iShear by HeyApps
New Zealand really does have a growing community of iPhone OS developers, we are even importing them now! The latest is a Wellington based company called HeyApps, and is run by Manuela and Lionel. Manu is Italian and Lio is French and they now live here in New Zealand. They have just released iShear, a sheep shearing game that is ‘NZ inspired’. We thought we’d take a look, see what it’s like and give Manu and Lio a bit of welcome to New Zealand. So what’s it like? Hit the ‘Read More’ to find out…
First off, Manu and Lio are not professional programmers. They started the project 2 months ago with no knowledge of Objective C, just a passion for the iPhone and willingness to learn. So after two months of hard work they have learned the language and managed to release their first game, iShear, and that’s not to be scoffed at.
The basis of iShear, as you may have guessed, is to shear sheep. You have a limited amount of time to complete as many sheep as you can.
Shear them sheep!
iShear has 4 different game modes:
Speed game: In Speed you must shear the sheep as fast as possible. The more you shear, the faster the next sheep goes, and the more difficult it will be for you to complete.
Herd game: In Herd your task is to shear a full herd of sheep and get time and bonus points.
Precision game: In Precision the shaved sheep remain in the field and you must not shear them any further, otherwise you lose.
Magic game: In Magic a fly and a bee, with magic powers enter the game. If you touch them the sheep will shrink or move faster. There is also a grasshopper and only he can give you some extra time to complete the shearing.
Game modes
To sheer the sheep you have tap tap on them twice to remove a strip of wool. The are four strips you have to remove to complete the job. All the while the sheep are jumping around the screen and getting faster and faster or smaller and smaller.
I found myself just tapping away on the screen but I am sure there is a more logical approach to it.
Keep on tapping!
The game itself is a bit of fun and I can see how it could be addictive. It has some really cool cartoony graphics and is a game the kids will love. Some of the sound effects are quite amusing and as cute as the music is, after a while, you may find yourself looking for the option to switch it off, which I am glad to say it has.
Unfortunately no OpenFeint
It has a high score table, but doesn’t incorporate OpenFeint. Maybe a future release will or maybe they are waiting for the release of Apple’s Game Center.
This is definitely a ‘time waster’ app (i.e. one you will play while waiting for the wife to choose which new handbag she needs) and for $1.29 maybe worth a try if you like this kind of game.
As an entry into iPhone game development (and after only 2 months of learning Objective C) this is a great first game. As long as they can come up with some original titles, that keep it light and fun, and they make sure each game is well coded and incorporates all the features (such as OpenFeint / Game Center) that people have come to expect then I think the future will be bright for HeyApps.
Check out the video below and hit the App store link to go get it.
– iShear ($1.29)
