Community
August 2007
"Anything boys can do, we can do it better"
Thu, 2007-08-30 17:38 — HerInteractive
There have been some great discussions on the boards about sterotypes and gaming. I'm glad that it's being brought up in a very logical and open-minded environment. You guys are right - gender shouldn't even matter! But unfortunately, people get boxed into sterotypes, but we can educate others that gaming isn't just for guys. It's fun! Certinally, we all have different ideas of what 'fun' is, but I believe there is a game out there for everyone. A lot of other people are also biased, because Nancy Drew is something girls like and therefore, guys probably won't like it. Of course, once they try the game, they may have a different opinion.
"Anything boys can do, we can do it BETTER"
I made this statement not in the literal sense, but as a word of encouragement. It's about taking the time to practice, to perfect your skills. You can do ANYTHING you set your heart and mind to with enough determination and practice! Just remember that when someone tells you that "girls don't to that" or "you'll never be good enough". Because YOU CAN!
"Anything boys can do, we can do it BETTER"
I made this statement not in the literal sense, but as a word of encouragement. It's about taking the time to practice, to perfect your skills. You can do ANYTHING you set your heart and mind to with enough determination and practice! Just remember that when someone tells you that "girls don't to that" or "you'll never be good enough". Because YOU CAN!
Girl Gamer
Mon, 2007-08-27 17:22 — HerInteractive
I went to a gaming convension in Seattle over the weekend to see the newest, coolest things. The convension did not disappoint! Crammed on to the exhibtion floor were card games, minatures games, a variety of gorgeous console and PC games, and gaming merchandise. Of course, there were a few pirates and ninjas milling around too. I went to listen to a few speakers - one of them was Women in Gaming.
Women in Gaming - for some reason there's still a notion that women who play games are the EXCEPTION, rather than the norm. The thought amuses me a little - are girls who play games special then? Not really, but the industry seems to think so. Are female gamers really that different from male gamers? Again, I don't think so - females just have differnt play-styles. They may be drawn to differnt types of content, but I think that everyone just wants a good game to play. As most Nancy Drew players know - there's nothing odd about girls playing video games. We can do anything the boys do, and we do it BETTER!
In the discussion, the speakers mentioned Barbie and Nancy Drew in the same breath as games specificlly made for girls. A few things went through my mind...
- They said NANCY DREW!!! Gamers know who we are and they're talking about our games! WOW!!! (followed by more internal excitement!!!)
- We used to be called the 'unBarbie' of video games - they must be mentioning us to demonstrate the spectrum of the games available to girls.
- Yay to the Nancy Drew fans who helped spread the word about the games and made us a best-seller!
Women in Gaming - for some reason there's still a notion that women who play games are the EXCEPTION, rather than the norm. The thought amuses me a little - are girls who play games special then? Not really, but the industry seems to think so. Are female gamers really that different from male gamers? Again, I don't think so - females just have differnt play-styles. They may be drawn to differnt types of content, but I think that everyone just wants a good game to play. As most Nancy Drew players know - there's nothing odd about girls playing video games. We can do anything the boys do, and we do it BETTER!
In the discussion, the speakers mentioned Barbie and Nancy Drew in the same breath as games specificlly made for girls. A few things went through my mind...
- They said NANCY DREW!!! Gamers know who we are and they're talking about our games! WOW!!! (followed by more internal excitement!!!)
- We used to be called the 'unBarbie' of video games - they must be mentioning us to demonstrate the spectrum of the games available to girls.
- Yay to the Nancy Drew fans who helped spread the word about the games and made us a best-seller!
Name - answers
Fri, 2007-08-24 16:01 — HerInteractive
Wow - I'm extremely impressed with your sleuthing skills! I'd like you to meet:
Lamont Warrick
Gilbert Buford
Renee Amande
Henry Bolet
Have you seen the trailer yet? Watch it now!
Name - hints
Thu, 2007-08-16 13:19 — HerInteractive
Vallient effort super sleuths! Let me give you a few hints:
LW
GB
RA
HB
LW
GB
RA
HB
Names
Wed, 2007-08-15 13:14 — HerInteractive
Figure out these Legend of the Crystal Skull characters:
Trim Acorn Walk
Flubbed Rig Rot
Dean Near Me
No Thy Rebel
Yes I know they're incredibly difficult to figure out. :) I'll post the answers next week.
Trim Acorn Walk
Flubbed Rig Rot
Dean Near Me
No Thy Rebel
Yes I know they're incredibly difficult to figure out. :) I'll post the answers next week.
taglines
Fri, 2007-08-10 17:13 — HerInteractive
We've have been so busy this week! Production is putting in overtime and I've been working on packaging. What's packaging you ask? And why does it take so much time? Well, there are a lot of things that we need to juggle in a very short time frame. Here's a list of things that we consider packaging:
- box sleeve with the inside flap for retail products
- manual
- CDs
- Nancy Drew postcard
- frontliner (cover for the products bought online)
- inserts (printed materials from other partner companies that fans might be interested in)
- actual product box (called a stackpack for retail, amray for online)
- shrink wrap
- sticker for sealing
- sensor tags for security
We work on all of these items at the same time, creating a draft of the box while finalizing the CD art. Each item has art that needs to be created, copy (that's the writing), approvals, and then the actual manufacturing. Things can get pretty crazy! I'll write more, but let me leave you with a few tagline. Taglines are our online line description for the game that are meant to draw you in and make you interested in playing the game. Can you guess which one we ended up using?
Recover a Priceless Artifact in New Orleans!
Recover a Priceless Family Secret in New Orleans!
Uncover Family Secrets and a Priceless Artifact in New Orleans!
Reveal Family Secrets and Recover a Priceless Artifact in New Orleans!
The Search is on for an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Search for an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Race to find an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Search for an Unearthly Artifact before it falls into the wrong hands!
Join the dangerous search for an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Dodge danger to uncover the immortal truth in New Orleans!
PS. Next week is newsletter week, so make sure you sign up!
- box sleeve with the inside flap for retail products
- manual
- CDs
- Nancy Drew postcard
- frontliner (cover for the products bought online)
- inserts (printed materials from other partner companies that fans might be interested in)
- actual product box (called a stackpack for retail, amray for online)
- shrink wrap
- sticker for sealing
- sensor tags for security
We work on all of these items at the same time, creating a draft of the box while finalizing the CD art. Each item has art that needs to be created, copy (that's the writing), approvals, and then the actual manufacturing. Things can get pretty crazy! I'll write more, but let me leave you with a few tagline. Taglines are our online line description for the game that are meant to draw you in and make you interested in playing the game. Can you guess which one we ended up using?
Recover a Priceless Artifact in New Orleans!
Recover a Priceless Family Secret in New Orleans!
Uncover Family Secrets and a Priceless Artifact in New Orleans!
Reveal Family Secrets and Recover a Priceless Artifact in New Orleans!
The Search is on for an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Search for an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Race to find an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Search for an Unearthly Artifact before it falls into the wrong hands!
Join the dangerous search for an Unearthly Artifact in New Orleans!
Dodge danger to uncover the immortal truth in New Orleans!
PS. Next week is newsletter week, so make sure you sign up!
Behind the Scenes, part II
Wed, 2007-08-08 15:44 — HerInteractive
continued from Part I
DEVELOPMENT - these are things that require programmers to write new code for actions that haven't happened before, usually puzzles or complicated scene swapping
N/A
PRODUCTION - this tells the people who actually put the scenes together about the logic - the IF this THEN do that part of the game
Allow P to eat as many bars as desired
Randomize eating sfx
LOCALIZATION - the games are translated into Russian and French, sometimes there are text changes that need to be made in the actual game in addition to the voice overs
N/A
DESIGN - things that can happen in the universe of the game
Consider making Nancy ill after X amount of bars eaten
Consider having Henry remark that Nancy's face is breaking out (in Eavesdropping) after ND eats X bars.
Consider a Meta Game Award for eating lots of chocolate.
VOICE-OVERS - lines that voice actors/actresses need to record
Need 7 variations of eating
{eating sounds}Mm... Yum... Oh, yeah...
{eating sounds}Yum… Gosh these things are good...
{eating sounds}Mm mm mmm...
So there you go - one very simple scene. Imagine how much work the designers need to do for complicated puzzles and multiple interactions with an object! And then they have to keep everything straight without mixing up one idea with another. Pretty amazing huh? No wonder it takes us so long to create a game. :)
PS. Good job to everyone who guessed she was eating a candy bar!
DEVELOPMENT - these are things that require programmers to write new code for actions that haven't happened before, usually puzzles or complicated scene swapping
N/A
PRODUCTION - this tells the people who actually put the scenes together about the logic - the IF this THEN do that part of the game
Allow P to eat as many bars as desired
Randomize eating sfx
LOCALIZATION - the games are translated into Russian and French, sometimes there are text changes that need to be made in the actual game in addition to the voice overs
N/A
DESIGN - things that can happen in the universe of the game
Consider making Nancy ill after X amount of bars eaten
Consider having Henry remark that Nancy's face is breaking out (in Eavesdropping) after ND eats X bars.
Consider a Meta Game Award for eating lots of chocolate.
VOICE-OVERS - lines that voice actors/actresses need to record
Need 7 variations of eating
{eating sounds}Mm... Yum... Oh, yeah...
{eating sounds}Yum… Gosh these things are good...
{eating sounds}Mm mm mmm...
So there you go - one very simple scene. Imagine how much work the designers need to do for complicated puzzles and multiple interactions with an object! And then they have to keep everything straight without mixing up one idea with another. Pretty amazing huh? No wonder it takes us so long to create a game. :)
PS. Good job to everyone who guessed she was eating a candy bar!
trailer, part III
Wed, 2007-08-01 15:32 — HerInteractive
Today we continue exploring the trailer making process, this time with the trailer creator himself - Josh. Although we have a handefull of directors working on various trailers, Josh's work includes White Wolf of Icicle Creek, Creature of Kapu Cave, Danger on Deception Island, and Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. He's also one of the artists who works on the Nancy Drew PC games. Here's his explination of how he makes the trailers:
"Generally, each game has a certain mood or atmosphere, so what I like to do first is actually listen to the soundtrack and find music that fits the mood. Once I find a fitting piece of music, I look for a second piece of music that keeps the mood but also adds tension.
Then, I try to figure out a good scene to start the trailer with. Usually, I like something that pulls you in and gives you an idea of the setting for the game. Afterwards, I look for a good scene to end with so I know it ends on something exciting. Finally, I like to find compelling scenes that all fit together with the music and provides a great transition from the beginning to the end. "
I, for one, am amazed. Josh creates some of the BEST trailers that I have ever seen! So far, the Legend of the Crystal Skull trailer is looking pretty good as I mentioned yesteryda - I can't wait to see the final after we work out the pacing!
