Another year has come to a close and it’s time to reflect on our accomplishments over the past fifty-two weeks. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot! The year 2021 was full of major milestones as we crafted a new and exciting chapter in the life of our very first game, celebrated 25 years in business, continued to serve our design clients, and launched a major release to one of our favorite productivity apps.
The Year of Frenzic
Frenzic’s long journey from the simple puzzle game in 2007 to this year’s exciting release of Frenzic: Overtime on Apple Arcade spanned a total of 14 years. Efforts on Overtime actually began in March of 2020 as we worked from our homes during the pandemic, and culminated with the release in June of 2021.
Creating Frenzic: Overtime was a labor of love for our entire team and we were thrilled to bring this long-awaited sequel to life. The game combines fast-paced play with stunning visuals and sound to create a frenetic, fun experience for Apple Arcade players the world-over.
This title on Apple Arcade was accompanied by super-cool swag like collectible pins and an amazing, original soundtrack available for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify.
We followed up the initial release with Frenzic’s Test Lab Daily Challenge in October. Players flex their fingers and compete to become the top bot each day, participating in unique challenges and special holiday events like Halloween and Christmas.
If you just can’t get enough Frenzic, fear not! The bots are hard at work assembling the next chapter in the story and promise to deliver new puzzles, strategies, and fun for everyone in 2022. Stay tuned!
Silver Linings
June marked a major milestone in the form of our Silver Pixel Anniversary. The Iconfactory celebrated our 25th year in business getting to do the things we love most – pushing pixels and creating apps.
When we think back to where it all started, posting tiny 32×32 icons on AOL, and how we grew over the past two and half decades, we have to pinch ourselves. Along the way we’ve had the honor of working alongside some of the most talented developers and designers in the business and for that we are truly grateful.
We’re also proud to have a small sample of our work included in The iOS App Icon Book coming next year from our friend Michael Flareup. It’s wonderful to be honored in print along with so many of our iconic peers, and we hope you’ll check it out.
At Long Last, Linea
We shipped updates to most of our apps during 2021, including a substantial update to Twitterrific, and measured improvements in Tot, Triode, and others.
But Linea was our biggest update and our main focus in the second half of the year.
Linea Sketch 4 brought two major new features that users have been long requesting – support for text in the form of Annotations, and a way to paint and sketch organically with Linea’s new watercolor brush. Customers enjoyed the app’s improvements and continued focus on simplicity that lets them spend their time where it matters most – sketching out ideas.
Our Linea YouTube channel grew by leaps and bounds in 2021, offering new tutorials as well as tips and tricks to get the most out of the app. If you’ve not subscribed head on over and mash that button! There are more great improvements coming in the months ahead, so be sure to follow @Linea_App on Twitter for the latest news and sneak peeks.
One More Thing
Innovation at Apple has always inspired us. Even when it comes in the form of a notch on the latest MacBook Pros.
As we close out the year, we’re happy to have a fun little app that is our gift to Mac users everywhere: Notchmeister. It follows the long tradition of software on the Mac whose only purpose it to make you smile. Like any gift, the less you know about it before downloading, the better!
Snug In Our Beds
As we take our well-earned holiday break, it’s easy to lose track of all the things we achieved in 2021. We added over 80 new wallpapers for our loyal Patreon subscribers, crafted new and exciting icons, emoji, and interfaces for our design clients, and even appeared in Apple’s WWDC Keynote address. Well, at least Ollie did :-)
Who can say what the new year will hold for us or our loyal customers and fans? We can only strive to continue to create the kind of work you’ve known and loved for the past 25 years. As always, new opportunities will arise, new challenges will present themselves, and hopefully we’ll all stay safe and thrive in 2022. We hope you’ll join us again next year. Happy holidays, everyone!
