I have been working on the iPad app today and am starting to get a feel for the overall look and flow. The app will consist of three sections, one for each of the books: Letters, Numbers, Shapes. Each section will have a full copy of the book and four mini-games using scenes from the game. These games all focus on different skills: reflexes, creative thinking, memory and discovery.
As an added bonus, once you have completed all the mini-games and read the book you will get a status increase. You can increase your status a dozen times if you want to, getting bigger and bigger trophies. The status feature is very much a side-quest, the main focus is on hitting the big game buttons and having fun, I don’t want kids thinking about the status stuff until later on, to keep the app interesting for longer.
Initially I was leaning towards a horizontal orientation but the more we develop the individual games the more we think a vertical orientation will work better, but we’ll see how it goes! Going for a “kids Starcraft” sort of feel with the overall look :)
Tools: Fireworks, Spotify, Skitch, Icons