iPhone game "The Art of Fauna": The art of being educational and entertaining

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Parents are often in a tight spot when it comes to their children's smartphone or tablet use: one would like to give their offspring apps and games that are at least a little bit good for their brains. But the other side, of course, wants it to be entertaining above all else.

The iPhone game "The Art of Fauna" has what it takes to be a good compromise – perhaps even to generate enthusiasm. The game, which was released at the beginning of February and is opened by the user like a historical book, involves assembling animal motifs from snippets. It's all very simple at first, but the level of difficulty quickly increases and the sliding parts become smaller and more subdivided. The game was downloaded over 18,000 times in the first few days after its release and was presented by Apple as "Game of the Day" in various countries.

Drawings from the 18th and 19th centuries

If you despair at the sliding picture, you can tap a button at any time and get a text view instead. Here, too, you have to put the fragments together – It is closely linked to the parts of the picture, so that when the text is correctly assembled, the picture is also completed– and vice versa. This is unlikely to cause frustration any time soon, but it won't be boring either. Finally, the text and picture provide information about the assembled animal – This is the educational part of the app.

The idea of recommending a sliding puzzle with colored drawings from the 18th and 19th centuries to Generation Alpha with this app initially sounds a little retro and like grandpa's tales from the old days. However, developer Klemens Strasser from Graz in Austria is rather unsuspicious of wanting to turn back the clock. His main job saw him work on the Fantastical calendar app for several years and he is now Lead Developer at smart home door lock manufacturer Nuki. He also loves developing games as a sideline.

Award-winning developer from Austria

However, he already has a soft spot for old game concepts that he transfers to modern times. In 2022, the 30-year-old published the Ancient Board Game Collection and was immediately nominated for the Apple Design Award 2023. He received another nomination for one of Apple's two highest awards the year before for his game Letter Rooms. He is an "old acquaintance" in Cupertino, having received no less than four WWDC scholarships and even won Apple's Young Design Award in 2015.

Apple's soft spot for his work has a lot to do with his commitment to inclusion. Accordingly, "The Art of Fauna" welcomes you with an introductory screen that offers simple language, dyslexia-friendly fonts, selectable color schemes, voice over, voice control and content filters for sensitive people. According to the developer, he also wants to make the game playable for blind people.

Donation to nature conservation organizations

There are a total of 110 puzzles in the app, which are divided into five different categories. The first 10 are free. If you want to continue after that, you can unlock the rest for just under 8 euros, or optionally 20 puzzles each in an eco zone for just under 3 euros – with a one-off purchase and without a subscription. The developer also pledges to donate 20 percent of the proceeds to nature conservation organizations.

And if the kids still don't "bite", the game still has what it takes to be a wonderful pastime for mom and dad and anyone else who is interested.

(mki)