Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > Hands On: Robot Factory 1.0.3 (iOS)

Hands On: Robot Factory 1.0.3 (iOS)
Thread Tools
NewsPoster
MacNN Staff
Join Date: Jul 2012
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 5, 2015, 09:42 PM
 
The Robot Factory by Tinybop is an open-ended activity app where the user builds a robot, and then sets it loose upon a wooded garden. It's the first in TinyBop's new line of virtual toys, and much like their educational apps, such as Simple Machines, there's not much in the way of points or win conditions. Although there's certainly plenty to do.

The app provides the ability for multiple people to make their own profile in the app. This is great for families, or groups of students that share a device, everybody's custom-designed bots are collected together, where they can be reasonably sure nobody else is going to delete their favorites to make room for something lame. The parent or teacher can also make a dashboard profile, but at this time it doesn't do much. In TinyBop's other apps, that's where the manuals are, but in The Robot Factory it just says "coming soon."



The player selects various parts from a number of tabs, which include designs and tools of various shapes and styles. In particular, we like that there's an option to build something that looks like a yeti with a trashcan for a torso. The robot is built via a face-on view, with many attachment points. A red dot indicates the attachment point is on the side of the body part facing the user, while a blue dot indicates the attachment point is at the back.



Once the player has finished their build and given their robot a sweet paint job, they can choose to send it through one of two vacuum tunnels. One leads to the storage area, and the other to the wooded garden where the design can be tested out. Testing the robot is a side-scrolling stroll through plants and trees. There's lots to interact with here -- sometimes there's a little robotic dog, there are topiaries, bushes with barriers that glow, and trees that can be cut down. Everything can be interacted with if the robot has the right tools for it, and we love that.



The Robot Factory is available from iTunes for $3.

Who The Robot Factory is for:
Anybody who enjoys connecting things to other things just to see if they will work.

Who The Robot Factory might not be for:
People who prefer to have specifically-stated goals or clearly-defined tasks to direct their efforts towards.

-- Michelle Elbert (@mcelbert)
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:08 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,