''Contre Jour'' is a physics-based puzzle video game for

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s,Microsoft Brings iOS Game Contre Jour to Web Via HTML5
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Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design lan ...

Blackberry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

, Android,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

and

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian ...

. It was developed in 2011 by Ukrainian developer Mokus and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

through its label Chillingo. The art for the game ''Contre Jour'' was created by artist Mihai Tymoshenko. The soundtrack for ''Contre Jour'' was composed by

David Ari Leon David Ari Leon (born December 12, 1967) is an American music supervisor, composer, songwriter and musician. Leon's first professional music credit was in 1990 working with Danny Elfman on the feature film Nightbreed. He is best known for writ ...

. The game focuses upon a little blob named Petit, a reference to ''

Le Petit Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...

'', whose means of locomotion is to be manoeuvered around by manipulating his environment through the various areas of the game using the touch screen.

Development

On 3 November 2011 ''Contre Jour'' for

was made available through the

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...

. A native (HD) version for the

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operati ...

was released on the same day. This was followed by the release of a free version with fewer levels for each device on the next day, called ''Contre Jour Lite''. The game won Best Mobile Game of E3 in 2011 by ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' and reached #1 on

sales charts The art of ''Contre Jour'' was created by artist Mihai Tymoshenko. The first concept art sketches for the game were done in two hours. The main character was inspired by the

yin-yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

. The black character appears in chapters 1–3, the white (blue) one in chapters 2 and 4. All the artwork was finished in six weeks. Over ten versions of the game environment were proposed. The stylistics of the art derive from black-and-white pictures. Animation and visual effects were made by Mokus. In October 2012, the web version of the game at www.contrejour.ie was launched due to a partnership between the developers and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

. The purpose was to showcase what is possible on the Web with

HTML5 HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HT ...

. Later the web version went down.

Reception and awards

Reviews of ''Contre Jour'' were very positive for both the game and the music, among both critics and the game's audience. Blake Sabatinelli of

ABC Action News WFTS-TV (channel 28), branded as ABC Action News, is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside Bradenton-licensed I ...

called the game a masterpiece of mobile gaming, saying, "the game is so well designed that it almost feels like you're playing a piece of art," and David Carnoy from CBS News said the game, "has spectacular art design and music, along with creative imagination." In December 2011, ''Contre Jour HD'' received the "

Game of the Year" award by

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

in their annual " iTunes Rewind." Also in December 2011, ''Contre Jour'' was named the "Best Physics" iOS game of the year in Touchgen's Editor's Choice Awards. In March 2012, the game won an Appy Award for "Best Puzzle Game." Also in March 2012, ''Contre Jour'' was honored at the International Mobile Game Awards (IMGA) in Barcelona, Spain with the "Jury's Honorable Mention" prize. In April 2012, the game received a

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

nomination for "Best Tablet Game.". In September 2012, the game won "

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An u ...

Game of the Week". Also in 2012, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' magazine included the title in their list of "25 Best iPad Games for Your New 'Resolutionary' Tablet".

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.contrejour.ie/
Profile at Chillingo.com
2011 video games Android (operating system) games Browser games Chillingo games IOS games Monochrome video games Puzzle video games Single-player video games Video games developed in Ukraine Video games scored by David Ari Leon Video games with silhouette graphics Windows games Windows Phone games

Development

Reception and awards

See also

References

External links