We make games for your brainTumblr (3.0; @mindsnacks)http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lymkc0dEhf1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>We’re working on releasing a cool thing soon.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/16769383712http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/16769383712Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:50:24 -0800<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhb834JXZ1qa2d04o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://psql.me/post/16599649412/some-fellas-i-doodled-for-a-new-game-we-are">psql</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Some fellas I doodled for a new game <a href="http://mindsnacks.com">we</a> are making.</p> </blockquote>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/16600009497http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/16600009497Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:52:01 -0800illustrationtotem<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxandiiRa41qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>Zach Tutor of <a href="http://supersonicelectronic.com">Supersonic Electronic</a> came by to hang out!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/15309787527http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/15309787527Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:51:18 -0800Zach Tutorsupersonic electronicvisitor<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwh3ymrdm81qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><h2>The making of Galactic</h2> <p>For our <a href="http://www.mindsnacks.com/subjects/mandarin" target="_blank">Mandarin Chinese app</a>, we created a game called Galactic to teach the challenging topic of tones. In Mandarin, a word can take on an entirely different meaning depending on the tone that is used. For example, mā with a high level tone means mother, but mǎ with a falling rising tone means horse. Needless to say, not knowing your tones can lead to plenty of (possibly comical) miscommunication, so we decided to tackle it head-on by creating a new game. Here’s the story about how we built it: </p> <h2>Figuring out our approach</h2> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/CgNe/demosLive500.jpg"/></p> <p>We started by interviewing oodles of Mandarin language learners. As we quizzed them on their knowledge of tones, we repeatedly saw them aiding themselves by waving their fingers in the air in the direction of the tones (swipe up for rising tone, swipe down for falling tone, etc.). It was a lightbulb moment for the team. We knew right then that a gesture-based game was the perfect way to piggyback off of the kinetic learning aid that we were witnessing in our interviews. </p> <h2>Paper Prototyping </h2> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/3t081N3P39320G3U2B2L/IMG_0074.png"/></p> <p>Before throwing hours into a digital prototype, we kicked around concepts on paper. This allowed us to explore as many options as we liked very quickly, while being critical about what worked and what didn’t. </p> <h2>Rough wireframing</h2> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/Cg9H/jesse500.jpg"/></p> <p>After validating as many assumptions as possible using paper prototypes, we zeroed in on the feature set of the game by producing rough wireframes of potential concepts. Our tools of choice are <a href="http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraffle/">Omnigraffle</a> for wireframing and <a href="http://www.zambetti.com/projects/liveview/">LiveView</a> for making sure our designs feel right on small mobile devices.</p> <h2>Thematic Exploration</h2> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/1o3G452x3B3t023H0w2f/ninjasmall.png"/></p> <p>Once we worked out the functionality, it needed to be wrapped into a theme/metaphor.</p> <p>Galactic went through a few thematic development revisions. It originally lived as a game about <em>samurais and sword swipes</em>. While the idea seemed great on paper, we soon realized that it didn’t fit with the vibe of our other mini games.</p> <p><span>We wanted to capture the ideas of exploration and progression. We ended up setting the game in outer space, embracing the notion of interplanetary discovery as our metaphor. Space naturally encompasses the concepts of travel and exploration, and using space as our setting brought a sort of mystique to the game that was easy and exciting to build on.</span></p> <p>The biggest challenge was working out how to take the vast coldness of space and humanize it. Planets and constellations became characters for a player to be rewarded with as they progressed through the levels.</p> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/CgOp/psql2_500.jpg"/></p> <h2><img src="http://cl.ly/3K0t2M0Z2D20381g172C/EarthinPhotoshop.png"/></h2> <h2>Iteration Iteration Iteration</h2> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/302L3c161h2j0Y0O313G/IMG_0103.png"/></p> <p>After the guts were fleshed out enough, we worked on tuning the interface and interactions.</p> <p>Galactic went through a few early interaction struggles. <span>In teaching the tones with shape-based associations, we got stuck when creating a gesture-recognition interaction. It proved both hard to tune and a little complicated for a player to digest in the midst of trying to learn. We ended up simplifying the shape-creating method so as to remove player frustration; this resulted in a more responsive game.</span></p> <p>In addition to conducting internal testing, we relentlessly playtested our games with neutral outsiders to get feedback on user experience. Galactic’s shape-capturing mechanism benefited from thorough testing and feedback-driven iteration. We continue to tune our product as it exists, live in the App Store.</p> <p><img src="http://cl.ly/2G2d2j2f2D3W462v2Y1y/Wireframes%20to%20final%20design.png"/></p> <p>Galactic is just the start of a bunch of new games we’re releasing. You can play it by downloading <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-chinese-mandarin-mindsnacks/id485803286?ls=1&mt=8">MindSnacks Mandarin</a> for free. We hope you enjoy it!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/14477351605http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/14477351605Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:01:34 -0800<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvwtse1vPG1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><span> </span></p> <div class="post_content" id="post_content_13941023383"> <div class="caption"> <p><strong>Introducing <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindsnacks-german/id473825665?ls=1&mt=8" title="MindSnacks German">MindSnacks German</a>! </strong></p> <p>We’re excited to add another language to our <a href="http://mindsnacks.com/subjects">subject library</a>.</p> <p>(A special shout out to you good folks who <a href="http://mindsnacks.com/vote/" title="vote">voted</a> to build this treat.)</p> <p><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindsnacks-german/id473825665?ls=1&mt=8" title="Free Download">Download it for free from the App Store now!</a></p> </div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/13942722187http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/13942722187Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:11:00 -0800germannews<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvumwbBFYN1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>This is Jarod writing 100000000000 lines of code to make a magical delight, which will be coming to the app store soon. We’re very excited about it.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/13882424149http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/13882424149Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:45:46 -0800jarodnews<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvfxhldbS11qif3sto1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Make your voice heard!  </strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.mindsnacks.com/vote">Vote</a> on the topic we build next and make sweet MindSnacks history.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/13511880214http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/13511880214Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:10:00 -0800voteelectionlanguageeducation<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luvt72SIFm1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12988037380http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12988037380Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:25:50 -0800<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luqb7uUFhb1qif3sto1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Friend and college instructor Taryn Dickinson came by to visit us last week to share some of her ideas with us.  She spun the wheel and got a <strong>*sweet*</strong> mustache, and ended up leaving with a coveted MindSnacks T-shirt, too.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12859958943http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12859958943Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:09:30 -0800<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lud7eiJ1uD1qif3sto2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lud7eiJ1uD1qif3sto3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lud7eiJ1uD1qif3sto4_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lud7eiJ1uD1qif3sto1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>Wish our CEO <a href="http://www.jessepickard.com/">Jesse Pickard</a> a Happy Birthday!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12530820208http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12530820208Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:18:18 -0800mindsnacks<p>If you could play a game that taught you a new language, skill, or topic, what would you want to learn? Go ahead, get all crazy with your answers….</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12479586649http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12479586649Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:02:56 -0800<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltyl09niEw1qif3sto1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>HAPPY HALLOWEEN!</strong></p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12182440938http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12182440938Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:48:09 -0700<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltswzrn7m81qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>Friday!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12052101360http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/12052101360Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:21:27 -0700<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrugb7Bx0A1qif3sto1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/10458515354http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/10458515354Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:09:07 -0700studio<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr7u43f3Xo1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>We’re adding a shipload of new fun things to MindSnacks, so we need the help of some fresh, creative brains. We’ve got some early openings in our Art-Design department. </p> <p>Check out our <a href="http://mindsnacks.com/careers">careers page</a> for more information, and spread the word! It’s a truly exciting opportunity.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/9962059526http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/9962059526Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:02:27 -0700jobs<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqwyrz0PxK1qa2d04o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://psql.me/post/9717821665">psql</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Game #3!</p> </blockquote> <p>We’ve got some new tricks up our sleeves. In fact, we have so many, we had to get more arms & sleeves to stuff them into!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/9718143578http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/9718143578Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:18:00 -0700bubbler<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqcnwcLJll1qif3sto1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Our friend & Sound Wizard <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/dannypoulin">Danny Poulin</a> from <a href="http://johnnycupcakes.com">Johnny Cupcakes</a> hung out and talked to us about some exciting ideas.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/9265839250http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/9265839250Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:02:36 -0700danny poulinvisitor<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpzfk0bTTT1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>Olá!</p> <p>We are glad to announce our latest title — <a href="http://cl.ly/9JE6">MindSnacks Portuguese!</a> As well as a new language, we’ve packed it with more improvements & features to make your experience even more enjoyable.</p> <p><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindsnacks-portuguese-language/id450554171?mt=8">Grab it for free from the App Store now</a>!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/8959547884http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/8959547884Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:33:00 -0700<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpmykz59NC1qif3sto1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>Working on some exciting new things for our games.</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/8668200734http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/8668200734Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:55:47 -0700design<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lph60e1DxB1qif3sto1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://twitter.com/house">Allison House</a> is visiting today!</p>http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/8529075245http://mindsnacks.tumblr.com/post/8529075245Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:50:38 -0700allison housevisitor