

Task list: Check!

Ah, Wednesdays! In the heart of the week, we still create to-do lists. Here's mine:

~Make sure art is in the right place
~Use that art to create something awesome
~Read through old scripts
~Make a spreadsheet
~Send an email or two
~Eat a cookie

Unfortunately all I can check off is that last one. If only my task list looked like Nancy's from in the games. It would be cool if it was on my computer screen so when I try checking off something I will hear Nancy's voice saying "That's done!" or "Can't check that off yet!" and I would feel so accomplished.

Nancy has a smart phone, I wonder what sort of organizing abilities we could add to it in the future...if she even needs it what with her handy task list. Phones seem to do a lot these days, but in a fictional world, they could do even more. Hmm...*scheming*.

Ta-ta for now!
~Little Jackalope~

Those little things we love...

I've been doing some searching for old art while listening to some familiar game music. It got me thinking about some of the cool extras that are found in a few of the games, particularly the "sounds". Not the game music, but the music and advertisements in the games such as the radio in The Secret of Shadow Ranch, or the radio in Trail of the Twister (this one's extra funny I think). The one I almost forgot about was in Secret of the Old Clock. Remember "Creepy Corner"? I found the picture of that vinyl record and just now remembered what was on it... a clue to the mystery. I love this style of hiding clues! I wonder if there will be any more audio fun added in a future game. (I know there are a few more in several other games. Have you heard them all?)I should begin a list of bonus and fun stuff like this to add to our Easter egg wish list. Who knows, maybe someone will leave a secret message or Easter egg clue in a future game this year. Time to brainstorm!

Puzzle #83 is getting closer to being solved (poor puzzle, it's been weeks). Someone in particular is almost on the nose!

~Little Jackalope~

We're back and ready to rock!

Hey all, do you have a great holiday break? Hopefully you received a new game to play, winter breaks are perfect times to spend on a good mystery (I also played a game or two). I sure enjoyed a little rest, but now I'm excited to be back and among the action here in the office. (I was suspicious when I came to my desk to find my computer monitor turned 30 degrees off its original angle and a soda can next to my keyboard. No worries, we don't have villains here, just sneaky culprits.)

It's a new year filled with new ideas and new projects to add to last year's unfinished to-do list. There will sure to be more contests and fun things coming up! As I walked by a room I overheard some familiar western music...hmm...sounds like an awesome project they have going on. Speaking of westerns, have you seen the title banner on the website page for the first Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries game? There's an extra horse, and it's a pretty one! Ooh, I'm excited! I may do some snooping around to find a larger image. Until then, whoa! I just heard a whinny! What a distraction, as I was saying;

Stay sharp!
~Little Jackalope~

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The goodies are dwindling down here (who took the last of the fudge?!) and we are getting ready to close shop. But don't worry, we'll be back January 3rd. We crazed sleuths could use a little rest and vacation. Of course, that just means some awesome mysteries to work on in Nancy's language.

Keep a weather eye on the message boards, the last of the avatars are coming your way, including the top fan choices. I'm excited for these last ones! They are my favorites.

Enjoy your holiday break and be sure to solve or re-solve a few cases (maybe one with snow involved?). From us to you:

~Little Jackalope~