My new iPad app was recently released for the iTunes app store! I’ve been spending way too much time recently playing with it… as the co-creator, I may be a bit biased, but I think this is the coolest app, period.  It’s called Animal Creator, and it allows you to make new, cool, really weird animals out of existing animal parts.  I did the permutation math and calculated you can make hundreds of thousands of unique animals using the app!  Hot diggity!

As you might have guessed, my part of the app was all the visual design and illustration.  My incredible friend Sam Madden did all the programming, and added a ton of super cool features and functionality.  You can create an animal, color it in, listen to the sound it makes, give it a name (or let the program assign it a funny name), put it in a scene, email the scene, or send it to Facebook.  My Facebook friends are probably getting sick of me posting so many pictures made with the program.

Creating this program has been one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on.  It’s very gratifying to be able to interact with the artwork at such a tactile level, and to see how everyone has a different approach to the app.

I’m working on adding more animal and scenery content, in the form of Expansion Packs.  We’re just releasing a new Predator expansion pack this week, which was way fun to make.  Drawing snakes, bears, sharks, big cats… all the scary animals that you know kids are going to love.  If the term “Wizard!” was still in fashion (was it ever?) I feel like it could be applied to this app.

I hope there is some kid out there who is totally stoked on being able to put a Great White Shark head on a Manowar body, and have it being attacked by a polka-dotted PythonEagleDolphin and a hot pink BearOctopusPanther.  If so, this one’s for you, kid!