Todos conocereis a Julianne Moore por su marcada trayectoria en la industria de Hollywood pero supongo que con lo que no estareis tan familiarizados es con su faceta de creadora de cuentos infantiles, pues si, Julianne Moore tiene una serie de libros para niños con un personaje muy divertido llamado Freckleface Strawberry.
“Una niña diferente, igual que todas la demás” así la presenta Julianne en uno de sus cuentos y ahora esta heronina pelirroja con pecas pasa del papel al App Store con una aplicación del género cuento interactivo llamado Freckleface Strawberry Monster Maker. Está en inglés pero eso es una buena excusa para que los mas peques se vayan familiarizando con el idioma. Las ilustraciones corren a cargo de la galardonada dibujante LeUyen Pham.
Mas información en la Web: www.frecklefacestrawberry.com

World Cruise Story es el título de este nuevo juego que seguramente también será trasladado al App Store más adelante.

Esta vez la acción se desarrollará en un barco donde tendremos que personalizar nuestra nave, incluyendo comodidades para los pasajeros como habitaciones y restaurantes donde comer. También podremos escoger nuestro destino.

Podemos ver un ejemplo de su funcionamiento aquí:

Simogo(Read spanish version)

With a carefully designed and well-crafted gameplay Simon Flesser y Magnus “Gordon” Gardebäck of the swedish studio Simogo, have been placed with just two games in the AppStore as one of the hallmarks of reference in this new industry that is growing by leaps and bounds each day. The secret? a lot of love for what they do, dedication and motivation. The result? funny and addicting games like “Bumpy Road” and “Spin Kosmo”…

Interview with Simon Flesser (Simogo)

Simon Flesser and Magnus Gardebäck | Founders of Simogo

Could you tell us a brief biography of Simogo?.
Simogo is me, Simon Flesser, and Magnus “Gordon” Gardebäck. Gordon writes the code, I do the art and sound. We design the games together. We started last year, in August, and released our first game Kosmo Spin that year. In May 2011 we released Bumpy Road.

Before starting Simogo we worked with console games at another company in Malmö,Southend. Mostly remakes such as R-Type and Lode Runner for Xbox live arcade, but also one original game called ilomilo which I art directed and Gordon tech directed.

What do you think about the current scenario of video-games on mobile
devices?
It’s a good one, and there are lots of interesting and unique games coming out that we wouldn’t have seen a few years back when it wasn’t possible to sell your games as easy as in this digital age.
But there are a few trends that I really really dislike. I’m totally ok with developers charging for actual content, like new levels, clothes or something that actually has a value, but I don’t like the trend of selling numeric values for real money. For example, in game, where you can pay to skip levels or a point multiplier. It’s even worse when it’s disguised like it is in some games Especially in games that are targeted at young children.

Is it a good scenario for small businesses compared with large industries? (assuming that best-selling games are mostly produced by small businesses)
Well, we can make a living out of doing games independently, so I would say that it’s a good situation today, but it’s never easy. There’s lots of competition and you’ve got to have something unique.

Mobile or Tablet-PCs?
What we prefer? I personally like smaller devices, even though the iPad is very cool for games, especially for more players.

It’s quite obvious that mobile games have changed the way we make games, more simple and faster oriented. What do you think about the future of video-gaming?
It’s so incredibly hard to say, and if you are two specific you’ll end up looking stupid when looking back. Personally I’m hoping for more cool user interfaces, like the touchscreen and motion control revolution of these past years. I’m hoping a lot for haptic feedback on touchscreens where you can feel different heights and different materials, that would be pretty cool, especially combined with 3d graphics. Even haptic feedback on buttons and sticks would be cool, like buttons that press themselves back or are harder to press in the game. Like, in Zelda when you’re pushing a block to the right, the analog stick makes a bit of a resistence and is harder to press to the right.

Do you see a possible jump from the mobile to the console and/or vice
versa? Are you planning it for the future?
Yeah sure, but for now we’re pretty satisfied with doing iOS because we can keep the projects small, which we prefer, and we can easily self-publish our stuff.
We actually talked with publishers about doing Bumpy Road for Playstation 3, but that eventually never happened.
I play a lot on my consoles and handhelds it would be fun to do something, but who knows what happens in the future.

What are your distribution channels once the games are up and running?
Since we’re only doing iOS at the moment it’s App Store only.

What projects do you have under development right now?
We’ll keep that a secret for just a little while more. We’re constantly hinting about it on our twitter (@simogogames) and our blog, so check us out there if you want all the details. If I can give a small hint about, I would say that this is not an endless game like our previous two games, and it’s a lot more puzzle oriented than the previous ones two.
Also, we are doing a Mac version of Bumpy Road, but since we’re not two it’s something we’re doing on the side of this third project so it takes a little while.

Reviews

Bumpy Road
Read review (spanish)

Download game

Kosmo Spin
Read review (spanish)

Download game

Writers: MAD, Sandra.
Images: Simogo.

Sinopsis:
La vida de Ellie y sus amigos era de lo más tranquila en un pueblecito australiano hasta que deciden irse unos días de acampada en un páramo llamado Infierno.

Desde allí se dan cuenta de un tráfico aéreo de aviones de guerra un tanto inquietante. Cuando vuelven a casa sus familias han desaparecido y una fuerza extranjera ha tomado el territorio.

El grupo de jóvenes, liderado por Ellie, decide convertirse en una de las pocas resistencias libres que quedan en la ciudad.