Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween 2012! (Beware! ND#28 Spoiler!)

We still have the scary games on sale for 50% off! Use promo code SPOOKY12 on these abbreviated titles: MHM, DOG, CUR, CRY, SAW.

We also have a Twitter Trivia Contest going on, head over to answer the question for a chance to win a Curse of Blackmoor Manor strategy guide download!

Aaaaahhhh! So excited!!! We released the preview of ND #28 on YouTube today! Check it out!



And of course, I had to show you my costume. ;) I will give you one guess to what I am.

Stay safe out there! And Happy Halloween!

~Little Jackalope~

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Halloween Deals and Pumpkins

Today the entire office voted on all of the amazing pumpkin carving entries! Voila! After two tough tie-breakers in the office (leaving our CEO to narrow down the last two), we present you with our top 3 office-voted contestants. Head over to our Facebook page to vote for your favorite!

Also, we have a scary good deal going on right now. Check this out!


I think it's time for me to re-play one of these games...hmm...which one? (And which one s are you missing?) (~.^)

Message in a Haunted Mansion
Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake
Curse of Blackmoor Manor
Legend of the Crystal Skull
Shadow at the Water's Edge

I've played DOG sooo much over the years...maybe I will return to Blackmoor Manor...or SAW.
That being mentioned, vote on the new poll to your right! Which game scared you the most?

~Little Jackalope~

Monday, October 29, 2012

Behind the Scenes of Halloween

We have randomly selected a winner from all of the correct entries for the Weekend Puzzle #172! Our winner is Rose P.! Congrats! (Rose, please check your email for your prize information).

This puzzle was a bit easy if you had played Danger on Deception Island, or if you knew to look up the Maritime Flags chart to translate. Here's the solution:


Note: The Pumpkin Carving Contest ends tonight! Send in your emailed pictures before time runs out!

Ok, I promised a few secrets about the production of Amateur Sleuth Blog: Halloween Snooping video we uploaded last week, along with noting a few Nancy Drew references.

1. Jayme, an artist turned on and off the light upstairs at the beginning of the video. ND Reference: Message in a Haunted Mansion intro.
2. "It's locked!" quote said at the glass door entrance.
3. Thunder sound effect added (the rain was real) from several games.
4. Entering from the side of the building. ND Reference: Stay Tuned for Danger.
5. Using a key card you found at a door, ND Reference: The Deadly Device (and others).
6. A real spider (no, I did not put him there, he arrived right on time for his scene and performed perfectly for me...*cough*. Actually he scared me on the stairs, and I ran to grab my camera before he scurried off) ND References: Stay Tuned for Danger and Legend of the Crystal Skull.
7.  Yurei ghost girl shadow behind the wall, ND Reference: Shadow at the Water's Edge.
8. Door rattles and the sleuth hides in the closet, ND References: The Final Scene, The Phantom of Venice.
9. Nik, our writer, agreed to film the door rattling and leaving scene. He was really on his way out of the office for the night, too.
10. Jayme, an artist, had to hold the door open a little longer (you can't see her) for me to run and grab before it closed. She helped slow it down and stop it.
11. If you look really closely between 2:36 and 2:37, there is movement in the top right corner of the screen. Down the hall, one of the artists (Josh, who plays Niko) was still around.

There are more fun facts and references to come! I'll be sure to post a few more this week. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

Friday, October 26, 2012

Weekend Puzzle #172 = Contest!

Hey all! This is your reminder that this weekend is your last chance to carve a Nancy Drew-themed pumpkin and submit your picture! Time's running out! For more info, click here. Another reminder: If you have recently tuned in to the blog, the latest news is the new Halloween video we posted on YouTube, as well as in the blog post below. ;)

Today's weekend puzzle is a contest!  Here is what you do:
1. Solve the weekend puzzle below.
2. When you think you have the right answer , email it to contest@herinteractive.com with the subject line "Weekend Puzzle". Please include your name and age in the email (and of course the end answer).
3. The prize? A digital strategy guide download to The Deadly Device.
4. The time? Contest begins now and ends at 10am PST on Monday, October 29th.
5. One winner will be randomly drawn from all of the full correct entries by 5pm, Monday, October 29th. (We want to be fair and give everyone a chance.) :) Each contestant may only enter once.
6. This contest is open to everyone. (Even outside the U.S.)
7. You may discuss the puzzle and help each other out on the message boards if you wish, but keep in mind that everyone who enters the right answer has a fair chance at winning.

And here is your puzzle! Good luck sleuths! (I'd figure you can never have enough practice decoding these.) (~.^)

~Little Jackalope~

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Halloween Video!

As hinted at earlier, I have been working on a little video (hence the late-night blog posts this past week!) With the help of several HI team members (and permission from a few others) we present this fun little video! How many references to the Nancy Drew games can you find and count?



By the way, there are several fun behind-the-scenes fun facts about this video production, and I will be sure to share it here with all of my favorite people: you amazing blog readers, of course! XD If you like the video, log in to YouTube and give us a thumbs up. If you didn't like it, well...you can give us a thumbs down....and I will be ok with that. (*Cries jackalope-sized jackalope tears*).

Head's up! Tomorrow's weekend puzzle will be a contest! That's right! There will be a small prize at stake, so come back to participate. ;)
~Little Jackalope~

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

DED Hidden Images

Ok, so I went back and checked, and there really is only 2 items instead of 3 from the merchandise store hiding in The Deadly Device. I checked the files and it looks like one item was moved, likely because it was in the way of an overlay image. (This overlay image needed to be viewable from several angles and it is likely that the item would have complicated this.) Oh well! Perhaps it will appear in a future game. ;)

To think backwards, some images from DED are in the merchandise store for you to design an item with. For example (and I just might get one of these myself because I love it), the Koko Mallos candy box image (found in Niko's office) can be placed on a mouse pad, keepsake box, t-shirt, or *gasp* a pillowcase! It looks amazing, I think. It would be great to pair with the Koko Kringle pillowcase! 


Oh, and of course, the Koko Kringle pillowcase is one of the 2 items placed in the game. ;)

Twitter Quote Contest today! Enter for a chance to win a download of Treasure in the Royal Tower!
~Little Jackalope~

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Deadly Device Launched!

Today is the day! The Deadly Device is now officially in stores! Hooray! (And of course, it's on our site.) The pre-order period has ended and now the regular edition is available. The Adventure Matters Contest is no longer accepting entries, and the winner shall be announce with their location choice on November 1st, as mentioned in the rules.

My favorite part of today is the new merchandise images we have uploaded for The Deadly Device! See here:

I also posted a few on our Pinterest boards, so if there are any that you like, re-pin to your own boards as a wishlist item. ;) Special Note: There are three merchandise items hidden inside The Deadly Device game. For fun, can you find them all before I reveal them over the next few days? Name the item, and name the image that is on that item! Example: Ned Nickerson on an iPad folio.

It's Tuesday! New poll to your right -->
~Little Jackalope~

Monday, October 22, 2012

Monday Madness!

Alright, so it's not really a mad house here on Monday...I just thought the words sounded good together. But in a way, there is reason to be crazy excited! Today is the last day to pre-order The Deadly Device, and the last day to be entered into the Adventure Matters contest, because tomorrow is when The Deadly Device hits all major retail stores! Whoo-hoo! It is almost released out into the wild! Yay! Extra note: The Deadly Device screen saver is now available and ready to download here. (~.^)

Despite what you think may be going on here...(Monday stuff: phones ringing off the hook, people ferociously typing up emails, the printer printing a gazillion pieces of paper, employees running in circles, talking loudly across cubicles...you know, that busy stuff?) In fact, today has been rather mellow, so today's blog title should be Mellow Monday instead.


This was our biggest excitement today: Testing out our new toaster oven with yummy bagels that our CEO brought in today! Yep, our old one that we've had forever was simply not working properly (and I've had a few angry-faced staring contests with it in the past for burning my toasted cheese and pepperoni sandwiches). So by request, our CEO, Stuart, ordered us a new one. Isn't it shiny? It cooks and toasts rather nicely, although...as you can probably see in the picture above, I slightly burnt my blueberry bagel. I guess I need to learn how to work this new machine... >.<

Weekend puzzle cracked like an Easter egg! Identify each game cover art, and then count the respective numbers in that game title to get your letter. Here are the games' artwork listed left to right, top to bottom:
[The Haunted Carousel
Secrets Can Kill Remastered
The White Wolf of Icicle Creek
The creature of Kapu Cave
The Final Scene
Alibi in Ashes
Trail of the Twister
Legend of the Crystal Skull
The Phantom of Venice
The Deadly Device
The Captive Curse
Shadow at the Water's Edge]

Once you have those, count the letters to get this answer: [Halloween Blog Video]. Which, as I mentioned before, is just a small video...nothing big. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

Friday, October 19, 2012

Weekend Puzzle #171

It's the weekend! Well, almost for me, I'm still working on my little night project, and while a good half of it is done, there is still more to do. Solve the weekend puzzle to find out what! (Note: once you know the answer, don't expect too much, as it will be Her Interactive: office/Nancy-style...)

~Click on the image for a larger view. Hint #1: same as last March's puzzle~

Also, I thought just came to mind. The Bonus Edition version of The Deadly Device is running short on time! They are only available for a few more days! The games that will be in the stores are only the regular edition. The Bonus version will only be available from our site until October 22nd (that's Monday). o.O That also means *GASP* the end of the Adventure Matters contest! In only a matter of days, we will have picked a winner who will then choose Nancy's destination for her 30th game! (O_o) I'm excited and nervous at the same time... Where is Nancy going? It's a surprise to me as much as you, since it has not been determined yet. Nancy's fate (or should I say, luggage) is going to be in some one's hands! Learn more at the Adventure Matters contest page here!

And then my mind traveled to...Ned. Yeah, call me a big fan of Ned Nickerson, Nancy's boyfriend. I'm looking forward to going home tonight and playing the game again just to read his funny text messages. Oh Ned...*shakes head*...technology just isn't your thing, is it?

~Little Jackalope~

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Late Night Post = Night Work!

The official release date for The Deadly Device is right around the corner, and we are busily preparing for it's arrival. This is how excited I am:

Tonight is a late-night post because I have been working on my little project, with the help from several Her Interactive team members. This project can only be done at night, that is why I am posting so late... >.<

I have finished a little portion of my project, but there is still plenty to do...and if you'll excuse me, I shall now go and plant some evidence, find batteries for my flashlight, and unlock our CEO's door...

~Little Jackalope~

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Costume Winner!

We have selected one random winner from everyone who pre-ordered The Deadly Device before today, and her name is Alexandra B. from Belleville, IL!! Congrats Alexandra!! (Check your email for further instructions on how to claim your prize).
And thanks everyone for pre-ordering! (Keep in mind, we still have the rest of the Adventure Matters Contest you could still win if you pre-order The Deadly Device by October 22, 2012.)

I just got the green light to work on a new project that will be super super fun to make! I am working on it tomorrow when no one is around...well...almost no one. I will be recruiting the help of 4 volunteers, and I have already gained permission from 3 others to continue with what I am about to do. It's nothing too big or too new, but exciting enough to share with you early. I will reveal what it is in this upcoming weekend puzzle. Stay tuned!

Now that I have permission, I need to prepare tomorrow...and gather certain elements...

Oh! And we have a Twitter Quote Contest going on right now! Head over for a chance to win a digital strategy guide to The Deadly Device! (A note to Future HeR Animator: your prize code is being prepared and will come shortly.)
~Little Jackalope~

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Download The Deadly Device!

I suppose I have been talking about The Deadly Device a lot, huh? Well, why not? I'm just so excited for everyone to play it! And today, everyone who pre-ordered the digital download will get to download today! Whoo-hoo! The wait is over! Ok, enough exclamation marks...too much excitement....But it's finally a "who-done-it" mystery! Ok, hopefully you are just as excited as I am and have pre-ordered. If not, you still can pre-order by the 22nd of October to get your Bonus Edition.

 
For those of you who have not yet received it, a small warning: If you linger on the internet for a while, you are bound to notice that many fans have already played (and *gasp* solved it). They will be talking about it, giving their reviews, saying what they think was cool, or needed improvement etc...and occasionally a spoiler might slip out. It is perfectly fine to discuss the game, in fact, when you finish, give us your review on our Message Boards here!

One small request from me personally: if you finished the game, please refrain from spoiling the culprit's name for the sake of others. Be sure to put answers in spoiler code on the Message Boards. Thanks! :D

Even though I've played the game 3 times, I think I will go home now and play...just once more. XD

Also,
Hope you have a good one!
~Little Jackalope~

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Deadly Device Icon

Tomorrow is the first big release day of The Deadly Device! For those who pre-ordered the digital version of the game, you will get to download tomorrow! AHH! Yay!! If you pre-ordered the boxed game, we have already begun shipping. For a fun extra today, download the latest mobile wallpapers for The Deadly Device here!

On another note, the contest to win the Nancy Drew Costume is nearing an end. The last chance to be entered is at the end of the day tomorrow, and all you had to do was pre-order by then.

So exciting! Also, blog reader Hannah reminded me that I have not revealed the desktop icon for The Deadly Device! *Gasp!* Well I agree that it is high time to show you! Voila! One electrifying icon for your desktop. Isn't it pretty cool looking? :)


Weekend puzzle solved! If you are familiar with Nonograms (especially after playing Shadow at the Water's Edge), this will come easy to you:

Figure out which boxes you need to fill out going across and down, leaving some negative spaces. Here is the correct way to fill the boxes out:

The letters represent numbers (A=1, B=2, C=3 and so on.) Depending on which way you read the puzzle, you will see two different answers. Note: the smiley faces and extra exclamation points were just filler spaces. ;)


Read the colored-in letters/numbers: [Pre-orders ship soon] meaning they already begun.
Read the negative spaces: [New merchandise]. And they are pretty neat. ;)

~Little Jackalope~

Friday, October 12, 2012

Video Blog and Weekend Puzzle #170

What a busy day! With The Deadly Device releasing into the wild, it has made for very fun, active-filled days! (Only 4 days left! Can I use enough exclamation marks in this post?!)

First news: We interviewed our Director of Marketing, Jared! Read the interview now on the Dare to Play Blog here!

Also, arglefumph blogged about his visit to Her Interactive here!

Next: Well, I'll just let you watch the video we posted tonight:


And of course, I can't forget about the weekend puzzle! Enjoy. ;)


 ~Little Jackalope~

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Countdown to DED!

The time is nearing for you to play The Deadly Device! In only 5 days you get to start downloading, and we begin to ship the boxed games! I'm running out of time to reveal more secrets since you will soon learn everything that I've been hinting at.

The suspense is building up! The mystery is close! A new case to solve is coming! Ahhh! So excited!! Look! We got our copy of the game today! Gotta love that BONUS Edition sticker to make it extra special!


Also, we have a birthday today for an Amateur Sleuth Blog fan!

Stay tuned, there may be a news video going up tomorrow, (it includes some quick comments about the screenshots of the game. If you read the blog or stay informed on our site or social media channels, then some of my reminders you may have heard before, but still, it should be a fun video. ^_^ ).
~Little Jackalope~

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Character Concepts: Sneak Peak

In more of our recent titles (plus a fewer older game titles) we have shown you the character concepts. As part of our process here at Her Interactive, the characters for each game are created with a lot of love and care. The character ideas start with our Design team, primarily our Writer and Designer. The characters personality, place, behaviors, actions, story, and history helps to build up the person at first. Where does this person comes from? Why does she get upset when you say this? Why does he not like that? What makes this person nervous, or chatty, or quiet, or funny? It all has to be thought out before their script is written.

While the characters' personalities are worked on, our character designer takes a look at the designer's directions for the physical appearances. It can take several images to piece together a specific look, and here below you can see that the clothing and directions helped Van, our Character Designer to illustrate Ellie. To the right is the first part of her 3D boot. (Yep, Van let me hover over his shoulder to snap this photo of his computer screen). Actually, I often hover over Van to see what he is working on, because getting to see the characters come to life for the very first time is sooo much fun!!

Remember at the end of the game for Tomb of the Lost Queen? We showed you the illustrated character concepts, perhaps you will get to see the rest of our character illustrations in The Deadly Device! For those who pre-order the game, you will get to be playing the game very soon, like just around the corner! (~.^) I'm looking forward to hearing you get to play the game next week!

~Little Jackalope~

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Pumpkin Carving Contest!!

We have a third promotion going on here at Her Interactive! A pumpkin carving contest! Click here to learn more. What will you be carving? A magnifying glass? The Koko Kringle Kow? Ned's face? A carousel horse? It's up to you! Be creative! Go wild!

This Nancy Drew silhouette was carved by a Her Interactive team member 6 years ago:
And check out the Grand prize!

You get a lot of goodies if you win the grand prize, but there is also a second and third place prize as well! Learn more on the Dare to Play Blog!

Also, there is a new poll up to your right -->
~Little Jackalope~

Monday, October 8, 2012

Dress Like a Detective

I didn't get the chance to talk much about the Nancy Drew Costume prize! For those of you just tuning in, we have two contests attached to pre-ordering The Deadly Device (you can pre-order either the physical or digital to be automatically entered). Everyone who pre-orders the game during the pre-order period (September 17 -- October 22) will be automatically entered into the Adventure Matters contest, but if you choose to pre-order before October 16th will also be entered to win a Nancy Drew costume seen here:


While there are several different looks that you can create to look like Nancy Drew (Nancy never just wears one outfit, she's always styling something vintage or cute or practical), we chose to go with a look that many fans can identify from the 2007 movie cover. But we made it a little more fun by adding a magnifying glass and a silver heart locket (do you remember Nancy having a locket from Ned in The Phantom of Venice?). My absolute favorite part of this ensemble is the vintage-looking messenger/sleuth bag. In fact, I may just get one for myself...'cause I love it so much. >.< To learn a little more about these contests, click here!

Nice work, detectives, on solving this weekend's puzzle! If you have familiarized yourself with Binary code, then you'll know what each column represents: The 1s place is to the far right, and then you work your way to the left, doubling the value each time. It could go on! See example below:


Each colored/filled-in magnifying glass means you need to include that number and add them all up to get a final value. For example: the first row has a filled magnifying glass in the 1s, 2s, and 8s column. Add up those numbers and you will get 11. This letter in the alphabet is K. Once you have added up all the numbers and identify all the correct letters, you should get this answer: [Koko Kandy], and this is what I've been thinking about recently. Did I mean it was the real deal? Maybe...but then I have been working with a lot of images lately... ;)
 
~Little Jackalope~

Friday, October 5, 2012

Interview with Arglefumph! (And puzzle #169)

Hooray! I got to interview Michael Gray, also known as arglefumph on YouTube! Michael stopped by our office while on a road trip for a grand tour, and agreed to answer some questions and tell some stories on camera. It was a lot of fun! Later he joined some team members and we played a board game during lunch, which was extra fun. (^_^) Check out the interview here:



You can watch the Nancy Drew game video walkthroughs he uploads to his own YouTube channel here. And while you are on YouTube, subscribe to our channel and watch our other videos!

On to the weekend puzzle! Have you pre-ordered your copy of our upcoming game? I've been thinking and looking at several things in The Deadly Device this week; solve this puzzle to find out what:

Have a fantastic weekend!
~Little Jackalope~

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Preparing Images for DED

I snapped a screenshot of what my computer looks like right now. I have just begun preparing images from The Deadly Device for our merchandise store.


The process is a lot of fun! First I play through the game, looking for great images. I then create my list of high-resolution shots and send my list to the appropriate artists who work on them. They then render them out to large files for me to work with, and that is where I am at now. Once I complete the graphics, they will be uploaded to the merchandise store, where it becomes your turn to pick a product and choose your picture to design it with, like this really cool silver water bottle! (Oh and if you are interested, we like to post these images on Pinterest, so it makes for a really fun Nancy Drew collection wish list board).

It will be a while before these images will become available, except for the cover art designs which you can choose from right now. :) I also like to read every one's requests that you can post on our Message Boards here. Although we can't get to all of them right away, many have made it on my list to create or prepare for the merchandise store. Every time the store updates, I will be sure to inform you here on the blog.

Head's up! Tomorrow is the weekend puzzle as well as the interview video I hinted at earlier. Stay tuned and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to stay the most informed!

~Little Jackalope~

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Inside the Artist's Studio

Several months ago, (early March, 2012) I got permission from our Character Designer, Van, to snap some photos of what he was working on. This is a picture of his touch-ups to one of the characters in The Deadly Device. In the game, you are not likely to see this person's feet, but know this: Van lovingly put lightning bolts (how appropriate!) on the shoes!

~Can you correctly guess who's shoes these belong to?~

There are several little additions our artists and programmers place into the game, sometimes as jokes that only office workers get to see or understand, other times they are fun references to other games that you might pick up, and sometimes there are hints to future games... have you noticed them for The Deadly Device?

We are near the middle of the pre-orders! Have you pre-ordered your copy of the game?
~Little Jackalope~

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Creating Videos

I've been busying away at our next Amateur Sleuth Blog video (there is a good chance it will be posted on Friday...but, we shall see!) And this one features an interview with a small celebrity here in our office. Hint: it is a guy. Who would you guess him to be? (~.^) Stay tuned for the video upload to our YouTube Channel!

~Me editing one of my on-screen questions~


Head's up! We have a new poll to your right -->

Also,
~Little Jackalope~


Monday, October 1, 2012

A Cat? Where? o.O

My favorite day of the week! Monday! First I'd like to clear up a little concern. If you have seen the last video blog, (see previous post or the video "Amateur Sleuth Blog: The Deadly Device Characters" on our YouTube Channel) then you might remember the part near the beginning where I say that I will not give away any spoilers, and point at my notebook saying "This is the culprit!". In fact, I had written every character's name from on our Character Profiles page in small letters. The big letters spell out "Sonny Joon".

I was pointing to Sonny Joon, as a joke, because we would not mention the culprit for real. Especially if the culprit was not even in the game, which wouldn't be fair. XD Sorry, Sonny Joon isn't in this game! :( Sad news.

What is in the game is this image of a cat...and if you figured out the weekend puzzle by finding all of the bold, italicized letters, it would spell out [Shrodinger's Cat], of which the "O" is technically supposed to be an "รถ".
~Isn't he cute?! ~

Your mission is to find where this sketch is in The Deadly Device...just as a fun scavenger hunt for you. :) There are no rewards for finding this, just the current satisfaction of getting to know that some of our real doodles do make it into the game, and that you got to see this picture early.

Also, Happy Birthday, Samuel!!

 
~Little Jackalope~