the Cody Capers

First of all, Happy Halloween! We at Her Interactive take Halloween pretty seriously - it's a day to have fun and celebrate the fact that we are a gaming company. People dress up, we have a little party, and we gather around to play Werewolf. Of course things are still getting done, but it's a festive environment. Maybe we'll post pictures of the costumes later. :)

The Cody Capers is launching tomorrow and the team that worked on this game has done a wonderful job! This series doesn't take the place of our Nancy Drew games, but we thought it would be a nice way for our fans to fill the time between games. It's also has levels, so you can play for 15 minute and then go back to work. I know I'm addicted to it in my free time. Without much further ado, I present to you, the trailer for the Cody Capers: Cody Pops the Case!


View the Cody trailer

Mysterious bubbles

We have received a few questions from our fans and will start answering them next week. I can't wait to start sharing some of the cool things you guys wanted to learn.

Here's the first screen shot for The Cody Capers. It might look like its targeted toward a younger audience, but adults will appreciate this puzzle game as well. Cody's cuteness may be a little deceiving - there's a hard broiled detective deep down in there somewhere... Well his cuteness works to his advantage when he's looking for a treat and a good belly-rub anyway.

zOMbie Walk 2007

Every year, I get this odd feeling to eat meat, despite my being vegetarian. You can see the carnage here. WARNING - not for the squeamish!

It's THU!

ALT
ENT
MIC
OFF
PIA
RED
ZAT
BAN
CAS
CAF
EXT
KIO
MAP
ORP
PRO
TUN
MFA
HBP
CBP
SOF

Day of Fun 2007

Every year at Her Interactive, we pick a day to celebrate all of our achievements. This year, we had a lot to celebrate - two very successful titles, the start of distribution on game portals, downloads of the full game from our website, the Cody Capers, Nancy Drew Central, a new user interface, and the greatest fans!

Last year we visited Icicle Creek and this year, we played laser tag. We each made up codenames and ran around the dark attempting to tag each other in the dark. Here are some of the names:

Bugstomper

Launchpad

Badllama

Disco King

Otter

Aricarnage

War Yam

Everyone had a great time, and we're all a little sore today from the constant running. To commemorate the event, we took a group photo. Can you guess which one is me?

Responding to Feedback

In last week's post, we asked about your favorite newsletters and what suggestions you had to make it better. Although we didn't receive a lot of responses (maybe it's a boring topic), one user sent us a great email with this suggestion: "All of the users seem to love interaction between us and you, like when you respond to questions or using feedback."

That is a great idea! But I don't have any questions to answer, other than:
1) When's the next game coming out? (I can't answer that - we don't know when it will be finished)
2) Will you make a Hardy Boys game? (we have the Hardy Boys in our games, but Nancy's our star)

So send us your questions to feedback@herinteractive.com and maybe we'll be able to answer a few!

Not Nancy Drew

You met Cody in the newsletter on Friday. Now let me tell you a little bit more about the game. The series is called "The Cody Capers" and it stars Cody, a cuddly canine, who loves to solve mysteries. He imagination often runs wild, but it's all in good fun. While the games will not be the normal Nancy Drew mysteries, they will still be fun and entertaining.

We created The Cody Capers for people who didn't want to download huge files and spend hours sifting through notes to solve a mystery. It's a much simpler game, but it's still challenging. I think you'll understand when you see the trailer. Think of something along the lines of Bejeweled, Zuma, or Jewel Quest. :) It will be available for download for $9.99 on November 1.

Please don't panic - we will still release two Nancy Drew titles in 2008. The Cody Capers is meant to supplement the Nancy Drew games as something fun you can play over and over, not replace Nancy. Many of you only play Nancy Drew mysteries, so this will be quite a change of pace! The game is so cute - with bubbles, sandwiches, and tennis balls!

Spells C-O-D-Y!

This definitately isn't your normal Nancy Drew game! In fact, Nancy's not even in this game - Cody is the star! And it's nothing like any game Her Interactive has ever created. Doesn't it look cute so far? We don't want to reveal too much information about the game, but it's coming out on November 1, 2007. Keep checking the blog for more information!

Yacking about Yesterday

I attended a seminar on email marketing yesterday. They gave me lots of tips on how to create a better newsletter. I also came up with some pretty fun ideas for contests in the newsletter. The most important thing I learned is to write about subjects that our fans want to know about! In the past we've talked about how the game is created, clues to the next game, release dates, and released new pictures. What else do you want to read about? What were your favorite newsletters and why? Email us at feedback@herinteractive.com with your thoughts.

Piece the clues together and you'll reveal the answer. Or wait for tomorrow's newsletter (don't forget to sign up)!

Dodging Dangerous Disasters

They're everywhere! What should we do???

Opportunities for Observation

Fall is definitely here in the Northwest. All the pine needs are clogging the drains and it never stops raining. At least that means we're that much closer to ski season.

"The font is perfectly readable! What do you mean it's too curly???" - Intern Ian

Cases Can Be Convivial

More information in our newsletter this week - sign up!

Mardi Gras Mystery Contest

We have chosen a winner for the signed copy of Legend of the Crystal Skull from the Mardy Gras Mystery contest, but we're still waiting to hear back! If we don't hear back from the winner by Monday 10/15 (it will have been 10 days), we'll pick a new winner. So please please, check your emails.

Brian Seaton invited Nancy to New Orleans in #81 Mardi Gras Mystery. Good job to everyone who answered correctly. I received quite a few "Henry Bolet" and "Ned Nickerson" for the answer, but I was asking about the original book, and not the game. Unfortunately, only fans who emailed "Brain Seaton" as the answer were entered into the contest.

We'll have more contest in the future and lots of cool prizes for you to win!

Nancy's Best Friend

Well actually she has a few - Ned, George, Bess, Hannah, and the Hardy Boys. I'd count Carson, but his primary role is 'Dad.' Oh yea, and Togo. But specifilly, I'd like to talk about Bess.

Bess is a real trouper, who may be a little timid at the thought of sluething, but she always comes through for Nancy in the end. Blond, pretty, slightly boy crazy, and a food lover, trendy Bess would rather spend her days shopping than chasing after culprits. However, she's BFFs with Nancy and George, so she tags along for their mysteries and even plays a large role in solving the case, abiet reluctantly.

We've always had Bess a phone friend that Nancy can rely on for hints, and now, for the first time, you get to play as Bess in Legend of the Crystal Skull. You still don't get to see her, but it's reassuring to hear her chirpy voice and have her in New Orleans with you during the storm. With a little convincing, Bess plucks up the courage to help out by infiltrating a secret society and charming suspects for answers. We think she did a great job in helping Nancy in this case!

So the question is: Who would you rather have helping Nancy on the case?
A) The Hardy Boys - great guys and great fun from The Creature of Kapu Cave and Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon
B) Bess Marvin - did a supreb job charming suspects in Legend of the Crystal Skull
C) George Fayne - tomboy, currently only accessible by phone
D) Ned Nickerson - boyfriend, helpful, if only by phone

Let us know at feedback@herinteractive.com or post on the message board.

Monday Mornings

Mondays are always eventful. Columbus Day Mondays where a lot of people are out of the office are even more eventful. Welcome to the week!

We had a few issues come up today that are hopefully resolved. For one, a lot of people were having problems installing the Legend of the Crystal Skull DEMO. I'd have to admit that this was my fault in zipping the file incorrectly. Who knew that you had to compress the files from the disc and not the installed files on your computer to make it work correctly? Well, I should have known - it's probably the second time I've done it. The old demo only works if you had the game installed on your computer already.

I apologize to everyone who waited 3 hours to download the demo and then attempted to scour the internet for the missing files. Thanks for your patience with us to fix the problem. Luckily, no one's fired me yet, so I continue to update this blog. :)

We've uploaded an updated DEMO - you can download it here.
1) Save the file to your computer
2) Extract the file using the decompressor (such as WinZip, Stuffit, or whatever file your computer is trying to open it with) on to your desktop
3) Make sure you are in Admin mode before installing the software, otherwise you won't have permission to install programs
4) Click on SETUP.exe to start the installation process
5) Click on the shortcut on your desktop to start the demo.

Let us know if this works.

3-2-1 Blast Off!

And so with much excitement and great fanfare, our second title of the year is now in the computers of our faithful fans. Legend of the Crystal Skull was one of our most ambitious games. We wanted to make something scary and creepy with lots of "jump out of your seat" moments. Additionally, we tried to create a more difficult game by increasing the difficulty of the puzzles and giving fewer clues to the next step in the game. And of course, a great story and interesting characters go without saying!

So far, the reviews on the message board have been excellent, but the results aren't all in yet. The game still hasn't hit retail stores, but start looking for it late next week.

Did we succeed in creating one of the best games in the PC series? Email us at feedback@herinteractive.com and let us know! Next week, we'll discuss in more detail what you liked and didn't like about the game.