Today I talk to Julian Stokoe, from Yoozoo Books. He is the author of Have You Heard?, our October’s App of the Month. Tell us a little bit about you and your studio. Where are you based and what is your “story”? Yoozoo Books is the book + game app department of Yoozoo Ltd based in Auckland, New Zealand. We are a small but perfectly formed team consisting of myself and my wife Sarah. Our two kids are also a big part of the company, being an endless source of inspiration. Yoozoo Books was formed as the home to a menagerie of characters who will appear in a series of stories planned for release as book +…
Archives for books
Kwik 2 Contest [Updated]
In order to celebrate Kwik 2 Beta availability and to prepare the market for the full announcement later this year, Kwiksher partnered with Corona Labs and Code and Web (makers of Texture Packer and Physics Editor) to get the best upcoming apps made with Kwik 2. If you are already working on (or are planning) an extraordinary story and want to be highlighted in Kwik 2 launch PR, plus being interviewed at Kwiksher and Corona Labs website, follow the instructions below: How to participate: Download and start using Kwik 2 now – available at http://www.kwiksher.com/download-kwik2/; Create your first pages using the trial and send me (showcase@kwiksher.com) a link to a…
Introducing Kwik 2 Beta
Few days ago, in a private session for paid users, I introduced Kwik 2 Beta. Today, I am pretty excited to public announce the beta availability to any user. This is a huge milestone till the official launch date, coming this fall. What is coming? Physics is a major thing in the new version but, don’t be fooled: Kwik 2 is much more than that. In fact, the plugin was re-written almost entirely. Besides the new interface, several improvements and additions are coming due your feedback. Honestly, there are so many new features that is hard to find the most important ones. Below my top 5 list: 1) New interface:…
Happy 1st Anniversary Kwik!
As you have probably noticed, in celebration of our 1-year Anniversary we have launched our new site… and that’s just the beginning! When I think back, it is hard to imagine that it has been only a year since I launched Kwiksher and its first product: Kwik – a revolutionary Photoshop plugin that levels the app-development playing field, enabling everyone from first-timers to professional designers to build mobile apps and interactive storybooks quickly and easily without the need for coding skills. At the time I was pretty confident the product would be a success, but honestly, I never imagined it would be so well received. Especially when I look back…
Update on K2
If you follow Kwik in Twitter (@kwiksher) or Facebook (/kwiksher) you know already that development keeps going. In fact, I have even provided a glimpse in a previous post. The aim of today’s update is to give you more info on current progresses. So, before asking “when the new version will be available”, keep in mind that we are still months (in plural ) away from K2. The list below includes only things that are already coded and tested (there are lots of other stuff to come): Ability to include video, web, map, text input, vectors, dynamic text, and more as replacements; Export module was re-written and it is much…
New iPad projects or not?
The new iPad is here and it’s Retina screen is really great (I have mine in hands at this moment). The big question now is: should you build your projects or not for the new device? Wait before simply answer “Of course!”. You will see the answer is not that simple. Let’s start with some facts first: – due the size and resolution of the screen, your projects will grow (average) 3x in size; – only 6% of the iPad market is running the new device at this moment; – projects made for the old iPads will automatically be re-scaled by iOS 5.1, with no need of rewriting code (you…
Quick chat with Richard Smith
Today I talk to Richard, from Clarence-Henry Books, author and illustrator of Rudy and Cirrus of Karma, another beautiful storybook made with Kwik and available at the Android Marketplace. Somehow a new user of Kwik, Richard was pretty fast learning, creating and publish his first app with the plugin. Enjoy! Alex) Tell a little bit about you and your company Clarence-Henry Books is an independent micropublisher of children’s picture books. One of the goals is to build picture books into apps to help expand to different media and reach new markets. What is the “Rudy and Cirrus of Karma” about? Rudy and Cirrus of Karma is about a boy named…
Interviewing New Mindflow
Today I am talking with Rares and Anamaria, from New Mindflow, authors of the beautiful Where’s Paradise, another app made with Kwik. As you are going to see below, I really think this documentary can open your eyes for what we think paradise is. Anyways, enjoy! Alex) Tell a little bit about you and your companyWe’re a team of two film-makers/photographers, Rares Kovesdi and Anamaria Chioveanu. After graduating from film school in 2008 we discovered mobile apps as a potentially great medium to distribute our work and explore new possibilities for storytelling and new audiences. It presented itself as a good opportunity to create and distribute our work outside the…