Here are Explosive we have been working on our first iOS game for quite some time. And since it’s coming along very well we are very excited when presenting you guys with this introduction to the project. The idea is to give you a quick feel for the concept and art style. But remember this is a w.i.p project and all details are subject to change.


Zest! is the name of the game and in short you play as one puzzled piece of fruit that embarks on an adventure of a lifetime. There will be many twists and turns, challenges in every size imaginable and tons of fun along the way.



As Zest! you travel by launching yourself through the air and taking advantage of different gadgets scattered throughout each level. I’m not going to list all of these gadgets here, but I will name a few.


There will be portals that take you from one spot to another, boosters that gives you extra boost (surprise!), doors that are on timers, spikes that will squish you, heat that will burn you and treasure to gather all over the place. But one of the cooler features are the gravity switches.



Remember that twist? This is the first taste of that. When hit, the gravity switches will flip the world in the direction indicated. This can be 90 degrees left or right, or 180 degrees upside down.


Activate one and you’ll suddenly find the ceiling to be wall, wall to be ground or ground to be ceiling. This rotation of the world does not only have a gravitational effect on Zest!, but also on all the other loose objects. So watch out and use them to your advantage.



The adventure that lays ahead of you may look like a stroll in the park at first glance, I can assure you it’s not. Zest! is a roller coaster ride against time and stamina so you better make sure you clear a level before you run out of juice!


So there you have it, a quick tease of Zest!. From now on I will keep you guys posted not only on the game, but also the tools and work processes we use while developing Zest!. Talk to you guys soon!


Extra: Zest! Wallpaper for your iPhone or iPod touch. 3Gs and earlier generations (480×320). iPhone 4 Retina Display generation (960×480).

It’s no secret that we are working on a iPhone game of our own. And I promise that we’ll reveal more details from Zest! very soon. But until then I would like to promote two of my absolute favorites.

First up is The Incident. The graphics are very nicely done, but the main reason for me enjoying this game is it’s simplicity and the bizarre backdrop. The fact that they have gone the extra mile and added something special on top of the gameplay shouldn’t go unnoticed. And the fact that it reminds me of the amazing Trash Panic doesn’t hurt either.

The second game is Game Dev Story. Video of the game in action here. The title says is all. You are in charge of a game development company. And that should be a sale right there. Extremely addictive.

So why not take a break and play some games?

A bunch of sites are reporting that the iDOS emulator made it through to the App Store yesterday. But in these days you have to move really fast as the app was pulled back in what seems like record time. From what I understand it got pulled because the emulator came with the two games Dig-Dug and Ms. Pac-Man. I’m not sure what the creators of iDOS was thinking or how it got past Apple in the first place. Hopefully they’ll fix that so the rust of us can have a go.

You can read more on this over at Engadget and check out more of what people have been able to run at Touch Arcade.

Royal Pingdom has interesting article up with a lot of fun graphs comparing the number of Internet users back in good old 2000 with today’s 2010. It sure didn’t feel like we were a mere 361 million Internet users back then. Click here to ogle the facts.

And since it’s a graph day I have another one from Business Insider on App numbers in the different App Stores. Looks like Android is seriously gaining on Apple. Check out that graph here.

If you followed yesterdays Apple’s ‘Back to the Mac’ event or not, and think you missed something massive, then I can assure you that you did no such thing. In quick summary there is a new Macbook Air, upgrades to iLife, iMovie, iPhoto, more Facetime, and then there is OS X Lion that’s due for Summer 2011.

And with that last bit comes my comment. Apple is moving towards bringing some of the features from iOS back to the Mac, one being the new launchpad that now looks exactly like the one on the iPad. They are also releasing the App Store for OS X. That could potentially be great for indie developers with applications not suited for touch-screens. And the chance of making some cash without involving a publisher will be music to some ears.

Great. Now we can only hope Apple wont go to far with this bringing over features business. I for one have no urge to touch my large screen.

Engadget followed the whole event, and you can look at the slides and read their comments here.

Blitz 1UP just brought to my attention that there are games on the Amazon Kindle! There is no reason for me not to think there wouldn’t be, other then I didn’t think about the Kindle in that way. Though to this day there seems to be just a handful of game titles on the platform. One of the reasons might be that the games get no special treatment, meaning they are hidden amongst the books and don’t have their own sections like newspapers, magazines, accessories and blogs do.

If this changes then the Kindle might be a potential goldmine for the first wave of indie games on the platform.

Projections taking advantage of a buildings features has been very popular in resent years. And I have to say that most of them come across as rather cheesy. One might argue that the one I’m about to show you do so as well, but at least it’s one of the best to date. Check out the stunning video of the 600 years anniversary of the astrological tower clock situated at Old Town Square in center of Prague. It’s done by Macula and there are some more bits at Tomato Production’s website. Sound by data-live.

Over to tilt-shift photography, another craze of the moment. First there was a lot of single frame photos, but then several videos emerged. Some might have seen Bathtub IV from Sydney, or the Metal Heart monster-truck one. But the Coachella 2010 one was unknown to me until yesterday. Go full screen, sit back and enjoy.