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Always on the lookout for new and well built toddler-level games for my iPod Touch, I was happy to hear from game developer Darren Murtha about his puzzle game, ShapeBuilder. Geared towards the 3-6 year old set, it's a simple drag and drop game that managed to hold both my 3.5 year old daughter's interest for several hours, on and off over the course of a week, as well as the attention of my friends' 5 year old son.
Both kids were able to pick up the mechanics of the game with a minimum of prodding - my daughter immediately figured it out, and her older friend only took a few seconds to learn the finger touch interface, having never played with an iPhone or Touch before. After that, it was off to the races, as he sat mesmerized by the activity of arranging the pieces in their proper positions while reading the resulting words that popped up on the screen when the puzzle was complete and the final image revealed.
The interface is very simple - as mentioned above, it's a simple drag and drop, with the outline of whatever the puzzle is of, including puzzle piece borders. The pieces are in a jumbled stack off to the side, and the kids simply select one and drag it to it's appropriate spot. When they get the piece relatively close to lined up, it snaps into place and aside form a bit of a wiggle, remains there, preventing accidental removal and frustrated children. At first, both kids kind of randomly dragged the pieces around until they snapped into place, but within a few minutes, they had it figured out and were actively placing them in their proper positions, eschewing the random drag and hope technique.
Once the puzzle is completed, the actual image is revealed, along with the name of the animal/vegetable/mineral (if relevant) and a pleasant sound effect accompanied voiceover that reads the words or number out loud. The screen flips on itself and the next puzzle is presented to the player. It's all very simple and friendly, and the kids were automatically fans of the entire process.
There are a few things that will hopefully be adjusted and/or corrected in future versions of ShapeBuilder. At one point, The Kid™ managed to somehow trip some sort of command that made an arrow appear in an upper corner of the screen. When tapped, which happened often, it auto-completed the puzzle and started the next one. I was unable to figure out how to get rid of the arrow without relaunching the entire game, which led to the next issue - new games don't pick up where the previous game let off. This seems like a minor detail until you're dealing with a tired 3 year old on a cross-country plane flight who can't figure out what happened to the donkey that she was half done putting together when she accidentally hit the iPod's button. Hopefully it's something simple to change, and is on the list for the next version.
This next comment is less a complaint and more of a wish that future updates are in the pipeline with additional images to build. The selection in the current version is certainly acceptable, especially with a low 99 cent price tag, but I'd love to see more added on a semi regular basis. Even cooler would be some sort of way for parents to add their own pics - I'd gladly pay a few more bucks for the ability to customize our library.
Overall, though, this is a game well worth your money. As much as I love the iWriteWords app, it still only manages to hold my daughter's attention for a few minutes at a time. ShapeBuilder was a sanity saver on our previously mentioned flight, giving myself and The Wife™ 10-20 minutes of quiet time on several occasions during the course of our flight. It promotes a few basic skills - hand/eye coordination, reading, number recognition, problem solving, etc. - and obviously engages the child in environments where an actual puzzle would be problematic to impossible to play with. Sure, there's room for improvement, but overall, this is a no-brainer: ShapeBuilder is a winner and absolutely belongs on the iPhone/Touch of anyone with a toddler.
There's currently a free Lite version, as well as paid English and Spanish versions. The game, as mentioned above, is under a buck and is a total steal at that price.
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This looks really cool.
written by WeaselMomma, September 12, 2009
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