Making it Happen

Today I was talking with a friend about an iPhone application which came up as an aside to a conversation about life, creative projects, and more. It was a casual conversation, but something I said earlier in the evening suddenly struck him and he outlined a new idea. It was one of the most brilliant ideas for an iPad application that I have heard to date and the rest of the evening was easily one of the most energetic, uplifting, even manic times I’ve recently spent. The... Read More

Hide and Seek Animations in Cocos2D

Recently, DINO was hired to create a game aimed at toddlers – a simple hide-and-seek game featuring cute animals hiding away in a variety of different scenes. Little did we know that some significant challenges awaited in the development of this application. The premise was simple enough: display a series of stacked, transparent images on the screen, and then randomly position five character images into pre-determined hiding spots throughout the scene. When the player taps... Read More

A Study in Artistic User Interface

When we’d originally designed Akina we wanted to keep the app independent of text. We also wanted to preserve the artistic integrity of the app. After having Akina in the App Store for a week it was clear that we needed to address some user interface issues in order for the flow of the app to be smoother and less confusing. The first image is the original controller screen we used and underneath is the new controller screen we’ll be implementing in our next update. I... Read More

An iPad security observation

The moment I had my iPad out and began setting up an email account, I realized that the iPad presents a challenge that the iPhone and iPod touch largely avoided. It is much easier to see someone typing in their password on the iPad than the smaller devices – not only is the keyboard larger, but the password entry fields (and thus the text) is also larger and still displays each character in clear text as they are being displayed. Add to all this the fact that I expect more... Read More

Demo of Physical Objects Interfacing with Akina iPad App on YouTube

Related Posts: Akina HD Project Page The Making of Interface Touchpads for Akina iPad Physical Object Interface  Read More

The Making of Interface Object Touchpads for Akina

Aaron had a brilliant idea to mimic the touch event of a finger that calls the iPhone or iPad into action by simulating fingertips with salty sponges wrapped in a latex glove. Since the iPhone is able to handle multiple touch events, having an object built around different sets of “fingers” allows you to interact with the iPad in a more physical way. We had made the iPad app Akina with this in mind; to have flowers and vines spring up from the path of these moving... Read More

iPad Physical Object Interface

A thought struck me the other day: with the “large” size of the iPad’s screen, why couldn’t I make physical objects that could be uniquely identified by the iPad? If possible, this could potentially allow uses of the iPad along the lines of larger, more sophisticated multi-touch surfaces – ReactiPad anyone? Unlike most multi-touch surfaces, we can’t use computer vision to identify objects (since, well, there’s no camera under the display)... Read More

The Ouroboros

Coming – Summer 2010 My end is my beginning. The Ouroboros represents the cyclical nature of the universe – life and death, summer and winter, creation and destruction. DINO is designing and building this game for the Apple iPhone and iPad that draws the player into an increasingly complex world where technology struggles alongside the natural world. To win the game, a perfect balance must be struck between the dark and light side present in all stories of human... Read More

Akina HD

Akina, a calming generative art experience for iPad. “Some people like to make of life a garden, and to walk only within its paths.  Others travel among the wildflowers.” – Japanese Proverb Designed by DINO, the unique, textless interface encourages you to explore composition through the organic growth of wildflowers. With just five different plants to cultivate, you can create amazingly different compositions. When you are feeling stress, take a moment... Read More

Animal Hide and Seek

Animal Hide and Seek is a game designed for children available on the iPhone. A High Definition version of the game is now available for the iPad. The player is presented with various scenes in which animals are hiding. The player must tap on each one until all five are found in each scene. The game contains a total of twelve scenes, fifteen animals, and numerous sound effects, movies, and other assets. This game uses the Cocos2D for iPhone framework extensively. Development... Read More