Price: $4.99 Score: 9/10 Category: Entertainment
Let’s Create! Pottery HD is unique. In a very simple sense it mirrors the reality of what it might feel like to be an in-demand pottery artist to whom everything comes easily. The app allows you to earn money, buy art supplies and fulfill orders, but there’s something about Let’s Create! Pottery HD that’s a complete escape from anything that resembles real life.
Maybe it’s the chirping birds in the background and the fact that firing up a virtual kiln is as easy as clicking on the app, but there’s something about this app that feels akin to sitting down to your favorite book or TV show.
When you open up Let’s Create! Pottery HD the game opens to a screen that let’s you create pottery, shop, or read your emails. Creating pottery starts with a simple shape spinning around a kiln. Different movements and strokes allow you to manipulate the clay into different shapes, and then when you’re ready to fire you click the fire button on the right.
The firing process lights your pottery up in bright red, and within seconds you’re ready to paint your creation with different brushes and colors, which you can buy from the virtual store based on your earnings. When you feel that your piece is done, you fulfill an order or sell it at an auction block and move on.
I couldn’t explain exactly why, but there’s something about this process that’s extremely addictive. Infinite Dreams Inc has done an excellent job with every aspect of this experience, from the slight background changes that shift when you move your iPad to the order fulfillment process and email exchanges from virtual customers.
In addition to selling your pottery on the auction block, you can also respond to emails to fulfill orders from everyone from your Aunt to people who work at the local museum. People ask for household items like vases or reproductions. The emails are friendly and engaging, and sometimes include an informative little pottery related factoid or two.
Every email includes a picture of the final product you aspire to make. As you start to create the item a five star scale starts to brighten as your creation gets closer and closer to the picture included in the email. When you reach four or five stars in shape you fire the piece and move to painting to repeat the same star process.
After you’re done you send the order. If the person doesn’t like it (something that only happens if you haven’t reproduced the item carefully) they make you do it again. When they’re pleased they’re extremely cordial though, and they give you money for your efforts.
As you advance as a maker the value of your creations rises, and before long you’re pulling in hundreds of dollars for detailed pieces. The money you earn goes toward buying new paint colors and a series of different paintbrushes from stripes to Hieroglyphics, Celtic designs, and Greek Gods. It’s a blast, really, and the entire process doesn’t to seem to ever get old.
My only beef with Let’s Create! Pottery HD is the fact that the order fulfillment model picture and five star scale is immutably on the left side. As a lefty the layout makes it difficult to create and see simultaneously. The ability to drag the picture to the other side would help a lot.
Also, I would love to be able to see other people’s creations. As it stands you can share your masterpieces with real people via email, but it would be great to see some Twitter or Facebook integration, or maybe even a central hub where people could upload and discuss their works. Whatever the case, this is an excellent, highly addictive game like experience. I’m delighted to have this app.
Bottom Line: Let’s Create! Pottery HD is an amazingly relaxing and addictive app that allows even the least skilled to step up to the kiln and create art. Highly recommended.
