Apparently it’s not just us Carrollians who’ve taken notice of the big 1-5-0, game designers have too. Take this for instance, a Gamejolt Jam, which is apparently a challenge to come up with games based on a theme, has a new Alice jam scheduled for June 27 – July 3. The rules are simple:
Base your game on the Alice in Wonderland book or characters
Include the mystery theme (this will be announced at the beginning of the jam)
Create the game within the jam period, including any graphics and audio
Entries can be from individuals or teams
Upload your game to Game Jolt and tag it with #alicejam150
Currently in Beta, there is a new game being developed by PlayparkSEA for both Android and iOS platforms based on Alice. From what we can see in this video, looks like it might be fun 🙂 Not sure if you can still get in on the beta, but follow on Facebook to see.
There is a new Alice iPad app, featuring beautifully rendered Arthur Rackham illustrations! At $2.99 it is a bargain. Get yours now! From the iTunes page:
• Complete set of Interactive illustrated boards beautifully adapted for iPad and iPad Mini with animations, physical objects, and interactive sounds.
• Complete set of original boards presented in the Historical Notes section.
• Amazing environmental soundtracks inside the Interactive Boards.
• Help Guide to the Interactive Boards for the youngest readers.
• “Invisible ink objects” to play with on every text page, just touch the letters!
• Camera function to mix your portraits inside these wonderful compositions and save on your iPad or share with family and friends.
• Detailed navigation menus.
• Full texts in the original version and from the earliest translations: English (1856), French (1869), Italian (1871) and Spanish (1922).
• In addition, find rich and interesting historical notes about Arthur Rackham, his work, the world he worked in, and the context of Carroll’s fantastic book (English only).
• Retina Ready
-App designed for iPad™ (2nd, 3rd, 4th generation) iPad air™ and iPad mini™ all generations-
The physicist in me is just giggling over this article. How cool that two of my very favorite subjects have collided, and non-destructively too I might add. Basically they’ve separated a particle from one of its properties. How very Carrollian.
The town of Llandudno in Wales has come up with a novel aid to tourism – an app! The app will provide tourists with 3D adventures and take them on an enhanced digital tour of all the Alice related places in town. Available in June, not much has been revealed as of yet, but we’ll keep you posted!
Who doesn’t like free stuff? There’s a new iOS game with a Wonderland theme available, called WonderGolf. Made by DeNA, help Alice retrieve her stolen MP3 player from the White Rabbit while completing over 70 mini golf games. Download from iTunes here. As with many modern apps, this offers in-app purchases, so be careful.
These days, we’re all seeing our beloved Victorian era (but let’s face it, timeless) Alice books retold using various forms of cutting edge technology. Here’s another example, this time from Adobe, that plays with special CSS (cascading style sheet, for non-developer folks) tags to tell the story in a stylish, web-based environment. You will note that the graphic design is quite distinctive, as well. Alice looks like a cross between a goth bobby-soxer and a dominatrix. And the caterpillar with the hookah–well, I confess the image did make me think “hookah” when I saw it! 😉
Regardless of what you think of the project’s success in telling the Wonderland story well, it’s technically impressive. And it’s always fun to see that Lewis Carroll’s works continue to inspire people all over the globe. (If the video doesn’t show below, try reloading this page in your browser.)
If you attended our fall meeting in Los Angeles, you may have already seen a sample of this new tool in action: a company called Plotagon has created an Alice in Wonderland pack for their animated movie creation software. All you need to do is write your own story, add it to Plotagon’s software, and the Wonderland avatars then perform your script. The tool is currently in Beta (final testing) stage, and at the moment it’s completely free to download and use.
Please read their FAQs and Terms of Service carefully before you start. If you want to share your little featurettes, you would need to upload your finished project to Plotagon’s web site, and share a link from there. And while you retain rights to any original story you create, Plotagon retains rights to all aspects of their software, so you are creating projects with joint ownership. There is of course also the likelihood that Plotagon will charge for use of the software and/or hosting down the road. For now, however, we have been assured it’s free to download and use.
Looking for a nifty-looking protective case for your new iPad Air? Or any other iPad, Nexus, Kindle or iPhone, for that matter? Then you might want to check out a company in San Francisco called Dodocase. According to their web site, the company prides itself on using traditional bookbinding techniques, and on manufacturing their cases locally. They have a nice selection of patterns, colors, and features, some with a distinctly Victorian or vintage feel. If you want something unique, they even offer a Build-A-Dodo feature. Granted, there are lots of less expensive iPad cases out there. But if you’re looking for something handcrafted with a touch of class (and clearly, a Carrollian sensibility–check out the sample monogram!), then it might be worth browsing the Dodocase offerings.
Speaking of privacy matters, in case you didn’t already know this, Amazon keeps track of what phrases are most often highlighted by folks who read their eBooks on Kindles. Now, by all rights, if those folks using Kindle readers really knew their Carrolliana, they would have found a way to make it 42nd, but research has shown that following after a whole slew of Suzanne Collins/The Hunger Games quotes, the 43rd most highlighted phrase is the Duchess’s Escher-esque advice to Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:
“Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.”
To read the full New Republic article about the highlighting habits of Kindle readers (and what it says about our culture), click here.
Apparently it’s not just us Carrollians who’ve taken notice of the big 1-5-0, game designers have too. Take this for instance, a Gamejolt Jam, which is apparently a challenge to come up with games based on a theme, has a new Alice jam scheduled for June 27 – July 3. The rules are simple:
The town of Llandudno in Wales has come up with a novel aid to tourism – an app! The app will provide tourists with 3D adventures and take them on an enhanced digital tour of all the Alice related places in town. Available in June, not much has been 
Who doesn’t like free stuff? There’s a new iOS game with a Wonderland theme available, called WonderGolf. Made by DeNA, help Alice retrieve her stolen MP3 player from the White Rabbit while completing over 70 mini golf games. Download from iTunes 
