Squeak’s Dreams is an iPhone game coming to the US and UK App Store on December 12, 2011. It’s the first game from three-times videogame Guinness World Record-holder and gaming journalist Justin Towell, who woke up on New Year’s Day this year with the sudden thought: “I’m going to make an iPhone game”. Not knowing a line of programming code, he bought an iMac (working extra to pay it off) and used GameSalad to bring his cheesy dream to life. Almost a whole year later, here it is, available for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod Touch 3rd Generation and later. 

Squeak’s Dreams plays like classic 2D side-scrollers of the 1990s, only with touch-screen direction pad and jump button. The control method is simple enough that anyone can pick it up, although controlling Squeak as he bounces on ripening blackberries and ivy leaves will test even the most hardcore gaming fanatic. 

Squeak’s Dreams contains an original soundtrack, composed and performed entirely by Towell, from the rock song ‘Pirate Queen’ playing on the radio in the kitchen to the beautiful and haunting piano piece that plays as you bounce through the clouds. Likewise with the sound effects – the noise Squeak makes when he jumps is voiced by Justin Towell, as are the hoverflies and the sound of the dragonfly’s wings. As the credit says: Game Engine by GameSalad™, everything else by Justin Towell. Yes, that goes for the quacks too.

Celebrating the game’s release, Towell has also written a post for Gamesradar.com entitled “10 Things I Learnt While Making a Video Game (by a Games Journalist).” This is an essential read for gaming enthusiasts that are looking to break into game development via GameSalad. Lessons learned include: You Don’t Need Coding Knowledge, Bugs are a Pain in the Ass, Optimization is a BIG deal, and many more.

Official Game Trailer:

My personal favorite…the Musical/Animated Trailer:

Squeak’s Dreams Game Features:
- Three beautiful naturalistic areas to explore – the garden, the river and the house
- Peaceful, violence-free gameplay. The worst that happens to Squeak is a 5 Cheese penalty for touching a mouse trap.
- Stunning graphics with multi-layered parallax scrolling and even into-the-screen pseudo 3D!
- Photographic imagery for backgrounds mixed with hand-drawn artwork
- A custom soundtrack full of real electric guitar as well as synthesized instruments
- Several gameplay variations – Run about on foot, ride a dragonfly, bounce on balloons and follow a UFO through space. Only in your wildest cheese dreams!
- Replay value – Can you get all three Big Cheeses from Squeak’s Dreams to truly finish the game?
- Ducks that quack when you bounce on them.

Purchase Squeak’s Dream on the App Store for 99 cents here.

The second annual STEM Video Game Challenge has begun accepting submissions. Students and Educators are encouraged to submit their game ideas and prototypes designed to promote science and math education. The STEM Challenge is organized by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media with support from the AMD Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Entertainment Software Association and Microsoft.

In a departure from last year, the STEM will not be accepting entries from professional game developers that are not associated with a school or educational non profit.

Last year, GameSalad was proud to have one of our game developers, Daniel Caldwell (AKA SciTunes) as finalist in the competition. We spoke with him recently about his experience last year.

Hey Daniel! Thanks for taking the time to speak with us about your experience with STEM. Tell us, how did you first discover the STEM Challenge? 

At the time I was teaching 8th grade science in Northern New York and I noticed an announcement on the BrainPop website which was one of the sponsors of the STEM Challenge. 

What made you decide to participate? 

I had been using GameSalad for about a year or more to make science games for my middle school sciTunes curriculum and so I thought it would a fun challenge to make a preK – 4th grade level game.

How did you developed your idea for the competition? What was the procress from from idea to implementation like? 

The idea for my sciTunes Curriculum, and by extension this game, actually came from my students a year and a half before the STEM Challenge. I gave my seventh graders an assignment to write a short story from the point of view of a piece of food traveling through the digestive system. For some reason this group of students insisted that I write a story too. At first I said, “No. I have to grade 100 of your stories!” But they were persistent and so as a compromise I told them I would write a song on my guitar and play it for them. So that led to the song “It Takes Guts!”. 

When I played it for them I was astounded at their level of attention. Usually seventh graders are thinking about anything other than the science I was trying to teach them. That inspired me to use music to teach the entire human body and I began writing one song for each system (www.scitunes.com/music). Then I decided to create an entire curriculum based on the music. 

My next thought was “what else captures middle schoolers’ attention (other than the opposite sex)?” Of course the answer to that was video games. I jumped on google and eventually came across GameMaker (I didn’t have a Mac at that time). Then my PC died and I got my first mac, found GameSalad and fell in love! I’ve been making games (both educational and non-educational) ever since (last 2.5-3 years). I started making games to go along with the songs. 

So when I heard about the STEM challenge I already had 4 or 5 games completed. However I quickly realized that they would not work well for elementary kids. So I used the same music but created 6 human body games from scratch that targeted the preK – 4th grade learner and combined them all together in one game called “A sciTunes Human Body Adventure.” The six games were “Junk Food destroyer” (nutrition), “It Takes Guts!” (Digestion), “Immune Defenders” (Immune System), “Skeleton Tower Builder” (Skeletal Muscular System), “Blood Kart Racing” (Circulatory System), and  “Nerve Control” (Nervous System). My goal was to make all of these games playable on an iPad with only one finger. I also wanted to find the right balance between being scientifically accurate, educationally sound, and really fun. In the end I feel like I succeeded. 

How did it feel to be selected as a finalist in the STEM Challenge? 

Being a finalist was a great feeling. Here I was, a school teacher, in the final three against a professional game studio and a team of programmers. It felt really good to be in such fine company. It was also a wonderful experience getting to know the wonderful people at the Cooney Center, the judges, and the folks in attendance at the Atlantic Conference that we were a part of.

What was the most enjoyable/fulfilling part of your participate in STEM? 

I really enjoyed being in Washington D.C. and meeting all of the interesting people that were there for the event.

Are there any other games or projects that you have developed or are in development right now? 

Right now I am working on HTML5 games for my website. I currently have three games up (Blood Kart Racing, The I Team – Immune Heros!, and Guts Arcade). I am also working on a game in which the player has to keep the main character alive by regulating the things that your nervous and endocrine systems do for you. So will have to avoid obstacles, regulate body temperature, blood sugar levels, adrenaline levels, energy levels, etc. It will essentially use many of the same game mechanics as other time management games. I am also working on spinning platform game with one touch jump controls tentatively called “Spinja and the Mystic Dojos.” This one should be out shortly after the holidays.

Thanks so much for speaking with us, Daniel. We hope you story can inspire other students and educators to participate in the STEM Challenge and explore game development with GameSalad.

View SciTunes submission video for the challenge here:

Source: Gamasutra

Cenage Learning has partnered with GameSalad for a student design contest. Students under the age of 18 years old (limited to legal residents of the United States and the District of Columbia) are welcome to enter and submit their best game design ideas via “Game Art Packs.” The art packs should incorporate elements needed to create a game (e.g., objects, backgrounds, characters, animations). The art packs are designed to be used and sold on GameSalad Marketplace. To enter, upload a JPG that represents the overall look of your pack, as well as a ZIP file containing all art assets. Entries will be judged by author Jeannie Novak. Entries are due by January 15th and the winner will be announced on February 1st. In addition to other prizes, the Top 3 entries will have their art packs featured for sale on GameSalad Marketplace, and the winning entry will receive a GameSalad Creator Professional 12-month membership upgrade!

For more information about this contest, rules, and how to enter, please visit Cenage’s website here.

About Cengage Learning: Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. The company’s products and services are designed to foster academic excellence and professional development, increase student engagement, improve learning outcomes and deliver authoritative information to people whenever and wherever they need it. Through the company’s unique position within both the library and academic markets, Cengage Learning is providing integrated learning solutions that bridge from the library to the classroom. Cengage Learning’s brands include Brooks/Cole, CourseTechnology, Delmar, Gale, Heinle, South-Western and Wadsworth, among others.