When I was working for Inscape, I played around with an idea for a real-time strategy game that pitted warring ideas against each other, instead of armies. I made some progress with the idea, but ultimately had to leave it behind and move on to other things (like marrow monkeys). For the game jam, however, I decided to bring back the concept, not as an RTS, but as an arcade-style flight sim—a flight sim with words and ideas instead of ships and planes.

In Languish, you pilot a “tripleship” through remote corners of your mind populated with giant spheres, each one representing a single idea. These spheres fire fragments of themselves at you in the form of words. By picking up these words and recombining them, you can create new concepts to either amplify or disable the ideas already in play. The video below is a play-through of the game’s tutorial, which explains the concept in detail.

Languish was one of six finalist games at the game jam—unlocking two months of further development time before the IndieCade festival proper. During that time, I brought in longtime collaborator and illustrator Ezra Claytan Daniels to create a painterly skybox for the game, which turned out wonderfully.

A long-planned trip to Washington DC prevented me from being at the IndieCade awards personally, but I was thrilled to get the news a few days later that Languish won a second place LG Mobile 3D Award—including an LG Thrill phone and a Unity license so development can continue!

Here’s a video of the winning build, running in “tutorial” model so you can see how the game is played:

And here’s a video documenting the game jam—you can spy the way Languish looked at the end of the game jam versus how it evolved for the festival:

Languish is still in development—I’ll keep you posted as it advances.

Parents: it should be mentioned that Twitter content is uncensored; if you like, you can discreetly disable the Twitter Search feature from within the Settings app. Let us know what you think of this new addition, and spread the word!

Shapiro’s beautiful, wistful piece wonderfully complements the mood of Strange Rain, and develops in interesting ways over time, as effects, reversals, and other dynamic elements parallel the visual developments. Michael has posted an “album version” of the score which you can listen to right now.

Also new in this version is improved audio quality throughout the app, and the ability (via the Options screen) to toggle back and forth between the “classic” black raindrops, which some users loved too much to leave behind, and the recently added clear raindrops.

As always, drop us a line and let us know what you think of the updates!

Adding to the app’s expressive features, this new version includes the ability for users to control the amount of rain falling on the screen, from sprinkles to a heavy storm. This audio-visual volume control works in tandem with Schlarb’s new music to provide greater possibilities for shaping the emotional character of the experience, as users can change the intensity of the rain to mirror, or contrast with, the intensity of the music and story.

Finally, Strange Rain’s raindrops have received an upgrade, gaining a more realistic, transparent look, as well as the decidedly strange tendency to take on the tint of the sky from time to time…

We’d love to hear what you think the new additions! Enjoy.

Grab it, share it, send feedback—we’re listening! If you like the app, don’t forget to leave a review on the App Store, it really helps. And if you feel otherwise, send us a note using the in-app feedback link, we’d be happy to hear your thoughts.

Let it rain strange!

What makes rain strange? When it’s falling on your screen—from the inside.

Strange Rain turns your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch into a skylight on a rainy day. Raindrops fall and splatter on your screen, shifting perspective in 3D as you tilt your device like a handheld camera. Touch the screen and guide the path of the raindrops, stepping through the notes of an eerie melody as you go. It’s a relaxing, intriguing experience that feels as if you’re holding a living window in your hands.

The more you touch, however, the more strange the rain becomes: layered skies, visual anomalies and shifts in speed and color, even the occasional cataclysm if you’re not careful. Before your eyes and beneath your fingers, the familiar becomes strange, and the strange, familiar.

Get Strange Rain now on the App Store!

Please note that the video preview below is from a pre-release version of Strange Rain, and differs somewhat from the current product. Please click the screenshots shown below see what the current version of the app looks like. We’ll post a new video as soon as we can.

Strange Rain Preview from Erik Loyer on Vimeo.

Screen shots

Strange Rain has three play modes. In wordless mode, you can simply enjoy the sights and sounds of the falling rain on their own terms. In whispers mode, touching the screen causes raindrops to turn into words as they fall—words inspired by the qualities of rain.

In story mode, every touch triggers a thought as text on screen. These thoughts tell the story of a man in the midst of a family crisis who has wandered into the rain to collect his thoughts. His world, too, has gone from familiar to strange, even as his beliefs are following the opposite course. Your interaction helps determine when and how he decides to come in from the rain.

Strange Rain features interactive music that responds directly to your touch. In addition to the default music included with the original release, additional scores by composers Chris Schlarb (NightSky) and Michael Gordon Shapiro (Empire Earth 3) can now be downloaded for free within the app.

Strange Rain supports the Retina Display for the highest quality visuals, and Game Center achievements so you can track your progress through the story, comparing notes with your friends.

A unique combination of touchscreen play and interactive storytelling, the living sky of Strange Rain awaits your touch.

Features:

• Your very own portable rainy day
• Guide the rain with touch
• 3D perspective shifts as you tilt your device
• Music that responds to your touch
• Three play modes: wordless, whispers, and story
• Story mode lets you trigger thoughts with every touch
• Three unique musical scores (one included, two free downloads)
• Real-time hints available to help you get the most out of the experience
• Supports the Retina Display
• Supports Game Center achievements
• Universal app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Get Strange Rain now on the App Store!

Cloud image based on an original photo by Benny Mazur.

With the advent of the new decade comes the happy news that Ruben & Lullaby has been nominated for Casual Gameplay’s “Best of 2009″ in the Mobile Puzzle category. We had actually missed Casual Gameplay’s write-up of the game last February (which is quite complimentary), so it’s doubly great to hear that they found us worthy of mention now.

There’s an “Audience Choice” award given in each category, and that’s where you come in—we need your help! If you’d like to support Ruben & Lullaby please head on over to the nominees page, scroll down until you find the game, and vote for us! (You can even vote once per day if you’re feeling especially generous—every bit helps.)

Thanks in advance for considering lending your “yea” to the cause… and Happy New Year!

Update: Thanks to all of you who voted! Ruben & Lullaby came in second place in the competition—not too shabby, especially when you see the great company we’re in!

IndieCade is coming to Culver City in Los Angeles this week and I’m happy to announce that Ruben & Lullaby is one of the finalists. Our troubled twosome is in stellar company, as well—visit the IndieCade website for complete conference details, it’s a great lineup of finalists, speakers and events. There are two Ruben & Lullaby-related items that might be of interest for those who will be in town:

Original Ruben & Lullaby art on sale at the Wonderful World of Art Gallery. One of Ezra Claytan Daniels’ gorgeous original drawings for the game will be up for sale during the festival. It’s the largest piece he created, and includes most of the elements that make up the game’s various endings (including some elements that weren’t used). You can see photos of the piece (it’s the one with the trees). The Wonderful World of Art Gallery will be open throughout the festival (October 1-4).

Art, Music and Technology – An iPhone Showcase. I’ll be joining the Eliss and RadioFlare teams for a reunion of sorts—we all met at the Game Developer’s Conference in March—but more to the point, for a panel discussion on innovative iPhone games on Saturday, October 3 from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm. Check the conference schedule for details.

I hope to see you at the festival!

Post-E3 update: It was great being a part of the showcase. During the week IndieCade posted a piece about Ruben & Lullaby that digs a bit into the gameplay and score… thanks folks!

A Ruben & Lullaby demo in progress at the IndieCade booth.