Aurifi – An iPhone Game to Enjoy With Your Eyes Closed

25 May 2010

Aurifi – An iPhone® Game to Enjoy With Your Eyes Closed

The launch of Aurifi™, the first ever audio-only game built solely for the iPhone® and iPod Touch®, was announced today at an introductory price of £2.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Its innovative gameplay allows players to interact with sound in the same way video games let them interact with graphic objects: as they progress they explore a vast array of original sound components and audio effects, blending hundreds of bespoke musical phrases to create thousands of different permutations.

Only with new developments in mobile technology has this type of game become feasible. Aurifi exploits the touch and motion sensors and range of controls unique to the iPhone and iPod Touch, creating a wide range of sound-based micro-games in a way that no desktop or console-based game can duplicate.

Using headphones, players explore a sonic environment and pick up the skills needed to interact with Aurifi in a highly original manner. They manipulate audio effects by bouncing, steering and batting them through the three-dimensional soundscape.

For example, in one micro-game, tilting the device left and right ‘moves’ a sound across the stereo field and players are challenged to ‘place’ it in a particular spot. It works in harmony with the background music, so that they are contributing to the overall audio environment.

Aurifi is unique among iPhone/iPod Touch games in that it can be played without users ever having to open their eyes. The in-game graphics are kept deliberately simple as they have no connection to the game itself.

It was created using music theory, digital sound design techniques and even the neuroscience of perception. It was created and produced by new game design company Punk Pie Ltd and developed by Four Door Lemon Ltd, supported by Screen Yorkshire and digital agency twentysix.

Chris Walker of Punk Pie says: “To develop Aurifi, we had to get to grips with how the brain processes sounds and what ‘images’ are created in the mind. It was a fascinating and beautiful insight that we’re very lucky to have spent time investigating.

“No two people perceive the same thing and that’s what excites us about Aurifi – the ability to compare your experience with someone else, and marvel at the similarities and the differences. Our brains are amazing at building an environment made up of sonic clues and we give you the ‘compass’ to explore that world.”

Emma Wensley, client services director at twentysix adds: “The latest iPhones lend themselves to games and experiences that could not be repeated on any other platform. Similarly, Aurifi has been designed to take advantage of that and be different from any other game available today.”

To find out more, please visit www.aurifi.com

Aurifi and the Aurifi logo are trademarks of Punk Pie Ltd.

Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod touch, and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.