With the release of Little Bit Games’ first title, The Seed, we thought it was time to get to know more about these up and coming Canadian developers.

Who is Little Bit Games?
The team is made up of developers/founders Cody Lee and Curtis Vogt, musicians Eric Cassell and Jennifer Vogt, as well as artist Jeffrey Taniguchi. Based out of Winnipeg, Canada, the team have been together since 2011 having been previously inspired courtesy of Ron Gilbert’s keynote speech at PAX 2009.

What is Little Bit Games most famous for?
Currently, its sole release: The Seed. It’s a physics puzzle game in which players must guide the Seed to the end of the level using droplets to manipulate its path. Minimalist in appearance, David Rabinowitz gave it 4 stars when he reviewed it earlier this month.

What’s next on the horizon?
We checked in with Cody Lee about the team’s plans. “The current version of The Seed in the App Store is part 1. We have plans to release part 2 as a free update later in the year, but we are planning for a quick project in between. We aren’t ready to announce anything yet, but we are currently experimenting with some really exciting and unique ideas that can only be accomplished on the mobile platform.”

Anything else I should know about Little Bit Games?
Having been intrigued as to just what makes the team tick, I checked in with Cody for a few answers.

148apps: What was the inspiration behind The Seed?
Cody: The original inspiration for the basic physics based puzzle mechanic of The Seed was an old PC game called The Incredible Machine. The game involved creating elaborate Rube-Golderg contraptions for each level and featured a very addictive tweaking trial-and-error type gameplay. Overall though, The Seed has taken a much different tone than its inspiration. We’ve noticed that most physics-based puzzle games on mobile platforms these days look and feel the same. Quite frankly, many feel like they’re trying to capture the Angry Birds “feel.” They’re colorful, and childlike and try very overtly to appeal to the casual audience. With The Seed, we really wanted to do something different and decided to take a much more mature and minimalistic tone which is what every detail [of The Seed] strives for. There’s very little text in the game, and the music and art are designed to give a zen-like experience, to offset what can often times be a very challenging game.

148apps: What’s your favorite thing about iOS development?
Cody: Developing for iOS (and mobile in general) offers many constraints when it comes to screen real-estate and memory concerns, but it opens up a whole world of exciting game design possibilities you just can’t get on traditional video game platforms. The tools available and popularity of iOS development also make it super easy to get up and running and find documentation and open source libraries when you need it. Above all though, my favorite thing is probably how easy it is for indie developers to distribute their games. Digital distribution such as the App Store has made it super easy for up and coming game developers to get their games out to the public, and as a result the indie game development scene has been stronger than ever. It’s a very exciting time for indie games and iOS is definitely part of the reason why. This easy distribution is of course a blessing and a curse, as it also means a lot of noise in the App Store, making it difficult to get noticed!

Where can I find out more about Little Bit Games?
Plenty of places. While we’ll be keeping an eye out for the next update to The Seed, you can also check out the developers’ website, Facebook page and Twitter account.

The Seed is out now, priced at $0.99.

iOS devices are great for using as e-readers, iPads in particular. Besides being great for reading books and novels, they’re also ideal for comic book reading. Whether you’ve been reading comics for decades, or just discovering the magic within for the first time, here’s a look at four of our favorite apps for enjoying some of the best comics and graphic novels out there.

Comics
From Comixology, Comics offers a huge wealth of comic books. With a 30,000+ library of books, it’s the comic equivalent of iTunes which is pretty awesome indeed. There’s something for everyone’s taste here, with Marvel and DC residing happily alongside Disney, The Walking Dead, Star Trek and even My Little Pony. It’s simple to browse around and a web-based interface ensures purchases can be read anywhere.

Marvel Unlimited
For those keen to buy individual comic books, Marvel Comics has things covered. For others who signed up to a Marvel Unlimited subscription and had to be restricted to only browsing on a PC or Mac, this recent app is a huge help. It’s not the finest of apps to navigate (although it works much better on the iPad), but the sheer wealth of comic books that can be read while on the move and for a fairly low annual fee, it’s well worth a look. It’s kept me entertained on many a journey, as helped by the read offline feature.

Comics Unlimited
Offering a little bit of everything, amongst a subscription service and a way to check out freebies, Comics Unlimited is a jack of all trades. Archie, CSI, Transformers, Dragon Age and Grimm Fairy Tales all happily reside together on this service and flexible subscription options make it all the more appealing. It’s simple to browse too, with intuitive controls and an attractive layout.

VIZ Manga
We’ve focused a lot on Western comic books, but there are plenty of great apps for Manga fans too. VIZ Manga is one of the best, providing a similar experience to Comics but with a focus on Manga. Naruto, Bleack, Death Note, Dragon Ball and many more are available here, with monthly free previews ensuring it’s easy to find something new to entice one in.