Windosill
Windosill gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Windosill is a sandbox style puzzle game for the iPad from the makers of Metamorphabet and Levers. No words appear on screen (other than the game's title, briefly) and users have to figure out what they're supposed to do in each level just by tapping, dragging, and exploring. The visual style is a little dark and foreboding -- think Tim Burton meets Maurice Sendak -- and some kids (and parents) might find the monsters and more surreal elements (like disembodied tongues and legs) disturbing. However, the monsters are harmless and the imaginative visual style will likely be more appealing than distressing. Some levels are pretty challenging, but there are no penalties or time limits.What kids can learn
It's staggering how engrossing this game is: The just-right challenge of each level makes the game initially tough to beat but always easy to play.
The game was made for entertainment, but there's great potential for practicing problem solving and talking about the internal logic of each level's puzzle.
There's no support text or help menu, but the wordless, intuitive interface is intuitive enough to make it broadly accessible.
What's it about?
WINDOSILL is a ten-level puzzle game with no instructions; instead, users have to figure out how to unlock each level's door and move the main character (a woodblock-style toy locomotive) on to the next level. Along the way, users will encounter endlessly interactive, imaginative illustrations that users can tap and drag to reveal their capabilities. Once kids get a sense of what the objects or animals on screen can do, they can work to figure out how to manipulate them to solve the level's puzzle.
A settings menu lets users explore sketches and concept drawings that helped the developers create the app's singular visual style. After completing the game, users can revisit and retry each level. Users can also enable complex gravity, which lets kids tilt the device to move objects on screen, and turn on a "See-Thru" option that makes on-screen objects translucent and gives users an inside look at the objects' construction.
Is it any good?
Once you start, you won't want to stop playing Windosill. Users quickly catch on to its central goal -- unlock the door and move the locomotive forward -- without any instructions or guidance. While some users might find the lack of guidance off-putting, overall the result is an immersive experience that's especially accessible to pre-readers and an easy fit for speakers of any language. The challenge ramps up nicely in each level, culminating with a challenging Rube Goldberg machine in the app's final stage. It's nice that you can revisit levels one at a time after you've completed them; some levels aren't especially interesting on the second try, but others remain rewarding after repeated play. Features for further exploring the artwork are a nice touch, too -- this could be a great starting point for parents to talk about artwork, creativity, and imagination with their kids. In addition to the artwork, the active physics of the game are quite amazing: Each object responds to tapping and dragging in an exceptionally accurate way. While some challenges are more interesting than others, and the gameplay is relatively short-lived for the price, the great sound, great visuals, engrossing gameplay make Windosill a worthy one-of-a-kind experience for kids and their parents.
Families can talk about...
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Families can talk about what to do without instructions. How do you figure out what to do on each level? What's it like to explore a game without knowing exactly what you're supposed to do? What kind of clues can you use, and what kinds of assumptions can you make?
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Play with the complex gravity setting and see how it affects the objects on screen. Talk about what gravity is and why the gestures you make with the device have the impact that they have.
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Turn on the see-thru feature and explore the early sketches gallery to see how the images on screen were digitally created. Talk about how you can draw your own mysterious monsters, giant flowers, or fantastic machines. Talk about how the app's developers used their imaginations and technology to turn their ideas into the world you explore in the app.
App details
| Device: | iPad |
| Price: | $2.99 |
| Pricing structure: | Paid |
| Release date: | February 3, 2015 |
| Category: | Kids Games |
| Topics: | Magic and fantasy, Adventures, Monsters, ghosts, and vampires, Trains |
| Size: | 88.00 MB |
| Publisher: | Vectorpark.com |
| Version: | 1.2.7 |
| Minimum software requirements: | Requires iOS 6.0 or later. |
