Tag: Dreams »

Bedtime for Sarah Sullivan is a children’s storybook that emphasizes the importance of going to bed, dreams, and those magical moments right before being tucked in.

Now Kelly Paniagua, author of the award-winning children's book, is planning to bring an interactive story app based on the very same bedtime story to the App Store. Very soon, in fact. Bedtime for Sarah Sullivan marks the first in a planned series of ten, and the intention is to release an app shortly after each title goes to print.

The Bedtime for Sarah Sullivan app includes pretty much everything parents would want in an interactive bedtime story: narration, highlighted text to aid with reading along, character voices (supplied by Paniagua’s own daughter as well as her husband, Julian McMahon), animations, and of course some interactive bits. A couple of mini-games have also been included. One involves flying through space collecting ingredients for baking cookies (finishing the game also reveals a recipe for “Galaxy Cookies”), while the other is about finding hidden animals and learning about nocturnal versus diurnal behavior.

What’s most intriguing about Bedtime for Sarah Sullivan is the special Coloring Activity. It’s actually based on Dr. Wayne Dyer’s theory about how what we see, do, and think about right before bed (about 30 minutes or so) can affect both our dreams and our mood when we wake up. Paniagua wanted to know, “What if you implemented this at a developmental age?”

The idea is for children to use their imagination and draw up something right before bed, and an “Idea Generator” is also available if they have trouble thinking of something. What they draw and/or the mood it puts them in (preferably happy) should, in theory, have an impact on their dreams. Drawings can be saved from within the app to your device’s camera roll for easy sharing, too.

Bedtime for Sarah Sullivan is available on the App Store right now for $2.99 (no in-app purchases). If you’re interested in the physical book as well, you can pick it up in stores now for $13.95.

DreamsCloud, the interactive service that looks to help people analyze and reflect on their dreams, has announced its new iOS app DreamSphere.

The app has a host of features, including a Dream Journal which can be recorded via text or voice, a Dreams Map, which allows users to check their dream patterns against that of other users around the globe, a Smart Alarm, and more. There are also premium features that can be unlocked.

DreamsCloud co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer Jean Marc Emden talks about empowering users. “Dreams have such a significant impact on our overall health and wellness, and are the voice of our subconscious mind,” he says. “With the launch of DreamSphere, we wanted to create an app that provides users with a companion for daily wellness and self-reflection. By empowering our users to remember, process, decode and discuss their dreams on-the-go, DreamSphere will help individuals tap into critical insights and a better understanding of their waking lives.”

The app is now available for free (with aforementioned optional premium content) on the App Store.

Ever had a weird dream that you've struggled to understand? I'm pretty sure that most people have at some point in their life. While there's mixed views as to whether dream analysis is truly accurate, it is fun to figure out just why we dream what we dream. Morpheus Dreams is an app that aims to make it all easier.

The app offers a dream dictionary with over 400 entries, each of which pertaining to a certain item or theme in a dream. Users can then use the dream journal part of the app to track what they dream and possibilities as to why they're dreaming such things. The interpretation tool does a fun job of figuring it all out.

Morpheus Dreams bundles in sharing and sychronization options to ensure that the user's dream journal is always at hand and safely stored. It should all prove to be a great source for tracking one's sub-conscious as well as offering a slice of fun for those who just want to remember their dreams for a while to come.

Morpheus Dreams is available now for both iPhone and iPad. It's priced at $1.99.

Poor little Allen. Life's tough for a nightmare that's more "Aaaaaaawwwwww..." than "AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa!!!!," and if he's going to have any hope of being taken seriously he's going to have to figure something out. Fortunately, after being kicked out of class for being too cute he stumbled across an ancient text that spoke of a sort of uber-nightmare. If he can find it, he might be able to acquire its scariness and become the most fearsome shadow in the dream world. Of course, he has to find it first.

Thus, Allen's journey beings. Leading him on a hunt across four different worlds (just over 30 stages in all) as he acquires new abilities and meets all sorts of interesting characters. Each level contains a number of red fairy-type collectibles which can be used to unlock later worlds, as well as gold tokens that will unlock bonus stages. There are also hidden letters to collect (they spell "scare") that, in addition to the red fairies and coins, are tallied up at the end of a level. As one would expect, getting 100% takes a fair amount of exploration. Allen can perform many a classic platforming move such as double-jumping and butt-bouncing, however he can also purchase more from the shop that include gliding and faster running. It's important to note that bought abilities aren't permanent, and if Allen loses a life he'll lose the power-ups as well.

Terra Noctis sports some truly wonderful visual designs and animations, with a graphical presentation that gives the game a hand-drawn appearance. It's also got some great music that can be both haunting and catchy. I'm a big fan of all the little touches such as the way the low-level nightmares will stare upwards in slack-jawed awe as Allen soars over their heads (and promptly lands on them) as well. Most of all, I'm impressed by how well it functions. I've messed around with plenty of iOS platrofmers and I have to say, Terra Noctis is definitely in my top three.

It's not perfect, though. Not by a long shot. I've experienced crashes pretty much every time I've hit hidden item blocks, unless I make sure to clear out any other blocks that might be touching them first (???). I've lost purchased power-ups that weren't equipped when I died. Some of the text reads awkwardly. The numbers indicating what's required to unlock a world are backwards (i.e. I have 5 and need 8 but it reads "8/5"). It's a bunch of little nagging things that don't ruin the experience, but they certainly don't help.

Even with this rather large laundry list (I don't have enough space to list them all) of bite-sized problems, I'd still recommend Terra Noctis wholeheartedly to anyone who loved to jump on things. It's beautiful to look at and listen to, but it's also just plain fun to play.

Dreaming is a uniquely human activity. Philosophers, thinkers and psychologists have long encouraged others to use the power of their dreams to become better people, solve their problems or even predict the future. Developer AppMania brings six of these "dream books" to a new universal app, using the writings of Sigmund Freud, Gustavus Miller, Nostradamus, Hasse and Bulgarian foreteller Vanga to help modern iOS users interpret and understand their own dreaming selves.

DreamBook allows interested users to search a large database, with a purported 11,000 different dream interpretation data points. In addition, developers allow users to submit dreams that are unable to be interpreted within the app - unfound dreams will be added to future updates after being interpreted.

The app includes Facebook and Twitter integration, for those inclined to share their innermost dreaming selves, as well as Retina Display graphics and support for iOS 3.1 through 4.3.

DreamBook is live in the App Store and available now for the low price of $0.99.

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