Apple Design Awards 2011

Cut the Rope is an amazing physics puzzle game, representing a high quality, high production value, casual game. Its clean, simple design offers a straightforward and addictive game mechanic that works perfectly for the touch screen. Cut the Rope is a great example of strong game design paired with excellent iOS integration - using OpenGL, Multi-Touch, and Accelerometer. Cut the Rope is available only on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Golfscape GPS Rangefinder is an augmented reality, visual golf rangefinder used by players to pinpoint positing on the golf course for accurate shot placement. It uses the compass to show position indicators and point to target, and offers superior use of the Camera, Gyroscope, and Accelerometer for an accurate, full 360-degree view of the course. Fast app switching between Golfscape and Golfshot allows you to keep score and view a top down 2D map of the hole being played. And background GPS keeps track of where you are on the course between shots - even when your iPhone is asleep or performing other tasks.

This sword-fighting, action game was developed exclusively for iOS and offers an innovative user experience using a first-person sword-fighting mechanic. Amazing graphics, high production quality, and incredible performance with console level graphics create disbelief about what can be done on a mobile device. And Game Center integration and Game Center multi-player mode keeps players coming back.

Osmos for iPad is a well designed, well executed "Asteroids meets lava lamp" game with elegant, physics-based gameplay, dreamlike visuals, and a minimalist, electronic soundtrack. It makes great use of OpenGL, and OpenAL, and Multi-Touch on iPad. Its Multi-Touch controls work very well with the physical nature of the game (mass propulsion, zooming, time-warping, etc.) while offering maximum simplicity and immersion. Osmos for iPad has garnered rave reviews and is available on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac.

Grades 2 was developed by Jeremy Olson while he was a student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A self taught iOS developer, he started coding in his sophomore year and did all of the design and development for Grades 2 - a GPA calculator for students with intuitive user interface and high quality graphics. It integrates nicely with iOS technologies including iAd, In-App Purchase, UIKit, Retina Display, and Multi-Touch. It includes due date notification for assignments, and a calendar and drop grade feature to track GPA progress for individual courses and overall GPA.

Stephen Varga built Pennant as the main project for his Master's thesis at Parsons The New School for Design. This fantastic baseball history app creates a view of baseball history through data visualizations of key statistics from over 115,000 games from 1952-2010. Built entirely with Cocoa touch and OpenGL, Pennant is available exclusively for iPad.