Explosive - Blog

Zest! – work in progress iOS game from Explosive

Mikkel — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:55:05 +0000

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).

Deepspace featured in SleepStream 2

Erling — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:18:26 +0000

We are proud to announce that renowned ambient artist deepspace has agreed to showcase some of his beautiful music through SleepStream 2. The deepspace ambient collection is now available from the SleepStream 2 download-tab for free!

Deepspace is Mirko Ruckels from Brisbane, Australia. His music is amorphous, hypnotic and ambient, and influences include Steve Roach, Stars of the Lid and Debussy. Deepspace recently won Best New Ambient Artist of the year and Top 10 Ambient album of 2007 from Electroambient Space. New Deepspace album World Ocean Atlas out now.

“Lush, exquisite, flawless, refined, striking, beautiful … we could go on and on with adjectives to describe the music of Deepspace. One of our favorite discoveries in the past year, this is an artist to keep a close eye on.”

- Stillstream.com

“The Deepspace sound is familiar enough to catch the ears of spacemusic fans while at the same having enough original textures and colours so as to not sound like anyone else in particular”

- Mike G – Ambientmusicguide.com

“Mirko Ruckels is a great new talent, a cross between Steve Roach and Stars of the Lid, with a dash of Budd and Eno”

- Phil Derby – electroambient space

“Compliments on your fine debut album, have been listening to this lengthy and highly varied electronic album and do appreciate the vidna reference and inspiration. Hope you’ll continue to expand and refine your personal artistic statement as an electronic musician. You’re walking the right path…”

- vidnaObmana/ fear falls burning

“Deepspace is the moniker of the Australian musician Mirko Ruckels, who has established himself as a mature composer of well-rendered electronic space music in a short period of time.”

- Bert Strolenberg – Sonic Immersion

SleepStream 2 is finally here!

Erling — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:17:20 +0000

It’s been a while since you heard any news about SleepStream. That’s because while you’ve been relaxing to the sounds of SleepStream we’ve been secretly busy with the fantastic Sleepstream 2!

With more than 600,000 iphone and ipod touch users downloading Sleepstream over the last 2 years we have collected a wealth of user feedback. Based on this feedback and consultation with experts from sleep research and hyponotherapy a number of new original features are avaliable in Sleepstream 2:

Stunning Sound Quality
Sound quality is vital to sleep and relaxation applications. That’s why the 100+ sound tracks in SleepStream 2 are professionally mastered. Sounds of deep, rich drones, calming ocean waves, gentle forest rain and distant seagulls – to name a few – will be your first class journey into a deeply relaxed state.

Overlays and Guided Voice Sessions
New in SleepStream 2 is the ability to mix background sounds with overlays – for example voice tracks or music. For a limited time, SleepStream 2 comes with two free guided relaxation and energy sessions and 45 minutes of calming music – all available from the downloads-tab.

51 Binaural Beats and Binaural Beat Programs
In addition to breathtaking audio, SleepStream offers specially designed binaural beats that can be integrated into the sound experience.

When your brain tries to process two different tones, one delivered to each ear by headphones or earplugs, it creates a sensation of a rhythmic beat – a kind of auditory illusion. These beats have been shown to stimulate the brain’s activity associated with states such as relaxation, sleep, focus and energy by a process known as entrainment.

SleepStream 2 offers 51 binaural beats and binaural beat programs. The basic binaural beats stay at one specific entrainment frequency, while the binaural beat programs move from one entrainment frequency to another, taking you from your current state to your desired state in a certain amount of time.

Unique Audio Engine and Sound Generators
The AutoBlend audio engine ensures a new listening experience every time you use SleepStream 2. By randomly combining hundreds of sound loops even your most used sounds won’t be repeated. The audio engine also allows you to mix background sounds, overlays and binaural beats in any combination!

Breathtaking Visualizations
SleepStream 2 gives you the complete getaway with scenic pictures and video loops to view while listening to the audio programs; drift into a world of relaxation.

Designed for Power Naps!
A power nap is a short sleep session which terminates before deep sleep (or slow wave, delta sleep) occurs. Experiments show that an average power-nap duration of 20 minutes is most effective. SleepStream’s timer function makes it easy to enjoy power-naps! Just engage the timer and alarm, and SleepStream will gently wake you after your session has ended.

In-app Downloads Section
Want more? Get audio, visulizations, binaural beats and guided voice sessions from the in-app downloads section. New material is constantly being added!

Full Multitasking Support
Allows you to use other applications while you are using SleepStream 2. Select your favorite songs from your iTunes library and combine them with your SleepStream session.

We really appreciate all your support, which has helped us to produce an application that we truly believe is the leader in audio relaxation programming; it truely is what you want drift away to.

Sleepstream 2 is avaliable now for an introductory price of $2.99. As a thank you for your support and loyalty the introductory price includes two free guided relaxation and energy vioice sessions.

We hope that you enjoy SleepStream 2 and please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions, ideas and feedback.

Learn more about SleepStream 2 on the Appstore!

SleepStream 2 Coming Soon!

Erling — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:34:56 +0000

It’s been a while since you heard about any new projects from Explosive Apps. That’s because while you’ve been relaxing to the sounds of SleepStream we’ve been secretly busy with the fantastic Sleepstream 2!

With more than 600,000 iphone and ipod touch users downloading Sleepstream over the last 2 years we have collected a wealth of user feedback. Based on this feedback and consultation with experts from sleep research and hyponotherapy a number of new original features are avaliable in Sleepstream 2.

We really appreciate all your support, which has helped us to produce an application that we truly believe is the leader in audio relaxation programming; it truely is what you want drift away to.

That’s all we have to say for now, but once SleepStream 2 has been approved by Apple, we’ll give you all the details – and we promise it will be worth the wait!

Two amazing iPhone games!

Mikkel — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:56:29 +0000

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?

iDOS in the App Store! … too slow!

Mikkel — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:23:21 +0000

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.

Worldwide Internet users in 2000 and today

Mikkel — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:52:17 +0000

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.

Apple news from the olden day, or more accurately, yesterday.

Mikkel — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:42:06 +0000

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.

Indie games on the Kindle?

Mikkel — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:20:09 +0000

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.

Colourfull videos for a gray Monday

Mikkel — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:53:48 +0000

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.