into the big pond of the iTunes App store.  In version 1.0 you will meet 12 fascinating sea creatures and even learn a thing or too about each species.  With every new update you can look forward to collecting additional swim buddies, learning more about our oceans and the marvelous life that inhabit them.  Swim Buddies! isn’t an encyclopedia. It’s a playful app is for children of all ages, with simple to use, tactile feedback.  Touch fish to hear their names, touch the open ocean to produce streams of bubbles… All for the price of a cup of coffee.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!  Drop us a note at: support @ outtoplayinteractive.com

Click, take a deep breath and dive right in!

Back to Swim Buddies! Click the bright blue icon and be plunged into an under sea world of beautiful and fascinating sea creatures. From the Humpback Whale to the tiny Yellow Tang you will learn amazing facts and tasty tidbits on a variety of species. You will also have the chance to learn a dizzying array of fun facts about our oceans.  Just keep your eye open fo0r the little yellow science sub the Ocean Explorer. Tap it when it passes by and it crew will transmit some tantalizing information to wow your friends at work, school or parties.

And best of all, Swim Buddies! isn’t just your ordinary mobile app. It’s a living breathing underwater experience that will grow to meet your curiosity and imagination.  Look for more sea creature, more fun facts and more activities as time goes on.   Keep an eye out for our Launch Trailer in the coming days as well.

Stories for the next generation... Now!

Look for more information in coming days and perhaps we can bring your book, animation or interactive idea to life for the millions of mobile device users around the world.

If you have a project, book or library of content you would like to bring to mobile platforms, shoot us a note and we can talk about getting it done for you.

Take a dip with some very special friends this Summer.

Not a game, not exactly educational, Swim Buddies! is about meeting, enjoying and learning a few fun facts about some wonderful, watery residents that capture our imagination and hopefully your little reader’s as well. As your underwater adventure takes you through more than a dozen finned friends, you will begin to feel the urge to kick off your shoes, pull on your bathing suit and run for the nearest pool, puddle or ocean.  So ready your snorkel and look for Swim Buddies!  later this month on iPad, iPhone and beyond.

Update 2.1 to Melvin Says There’s Monsters is ready and heading upt to Apple this afternoon.  Besides making the Swipes WAY more responsive, we added TAP Zones on the left and right.  This way you can navigate forward and back through the pages with swipes or simply by tapping on the sides. Personally, I’m a big fan of tapping…  Also added a few minor cosmetic and animation changes to round out the update.  Swipe till you can’t swipe no more!

Swipe till you can't swipte no more!

The crew at Out to Play Interactive want you to know, your experience with our apps is mighty important to us. And that you smile when you find it, purchase it and play it, is our #1 goal.

Look for more exiting updates to our book engine in the coming weeks.  We are also working hard to bring Melvin to the iPhone/Touch platforms.   If you have any issues, concerns questions or comments, Do please leave me a note and I will personally get back to you as soon as possible.

Melvin was created with a lot of love, care and hard work. We plan to have a significant fix out later this week. Then Apple gets it for a few days, and then it ‘magically’ appears in the update section of your iTunes store. We appreciate your patience and if you have any questions, shoot us a note. When it runs smoothly, we know Melvin Says There’s Monsters! is one of the most entertaining and funny apps you can share with your child.

We’ll keep you up to date with when further updates are submitted to Apple!

Thanks,
Brendan Gallagher
Creative Director / CEO
Out to Play Interactive
email: support @ outtoplayinteractive.com

It is also interesting to see what our host, Apple thinks of our work. This is a bit harder to gauge as it’s not likely that Mr. Jobs will pick up the phone, call our offices and give us an earful of love. One way a developer can tell one of their apps is in good standing with the mother-ship, is to be recognized in one or more of their ‘Featured’ categories. Well today, less than 24 hours after it hit the store, the ‘LITE’ version of Melvin Says There’s Monsters appeared in the ‘New and Noteworthy’ category for App Store Books. Yeah, that made my day.

So, what can you expect?  Well, here’s a quick mock up of the app we are hoping to get to Apple by early next week.  It’s called Construction Buddies! and it’s designed for the young bulldozer enthusiast in your life.  It’s not a game, it’s a interactive look at a whole bunch of the really big, really yellow, really cool looking construction vehicles that dig, lift, scoop, grind, wreck and make stuff happen.  We think it’s gonna be wicked cool.  Here’s a sneak peek at what you might see.  Look for Construction Buddies later this month!

2.0 is faster, cooler, more fun, easier to navigate, might stop oil leaks and will most certainly reduce crime in your area. Okay…. it won’t actually stop oil leaks, but if a cat burglar get’s his hands on the app, he’ll sit, smile and ever laugh for more than a little while then race home to share it with his flunky friends, and that can’t be a bad thing.

Melvin Speaks his Piece...

If you like Melvin’s story, please take a minute to rate it (if you don’t, well,  never mind, but do shoot us a note with any suggestions you may have for updates, future adventures, or stories you might like to read.  At Out to Play Interactive storytelling is an obsession. From sitting round the dinner table munching pizza, to roasting smores at a company campfire. We may write and produce `em, but the stories, books and animation we produce are for you and your family. So tell us what you’d like to read, and we’ll bring your thoughts to our next development round table.

In the meantime,  enjoy Melvin 2.0, his new lower price point, and the soon to be released, ‘Lite version.  Let the smiling begin…

Too excited not to sing...

But what of Melvin’s CMD?  The project was all but completed and ready to launch almost 6 weeks ago, until we discovered the development platform (which shall remain nameless), was simply not ready for prime-time.  And what of the two other book titles waiting in the proverbial wings for their chance to shine?  It’s sort of unavoidable I guess. When you have a one runway airport, flights must wait in the que for takoff.

So what are these projects? what is Melvin’s CMD?  Well, as we get the site up and rolling in the next week or so, the answers to these and many more queries will come.  But again, same as the titles must wait for the loving attention of the development team, so must the press roll outs. But even there, help is on the way…stay tuned.