An Interactive Adventure – Jungle Book Now Live!

December 16th, 2011 1 comment »

Over a year in the making, our rendition of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book has finally launched on the iTunes app store. It has truly been a labor of love for the team, finding gaps in project schedules, random half-days and quiet hours in-between other more pressing studio initiatives. Sometimes the best final work is done when you let it “breathe” awhile!

Jungle Book
This work has expanded and improved on everything that our colleague Ben Roberts put into the Alice for the iPad app – more scenes, more complex physics, all original artwork, oodles of fun sound effects and sound-scapes, a sleek user-interface and professionally recorded vocal talent to narrate the whole thing. As Ben puts it: “Any project feels great to complete and finally see live in the market, but to know you’ve also helped create something beautiful is a rare treat.” We all agree and hope you enjoy this adaptation of a classic as much as we do!

Are You a Legend Yet?

December 14th, 2011 No comments »

We are extremely proud to announce that Stunt Bugs, our first all-original game for iOS, is now available in the iTunes Store!

Guide Buzz, our common housefly hero, in his quest to reach Bugtropolis and cement his place in history as a Stunt Bug Legend. His journey will take you across 48 death defying courses spread across 4 surprise pack worlds. Along the way Buzz’s motorcycle gang will increase as other bugs join journey. Flick the high jumping flea, Web the lasso-spinning spider, and Dot the high-altitude hovering ladybug are a just a few of the friends ready to help. If you need more help to get past a pesky bee, don’t worry – there are 20 other bugs to choose from.

In collaboration with Random House Digital, Smashing Ideas’ creative team lead by Executive Creative Director Chad Otis, created this entourage of tiny heroes and the overarching story of their mission. From the original storyboards, to in-depth level design and extensive game-play balancing, the team immersed themselves in the world of Buzz and his gang. Stunt Bugs was built in Unity for iOS devices.

Do you have what it takes to become a Stunt Bug Legend? Get the game at iTunes.

Find out more at www.stuntbugs.com and follow Buzz and the crew on Facbook.

Currently available on: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad!

Stunt Bugs now available at iTunes

Super Why! Transmedia Suite is a Super Celebration!

November 10th, 2011 No comments »

Funded by a Ready To Learn grant awarded to PBS by the Department of Education, Smashing Ideas partnered with long-term clients Out of the Blue and PBS KIDS to develop a SUPER WHY! branded Transmedia Gaming Suite consisting of four activities: two online games, and iPhone app and an Interactive Whiteboard Activity. All of the activities share common literacy-based curricular objectives, but what makes the Transmedia Suite unique is that the activities feature engaging narratives and game experiences that tie all of the components together with a common premise and theme…SUPER CELEBRATIONS! Throughout the four activities, players practice skills such as Word Formation, Phoneme Recognition, Rhyming and Reading…all while getting to the celebration, making a cake and decorating!

Super Why Alpha Boost on iPhone

In Super Why’s Alpha Boost iPhone App, players fly high in the sky above Storybrook Village with Super Why, Princess Presto, Alpha Pig or Wonder Red to get to a Super Celebration while collecting Super Letters to form a Super Party Password! With five different celebration choices and 100+ different party passwords, players have an almost endless supply of unique gameplay experiences!

With the Super Celebrations Cake Maker, players can make a cake specifically for a celebration they choose! Want a fish shaped cake with a sandcastle on top for your Beach Celebration? No problem! In this activity, players get to choose their cake pan, frosting flavor and cake topper while practicing spelling and phoneme recognition!

What else does a celebration need? Music and Decorations! Super Duper DJ’ing with Super Why, players get both! In this activity, as the Super Readers rock out, players identify the first letters of celebration-themed words and match them to target letters. As they successfully make matches the celebration scene comes to life!

Last, but not least, is Super Celebration Interactive Whiteboard Activity. Intended for use in preschool classrooms, with this activity teachers can choose from four different types of curriculum: Word Formation, Phoneme Recognition, Rhyming or Reading, and then choose one of five different celebration themes. Students are then invited up to the Interactive Whiteboard to touch the screen and follow curricular prompts to populate the scene. As they do so, the celebration comes to live and players can touch the screen to uncover fun, animated surprises!

These combined with video clips and added content create an engaging overarching storyline on multiple platforms for families. Visit the SUPER CELEBRATIONS page within the Parents & Teachers portion of the SUPER WHY! to see the full suite.

Framing Creativity in Seattle – Art Bash 2011

November 8th, 2011 No comments »

The American Advertisers Federation of Seattle gave Seattle’s top ad agencies blank canvases and they’re throwing a party where folks can bid to win that art and help raise money for minority students seeking a degree in communications, all while having a great time with creative colleagues.

This year’s theme is “Framing Creativity in Seattle” and Smashing Ideas is happy to contribute a canvas for the cause. With emerging technology top of mind, we created a piece using the simple frame-like squares and shapes that make up QR codes. If you’re attending be sure to have your phone at the ready.

Best of luck and thanks for inviting SI to contribute!

Join AAF Seattle at Sole Repair on Capitol Hill for our annual ArtBash, celebrating the intersection of advertising and creativity!

Art Bash 2011

http://artbash2011.eventbrite.com/

A fresh site for Cyberchase

October 24th, 2011 No comments »

With over eight seasons worth of videos, games and printables, the teams at Thirteen/WNET New York and PBS Kids knew it was time to create a new website that truly showcased all they had to offer. The goal – make the Cyberchase website easier for kids ages 6-12 to find and navigate the breadth of content and reinforce the math curriculum objectives.

With this new approach the Smashing team focused in on ease of access, adding features that showcased the different math topics plus creating learning pathways for kids to follow. “Find It!” makes it easy for kids to dive into topics and find a plethora of associated games, videos and printables. Once kids begin playing, “More Cool Stuff!” helps them discover a pathway to more content based on the math topic or their personal connection to a character.

Cyberchase

The new site is built on the Django framework using a robust tagging system that allows ease of managing the content, along with the associated topics and learning pathways. A custom recommendation engine tracks the user’s interactions, and serves up content that encourages kids to keep learning through play! Optimized for SEO, Cyberchase is more than a TV show, it’s a destination that where kids get the most out of math!

Built to be enjoyed on computers, tablets, and smart phones, kids can explore the award-winning, adventure series and discover that Math is Everywhere!