Winners – Reader’s App Awards 2013!

Get ready for our Reader’s Apps Awards for 2013!

Get ready for our Reader’s Apps Awards for 2013!

It’s that magical time of year again, we’ve been revisiting the entire archive of 2013 Readers’ Apps and picking the best of the year!

This is a huge deal, so I had some help: a team of 8 judges including Ray. Together we voted on the best apps of the year for 7 categories:

• Most Addicting: The app that made time fly.
• Most Hilarious Idea: The app that had us on the floor.
• Most Surprisingly Good: The app that surprised us all.
• Most Technically Impressive: The app that made our inner programmer jealous.
• Most Visually Impressive: The app that dropped our jaws.

As well as two grand prize winners, who will walk away with an epic prize pack of over $1000 in value:

• Best Reader’s Game: The overall best game of the year from a reader like you.
• Best Reader’s App: The overall best app (non-game) of the year from a reader like you.

Drum roll please… keep reading to see the best reader’s apps of 2013!

Most Addicting

Sky Hawks

Sky Hawks has been a go-to game on my iPhone for months now. In Sky Hawks, you take off for fun and frantic dogfights in the sky.

I love its retro look and feel, and there are plenty of planes to unlock for the competitive advantage and endless swarms of enemies to battle in the sky.

“A fun, easy to play twin stick shooter, that keeps you coming back for just one more round. Get your Top Gun on without having to play volleyball with Tom Cruise afterwards.” – Brian Moakley

“Sky Hawks took me back to my early days of gaming. A well implemented, entertaining trip into the past.” – Dustin Bruzenak

“Seriously, who doesn’t want to fly a fighter jet? I loved this game so much that before I realized it, I was making ‘Pew! Pew! Pew!’ sounds while I was playing.” – Tammy Coron

• Author: Tate Allen @AllTheWayApps
• Most useful tutorial: Trigonometry for Game Programming: Part 1/2
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Most Hilarious Idea

Mutton for Punishment

What do you do if you want the addiction of missile command but with a hilarious twist? Add some Mutton of course!

Mutton for Punishment pits the wolves against the sheep in this missile command style arcade game. The wolves have learned to use bow and arrows but the sheep have an ace up their sleeve, You! Fling rocks to deflect the wolves attacks and defend the flock!

“Brings the love of Missile Command to… mutton. Protecting sheep is more fun!” – Bear Cahill

“Fairytale graphics, nice music and challenging levels, you need to have an eye like Robin Hood and be able to anticipate to keep playing. – Przemek Rembelski

• Author: Greg Heasley
• Most useful tutorial: Space Game Starter Kit
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Most Surprisingly Good

Teggle

Teggle looked like a game too simple to be fun, but it turned out to be quite addictive. Born of multitouch, Teggle has you frantically tapping and swiping to win before long.

Teggle is simple, but its also hard to master and surprisingly addictive as you try to extend your combos and boost your score.

“I don’t know what “teggle” means, but if I had to guess, I’d say, “Slick, flat design, intuitive controls, and fast-paced gameplay that’s so shockingly simple and addictive that you can’t stop kicking yourself for not thinking of it yourself.” – Chris LaPollo

“If the design and elegance of iOS 7 was distilled into a game … this would be it. It’s both simple to play yet very addicting.” – Brian Moakley

• Author: Joseph Van Der Wee @PlayTeggle
• Most useful tutorial: How To Make A Simple iPhone Game with Cocos2D
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Most Technically Impressive

ECHO

ECHO takes iPhone gaming to a new level. ECHO uses directional, stereo audio to give you cues where obstacles are at as you fly through space. But don’t think you can play this game on mute, for once you’d better trust your ears not your eyes. ECHO dims the screen as you advance until you’re flying in almost pitch black sky. Your only hope is to listen to your ears.

ECHO was designed before the iPhone and iPad had stereo speakers so you’ll have to grab a pair of headphones to really get into it unless you’ve got the latest tech, but its well worth it to give this impressive game a try.

“Whoa! Don’t play this game in the dark. It’s creepy… and mesmerizing. I could play this game forever (except in the dark, which I think we established already)” – Tammy Coron

“Truly rewarded for putting the headphones on – I might just listen to this as my coding soundtrack. :)” – Bear Cahill

• Author: Alexander Damhuis @iphonedation
• Most useful tutorial: Space Game Starter Kit
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Most Visually Impressive

Wide Sky

Wide Sky is a game with stunning graphics and animations that doubles as a chance to hurl hedgehogs through the sky.

Wide Sky takes 2D to the extreme with crisp retina graphics and fast, fluid animations. And who doesn’t want to sling hedgehogs into aerobatic feats of agility?

As you collect stars and orbs you can unlock new power-ups and more springy ropes to push the limit on how high you can sling your hedgehogs.

“I am totally in love with graphics in this game. At the beginning not the easiest game to understand but absorbing enough to get the picture quickly.” – Przemek Rembelski

“Wide Sky is absolutely beautiful. The art style rivals the best that the app store has to offer. I’m abysmally bad at the game itself, but the wonderful graphics kept me playing long past the point of frustration.” – Dustin Bruzenak

“This game has an amazing sense of humor and a great sense of design that must be seen to be believed. I see great things in Marcus’s future.” – Ray Wenderlich

• Author: Marcus Eckert @marcus_eckert
• Most useful tutorial: How To Create Dynamic Textures with CCRenderTexture
• App Store Link: Check it out!