A very exciting new App Project - Introducing Edmund and Cecilie

Here’s an exciting thought.

A BAFTA nominated animator and special effects expert (that would be a certain Matt Howarth, formerly of Granada Television) teaming up with Author Illustrator Chris Mould (of Yorkshire Life magazine), and backed by those wonderful peeps at Puffin, Coming together to create an interactive storytelling experience that might just be about to create an electrical storm in the app world.

Edmund and Cecilie is still in the early stages of development but because I can’t wait to get my paws on it I decided to find out some more top secret inside information.

So what’s all the fuss about?

Well, here’s Cecilie (the small non-dragony one). 

Cecilie LOVES stories and having just worked her way through an entire library she’s eager for more. 
Her inquisitive and adventurous nature leads her to an old blue storytelling dragon called Edmund who might just be the right kind of beast to solve the problem.

Edmund introduces Cecilie to the enchanting storyforest and through the door of every tree, lies one of Edmund’s tales waiting to be told. 

Together they encounter whacky wizards, snotty old witches, bumbling brave knights, cool castles and much much more.

Here's a sneak peek at the storyboard in progress ...

A simple but seemingly effective concept that sounds well suited to the functionality of the iPad (other platforms will be available)


Edmund and Cecilie is set for release in June 2013 and quite frankly I can't wait. 

More coming soon...

GUEST POST

We've got lots of exciting app reviews coming up very soon including a feature on Chris Mould's amazing new project but we thought it might be interesting in the meantime to hear about apps and app development from an alternative perspective and in this case from straight from the mouth of a student studying apps at University. 

So here is a guest post by student Pedro Kirk

My name is Pedro and I am a student at Goldsmiths University studying music computing, which is essentially a creative computer course. 

I have just started a creative computer project that will span the full year and I wanted to work on a project that has potential to be more than just coursework. I hit upon the idea of creating a digital book app for children after seeing how adept my young nephews were in playing with a musical game app I created last year. 


I am really interested in how the children's digital book market is going to grow over time, as I think it enhances the experience of reading paperbacks. It allows children more options and can contain further fun activities to accompany the book they enjoy.

I have created a questionnaire for my current project as over the next few months I have to research the market in this area and gain feedback to help inform my design decisions from the people who will be the potential users. The market is very unsettled at the moment with no real way of knowing if digital formats of childrens books will really take off. One of the main reasons for this is the huge number of free apps available from companies who don’t expect a return on them, just more exposure. I personally think there is room for creative original art works to be seen in app form. If the illustrations and story are strong enough one would hope even small developers would see interest through word of mouth and online exposure.

My partner Chloe Douglass recently wrote and illustrated an original children's book called The One and Only Pablo as her final project for her Masters degree at Kingston, I thought to combine our skills and I’m using her story for my app. (Read Chloe's blog here!)

The current market seems so hard to get into for smaller independent illustrators and writers, so I see this as a brilliant way of getting more exposure. 

If the app is successful then it can raise the profile of the illustrator/writer and bring in a larger audience for the book. Diversity of platforms is a good way to interact with new audiences, and from my research so far children are using iPads almost as much as their parents.

THANK YOU Pedro for giving us this interesting insight. GOOD LUCK with the rest of your course.

Images (c) Chloe Douglass

You can participate in Pedro's questionnaire here

TOCA BOCA RULEZ

WE LOVE TOCA BOCA!!

Little App Puppy loves Toca Boca Band.. A future Hendrix in the making!

If you haven't checked it out yet you are in for a REAL treat. 

It's engaging, hilarious and easy to use. you'll be hooked making your own ear worms and beat boxing like there's no tomorrow !

Find out more about this smashing app here... on this lovely shiny website. 

Also follow them on Twitter! @tocaboca

Tickled pink with Harry Pellereau

Recently we were lucky enough to be introduced to Timmy Tickle the ingenious app creation of dynamic and super enthusiastic developer Harry Pellereau.

Harry is an independent creative/developer, and when the iPad was launched decided that she wanted to make interactive stories, so set about learning how. Harry's app features a colourful little octopus called Timmy Tickle.
You can read more about how her ticklesome app was made here.

1- How did you come up with the concept for your app?

Timmy Tickle started as a project to help me learn how to make apps. I was working as a digital creative -  making visuals, animations and websites when I did a project for Templar Publishing.
I became inspired by creating interactive content for children and when the iPad was launched I thought it was worth exploring. I decided the best way to learn was to follow a single idea through from start to finish, so I understood the whole process. I have always loved Octopi so started by sketching and then modelling the early Timmy in plasticine. The story and activity ideas came organically as I mulled over what would be interesting to kids and what was possible with this medium. The poems were originally written in Hampstead Heath one sunny afternoon.
Later on I asked a brilliant wordsmith friend of mind to rewrite them, so the story was more engaging and the tasks on the page were described better.

2- What was the most enjoyable part of the development process?

Creating Timmy Tickle involved a very linear set of production stages. Creating the concept, character development, visual design, 3D modelling, 3D animation, video compositing, developing the code, bug testing and finally user testing. Then the process almost starts again, as things are revised and improved. Probably the most enjoyable part for me was taking the character animations and connecting them with the code to make Timmy come alive. The most rewarding was the user testing. This part was very very hard, as I had become so involved with the project that it was difficult to hear that parents and kids didn't "like" this bit or that. However, the changes were always for the better and  it was great to see the app slowly morphing into something more user friendly and engaging to use.

3- Where do you see the future of digital apps?

Creating apps for kids is a very tricky task and requires a lot of different skills. I would love to think that more independent story-tellers and animators will launch their projects on apps first, however I think at the moment the bar is set pretty high. Some companies are creating amazing and incredibly complex content, and selling it for very little. The larger companies with established brands can afford to do this as they will sell in such large numbers, however I think it is hard to make a project profitable with an unknown brand and it is only getting harder. The biggest issue for app developers is getting noticed, and as more kids apps flood the market this issue will only get worse. My hope is, that quality will rise to the surface and small gems of digital content will get discovered organically. I hope that smaller development teams and independents will continue to make innovative and creative apps to delight and inspire young kids and harness the future capabilities of tablet devices.


4- How do you think apps will effect the book market?

Personally I don't see apps replacing books. They work best as a partnership and expand on the child's experience. I hope that as apps are used to educate and entertain kids they become a way of discovering new characters and stories, which will then translate to books and reading.


5- What will you be working on next?

At this point I am taking a little break from app development. I would love to make another app with Timmy, however I have to see if it would be a commercially sensible venture. The first book was definitely done for the love of the project - creating an app is a incredibly labour intensive and exhausting process! I would like to explore Timmy's character in other mediums and have approached some publishers about making Timmy Tickle into a range of printed books. In the meantime, I plan to keep my finger on the children's app pulse and see how the market develops!

Meet Timmy for yourself by clicking here!

Timmy Tickle is an engaging and enriching app with which so much care and attention in the development process has lead to the creation of a great value app which explores many of the functions of the iPad allowing your little ones to play, learn and explore this app over and over.

BUY THE TIMMY TICKLE APP - HERE

Click here to read a cracking review featuring Timmy Tickle on the CApptivatedKids blog

All images featured are taken from the Timmy Tickle App - (c) Helen Pellereau

And the winner of our App competition is....

- Helen Dineen @aitcheldee

Here's her entry ...

I would love to see Meg’s Veg, by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski made into an app. Meg and Mog books would be brilliant on the iPad because they have such bright, bold colours, text stripped to the bone, and action on every page. Who could resist helping Meg and Mog to dig the garden, plant seeds, stake peas and thin carrots? You could help Mog to make his scarecrow (bagsy mine a HUGE hat) and put everything into the cauldron for Meg’s spells. And finally, help Meg, Mog and Owl to eat their veg!* (*actual real-life veg eating optional).
                                                                      
Helen wins a fabulous limited edition App Puppy canvas bag designed by Stephen Lenton stuffed with some of the Sniffer's fave books, a signed copy of Oliver Jeffer's The Hueys and the New Jumper

With hand drawn Huey!

AND a brand new Ipod Nano.

CONGRATULATIONS

Follow Helen on Twitter @aitcheldee

THANK YOU to everyone who entered - all of your suggestions were marvellous.. here are a few of my faves!


I think Emily Gravett's Monkey & Me would make a great app, with it's fabulous illustrations & melodic refrain. I think it would be fun to animate the girl so you can see her mimic the animals. You could make use of the camera to encourage interactivity & get the child reading using the app to make animal noises. I think the pages showing the animals could have a feature where you can choose to see real life footage of animals. It would be great if the app included a  drawing masterclass from the author. It might also be fun to have a range of tights for the girl from stripy to spotty. In fact I think all her books could be fun apps
                                                         - Damyanti Patel
                                                         @damyantipatel

I would love to see Let's All Hide from Wibbly Pig by thelegendary Mick Inkpen made into an app. It would be so much fun to play hide-and-seek with Wibbly and hisfriends! It would be cool if readers could opt to pick the hiding places themselves,then pass the iPad to another person to do the seeking. The app could includelots of disguises for Wibbly’s friends to wear and a game to make sandwichesand cakes for a party afterwards. Ithink Mick’s drawings would work really well on an ipad too, as they are socute!
                                                                       - Caryl Hart
                                                                       @carylhart1

Ever since I got a smartphone, I've tried to accept that books as apps exist and are becoming increasingly popular, but I have resisted there allure thus far, but should I become weak and fall foul of such things there can only be one book that would reel me in, and that is 'not now Bernard' it is quite frankly the greatest children's book ever made, and as an app the wonderment can only be improved upon, a comprehensive 3D retelling with an audio track performed by Christopher walken, quite simply the only man capable of giving the correct amount of gravitas! An extra ending where you can direct the monsters to eat bernard's parents, an angry bird style interactive game where you can break various toys belonging to bernard! Put quite simply, this could be the greatest book app the world has seen!
                                                              - Giles Paley-Phillips
                                                                 @tenderbranson10

Bizzy Bear Builds a House! - A Nosy Crow App

So it looks like our chum Bizzy Bear has been busy again, this time in a Grand Designs fashion he is helping his chums construct a house in this brand new Nosy Crow app.

With jolly bouncy music and voiced by some charmingly well spoken children, this welcome addition to the app collection perfectly compliments Bizzy Bear on the Farm.

There are familiar reoccurring points within the body of this story which will help prompt children in how to use this app.

We are invited onto the working building site and provided with a very smart yellow hard hat (glad they have paid due attention to health and safty protocol) from where Bizzy is encouraged with your help to drive diggers, deliver bricks, mix gravel and much more.

I particularly liked this cheeky little monkey (below) enjoying a good strong brew but not doing very much hard graft...

There are plenty of interactive elements on each page and changing narrative for extended entertainment. 

I really liked the fence painting activity which I found most gratifying.

This app also features the highlighted word function for reading along as well as options to change the length of the experience according to suit your reader.

Particular highlights for me, a real flushing portaloo, several google eyed pigeons bumbling about the place AND a monkey with the sawing abilities of a burly north American logger !

Bizzy Bear Builds a House is a fun packed hard days work without getting your hands dirty.

I wonder what Bizzy Bear will get up to next...

I am a huge huge fan of the illustrative prowess of

Mr Benji Davies and his work seems to fit these apps perfectly. The screen enhances the colours and the characters bounce around the pages like little jumping beans.  (Benji will be appearing on the Book Sniffer blog VERY soon)

PURCHASE THE Bizzy Bear APP HERE

The Singing Alphabet - A for AWESOME

The Book Sniffer recently reviewed Operation Alphabet on the Sniffer blog (which he loved BTW and you should most certainly check out) and it has been brought to my attention that there is an equally cool and addictive app to accompany the book.

 

The Singing Alphabet is pure-cool-genius in a bucket with a cherry on top.

You are whisked through a 3D paper cut version of the city featured in the book where upon you arrive on a screen displaying all the letters of the alphabet in all their retro cool glory, and now it's time to warm up your vocal chords.


As you touch each of the letters they begin their harmony in a jazz-tacular fashion as it sings its phonetic sound. You can add additional letters to your tune at any point and spell all sorts of funny words which the jolly letters will sing to you.

ACE INDEED!

You will be mesmerised by the groovy tunes you create,  (move over Tom Jones, that's all I'm sayin')
If it all gets a bit much and the letters get a bit "shouty" there is a convenient Shhh button which instantly silences the letters ready for you to start all over again.

Simple-silly-super-cool-joyous-fun but also a fabulous tool for teaching little peeps to spell (they won't even realise tehehe.)
You may even run your iPad battery down chilling to these awesome tunes like I did - oops!
Move over Simple Simon there's a new spelling game in town.

A
Bloomin'
Cracker

Check out the Ministry of Letters website NOW  and download fun resources to go with the app also follow The Ministry on Twitter @moltweetdept #singingalphabet