Windosill by Patrick Smith (Vectorpark.com) is now available for the iPad.  An adventure puzzle game filled with peculiar objects, it is your task to resolve abstract but yet logical puzzles to progress from room to room.

Our post from 2009: The world is populated by objects and beings but it is the square that fits right above the door on your right is the object you are after. This may be given to you by the bird or it could be the part of letter “i”. None of this may make sense but you really need to play the game to find out what is all about. I have managed to pass first 3 levels pretty easy, but I am not sure If I can make logic from level 4. Greeted by weird but wonderful five objects on plant stems, each with individual properties, I am trying to make sense of it all. From the weird characters to the little steam engine that is ‘you’, everything in this game looks great.

Continue reading.... Windosill [iPad, Games]

SpellTower is a new iPad game by Zach Gage, the name behind the titles such as Halcyon, Bit Pilot, and Unify. SpellTower is a word puzzle game that combines the traditional word making with Tetris style block physics. In the game, the task is to make long words or use bonus tiles to clear extra letters from the screen. As you work, more word tiles rise from the bottom of the screen, and it’ll take all of your word wits and tactical know-how to keep them down. If any of the letters make it to the top row, it’s game over. After playing the game for few days now, I asked Zach what was the inspiration and the reasons for making SpellTower..

Continue reading.... SpellTower [iPad, Games, openFrameworks]

Submitted to this years IGF 2012, Parallax by Zi Ye and Jesse Burstyn is an interdimensional platforming and puzzle-solving game. The goal in each level is to reach the exit by travelling between two overlapping dimensions through rifts. Parallax challenges the player to think beyond the spatial boundaries of traditional platformers.

Continue reading.... Parallax [Games]

Re_Find is a simple but beautiful difference finding game for the iPhone . The game has two game modes; Train in Free Play and, when you’re good enough, try and survive as many rounds as you can in Time Attack. The faster you are, the more points you get; the further you go, the harder it gets.

Beautifully crafted, minimal, refreshing UI and will have you tapping for hours.

Re_Find was designed by João Travessa, developed in collaboration with Others with sound designby Joao Abreu.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.01
Cost: $0.99
Developer: Others, Lda

The long awaited “21st century interpretation of the archetypical old school videogame adventure, designed exclusively for Apple’s touchtronic machinery” and one of the most anticipated games for the platform, aka Sword & Sworcery EP by Superbrothers, is now available in the AppStore.

In a nutshell, Sword & Sworcery EP is an exploratory action adventure with an emphasis on audio-video style, exploring musical mysteries and use a sword to do battle & evoke sworcery. You can co-operate with friends via Twitter, explore the amazing pixel environment Superbrothers have created and absorb the unforgettable soundtrack by Jim Guthrie.

Music by Jim Guthrie exclusively for Sword & Sworcery.
Programming by Capy
Artwork by superbrothers aka Craig Adams

Available only for the iPad. iPhone-specific version of the game will arrive sometime next month.

Read the full preview on TouchArcade: Exclusive ‘Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP’ for iPad Hands-On Preview, Review on IGN: Sword & Sworcery EP iPad Review - Almost pixel-perfect and IndieCade 2010: Superbrothers’ Sword and Sworcery EP preview on TUAW.

If this is not enough, also check out Craig Adams’ profile piece on Kill Screen

Platform: iPad
Version: 1.0
Cost: $4.99
Developer: Capybara Games Inc.

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Fabricate Yourself is a project by Karl D.D. Willis that documented the Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction Conference. Given the tangible theme of the conference Karl decided to engage the community by capturing and fabricating small 3D models of attendees. Attendees firstly capture their favorite pose using a Microsoft Kinect. The depth image from the Kinect is processed into a mesh and displayed onscreen in real-time. At any time they can capture the mesh and save it as an STL file. Dovetail joints are automatically added to the side of the 3x3cm size models so they can be snapped together. This allows multiple models to be connected to form a larger overall model, like a jigsaw puzzle.

The STL files were printed using a Dimension uPrint 3D printer provided by Stratasys.

Created using openFrameworks.

Project Page

(Thanks Karl)

Previously:
Beautiful Modeler [iPad, openFrameworks] – Gestural sculpting on …
Trace Modeler [openFrameworks] – Real-time video to create three …

Created by We Choose Fun, We Sliders is a simple puzzle game where the task is to arrange sliders into a vertical line. The game starts with only few rows and as you progress the number of rows increases. Each row is connected to a different row, ie dragging one to the left with make other move right. This does not work vice versa, meaning that sliders are not inter-connected. Your task is to find the perfect combination resulting in a continuos vertical alignment. This is all made extra wonderful by the colour of the sliders and the background which changes as you move the sliders. Absolutely lovely.

This is an unconventional game with an unconventional interface.
Learning how to use it is part of the game, that’s what you need to know.

See also Prelock for iPhone (itunes link)

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: We Choose Fun

The team behind the IGF nominated game Snapshot Retro Affect just released a Flash version of their platform puzzler Depict1. It was originally created with Game Maker for the Global Game Jam 2010 and perfectly captured the game jam’s theme “deception”.

A voice is guiding you through the game world, but constantly giving false advise – reminding a lot of the AI character GLaDOS in Valve’s Portal. Depict1 is definitely a unique game though as it takes all the game design conventions you learned about platformers like Super Mario World and turns them upside down. The game features an auto-save system and two different endings. If you want to skip the ads in the Flash version, you can also download the Windows version of the game for free.

FixPix a mini Game for iPhone/iPod Touch made by Delicious Toys (Mario & Andrew) in collaboration with the world renown pixel art group Eboy.

eBoy was founded in 1997 by Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital. Based in Berlin and Vancouver, their complex illustrations have been made into posters, shirts, souvenirs, and displayed in many galleries around the world. They have worked with Adidas, Adobe, Coca-Cola, Diesel, DKNY, Nike, magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, Times, RolingStone and many other high profile names.

“We started working with pixels because we loved the idea of making pictures only for the screen. It’s the best way to get really sharp and clean looking results. Also, handling pixels is fun and you are forced to simplify and abstract things, which is a big advantage of this technique.”

eBoy FixPix is a puzzle game using the graphics of Eboy where you have to tilt your phone to solve it. There are about 100 different motives and many of them have a 3D effect (see video). In other words, this is an endless source of wallpapers for your iPhone and above all a very intriguing digital puzzle. Even though we have seen these kind of puzzles on the iPhone before, FixPix is most probably the first that is not only entertaining but allows you to explores the work of the artist. Artworks are not just cut up into slices but are amazingly layered compositions where at times you will need to study even the smallest intricate details to discover how things should fit together. Tilting your iPhone will uncover parts of the composition that you wouldn’t normally see in the finished piece. The process is very enjoyable even if you find yourself (if you are on public transport) pointing your iPhone at someone sitting across you in attempt to match the elements in the artwork.

When I was first told about the app I was somewhat sceptical. After playing with it for an hour or so with dozens of screen captures, I am trying to find ways to avoid regular daily interruptions eager to uncover all the progressively more difficult compositions. Each artwork is amazing by itself. Sure, there are fillers here but all together FixPix is a wonderful collection of eBoy’s work. From simple to very complex we have come to love, Mario and Andrew have done a terrific job in bringing eBoy not only to the fans but everyone else will also enjoy FixPix as much. See demo here.

I am not sure how far from submission FixPix is, majority of motives are in and facebook and twitter integrations are almost there. In any case I leave you with few images + the video and rest assured that as soon as it is available for download we’ll be all bells and whistles because this is really a must have. FixPix is now available!

To find out more about eBoy, head over to their site. To find out more about Delicious Toys, check out delicioustoys.de.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: delicious toys

As most of us already know and those who don’t are not from this planet, the iPad is launching in the US tomorrow. With all the excitement and hype we thought we’d collect the most exciting, well designed and impactful apps we came across for your new object of affection. Many of the reviews and hit lists we have seen are the usual suspects and although they fill the roles of getting things done, we at app.itize.us and CreativeApplications.Net like to look at things slightly different. This post is a showcase of some of the most inspiring, beautiful, challenging and most exciting apps out there at the time of the iPad release. Of course, we look forward to what is yet to come, as we are as excited about iPad as everyone else. Enjoy.

Granimator™

A free-form, immersive touch and sound experience that allows you to become the artist using noted designers and artists special ‘design’ packs including signature elements, shapes and backgrounds to play with.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: Free
Developer: ustwo™

Chirp Frame

Turn your iPad into a simple and elegant twitter picture frame. there are 3 different stylized graphic themes to fit you and your own personal taste (black&white, western and nature). you can also respond to tweets in the app.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: work in progress

Touch OSC

TouchOSC is an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad application that lets you send and receive Open Sound Control messages over a Wi-Fi network using the UDP protocol. Whilst this does not mean much for many, the usage of this app has no limits. Say you are a musician and want to control your Pro-Tools from your iPad or what if you have built an arduino robot you want to control from your iPad, well this is the way to do it. This is a must in the area of custom hardware software using OSC networks. Check it out even if you have no use for it today you may tomorrow..

Platform: iPad/iPhone
Version: 1.5
Cost: $4.99
Developer:  Hexler

Raindrops for iPad

Touch the screen and trigger pleasant musical sounds to your own beat. record your compositions and share with others online. you don’t need any previous musical knowledge to enjoy this.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: Masayuki Akamatsu , Yusuke Kawabata , Junpei Wada

C64 Paint XL

This is THE paint program from 1984. a retro pixel art inspired app that lets you paint on a canvas up to 160 by 200 pixels with all the 16 colors of the classic 8-bit computer of the 1980s, the Commodore 64. It has both square pixels and non-square pixels to replicate the way the C64 and other 8-bit computers really looked on a TV screen.

Platform: iPhone/iPad
Version: 1.0
Cost: $2.99
Developer: Felt Tip Inc

Thicket

An audio-visual mix and manipulation of texture, movement, line and tone. by drawing on the screen with your fingers, you create dense, mesmerizing sonic and visual patterns within a space of warm, bright, rhythmic sound design and constantly evolving, bending, elegant scrawls.

Platform: iPhone/iPad
Version: 1.0
Cost: $2.99
Developer: Interval Studios Inc

Kaleidescope X Pad

Much more than just a traditional kaleidoscope, this app is a creative tool for producing beautiful moving mirrored images… its literally an interactive work of art. comes standard with all the features you would expect in a digital kaleidoscope, but adds an impressive collection of features incl. a STEREOSCOPIC 3-D mirror and the amazing IMAGE SYNTHESIZER which creates image variations on the fly.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: Gritless Digital

Zen Bound 2

Amazing graphics and sound set the atmosphere for this zen inspiring puzzle app. you need to wrap a length of rope around various sized and stylized wooden sculptures. takes full advantage of tilt and multi-touch so you will not only need to use your fingers to wrap and twist the shapes, but also tilt your iPad to solve the puzzles.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $7.99
Developer: Secret Exit Ltd

The Elements: A Visual Exploration

This is one of the most amazing digital experiences i have seen. not only an amazing resource to provide context to the periodic table, but, also takes full advantage of the tablet based interface of the iPad. over 500 examples of the chemical elements in virtual form and every one can be spun around a complete circle with the touch of your finger. you can even view them in stereo 3D using glasses available from the publisher.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $13.99
Developer: Element Collection

Depict HD

This app was recommended to me by my good friend lopetz at büro destruct. an amazing pixel art game which you draw a picture and others across the internet (via openfeint) try to guess the image or take part and guess yourself. a unique take on pictionary, but with pixels. fantasitic idea and addicting to play. this version for iPad takes it to a whole new level.

Platform: iPad/iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: Makeshift Games

Intellivision

This one brings back memories of me playing intellivision at my friends house after school on his families walnut cabinet tv set. the app has a selection of vintage titles for you to take you back in time. the visual design of the app and its various menus is spot on, down to the paddle controller and the pixelated graphics of the games. def one to get for the nostalgic values alone.

Platform: iPad only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $2.99
Developer: VH1 and MTV Networks

TiltShift Generator

my favourite photo manipulation app on the face of the earth has now come to the iPad. they have totally reformatted the controls specially for the tablet. amazing photo manipulations to make your photos look like they are shots with miniatures, toy camera images and fake DSLR. just stunning results from this app.

Platform: iPad/iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $2.99
Developer: Takayuki Fukatsu & Takuma Mori

Noby Noby Boy

a fantastic port of the recent iPhone release from Keita Takahashi to the iPad. takes full advantage of the new screen size and has some enhancements as well. you can now paint on the background and save them as well. also, the controls are made much larger and easy for smaller fingers (and kids). just too insane to explain, so go get it!

Platform: iPad/iPhone
Version: 1.1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: NAMCO BANDAI Games

IQ mirror X

This app is deceptively hard, you need to replicate the randomly created dot pattern displayed in the mirrored pattern below it. use your fingers to change the sizes of the spheres to match the ones above, but, its not that easy, you have a time limit as well.

Platform: iPad/iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $2.99
Developer: Studio Loupe

Ludo Board Game

This board game app is a result of the evolution of the well known ancient game Ludo (Latin: I Play) that we all played as kids. the board game itself has a very simple concept so it is suitable for anyone from 4 to 99 years. you can play solo against the computer intelligence or mix computer vs human to add an extra dimension of challenge. the graphics are elegant and colorful and represent the original with a twist.

Platform: iPad Only
Version: 1.0
Cost: $3.99
Developer: SIS software