Feature Your Creature in Make A Monster & Make A Monster HD!

Edu-App No-Brainer 3/2

Feature Your Creature in

Make A Monster & Make A Monster HD

• By:Appdicted
• Version: 1.3
• Genre: Creativie Play, Photography, Entertainment
• Platforms: iPhone/iPod Touch & HD iPad Only
• SAHGeekMom Rating: 4.5
• Kid’s Score: 4.5 Pump’s up!
• Recommended Age:  All Ages 4+

OK, first an apology for the horrible neglect. I missed you.

I am talking, of course, to my beloved blog who has brought me so many amazing opportunities in so short a time, but also to you, because I promised to have fresh content every day, and instead I have be almost silent. Sorry!

I have really been swamped though. Aside from learning all the tools for AppAdvice.com, which turns a 400-word review into a 3-hour project, Pump is on Spring Break.

Also note please that I just got my review of the HD version ONLY of this app on appadvice.com. It was ready hours ago, you can Read It Here if you want a short version of this review.

It would have been up sooner, but everyone there is  really busy with the iPad2 news (check out appadvice.com for live coverage and all the details right now or follow them on twitter @appadvice) You can see all my reviews for them by clicking the icon.

So I’m bringing you the full story here. Like I said, if you just want the basic facts, read my QuickAdvice Review.

Ok let’s get to it.

Today’s Edu-App No-Brainer is a creative toy for anyone of any age (I am still playing with it) Meet Make A Monster and the new Make A Monster HD.

The new Make A Monster HD is on sale for 1.99 and the regular version is .99 but I have some promo codes for you, for either version of this gem so stay tuned!

Make a Monster is a crazy-fun app, which let’s you create an endless assortment of hilarious monsters, and let’s you turn kids and their friends into creepy creatures too.

This app offers tons of possibilities for monster fans to dress up photos with all sorts of funny-scary objects or create a whole scene of monsters in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

The interface is really well thought out and easy to use even for kids.

I had to run to the DMV on Monday (another fun Spring Break activity!) and I had not even looked at the app, when I handed over my iPhone to Pump to make the wait more bearable for us both.

Holy Magic! That and another app I am bringing you next had him utterly transfixed. He complete forgot to whine despite our being number 32 while they were serving number 4.

He missed some of the finer nuances of the app, but trust me when I say he got no instruction from me. I was far too busy glaring (uselessly) at the clerks for wasting my time, and complaining to anyone of my FB friends who would listen to even look at his screen.

Here are creations Pump made on the iPhone. Remember he had no hint from me as to how to do things, and for whatever reason, he was very into crowns…. look:

This is the only app of it’s kind I have seen that not just allows you to resize and rotate items, but do so from anywhere on the screen and that makes it a pleasure to play with, even when dealing with tiny iPhone objects and arthritic fingers.

(Oh shh again, I’m mature for my age, ok? 41 this month so send presents to sahgeekmom on payp…. just kidding! Here this is what I will look like by the end of March…lol!)

This is what makes this app a standout. You can easily shrink items and move them to precisely the right place or angle while still seeing the big picture. This gives you uncanny precision when adding small details.

Switching between elements is just as easy, but not obvious, so here the trick. Just double tap on the object to select it. Then you can move it from anywhere on your screen.

Make A Monster offers a boatload of features. It is clear the developer took time beforesubmitting this app, because these are features often overlooked by similar products.

I guess Dev-Dad Rory lives up to his company motto because this was clearly deigned by someone who knows what’s out there and what gaps there are to fill.

Here is how Make A Monster (both versions) works.

First you to choose from a small selection of cute backgrounds (more on iPhone than iPad for now) or pick one from your photo album.

Please don’t think this is any sort of limit. If you have an idea for a background and don’t see it, here is

A Stay at Home GeekMom tip:

Open Safari. Go to any image search engine or wallpaper depository on earth. Google’s image search is an easy place to start.

Enter search words related to the background you are looking for, find it, and save it to the photo album.

Tada, endless backgrounds for any app that allows you to import photos. Here are just a few I grabbed in under 5 minutes:

You can even use another app to draw or paint your own background art, or modify the background you found online.

iOS 4.2 has limited multi-tasking, but we might as well use it when we can and when you use different apps together you can discover new ways to engage your child (or yourself) creatively every day without repetition.

(FYI: iOS 4.3, a MAJOR overhaul, is due out on 3/11 and an updated iTunes came around today in anticipation. See AppAdvice.com for more details!)

People complain (justifiably) about the replay value of many apps and games, this is one way to get more bang for your buck.

Tangent over, back to Make A Monster 😉

Once you have your background, there are 144 bodies, eyes, mouths and props in this first release with which to play. They are included in the purchase price, no in-app purchases to confuse the kids.

And Rory, the dad-dev, assures me even more are on the way along with a special feature for the iPad2 that will make its way over to iPhone and iPod touch: camera integration!

Like a good photo editing app, Make a Monster lets you change the orientation of your project using a border to indicate the boundaries so you can work with the full advantage of portrait mode on iPad and still preview the actual results.

It also allows you to adjust the color of the background photo and all the pieces.

The integrated Facebook, Twitter, and email sharing options are easy to find and use and well integrated into the app. It saves your project right to the photo album in the orientation you chose, no need to rotate or resize before posting.

Aside from looking forward to more in-app backgrounds, because I think the ones they have are very cute (I have to remember to ask who does the art,) I do wish the app would allow you to import pictures not only as backgrounds but also as objects.

If it used the iTunes file sharing feature you could upload your own clip art and cutout photos and to mix and match with all the funky included elements and eliminate the need to search for images which can be a pain especially on small devices.

Aside from that one thing, I have to say this app is flawless. Make A Monster and Make a Monster HD are  so jam-packed with creative possibilities and so easy to use, I am confident your kids will go back to it over and over. It’s just too much fun to creepify your friends to put down for long.

As soon as I showed Pump the pic on the left below, he went and made the one on the right (ok that time I helped a little) and emailed it to his best friend vacationing in Florida. Guess whose mom had to buy a copy for her iPhone10 minutes later!

I feel good about this company too. Rory is responsive, happy to answer emails, and take suggestions.

Any app that is genuinely fun for me and for Pump is one I can happily recommend. At the low introductory price of 1.99 for iPad or .99 for iPhone and iPod touch, this is a true Edu-App No-Brainer.

Grab it today, check back here soon or follow my twitter feed (@sahgeekmom) soon to win those promo codes and happy app hunting!

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