Apple Announces Its Favorite Creativity Apps & Video Games Of 2020
Video screenshot via Apple
With working from home taking over as the norm, you might be on the lookout for quality apps to not only simplify your workflow but also keep you thoroughly entertained during the COVID-19 downtime.
In a timely fashion, Apple unveiled its picks for the Apple Design Awards 2020 during the WWDC developer conference, revealing a curation of apps to consider installing especially if you’ve been in a bit of a creative rut lately.
This year, Apple commended four creativity apps and four games from the App Store and Apple Arcade that it deems to be the best-designed of 2020. Check them out below.
Best apps
Shapr3D for iPad
Shapr3D is an iPad drawing app that lets you create 3D drawings without having to use a desktop computer or CAD software. Designs created in this “pro-level” tool are compatible with major CAD file formats and support instant exports for 3D printing.
Looom for iPad
Looom lets you create hand-drawn animations within the iPad. It also doesn’t matter if you use your finger or Apple Pencil, or if you have animation experience or not. The interface is deliberately simple so anyone can animate their illustrations to life.
StaffPad for iPad
Another iPad tool on the list is StaffPad, an app for writing music. Here, you’ll be able to scribble notes, add articulation marks, and then play your composition using virtual orchestral instruments.
Darkroom for iPhone and iPad
Everyone needs a good photo editor in their phone, and Apple thinks Darkroom is among the best of them. The powerful app arrives not only with basic editing toggles and moody filters, but also pro features like a curves editor and the ability to open RAW files, batch-edit, as well as create custom filters.
Best games
Sayonara Wild Hearts for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AppleTV
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a poetic arcade game that embodies 80s music video vibes. The objective of the artsy game is to heal your broken heart, which you’ll have to work towards on journeys across dreamy landscapes on a motorbike and “the occasional detour into balletic battle sequences.” The experience gets even more euphoric with the game’s synth-fueled soundtrack… and Queen Latifah’s voice.
Song of Bloom for iPhone and iPad
Song of Bloom is an abstract nonlinear puzzle game that forces you to think out of the box to solve challenges. There is more to this, but as Apple mentions, “Giving too much away [about the game] would spoil the fun.”
Where Cards Fall for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AppleTV
Where Cards Fall is a puzzle game that has you building houses of cards to travel across trance-like levels. However, there’s a twist. Each level signifies a unique memory, and as you advance through the game, you will piece together fragments to learn the full surprising and “tearjerking” story of the protagonist.
Sky: Children of the Light for iPhone and iPad
The compelling Sky: Children of the Light—created by the makers of award-winning game Journey—is a relaxing, visually-rich multiplayer game that rewards you based on generosity, of all things, instead of stealth and physical strength. Players team up to help one another solve puzzles and unlock secrets.
[via TechRadar, cover image via Apple]
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