To help celebrate Valentine’s Day, we’re dropping the price on Ruben & Lullaby down to $0.99 for one week only: February 8 through February 14! If you’ve been meaning to try out this “uncommonly artistic” (Casual Gameplay) take on love and communication, now’s the time.

Whether you want to practice good communications skills to help you and your significant other weather the storms of romance… or take out your frustrations with the one who “did you wrong”… take advantage of this sale to pick up the game Apple called “engaging and beautifully designed.” Happy Valentine’s Day!

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!

P.S. A number of times during the podcast, we make reference to a past project of mine called Chroma. Chroma is an unfinished sci-fi web serial I wrote and directed about ten years ago, featuring interactive motion graphics set to original music and narration—you can find it here (Shockwave plug-in required).

Shake to make them angry. Stroke to make them sad. The future of their relationship is in your hands.

Experience a new kind of interactive storytelling with the critically-acclaimed Ruben & Lullaby, a digital comic/game (we call it an “opertoon”) that lets you shape the emotions of a quarreling couple with a touch.

Tilt left and right to advance the story as it unfolds through the faces of the characters, without words. Rub the screen to calm someone down, or shake the phone to make them angry—an interactive jazz score responds to your every movement.

You can try to keep them together, try to break them up, or just enjoy the music you can make out of their circumstances as they react to each other… and to you.

Features:

• A story you play like a musical instrument
• Control the moods of the characters with touch and motion
• Dynamic jazz soundtrack you perform while playing
• Multiple endings
• Illustrations by graphic novelist Ezra Claytan Daniels

Get Ruben & Lullaby now on the App Store!

Screen shots

Demo video