10 ms·

Show HN: My personal project, animated and narrated children's storybooks

95 points by ardit33 15y ago

ardit33 15y ago
To HN parents: I wanted to share something that I have been working for a while. It is a narrated Children's Storybook App that is available for the iPad. It contains 11 stories, 3 of them are free, and more coming. It is targeted to children between 1.5 and 4 years old. http://www.storyfun.com/ http://www.storyfun.com/ Appstore link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id411269443 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id411269443 If any of you have children that age, or have close family/friends please download it (it is free). Any feedback would be welcomed. It is a product of love inspired by my two nieces. *I posted this few days ago, but it coincided with the Steve Jobs stories, and got buried quickly.
- spenrose 15y ago
  Really good stuff. Well done.
- startupcto 15y ago
  Hey There! I was working on Storybook iOS framework project and the framework is completed but I did not had the time or capacity to produce any books. I'll be happy to explore anyway that I can license the framework or partnership with you. The framework uses a structured document and generates the pages, contents and animation and the structured document is designed such that a non-tech person can create/edit to customize each content on each page/etc. Let me know if you are interested! Email is startupcto@hotmail.com
  - ardit33 15y ago
    Thanks but I build my own story and animation engine, and the story formats and descriptions are ment to be easy to port across devices.
    - startupcto 15y ago
      Thanks for replying, good luck with your venture!
  - gdilla 15y ago
    why would you want to compete with ibooks?
    - startupcto 15y ago
      because i can?
      - gdilla 15y ago
        right.. I'm sure people will be flocking to your platform to read Dr. Seuss and Pat The Bunny....
        startupcto 15y ago
        People are but not to mine :) http://oceanhousemedia.com/products/ http://oceanhousemedia.com/products/
- gdilla 15y ago
  This looks good. But, in general, we've seen competing with Apple on their own platform (ibooks, which have read-aloud capability now) as perilous. Your price points are great, however, and in that way, you are certainly cheaper than ebooks, or buying multiple book apps over time. Can you make money in the long run? What do you think your advantages are vs ibooks?
  - ardit33 15y ago
    I think it in the way that I am offering an experience, not just books. Eventually there will be more interactivity/minigames/puzzles based on the stories, etc, things that iBooks will not be able to offer. The idea is to 1. Entertain 2.Keep busy and 3.Educate your kids. Having all in one simple to use app offers major advantages. eg. The music track player feature (something that I decided to put as a nice extra), is getting a lot of usage. iBooks is more for traditional type of literature. Kids stories tend to go beyond normal image/text combo.
- 5hoom 15y ago
  Beautiful project. I think you might be on to a winner. One would imagine that parents of young kids would feel very little objection to dropping money on an app that is both entertaining & educational, especially one that looks very slick. Best of luck, very nicely done.
tobobo 15y ago
This looks great! I think it's really important to show that these devices expand creative potential, rather than just fretting about the loss of paper books. Something minor: in the slideshow with all the effects, the 3D effect implied by the shadow gets lost/convoluted by a lack of borders, especially in areas where the background of the slideshow image is the same color as the background of the page, as shown here: http://i.imgur.com/wXHl0.png http://i.imgur.com/wXHl0.png Great work!
superfamicom 15y ago
This reminded me of Living Books, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Books_series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Books_series , which were some of my favorite childhood memories.
noinput 15y ago
Well done, I started on a similar project and figured hey let me just get the first one in the app store only to be denied by apple saying it should be an iBook. :) my issue was finding enough stories to kick off with, glad to see you've got that covered. best of luck with the venture!
jimmyjazz14 15y ago
Love the idea. Any plans to bring it to Android? I use an Android based Nook Color and would really like to have something like this for my son to play with.
- ardit33 15y ago
  Unfortunately not anytime soon. Last year I released two simple story apps (just one story, not animated), but the android version got 3-4 times less downloads. Both were free, and I all attribute to the poor discoverability on the Android market. (The Android app got better reviews). Also it is tough to keep up with all the devices/screen sizes and compability issues. This is just a side project, and I don't have the time to deal with it. Just in case, the rough android version of Billy the SpaceCat is here. I am not sure it would work on the Nook though. https://market.android.com/details?id=com.storyfun.spacecat https://market.android.com/details?id=com.storyfun.spacecat
  - glimcat 15y ago
    If it was last year, the market penetration of the device was probably a big part of the reason. In the longer term, you might want to look at multi-platform tools like PhoneGap. It runs on the Nook Color but with display issues. It only fills 1/4 of the screen, centered in the top half.
random42 15y ago
Beautiful. This is one project I'd like to grow big (so that there is always enough supply of story books.) appstore reviews suggest that it is making few people very happy. :)
tszming 15y ago
If I have money, I will fund your startup. You are doing a great job!
- ardit33 15y ago
  self funded :) I am happily employed at http://www.yammer.com http://www.yammer.com
  - omfut 15y ago
    Just Curious, Can you launch apps while working fulltime for a company? Is there any legal issue with this approach.
  - tszming 15y ago
    Very cool your company allow you have side projects!
ramanujam 15y ago
Congrats on the launch. Wondering why you decided to put a big flash animation on the homepage while your target audience is iPad owning parents. It showed up fine on my touchpad but it was blank on my iPhone. Is there a JS fallback for the cuber slide animation on the ipad? I do understand that it has nothing to do with the iOS app but considering that the website is the intro face of the app, i was just curious!
- ardit33 15y ago
  Thanks. I have ment to have a fallback to JS, just haven't had the time to get to it. The cuber animations are a lot nicer than any JS slider, so I'd like to keep it for the main site that is accessed by normal browsers.
bbgm 15y ago
This is a wonderful project. I'd love to see science-oriented stories on it. When I was 4-5 I used to read a lot of stories about kids curious about things around them and that definitely resulted in an appreciation of science at a young age.
- ardit33 15y ago
  Thanks :) One of the stories is about a little Teddy Bear that wants to be a Marine Biologist. So he goes off to the beach to explore the animals of the sea, and ends up in trouble with jelly-fish. (this one is an interactive story).
bitsm 15y ago
Love it! I've been playing around with the same idea, using HTML5/CSS/JS and the Baker Framework. I'm inspired!
EponymousCoward 15y ago
Verrrrrrrry competitive space. Good luck.
- pault 15y ago
  Can you elaborate?
jacek 15y ago
That is a great idea. Brilliant app for loving parents who don't want their kids spend time in front of TV. Perfect for introducing kids to books and encouraging to read. I regret I cannot test it myself (don't have an iPad). Good luck!
jkaljundi 15y ago
Check out https://www.facebook.com/pages/JomyBooks/226339094085452 https://www.facebook.com/pages/JomyBooks/226339094085452 from this weekend´s 48-hour Garage48 hackathon.
startupcto 15y ago
I was working on Storybook iOS framework project and the framework is completed but I did not had the time or capacity to produce any books. I'll be happy to explore anyway that I can license the framework or partnership with anyone who is interested in working on an Interactive Storybook publishing platform for Mobile Devices. The framework uses a structured document and generates the pages, contents and animation and the structured document is designed such that a non-tech person can create/edit to customize each content on each page/etc. Let me know if anyone is interested! Email is startupcto@hotmail.com
xiaoma 15y ago
I'm at an iOS start-up that is a platform for apps just like yours. Apps integrating our SDK (<1 MB), give parents can reports so they can see which stories their kids are reading, how much time they spend on various educational apps, and what apps make good next purchases. If you like you can add an achievement layer to encourage more reading and learning. Apps integrated with our API also get some marketing via our website and in app-channels. We're only at about .5 million app downloads right now, but we're funded and growing fast. Apologies if this comes of as a marketer. I'm actually just an entry level iOS programmer who's psyched about the possibilities with software and education. http://www.smartots.com/ http://www.smartots.com/

95 points by ardit33 15y ago

To HN parents: I wanted to share something that I have been working for a while. It is a narrated Children's Storybook App that is available for the iPad. It contains 11 stories, 3 of them are free, and more coming. It is targeted to children between 1.5 and 4 years old. http://www.storyfun.com/ http://www.storyfun.com/ Appstore link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id411269443 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id411269443 If any of you have children that age, or have close family/friends please download it (it is free). Any feedback would be welcomed. It is a product of love inspired by my two nieces. *I posted this few days ago, but it coincided with the Steve Jobs stories, and got buried quickly.

spenrose 15y ago
Really good stuff. Well done.
startupcto 15y ago
Hey There! I was working on Storybook iOS framework project and the framework is completed but I did not had the time or capacity to produce any books. I'll be happy to explore anyway that I can license the framework or partnership with you. The framework uses a structured document and generates the pages, contents and animation and the structured document is designed such that a non-tech person can create/edit to customize each content on each page/etc. Let me know if you are interested! Email is startupcto@hotmail.com
- ardit33 15y ago
  Thanks but I build my own story and animation engine, and the story formats and descriptions are ment to be easy to port across devices.
  - startupcto 15y ago
    Thanks for replying, good luck with your venture!
- gdilla 15y ago
  why would you want to compete with ibooks?
  - startupcto 15y ago
    because i can?
    - gdilla 15y ago
      right.. I'm sure people will be flocking to your platform to read Dr. Seuss and Pat The Bunny....
      - startupcto 15y ago
        People are but not to mine :) http://oceanhousemedia.com/products/ http://oceanhousemedia.com/products/
gdilla 15y ago
This looks good. But, in general, we've seen competing with Apple on their own platform (ibooks, which have read-aloud capability now) as perilous. Your price points are great, however, and in that way, you are certainly cheaper than ebooks, or buying multiple book apps over time. Can you make money in the long run? What do you think your advantages are vs ibooks?
- ardit33 15y ago
  I think it in the way that I am offering an experience, not just books. Eventually there will be more interactivity/minigames/puzzles based on the stories, etc, things that iBooks will not be able to offer. The idea is to 1. Entertain 2.Keep busy and 3.Educate your kids. Having all in one simple to use app offers major advantages. eg. The music track player feature (something that I decided to put as a nice extra), is getting a lot of usage. iBooks is more for traditional type of literature. Kids stories tend to go beyond normal image/text combo.
5hoom 15y ago
Beautiful project. I think you might be on to a winner. One would imagine that parents of young kids would feel very little objection to dropping money on an app that is both entertaining & educational, especially one that looks very slick. Best of luck, very nicely done.

tobobo 15y ago

This looks great! I think it's really important to show that these devices expand creative potential, rather than just fretting about the loss of paper books. Something minor: in the slideshow with all the effects, the 3D effect implied by the shadow gets lost/convoluted by a lack of borders, especially in areas where the background of the slideshow image is the same color as the background of the page, as shown here: http://i.imgur.com/wXHl0.png http://i.imgur.com/wXHl0.png Great work!

superfamicom 15y ago

This reminded me of Living Books, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Books_series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Books_series , which were some of my favorite childhood memories.

noinput 15y ago

Well done, I started on a similar project and figured hey let me just get the first one in the app store only to be denied by apple saying it should be an iBook. :) my issue was finding enough stories to kick off with, glad to see you've got that covered. best of luck with the venture!

jimmyjazz14 15y ago

Love the idea. Any plans to bring it to Android? I use an Android based Nook Color and would really like to have something like this for my son to play with.

ardit33 15y ago
Unfortunately not anytime soon. Last year I released two simple story apps (just one story, not animated), but the android version got 3-4 times less downloads. Both were free, and I all attribute to the poor discoverability on the Android market. (The Android app got better reviews). Also it is tough to keep up with all the devices/screen sizes and compability issues. This is just a side project, and I don't have the time to deal with it. Just in case, the rough android version of Billy the SpaceCat is here. I am not sure it would work on the Nook though. https://market.android.com/details?id=com.storyfun.spacecat https://market.android.com/details?id=com.storyfun.spacecat
- glimcat 15y ago
  If it was last year, the market penetration of the device was probably a big part of the reason. In the longer term, you might want to look at multi-platform tools like PhoneGap. It runs on the Nook Color but with display issues. It only fills 1/4 of the screen, centered in the top half.

random42 15y ago

Beautiful. This is one project I'd like to grow big (so that there is always enough supply of story books.) appstore reviews suggest that it is making few people very happy. :)

tszming 15y ago

If I have money, I will fund your startup. You are doing a great job!

ardit33 15y ago
self funded :) I am happily employed at http://www.yammer.com http://www.yammer.com
- omfut 15y ago
  Just Curious, Can you launch apps while working fulltime for a company? Is there any legal issue with this approach.
- tszming 15y ago
  Very cool your company allow you have side projects!

ramanujam 15y ago

Congrats on the launch. Wondering why you decided to put a big flash animation on the homepage while your target audience is iPad owning parents. It showed up fine on my touchpad but it was blank on my iPhone. Is there a JS fallback for the cuber slide animation on the ipad? I do understand that it has nothing to do with the iOS app but considering that the website is the intro face of the app, i was just curious!

ardit33 15y ago
Thanks. I have ment to have a fallback to JS, just haven't had the time to get to it. The cuber animations are a lot nicer than any JS slider, so I'd like to keep it for the main site that is accessed by normal browsers.

bbgm 15y ago

This is a wonderful project. I'd love to see science-oriented stories on it. When I was 4-5 I used to read a lot of stories about kids curious about things around them and that definitely resulted in an appreciation of science at a young age.

ardit33 15y ago
Thanks :) One of the stories is about a little Teddy Bear that wants to be a Marine Biologist. So he goes off to the beach to explore the animals of the sea, and ends up in trouble with jelly-fish. (this one is an interactive story).

bitsm 15y ago

Love it! I've been playing around with the same idea, using HTML5/CSS/JS and the Baker Framework. I'm inspired!

EponymousCoward 15y ago

Verrrrrrrry competitive space. Good luck.

pault 15y ago
Can you elaborate?

jacek 15y ago

That is a great idea. Brilliant app for loving parents who don't want their kids spend time in front of TV. Perfect for introducing kids to books and encouraging to read. I regret I cannot test it myself (don't have an iPad). Good luck!

jkaljundi 15y ago

Check out https://www.facebook.com/pages/JomyBooks/226339094085452 https://www.facebook.com/pages/JomyBooks/226339094085452 from this weekend´s 48-hour Garage48 hackathon.

startupcto 15y ago

I was working on Storybook iOS framework project and the framework is completed but I did not had the time or capacity to produce any books. I'll be happy to explore anyway that I can license the framework or partnership with anyone who is interested in working on an Interactive Storybook publishing platform for Mobile Devices. The framework uses a structured document and generates the pages, contents and animation and the structured document is designed such that a non-tech person can create/edit to customize each content on each page/etc. Let me know if anyone is interested! Email is startupcto@hotmail.com

xiaoma 15y ago

I'm at an iOS start-up that is a platform for apps just like yours. Apps integrating our SDK (<1 MB), give parents can reports so they can see which stories their kids are reading, how much time they spend on various educational apps, and what apps make good next purchases. If you like you can add an achievement layer to encourage more reading and learning. Apps integrated with our API also get some marketing via our website and in app-channels. We're only at about .5 million app downloads right now, but we're funded and growing fast. Apologies if this comes of as a marketer. I'm actually just an entry level iOS programmer who's psyched about the possibilities with software and education. http://www.smartots.com/ http://www.smartots.com/