Atlanta, Georgia – App developer Wasabi Productions today announces the launch of a new breed of storybook app powered by Unity3D, which is more commonly a game development ecosystem. It’s a high-tech approach for Gorilla Band, delivering an interactive storytelling experience in a completely three-dimensional world that continues to push the needle on the future of digital publishing.
Page turns are reimagined into camera pans complete with sweeping changes in perspective as the reader is moved through the story set. A variety of randomized dialogue tracks in distinct voices help build empathy for the characters and keep repeat reading encounters fresh.
Gorilla Band places its 2-7 year old audience at the center of the story, unfolding through their interaction, complete with dozens of original animations, more than 50 originally scored instrumental music tracks, 2 songs with rendered video clips and an educational studio that teaches how to identify instruments by sound and name.
The powerful Unity engine helps create this immersive content and makes it easy to publish cross-platform – with modest file sizes relative to the richness of the experience. It also boasts a rich community of tools and plugins – all making the development platform appealing beyond just the gaming ecosystem.
Importantly in publishing, Unity allows for a bank of reusable assets to be created, helping to enable more agile development and easier creation of follow up titles in future. Speed to market is a key advantage in this rapidly expanding industry, but traditional development cycles for high quality content (2-6 months) make it challenging to reach a still-warm audience with a follow up release.
Graham Nunn, Creative Director for Wasabi says, “At its heart Gorilla Band is a memorable story with many educational benefits. Unity has helped us bring it to life in a vivid way that also makes it possible to share on Android, Kindle, iOS and even the web.”
Wasabi is proud to support American not-for-profit VH1 Save the Music Foundation around this app release with ten percent of proceeds from app sales going to benefit the charity’s work in restoring instrumental music education programs in America’s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child’s complete education .
Device Requirements:
* iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* 62.7 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Gorilla Band 1.2 is the fifth book app from Wasabi and is available as a universal app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch for $3.99 USD (Educational institutions discount applies through iTunes). It comes complete with original animations, a myriad of originally scored instrumental tracks, 2 songs and an educational studio. Launching soon on Google Play and Kindle store for Android. Special launch pricing of $0.99.
Gorilla Band 1.2
Purchase and Download
YouTube Video (Trailer)
Screenshot (Gorilla Band Cover)
Screenshot (Gorilla Band Page 3)
App Icon
Wasabi Productions is an independent publisher of original, high-quality storybook apps designed for pre-schoolers and touch screen technology. The company was born in Australia, and one of the first publishers of interactive children’s books for the iPad. Wasabi focuses on reimagining storybooks for the digital age, and entertaining young kids with tales of memorable characters where their interaction is central. The books contain moral and social outtakes, and together with text highlighting and educational elements, contribute positively to early readers’ development. Wasabi apps have received critical acclaim and the developer is one of the founding members of the Moms With Apps ‘Know What’s Inside’ initiative to protect children’s privacy in apps. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2013 Wasabi Productions. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.
