It was just over a week ago that Tweetie creator and former Twitter employee Loren Brichter unveiled atebits 2.0, the rebirth of his independent software development company, and announced that its first fruit would be a game. Now, that game has arrive, and it’s called Letterpress, and it looks glorious.
It’s a word game with an appealing, minimalist visual design that’s designed for Game Center multiplayer, and it’s free and a universal app that works on both iPhone and iPad. There’s an in-app purchase for $0.99 that unlock additional features. It looks really good, and could be the next Words with Friends or Draw Something, though hopefully not fated for a disastrous Zynga acquisition.
Brichter has a storied history with acquisitions too. Tweetie was a gem of an app, and for a little while at least after Twitter bought the original atebits, it made Twitter’s native apps on both iOS and Mac category-leading once atebits was acquired by the social network. But those early gains turned sour, as Twitter seemed to want to move things back to the web on the desktop, and just basically messed with their mobile offerings. Brichter departed Twitter in November 2011, and since then Twitter’s native software offerings have gone decidedly downhill.
Letterpress is just the first taste from Brichter, and there’s more yet to come, which is a very good thing for users and anyone who enjoys watching creativity at work.
Prior to its acquisition by Twitter in 2010, atebits made “suspiciously simple software” including the popular Tweetie iPhone and Macintosh Twitter client. Tweetie for iPhone won a 2009 Apple Design Award. Today, atebits’ software is represented as Twitter for Mac, Twitter for iPad, and formerly in Twitter for iPhone prior to the V4.0 update. Loren Brichter, founder of atebits, left Twitter in late 2011. It was suggested that this was due to clashes surrounding redesigned Twitter for iPhone app,...
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