Epeler Game for iPhone / iPad -- Clear the Words, Clean the World

If you ever want to create a cool iPhone game, what would you want to make?  For me I want it to be educational, fun, and meaningful.  So with the team at my company GTuneStudio, we had created Epeler -- a fun arcade-style word game for all ages.  Epeler, in French meaning "to spell", isn't this a cool name?  At least quite special I guess...

So now what is it about?  Perhaps the best way to describe it is a word find game like WordsWorth mashed with Tetris.  As you begin, alphabet tiles will fall from the top-right of the game play area and then slide left. Your mission is to clear the tiles by tapping the alphabet tiles in the appropriate order to create valid words. When ready, tap on Check to verify the validity and submit it to your score.  Make your way through all levels to win, and the game is over once the screen is full of letter blocks.  With 7 colorful environmental themes, your mission is to retain the beauty of the world with your word spelling knowledge.

The game theme is about our environment.  Since we're living in a polluted world, I've turned our world pollutions into alphabet tiles, emitting as pollutants from cars, trains, electronic wastes, etc.  As you're clearing certain stages, you'll see the source of pollutants disappearing from the globe.  I hope you can hang on 'til the end, as the road to clearing out pollution is always long...

You can also challenge your friends by posting scores to your Facebook wall or bring it on with direct multiplayer against a friend with an iDevice over Wi-Fi. Multiplier requires a Wi-Fi connection for both iDevices located on the same network segment.  I hope you all will enjoy this little game and remember to protect our world from pollutions!  Please visit http://www.epeler.com/ for more game details.

Mystery Spot -- Mysterious or Not?

I've heard of the Mystery Spot for a long time for its gravitational myths but never had the chance to visit there.  Finally I decided to go take a trip to Santa Cruz and had a chance to find out the truth of the Mystery Spot on a sunny Saturday.  The road driving up the hill to the Mystery Spot is quite narrow, so you would want to drive slowly and watch out the opposite traffic carefully.  I feel excited when I finally reach the sign.  To get in the place you would need to pay $6 for a tour. 

The nice tour guide lady tells us about the history of the Mystery Spot along its way, and shows us the amazing gravitational myths of different sights and buildings.  Such as below wooden house doesn't seems to be collapsed easily on the uphill even though it's built in a weird direction.  And the tour lady asks a group of volunteers to stand on a wooden bar so show an amazing visual effect--where they won't fall down even though they seems to lean so much forward, but in fact they would feel they are standing "straight".

Inside the house there are many fun posing that you can do and take amazing pictures.  I would leave this part to yourself to feel and experience when you visit the Mystery Spot next time.  During the tour there are many gravitational experiments that seem to be "anti-gravity" such as a ball rolling upward instead of downward, but I would think they are illusions created by a team of great architectures using the uphill characteristics of the site. 

Before I went there I thought there would be really some mysterious spot where people can float in the air, but in fact there are simply some deceptive spots and structures where you can take some funny pictures.  I would still think it's an amazing trip where you can see the trees standing so straightly on such a steep uphill.  Although the tour of Mystery Spot is pretty short, it is very interesting for curious people like myself and it can be a very fun family day trip with kids.  I also got a souvenir bumper Mystery Spot sticker from the tour.  I hope you'll have the time to visit there and enjoy the fun of the Mystery Spot when you pass by Santa Cruz in California, and you can decide if it is mysterious enough or not.

Catalina Island -- A hidden gem in California

I have been living in Northern California for over a decade, and California seems to be full of treasures and waiting for people to explore.  My first time to Catalina Island is surprisingly relaxed, and it is for sure a hidden gem in California.

On a sunny morning, I board the Catalina Express boat (roundtrip $66.50) from Long Beach port, I feel calm as the sun shines through the boat windows.  Nothing seems to matter anymore as you start to feel the magic of nature, and I can't wait to start a beautiful day.

Within an hour I've reached to the beautiful Avalon of Catalina Island.  From the harbor you can see the beautiful coastline and a grand, white round building--Casino (unfortunately for the gamblers that it is not a gambling place, rather it is a historical theatre and ballroom).

There are all different kind of activities you can do on the island, hiking, kayaking, parasailing, etc.  I tried the semi-submarine tour to see the underwater world around the island. 

This is an about 45-minutes underwater tour ($39), where you can see different undersea lives and creatures, and you can feed the fishes by pressing a button inside the boat ($2 a shoot), it is definitely a fun interactive experience.  I found the trace of a cute purely bright orange gold color fish which is very amazing.

If you want to go up the hill on catalina island, you can rent the golf carts to drive around the island, where you can find a botanical garden up the hill, or a small sky tower.   On the way uphill you can see many different shapes and families of cactus, some can be huge, and you can find traces of wild animals such as baffalo or deers if lucky.

For lodging I stayed at Catalina Island Inn, which is close to the harbor, and is clean and modern decorated.  Its family suite is at good affordable price.  I regret not trying the parasailing, which seems to be very fun and it is the first place I see having "double seat" parasailing.  I hope I will have chance to go there again.  At the end of the trip I would say goodbye to a huge "bird" that was always standing around the iron bars of the wharf, and it doesn't seem to be afraid of human being at all. 

You can find various bars and restaurants around the island that fit your taste, and there is a small supermarket where is great for grabbing few snacks or cup noodles.  The only minus of the island is that the "beach" is just a small sand area, so don't expect to see a beach for swimming or getting suntan there.   As a conclusion, Catalina Island is definitely a good weekend getaway place from the busy city, where you can relax and feel the sunshine and have a closer touch to the nature.