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GarageBand expands its music-making palette
Making music on a phone or tablet is generally an unpleasant experience. It's easy enough to bang out a melody in a cute app like Bebot or whip up some controlled chaos in a soft synth like Animoog. But composing is difficult on a mobile device. One of the few apps that takes an honest (and semi-successful) stab at delivering a full mobile music production suite is GarageBand. Apple is making that app even better today with a pretty major update.
In The Mix has wild effects for playful video editors
In The Mix lets anyone create videos with stunning visual effects or full films using multiple video clips. Add in music from your iTunes library, record a few video clips, then browse a long list of unique effects to layer on top of the video. With minimal experience, In The Mix's set of features is capable of producing a movie with plenty of flair and creativity. The app is free for iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or newer. Make a video, watch a video or create a feature film - those are your three menu options. This threw me off guard for a moment, though. By "Watch A VIdeo" I thought the app implied I could watch user-uploaded creations from others who downloaded the app, but alas this is just to watch one of your own videos in-app. (That's not a terrible idea for the future though, developers.) Since I didn't have any videos to watch, I came to the brilliant conclusion that I should try making one. Here you either need to add a profile or a video. A profile is just a description of people involved, somewhat like the ending credits. Fill in your name, director, producer, actors and optionally upload a profile icon. Now it's time to add some footage. Tap "Add Video" to first choose the audio: music from your library, music plus a microphone recording or just the microphone only. I do wish In the Mix came with a small catalog of royalty-free music to use, but I have an extensive library of music so I can't complain. The app lets you adjust the speed of the music or crop it to a specific part to play in the film. Then tap "Start Recording." The effects are easily the best part of In The Mix. They're ridiculously fun to play around with. Everything from bubbles to palm trees to rainbows to iPhone borders with random sunflowers flying everywhere. I have no clue why anyone would need the latter but who cares? It's there just in case. The best part is, once you press the Record button, the effects change live as you press them so you don't just need to stick with a single effect per clip. In The Mix reminds me a bit of Video Star, an app geared a bit more specifically toward making playful music videos. The former does offer a more extensive set of features though; the ability to combine multiple clips to create a "feature film" is handy and transitions and timing are thrown in, too. Be warned: the app isn't all that stable. It crashed on me a couple of times and it's a bit buggy at times. I can't pinpoint exact issues because they're sporadic. Also, if you care about design aesthetics like I do, the app is just plain ugly. Everything is too shiny and glossy even by pre-iOS 7 standards. Buttons are sometimes poorly aligned and the color scheme is highly flamboyant. Issues aside, In The Mix isn't bad. It's entertaining to mix and match video clips with music, plus the video effects are alluring. With no in-app purchases, you get the entire package in a single download, too. The app does need some polish and a serious paint job, but it's good enough for what it is. Download In The Mix free for iOS.
Project Spark dreams up October release date
Microsoft's robust game creation tool Project Spark is slated to launch in October, the publisher announced today. The final version of the game maker will arrive on October 7 in the Americas, October 9 in Asia-Pacific countries and October 10 in Europe. The developer, Team Dakota, opened Project Spark's beta up to Xbox One owners in March following its closed beta for PC players in December. During its beta phases, Project Spark went through a few changes, namely in the removal of its "Spark Time" microtransactions. The $40 "Starter Pack" for the Xbox One version of Project Spark will include a host of add-on content, such as the Galaxies: First Contact sci-fi pack, Sir Haakon "Hawk" the Knight, the first episode of the Champions Quest campaign as well as "immediate access" to "paid content, features and add-ons in a single package." Microsoft says the disc-based Starter Pack content will also be available digitally to Xbox One and PC players when Project Spark launches. [Image: Microsoft]
Capture new job creation tools in GTA Online this Friday
Rockstar will launch the capture jobs creation system in GTA Online this Friday, April 11 and is offering a rewards boost in select online missions until then. Starting Friday, Grand Theft Auto 5 players can use the GTA Online Creator Tool to build missions using one of four capture job variants: Contend, GTA, Hold or Raid. For those unfamiliar, Rockstar describes the capture jobs as a "GTA twist on classic capture the flag style confrontations." To get players accustomed to the job style's unique brand of action, the developer upped the reward levels for all official capture jobs in GTA Online. Until Friday, jobs like "GTA: All Abhorred" and "Raid: High Road" will earn players double the GTA$ and RP. [Image: Rockstar Games]
EverQuest Next Landmark shows off its first building blocks
EverQuest Next is going to give players a lot of tools to make things, and EverQuest Next Landmark is all about making things without the restrictions of the full game. But what will you be making those things out of? We're glad we assumed you asked because the latest video from the game is all about showing off the building blocks players will have access to. First up on display: the tropical environment. It's only fair to warn you that the video is fairly short, so you won't be gleaning huge amounts of new gameplay information from it. You will, however, have a glimpse into how you'll be shaping an environment with nothing more than creativity and some tropical trees, complete with object rotation and careful building. Click on past the break to check out the whole video, and start thinking about what you're going to build when you get the chance.
Foxconn applies for license, aiming to get into wireless service
Apple's parts manufacturer of choice, Foxconn, doesn't seem very happy with its current industry. The company recently made its own iPhone-compatible smartwatch (in order to show off that it could design its own devices), and now the Wall Street Journal reports that Foxconn's parent company, Hon Hai, has applied for a high-speed wireless broadband license in Taiwan. An auction for the frequency will happen in September of this year, with bidders being announced in August. This move certainly makes it seem like the company is aiming to provide wireless service, which is a nice industry jump from where it's at right now. Foxconn doesn't seem content with assembling parts for Apple lately, and could be in a few different industries by the end of this year. We'll have to wait and see if that affects Apple's production line at all. It doesn't seem like Foxconn would want to hurt its relationship with Apple, but if it would rather sell products directly to consumers, then it's possible the core business could falter a bit. [via BGR]
Daily iPhone App: French Girls is a strange idea that seems about to take off
Sometimes apps are expertly designed, very complicated machines, full of complex elements designed to take on tough tasks -- and sometimes they're just plain hilarious. French Girls is the second of these. It was developed in just 39 hours by a team of devs working on an app jam, and while there's not a lot to it (I wouldn't even call it a game, really), it is a lot of fun to see and play with. The title is a reference to the famous line from James Cameron's Titanic: "Draw me like one of your French girls," and that's exactly what the app is about. You're given a random picture from some other anonymous person on the internet, and your goal is to draw it with the provided colors, however you want, and then upload your drawing back to them. Once you've drawn a few people, you can then upload your own pictures, and within just a few minutes, you'll get new versions of your face or whatever else you upload back as a piece of original art (sometimes great, but usually very bad). The app feels very much like Draw Something did back before it got gobbled up by Zynga, in that it's just a fun and completely free celebration of being creative. As French Girls has gotten more and more popular over the past few days, I've seen more trolls pop up in it -- as far as I can tell, there's no one monitoring the drawings, so some pictures will come back with insults on them, or more objectionable images or language. But in general, the app is a lot of fun, both as you do your best to represent other people with your (either limited or great) art skills, and as you see pictures of yourself come rolling back in. Oh, and it contains the single greatest pull-to-refresh animation ever invented in the history of time. It's worth a download just for that. I doubt the team behind French Girls is ready to get grabbed up by Zynga anytime soon the way that Draw Something did, but I do feel there's more here to do -- maybe they can put in a quick picture moderation system, or add a small game layer in. You can already share your pictures via Twitter or Facebook, and there's even a nice web interface where you can look at all versions of a picture so far. The app itself is free -- there's not a lot to it, but, man, it makes me laugh every time to open it up and see what people have drawn next.
Ex-Zynga Boston team starts new iOS studio
Zynga closed its Boston studio late last year, and some of its former developers have created a new company called Proletariat Inc. The group is set to release its first iPhone game next week, called Letter Rush. The folks at Proletariat, Inc. aren't new to the startup game. They were originally called Conduit Labs, which Zynga acquired in 2010. We can only assume that their return to independence helped the group kick out a new title so quickly. Letter Rush is described as "an innovative arcade-spin on the classic word-find mechanic." We'll look for it on the App Store in a few days. It'll be interesting to see what this group has been up to after going through the Zynga machine. Show full PR text Ex-Zynga Boston Team Starts New Studio Team Behind Adventure World Due to Release First Title Cambridge, MA---February 26, 2013---Proletariat Inc., the new game development studio formed by the original founding group behind Zynga Boston, have officially announced today that they are open for business, and have revealed plans for an upcoming iOS title release. After Zynga unexpectedly closed their Cambridge office in October 2012, five senior members of the Zynga Boston team, creators of 2011's acclaimed Indiana Jones Adventure World, decided to found Proletariat Inc. This was not new territory for most of them, since they were originally part of Conduit Labs, the startup game shop founded in 2007 to develop music-oriented games for the Web, and subsequently acquired by Zynga in 2010. Working with the social publishing giant led to a collaboration between Lucasfilm and Zynga Boston, with the incorporation of the licensed Indiana Jones character into the game play, and the branded re-naming of the game. Indiana Jones Adventure World went on to receive recognition as a highly popular, challenging puzzle adventure game on Facebook, and is widely considered to be one of Zynga's more ambitious development efforts. Proletariat expects to expand on that tradition by creating superior quality game products with a high level of entertainment value, made by a top-tier production team. The founding team is made up of game industry veterans who have worked on everything from Guitar Hero to Lord of the Rings Online. "We have all known each other and worked with one another for so long that we've developed an organic way of making games together," says CEO Seth Sivak. "We all want to make successful games, both creatively and as a business. This team has been on both sides and knows how to find that balance." Sivak adds, "Building games is all about navigating the chaotic process of discovering 'The Fun' and then performing a disciplined march to a polished, final product. That process is important to us." The goal, as stated by Sivak is "to keep teams small and let highly skilled groups of creative people innovate." The team is nearly ready to launch their first game for iOS, Letter Rush. Letter Rush, the first game released by Proletariat Inc., will be available for iPhone and iPad next week. The game provides an innovative arcade-spin on the classic word-find mechanic. Players can play by themselves or together over local multiplayer to complete goals and compete with their friends on leaderboards. Proletariat is already hard at work on their next game, going after a larger challenge in the core tablet market.
Take a look at character creation for all Asta races in new videos
Character creation. For some players, it's the boring part of the game that you have to click through quickly in order to get on with the hitting. For others, it's half of the reason you're playing the game at all. If you're of the former camp, you're probably not going to get much out of this series of high-definition videos detailing character creation for all the races in Asta: The War of Tears and Wind. But if you're in the latter camp, you've got some viewing ahead of you. All six races from the game have character creation extensively displayed, including both genders for the dimorphic races getting separate treatment. Each of the races also has some unique features, ranging from the horns of the Dragon race to the tusks of the Oni race to the spine apparently constructed from flexible tubing of the Fox race. (Or maybe the female model is just posed oddly.) While there's no word yet on release, you can still look longingly at all of the videos and start thinking about what you'd want to play if and when the game comes overseas. [Thanks to steparu taru for the tip!]
Portabliss: Bad Piggies (iOS)
This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. Angry Birds is iOS gaming's juggernaut; even now, it regularly tops the App Store charts in both money earned and time played. Rovio, the Finnish company who created Angry Birds, put together dozens of mobile games before its first iOS release, and has seemingly hesitated to release anything else after it. The studio doesn't want to cannibalize its own success, so all we've seen from Rovio since Angry Birds' 2009 iOS release is a series of rebrands (including Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Space), and one licensed remake of a sandbox contraption game called Amazing Alex.Bad Piggies, then, is the first original title we've seen from Rovio in years, but even it doesn't go too far off the multibillion-dollar reservation. It's a game set in the Angry Birds universe, that follows the green pigs and their goal of grabbing eggs rather than the frustrated fowl trying to demolish them. But instead of unleashing furious destruction by catapult, Bad Piggies asks the player to create modular vehicles that will cart the pigs across a level, reaching a map piece goal at the end.
Loadout lets you create the weapon you want
If there's still any question in your mind that we're in the middle of a free-to-play trend, you can put it to rest right now: Most of the PAX show floor was taken up by indie titles currently in a closed beta, and heading towards a free-to-play "open beta release" later on this year. Firefall might be the highest profile of these, but Loadout, I think, deserves a spot right along Red 5's well-known title.The game's being developed by Edge of Reality, an Austin-based developer that has been making ports (including console versions of Dragon Age: Origins) and doing contract work for over ten years now. Loadout is the studio's first original title, which means the team is finally applying its knowledge and experience to something it directly owns.It shows in the game's current polish, even before the full beta launch: The graphics are fun and flashy, with really excellent touches in the controls and animation. It shows in team balance and mode choices, which are generally similar to Team Fortress 2 and other team-based shooters, but with some nice original flairs. And it shows most in the core mechanic, a custom weapon-building system that offers a lot of impressive possibilities for creating a gun that's entirely your own.%Gallery-164195%
MaKey, MaKey turns the whole world into a keyboard
The litany of exciting Maker Faire products continues with MaKey MaKey, a device that turns anything capable of conducting electricity into a controller. Developed by MIT Media Lab students Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum, you simply run an alligator clip from the board to an object and hold a connecting wire in your hand. Connecting over USB, it's entirely programming-free, but if you find your interest piqued, you can flip the board over to use the Arduino module baked into the hardware. It's already surpassed its original $25,000 Kickstarter goal and when the run begins, you'll be able to pick up everything you need for just $35 -- but if you can't wait that long, head on down to the Bay Area this weekend. [Thanks, Ryan]
Jumala game-building platform combines game creation with gamification
"Man, I've got a great idea for a game," said every single gamer ever. "If only I had some kind of tool or platform that would allow me to build it without having to learn any form of programming."This familiar dialogue has either been spoken aloud by you specifically, or by someone you know and love. It's all too common, and because of the gamer's intrinsic urge to try their own hand at game design, companies like Blade Games World create products like Jumala.At its heart, Jumala is a game development suite designed for Joe Everyguy, devoid of programming languages and requiring no previous game-making experience whatsoever. Working in a fully 3D environment, players can either build their own game from scratch or modify existing template games. Once created, games can be shared with your incredibly patient friends and family via Jumala's social network integration.What makes Jumala unique, for better or for worse, is the ribcage of gamification bones that surround its design-oriented heart. As they create, players earn "Jumala Spark," an in-game currency used to unlock construction tools, items and character models from the in-game store. Jumala Spark is also earned whenever someone plays a game you've created, or when you play a game someone else has created, which encourages game makers to relentlessly spam actively promote their wares.Jumala's free, PC-only beta is currently underway. Creatively minded OSX users, fear not: A Mac version is said to arrive "someday."
Sketch Nation Studio allows to make your own game, and sell it
I've met with Nitzan Wilnai at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) several times. His Engineous Games has grown over the years. The group recently released Sketch Nation Shooter to great success. It lets you build a shooter title by uploading or drawing your own art. As of this writing, it has been download over 800,000 times, generating a significant user base. Wilnai's next project, Sketch Nation Studio, has been in development for a while, and I suspect it could threaten how the App Store itself works. While Sketch Nation Shooter lets you build a shooting game, Sketch Nation Studio will allow users to assemble games in any one of five iPhone-familiar genres. Here's the kicker: Sketch Nation Studio offers the chance to release those games to the App Store and earn real money. The app is currently testing in Canada, and it works much like Sketch Nation Shooter did. You start by choosing a genre: Up Jumping (as in Doodle Jump), Side Running (like Canabalt), Side Flying (like Jetpack Joyride), Down Jumping (a reverse Doodle Jump style), and Side Jumping (basically an endless platformer). Next, add the art for your player character, obstacles, and rules for power-ups and other information. Sketch Nation Studio adds your art, creates the necessary objects and controls and manages animation. Your game is ready to play. There are three modes to choose from. Simple mode is the easiest, and runs user-created art around a set of existing rules. Wilnai showed me how to create a custom game quickly, using the app's built-in drawing tools to create simple graphics in about two minutes. The result won't win any awards for originality (it was a one-button flyer featuring a bee who had to dodge flowers), but it worked, and tracked the score, and had a losing condition, which is really all you need for a simple iPhone game. Advanced Mode is more complicated. It lets you use your own art and set your own rules. Maybe, for example, hitting certain enemies increases your strength. Perhaps the player character has lives or collects various score items. The Advanced mode is pretty powerful, offering several control schemes (including tilting the iOS device, which can make for some interesting custom games) and "special effects," which let you use your art to create particles and animations. The interface is easy to use, but again, quite powerful for what it is. And finally, "Standalone App" mode uses the Advanced Mode's rules and uploads your finished game to the Engineous servers, where it will then go into a queue for the company to review. Every game that meets its criteria for quality, originality, and fun could become a full, standalone App Store app. In fact, there are already apps like this on the App Store Turkey Run is one example. Wilnai didn't have specifics on how profit sharing would work, but he did confirm that the company plans to split proceeds from these apps 50/50 with their creators. This means that you could potentially create a game in Sketch Nation, upload it, receive approval from Engineous and have them release it to the App Store for US$0.99. You'd then earn 35 cents of real money for every copy sold (half of the 99 cents minus Apple's 30% cut). That sounds crazy, and it probably is. Wilnai says that Apple is in favor of the idea (in theory, at least), and the app is being tested on the Canadian store before being released in the US. "At first we won't release too many games," says Wilnai, just because Engineous will have to figure out what best to put out there and how it would work. But if the plan turns out to be as solid as he expects, Wilnai could basically create a platform-within-a-platform, releasing games users have made with his own app, and filtering the income right through Apple's store. One potential hole in the plan is the users themselves. Sketch Nation Shooter, for example, has 800,000 users, but only 100,000 games have been created with it. That suggests that 1 in every 8 users are actually creating games with it. Additionally, only 10,000 of those games have been shared. While it's easy to make and share a game with Sketch Nation Shooter, not many users actually do so. But Wilnai has a solution for that, too. In addition to the draw of real money, Sketch Nation Studio will also have a virtual currency market. Users will earn SketchBucks (SB) from uploading games, which can be used to download and play shared games. Hopefully, this won't prevent people from just logging in to check the games out (everyone who plays the title will automatically start with 1000 SB), but it should provide incentive to create and share. Art will also be shared in this way, so even if you're not an artist but want to pick up some art for your game with virtual currency, you'll be able to do that as well. The whole idea is fascinating, and it's an example not only of Wilnai's drive to make game development as easy and accessible as possible, but also the power of user-created content, and in this case, its potential to really drive and build up a brand new marketplace. Sketch Nation Shooter should be out in America very soon, and we'll have to see what happens when it finally arrives.
Apple now the number one buyer of microphones in the world
Apple purchased a whopping 349 million micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones last year to put in all of its various iOS devices, which means it is now the biggest purchaser of such microphones in the world. That number grew 173 percent from 2010 to 2011, putting Apple up over Samsung for the most microphones bought (and presumably installed and used). These specific microphones represent the three microphones found in each iPhone 4, 4S, and iPad 2. One of the mics is found in the headphone cable included with each device, and two are on the device itself, with one of those used strictly for noise canceling. This is why Siri works so well at "hearing" even in relatively crowded environments, because there's an extra microphone on board to listen for noise to remove from the incoming signal. It's also worth noting that the iPad doesn't have this third mic, which might be one reason why earlier generation devices haven't been marked for Siri use. The next-gen iPad will have all of these components too, so Apple isn't done buying up these parts. In fact, if we see both a new iPhone and a new iPad in the next year, Apple could cause yet another spike in the sale of these mini microphones and move even higher up the chart of consumption for this specific part.
Apple releases iAd Producer 2.0
Apple has released version 2 of iAd Producer, a piece of software that helps advertisers put together iAds, which are then sent out to be shown in iOS apps across the platform. The latest version offers up many improvements, including project validation and a new feature called the "Object List." Project validation will make sure any material uploaded to the project is typed, sized, and configured correctly, and it will even help iAd creators fix performance problems and other errors. The Object List provides quick access to all of the objects in an ad throughout production. Sounds handy -- maybe these better tools will help Apple get more big brands in the somewhat underwhelming iAd program. [via MacStories]
How Godzilab created levels for iBlast Moki 2
I really loved iBlast Moki 2, and I feel like since it hit the App Store, the app hasn't quite gotten the recognition it's deserved. If you enjoy a good puzzle game, this one has you covered -- it's a really complex and interesting title that's wrapped up in a cute and easy-to-understand skin. On the latest company blog, Godzilab walks through the level creation process for the game, showing how they arrived at the best way of putting together levels for these cute little Moki creatures to wander through. The first three months of the game's development were apparently all spent on just the level editor. There was one included with the first title, but it was only used for user-created content, not to build the standard game. But for the sequel, the editor was of paramount importance, and the hard work that went into putting it together paid off big time. Godzilab also talks about some of the user-created content they've seen for the second game, which I agree has been very impressive -- some of the levels people have made, all accessible in the title, are pretty mind-blowing. iBlast Moki 2 is a really amazing title -- if you haven't checked it out yet, don't miss it.
LEGO Universe builds community via community building
The fun of playing with LEGO sets is only half in the assembly -- a lot of the enjoyment comes with showing off what you've created to others, no matter your age. It's an element that LEGO Universe has taken to heart, as a recent release talks about the community events the game has run thus far and the plans for more events in the future. Each month of the game's operation has been based around a core theme for community events and challenges, giving players unified goals to work toward. March is the Battle Month, with the final event taking place this weekend in the Battle for Nimbus Station. Players who successfully face off against 29 waves of enemies will be in the running to win a variety of in-game prizes as well as some real-world LEGO sets. The Creation Lab has also been a major area of development, allowing user-generated content to come front and center in the community. Even if you're not currently playing LEGO Universe, you can take part in some of the contests and get your own buildings in the game -- sharing what you've built with everyone even if it's not made out of plastic bricks.
Director DJ Caruso on using iPads to make I Am Number Four
Here's yet another example of the iPad excelling in a place it was never intended to actually go: making movies. Director DJ Caruso did an interview in an Apple Store recently, and he says that he used the iPad in all kinds of ways to help make his new movie I am Number Four, from controlling on-set lights with an app to seeing scripts, marking up storyboards and even scouting out locations. Caruso says the initial purchase was more for fun, but as he used the iPad more and more, he found he was doing a lot of his filmmaking work on it as well. "I got it, I don't want to say as a toy," he says, "but then I realized about a week into prep that my storyboards were coming on it, my previs was on it, my script was on it, I don't carry my script anymore." That's great. It's a real sign of just how well-designed the iPad is that it can find itself used powerfully in almost any task. Originally, of course, it was just sold as a device to sit on the couch and consume media with, but lots and lots of industries have found a place for the iPad to help out, and it's no surprise that the film industry is the same way.
Final Fantasy XIV gets a version update and another developer dispatch
The bad news about the most recent version update for Final Fantasy XIV is that, despite player hopes, it does not yet contain the heavily awaited first revision to the market wards. That's planned for next week, according to the patch notes themselves. The good news is that it does contain a number of bugfixes and helps clean up several chat oddities. Accompanying the notes on the main page is another dispatch from the developers about how the game works, this one on the topic of character creation and disciplines, and while the developers give some vague answers, they also offer some useful, concrete information. For example, while there are no game differences at the moment based upon a character's birthday or guardian deity, both are in the works -- and if the benefits that are ultimately awarded for your chosen deity disappoint you, Square-Enix will be giving players the chance to change their guardians. The new dispatch also provides a full listing of where to get tools and weapons for every discipline at the start, allowing players from any nation to change class right from the beginning. Final Fantasy XIV players are encouraged to check both the patch notes and the latest update and to keep their eyes peeled for what promises to be a large update next week.
