Calling all story-loving nerds! I was recently introduced to a relatively new free app for iPad and Android devices 4.0 and higher called NARR8and I wanted to share it with you guys. NARR8 provides a rich and unique experience in the form of motion comics, interactive stories and articles. When I first downloaded the app to my iPad I wasn’t too sure about it, the initial interface was a little confusing and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing, then I got around to checking out the content and that’s when I was blown away.
My first read was a story called Spin, about a down and out political campaign manager. The story was okay and showed real potential, but then I found a story called Jam and that’s when I was sold. Jam is the story of a video game inspired land and one of its heroes, Buster, who’s girlfriend Bubble gets kidnapped. Soon Buster finds himself on an adventure to save her from some grubby trolls. The story is really clever and a lot of entertainment is derived from playing off of video game stereotypes, such as the kidnapping of princesses being a common occurrence. Being a motion comic, the animation flowed smoothly from panel to panel to panel. That is just the start though, the real hero here isn’t Buster, it was the soundtrack! Yes, every comic comes with it’s own music and the guys behind the music for Jam hooked me the instant it started with it’s 8-bit hip-hop inspired beats. Jam is now my new addiction.
NARR8 does provide other great content other than motion comics though. They also offer news, fiction and non-fiction as well as educational selections called Paradigm and Chronographics. They’ve also launched a children’s edutainment series called Pandas & Boom that looks to target children ages 2-6. Being the father of a two year old I am also pretty excited to check tat out as well.
The app also sports an editor’s tool to let inspiring story tellers get their work published within the app. There you will find various tools for animating and soundtracking your stories. The stories would be available in the app for users to download for free, but once it hits the 1000 download mark they can be sold for in-app currency with a real money profit sharing system in the works. “It has always been important to NARR8 to be able to assist talented artists and creators, most importantly our readers. By implementing ‘editor,’ we are allowing our creative fans that write and want to share stories to do so with our 700,000+ users all over the world. We’re excited to continue evolving the NARR8 product and look forward to what this great addition will bring,” said Founder Alexander Vaschenko.
If you have a tablet I highly suggest picking up this app for Jam alone. I promise you it does not disappoint. Don’t believe me? Check out the video for yourself.
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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