Steam Next Fest is going on now and the demo for our next game, The Case of the Worst Day Ever, is now available! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3279410/The_Case_of_the_Worst_Day_Ever/ A family is gathered for a cozy celebration, but everyone looks miserable! What happened here? Who are these people (and pets)?! And why are they so unhappy?!?
From the family dog to the grumpy grandma, peek inside their unfortunate lives and investigate the events leading up to the party.
Scour each silly scene for clues that point to identities, motives, and misadventures. Then use your deductive skills to fill-in-the-blanks and put your conclusions to the test!
These poor people (and pets) just want someone to understand their misfortune. Uncover the mystery of the worst day ever and make everyone happy again! Happy solving!

[ 2025-02-24 18:00:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! This update fixes an issue where audio wouldn't play for certain users on Windows 11. As a little bonus, we added 16 NEW CIPHERS for you to solve!

[ 2025-02-22 01:08:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're super excited to announce our next game: The Case of the Worst Day Ever! Check out the teaser trailer below! [previewyoutube=QEU76x4-JVI;full][/previewyoutube] It was supposed to be a party, but nobody's celebrating. Peek into the lives of each grumpy family member, collect clues, and cheer everyone up in this cozy fill-in-the-blank mystery. Wishlist now and look out for a demo releasing early next year! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3279410/The_Case_of_the_Worst_Day_Ever/ If you're interested in being a play-tester, please email us at herogameco@tutanota.com

[ 2024-10-25 22:56:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a marvelous new year full of fun, good books, and fond memories. Please enjoy this FREE update, featuring 16 brand new ciphers to decode!

Happy solving!

P.S. If you haven't already, check out the sequel Poems & Codes for even more ciphers from the Project Gutenberg library! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2295070/Poems__Codes

[ 2024-01-13 17:18:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're so thrilled to announce that Poems & Codes is now available for purchase! Enjoy over 400 of the ciphers you love, this time with excerpts from classic poetry! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2295070 Happy solving!

[ 2023-10-17 18:01:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Just a few little fixes in this patch:

• fixed typo in Edgar Allan Poe's name
• fixed typo in Israel Zangwill's name
• fixed a bug where using UNDO a lot would result in a crash

[ 2023-07-25 17:30:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're super excited to announce the sequel to Prose & Codes! If you loved Prose & Codes, get ready for a brand new library of ciphers to decode -- coming later this year! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2295070

• Decode a vast and varied collection of curated poetry, where each poem is encrypted using one of the world's oldest codes: the substitution cipher
• Use your knowledge of the English language to decrypt over 400 interconnected excerpts, with each cipher inspiring the next to come
• Like what you decoded? Read the entire poem in-game or download each poet's anthology online for free, direct links included!
• Share the joy of poetry--10% of every sale is donated to Project Gutenberg, an online library of over 60,000 free ebooks
• Play at your own pace with four difficulty settings to choose from
• Relax with a soothing, contemplative soundtrack
• Choose between night or sunlight mode with optional enlarged cipher text

We'll be sharing a demo with you this summer, so stay tuned and wishlist now!

[ 2023-03-04 19:24:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! Today's small patch contains:

• 8 new ciphers! (one per genre)
• fixed the cipher count text wrap issue on the profiles screen
• updated Adventure quote #4

Happy solving!

[ 2022-12-20 03:18:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're thrilled to announce that Prose & Codes now offers community items! Collect trading cards featuring famous authors from each genre, craft book badges (plus the exclusive Gutenberg foil badge!), and decorate your profile with awesome illustrations from the game! As an added bonus, we've included 16 brand new ciphers for you to puzzle over. Huge thanks to everyone for your reviews, feedback, and continued interest in the game. Trading cards are a big milestone for us, and we couldn't have done it without you! :) Happy solving!

[ 2022-09-29 16:40:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Two little updates for you today:

• 2 more ciphers for the Great Thinkers genre, for those of you who needed 52 ;)
• Fixed a bug where a solved letter would be erased/not appear, making the puzzle unsolvable

Big thanks to everyone for checking out the new update and for reporting any issues you found! Happy solving!

[ 2022-08-24 21:02:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're so excited to share a brand new genre full of 50 new ciphers: GREAT THINKERS! Decode quotes from some of history's most influential thinkers, ranging all the way from ancient wisdom to modern philosophy. This is our first non-fiction category, and we hope you enjoy! In addition to the new ciphers, we've added a few requested features to make your solving experience even smoother. On the cipher screen, you'll now find an UNDO button (you can also use CTRL+Z), and we've added the ability to right click on a letter to erase it. There are also minor fixes for typography spacing and typos. Happy solving!

[ 2022-08-12 03:01:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! In today's update, we have the following: 14 new ciphers! Note: if you've already finished the game, you will see the endgame screen one more time after completing these new ciphers. With future updates, the endgame screen will not trigger again. Typos

• Tanglewood Tales synopsis
• The Mystery of the Yellow Room synopsis
• Children's cipher #20
• title of The Wendigo

Features

• added option to disable cursive handwriting font
• added borderless window mode
• created profile data backup folder in your local save data directory; these can be used to restore older save data if you ever need it (please see the discussion forums for instructions on how to find your save data directory)

Bugs

• fixed endgame issue where players couldn't reveal the book title before being taken away to the endgame screen

Still in the works/Things we're considering

• undo button
• some sort of Steam cloud integration or way to make manually backing up save data easier

[ 2022-03-28 18:42:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Thank you so much to everyone who gave feedback over the past two weeks. User-Friendly Updates

• added a little arrow above the active letter box to make keyboard navigation easier
• letter boxes will now stay active when changing pages on multi-page ciphers
• changed "VIGNETTE" label to "FLICKER FX" on Settings screen for clarity

Bug Fixes

• tearing noise will no longer play on click when the "Reveal Book Title & Author" ribbon is not present
• fixed a crash that occurred when decreasing cipher text size on multi-page ciphers
• changed the title of "Tales of Terror and Mystery" in the Mystery genre to "The Lost Special" to avoid duplicate book titles

Still Investigating/On the Agenda

• HDR monitor brightness issue
• considering adding an "Undo" button

[ 2022-02-24 18:37:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just a quick upgrade to the newest Steam SDK behind the scenes.

[ 2022-02-12 19:33:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

A behind-the-scenes update to support Mac 1 (plus one typo fix for the synopsis of Medea)

[ 2022-02-12 18:19:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're pleased to announce that Prose & Codes is now available for purchase!

The wonderful world of books awaits you :)

[ 2022-02-11 16:45:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

New features on the Settings menu: -window size options -turn the flickering background vignette on or off

[ 2022-02-02 19:50:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've been hard at work, and we're so excited to announce the Prose & Codes release date: February 11, 2022! Get ready for all 350 ciphers--coming your way in just a few weeks! As for the demo, you'll now find two new features in the Settings menu:

• a soothing dark mode
• an option to enlarge cipher text

(Music additions may still be coming with the full release.) As always, please let us know if you run into any issues or have any additional feedback! We are extremely grateful to everyone who has helped us make this game what it is today. We couldn't have done it without you! Happy solving! <3

[ 2022-01-30 18:38:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The release of Prose & Codes is on the horizon! While we put on the finishing touches, check out these awesome updates to the demo:

• a new cipher for each genre!
• clickable alphabet allows for mouse-only input on ciphers
• you can now select cipher letter boxes using the arrow keys, plus navigate through multi-page ciphers with the Page Up and Page Down keys
• option to play new interactive tutorial
• option to hide the book title & author when ciphers are solved (now hidden by default; you can change this via the Settings menu)
• added "Medium" difficulty option
• updated help screen with cipher solving tips
• music changes
• custom cursor
• clicking the "Entire Story" button will also copy the book URL to your clipboard (certain Linux systems will not allow the game to open a browser window automatically)
• tweaks to credits screen

We're still working on final music changes and dark mode. Please let us know if you run into any issues or have any additional feedback! Happy solving! <3

[ 2022-01-16 22:47:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Big thanks to everyone who reported bugs. Below are the fixes for this patch:

• fixed bug where boxes would not accept player input
• fixed bug where solving the second page of a cipher would solve the entire cipher
• fixed blue screen error triggered during state transitions
• fixed bug where solved letters would be selected upon first entering a cipher level
• corrected typo in The Count of Monte Cristo synopsis
• fixed bug where cipher page arrows did not resize properly during window resizing

Thanks again for all the feedback, and let us know if you run into any other issues! We are still working on a few other bugs that were reported.

[ 2021-10-09 00:29:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

We had so much fun with our first live stream! If you missed it, come chill & chat with us as we play through the Prose & Codes demo!

October 6th at 5pm PDT/12am GMT

[ 2021-10-05 20:17:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! The Prose & Codes demo is now available for everyone to play! We would love to hear any and all feedback, so please leave us a message on the discussion board or email us at herogameco@tutanota.com.

[ 2021-10-01 16:01:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join us for our very first live stream as we solve our way through the Prose & Codes demo! October 3rd at 10am PDT/5pm GMT

[previewyoutube=5SMGKRlW0p0;full][/previewyoutube] Prose & Codes is a game of literary ciphers in support of Project Gutenberg.

• DECODE the wit, wisdom, and wonder of curated classics
• EXPLORE an expansive collection of literary genres
• AWAKEN an irresistible desire to read--every single book is only one click away and completely free!
• SHARE the joy of reading---a portion of all sales will go to Project Gutenberg, an online library of over 60,000 free ebooks

[ 2021-09-19 00:35:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Prose & Codes is a game of literary ciphers in support of Project Gutenberg (an online library of over 60,000 free ebooks). Revisit--or discover for the first time--some of literature's finest works as you decode over 300 hand-selected excerpts across 7 beloved genres. If you find something you like and want to read more, the entire book is only one click away--and completely free! [previewyoutube=5SMGKRlW0p0;full][/previewyoutube]

Wishlist & stay tuned for a free demo coming October 1!

[ 2021-08-18 01:46:33 CET ] [ Original post ]