Archive for the ‘Announcements’ Category
Baby’s Playful Hands
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
Two years ago I released an app I made for my 8-month-old son, called Baby’s Musical Hands. It had some colourful squares that played musical notes when tapped. I wanted to make something for him that he could play on my iPad without worrying about buttons that were too small to press, ads, or in-app purchase. The app proved to be quite popular with infants and their parents, and I was extremely happy at the reception it got. It even won some awards from the Children’s Technology Review and the Best App Ever Awards.
Since then, I’ve been giving thought to ways that I could change the app to provide even more interest to babies and toddlers. My daughter is now a year old, so I thought I would take this opportunity to make an app for her: Baby’s Playful Hands. Baby’s Playful Hands is similar, in that there are coloured squares that play musical notes when tapped, but I’ve added more layers of interaction. There are six instruments and colours, and they change as the baby plays with the app. There are more animations to surprise and delight children. And I changed the musical scale to a pentatonic scale so that things sound nice when babies are randomly hitting notes together.
Baby’s Playful Hands is available on the iOS App Store today! It’s a universal app, so it runs on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. I hope you and your children enjoy it as much as mine do! 🙂
Get Baby’s Playful Hands on the iOS App Store
Owen
Finger Tied Jr. Now Available
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
If you’ve been waiting for a version of Finger Tied that you can play on your iPhone or iPod touch, your wait is over. Finger Tied Jr. is now available on the App Store! You can go by it now for only $0.99:
Finger Tied Jr. on the App Store
Finger Tied Jr. has the same great gameplay you loved in Finger Tied for iPad, but it has been redesigned for the iPhone and iPod touch. It features over 85 new levels, designed to be fun to play on the iPhone’s smaller screen.
Finger Tied Jr. for iPhone and iPod touch
If you’re curious about what went into redesigning the game for the iPhone, I wrote an article for Gamezebo on the process:
Finger Tied Jr. – Redesigning Finger Tied for the iPhone (gamezebo.com)
I hope you enjoy the game!
Owen
Finger Tied Jr. is coming…
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Even though I’ve been hard at work on a new game (Snow Siege – I should really post about that…), I’ve also been working on Finger Tied Jr. What’s that you ask? Finger Tied Jr. is Finger Tied for the iPhone and iPod touch. And it’s going to launch on Thursday, May 23, 2013.
Finger Tied Jr.
Finger Tied for iPad turned out to be quite popular, and was launched to much critical acclaim. Apple even picked it as one of their “Best of the App Store” for 2012 in the “New Ways to Play” category. Many people asked me if I’d consider doing a version for iPhone and iPod touch, because they didn’t have iPads. After Finger Tied launched, I started working on a version for iPhone, but I just couldn’t get something I was happy with. I didn’t want to just do a quick port that didn’t work, I wanted a game that was as good as the iPad version.
A bit discouraged, I put the project aside and moved on to other things. However, this spring I got the game out again and realized there definitely was potential in it. I started thinking about the game differently, and I redesigned the game for the iPhone. Finger Tied Jr. has all new levels that are designed to be fun on the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod touch. I had to change the “rules” I had about what made puzzles in Finger Tied fun, because what was fun on a big screen wasn’t necessarily fun on a small screen.
In the end, I’m really happy with how Finger Tied Jr. turned out. It has the same feel as Finger Tied, but I think it really works on the smaller screen. So keep an eye out, and grab the game on launch day for only $0.99!
Owen
Finger Tied Now Available!
Thursday, October 18th, 2012
It is with great pleasure that I can announce Finger Tied is now available for your iPad! It is available, for a limited time, with a special launch sale of 66% OFF!
Fingers feeling nimble? Fingers feeling flexible? Twist, stretch, turn, and tie your fingers in knots to solve these fun puzzles! Are your fingers up for it?
Finger Tied is a multi-touch puzzle game, only for the iPad. In each Finger Tied puzzle, fill in a shape by moving up to four fingers around on your iPad at the same time. But be careful, lift a finger, or go out of bounds, and it’s game over. Finger Tied will test your mental, as well as your finger abilities!
Finger Tied can be played entirely by yourself, but for even more fun, invite some friends over and Finger Tied makes a great party game!
- Finger Tied has 100+ puzzles to test even the most flexible of fingers.
- Fly solo, or ask a friend (or three!) to lend you a hand with the more tricky puzzles.
- Keep your wits about you. You’ll need to turn and twist your fingers, your body, and maybe even your iPad to solve some of these puzzles.
- Create your own puzzles with a built-in puzzle editor.
- Game Center leaderboards let you compare your best scores with your friends’.
Go get it, and let me know what you think!
Owen
New Game Announcement: Finger Tied
Monday, June 4th, 2012
Things have been rather quiet around here lately. From November of last year I spent 6 months doing contract work, but as May rolled around, I was finally free to start working on my own games again. I’ve since been working on a new game, which I’m announcing today!
My next game is called:Â Finger Tied.
I’m not saying too much about the game yet, but it’s a multi-touch, iPad-only puzzle game that requires dexterity, patience, and thought. I’m including a few screenshots below to give you a visual sense of what the game looks like (you may also be able to figure out how to play it). However, the game’s not done, so some of this may change before I ship.
How do you play it? How many levels are there? When will it launch? What do the menus look like (who doesn’t want to know this)? How awesome is it? These are all questions that will have to wait (except that last one: it’s very awesome).
I’ll be talking more about the game as I get closer to finishing it both here on the blog and on twitter.
Without further ado, the pictures!
Owen