Here’s an interesting literal take at converting an existing real-world book into an iPad book. The LoudCrow crew (makers of one of my all time favorites, The Night Before Christmas) have done a good job at making a sweet simple reading experience.
The story is simple, the illustrations are cute, and the interactions are fun. For example, the screen fogs up when you turn on the hot water in the bath tub (you have to wipe it off with a “squeek” “squeek” to read the rest of the story), fish that leap as you touch water, and stars that populate the night sky as your finger rolls across it. All around a solid read and a good story. Good job taking a pre-existing work and giving it new life.
Yesterday, I reviewed the awesome Nursery Rhymes iPad App that comes with a technology called “Story Time” – and I wondered if I’d understood how it worked. Well, I just came across a video that describes the scenario in which you’d use StoryTime – and it’s as bad as I’d imagined… and perhaps doubly as ludicrous. The video is awesome though. It’s like an Onion.com parody of itself. I especially love the cheery sound effect at the end – that puts a cherry on-top of 69 seconds of pure depressing commentary on modern life.
Holy moly. It’s Atomic Antelope at it again – this time with an ambitious new original project. This is how I think the story goes: Atomic Antelope (2 people) craft a category busting iPad App based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Millions of people download it at $8.99 and suddenly Atomic Antelope is flush with media attention and cash. Do they sit on their laurels. No way. They repeat their successful antique style and inventive physics (now much copied) with Bauble, and Nursery Rhymes, all the while working on their most ambitious project to date: Alice in New York.
It’s an original storyline (with a ™ and all), original illustrations, and original physics effects. This time (flush with cash), they spend it on story quality – hiring specialists to do fireworks effects, integrated game dynamics, writing, illustration, and sound. And it’s an amazing feat.
My only quip is that the story is so long and involved that the storybook elements sometimes seem separate. Whereas with Nursery Rhymes, Atomic Antelope simply dispensed with the story – conveying only its essence and focusing in on the illustrations and interaction, this opus attempts the same kind of detailed interactive storypages along with an intricate original story. And the result is that they seem less integrated than in their previous work. That said, it’s a minor quip. All told, this app is a feat of storytelling, illustration, and programming. This team is defining what storytelling will become over the next decade. Bravo.
This delightful collection of nursery rhymes is more of a series of single story pages – each with a surprising, inventive, and beautifully designed set of interactions. It’s a fun new offering from Atomic Antelope.
Like Atomic Antelope’s other storybooks, this one has got a smashing illustrated look and feel. Each story page is inspired by a classic nursery rhyme, but none rehashes the entire rhyme. Instead, each screen presents the essence of the rhyme in the context of a magazine-like design combined with the interactivity of a game. It’s so interesting to see the notion of book and game coming together in this way. Well worth the price.
It also comes integrated with “Storytime,” which appears to be a way to read the story remotely to your kid – if you’re on the road. Doesn’t seem very useful – why not just put your mobile on speakerphone and have your partner read turn the pages? Don’t really get it.
Akaneiro retells the story of Red Riding Hood, but set in Feudal Japan. The dark illustrations are richly beautiful – set in an eternal sort of fog that speaks of impending doom. Interactive features such as a village bell that you can ring or an axe that allows you to chop wood are perfectly layered into the storyline.
A few minutes ago, I posted a review of another Red Riding Hood iPad book, in which I complained of gratuitous features and uneven illustrations. Akaneiro shows how it should be done. It takes the old classic story and retells it in vivid detail – with lush illustrations – and a perfect balance of interactivity and narrative. My only complaint is that the text treatment seems like an afterthought… inconsistent with the rest of the artwork and artful approach to the story.
But all around, it’s a fantastic experience. Scary though – and probably not kid appropriate. But for older kids or parents, it’s well worth the bargain basement $.99 pricetag.
I forgot how scary this story is! Holy moly. If I were under the age of 15, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night after reading this iPad book. Of course, it’s a classic tale – retold in this iPad version. The narration is superb. The rest is somewhat hit or miss.
Some of the illustrations are vibrant and detailed. And some of the interactions are nicely done (like the picnic basket into which you can put various items of food). But it doesn’t hold together. The interactions don’t backup the story. They are mostly gratuitous… like the opening page where the image slides up and down beneath a diamond shape – for no apparent reason. Or the painting of Red Riding Hood’s cape. It’s cool that you can paint it, but why? How is cape painting related to the story? There doesn’t seem to be much of a rhyme or reason to the features.
And boy is it scary. They really play up the growling wolf sounds. So, beware if you’ve got a young kid.
I’m a techie, so I can appreciate the long long hours that went into creating this book. It’s truly a technical feat – and one of the first kids books that I’ve seen make use of perspective based 3d, where the layout changes to match your perspective as you move the iPad around. It’s a mod of the technique made famous by Johnny Lee in this youtube video.
So, it’s with no small number of misgivings that I’ll write the following… and I’ll caveat the following by saying that I’m simply not a fan of girly fairy books. They’re just not my cup of tea, so if yours is, your opinion may differ.
While I found the 3d perspective interesting at first, it didn’t add enough to the story to make the story itself interesting. Some of the characters are morbidly skeletal (see screenshot of animals in a row with bunnies on end… the bunnies look like Keith Richards after a rough night). And then there are the invisible roses – which is a very neat concept – but in practice, looks like pixelated half-loaded images. So, buy this book if you like fairies or appreciate technical craft. But you won’t find a rich narrative or artwork that gets you out of your seat.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
[3/12 update: thanks to comment from Kory from Mobad. I should clarify that by "mod" of Johnny Lee's work... I mean that it's using some of the same visual principals to create the 3d effect. ie: the scene changes relative to the positioning of your body (ie: how your hands are holding the iPad), but as Kory notes, the technology is different.]
