Distant Shore took to number three in the iTunes App Store very quickly. I fell in love with the app’s idea the moment I checked out the app’s very short and simple description, reproduced here verbatim:
Walk the sand.
Discover yourself.
Communicate.
As you would have guessed it, the app appeared in my iPod touch a very short moment later. But the app would not allow me to send any messages yet. I have to work my fingers to earn the right to do so. Why, you ask? Read on to find out more!
The premise behind Distant Shore is very simple. Communicate with strangers and (hopefully) make new friends from the world over thru the use of anonymous messages similar to the message-in-a-bottle concept. Upon launch, the game places users along an endless beach where the only things you’ll see is a hut (the game calls it a bungalow), some beach towels, beach umbrellas, surf boards, rescue towers and the occasional seashells and empty bottles with messages within. Other than that, there’s always your footprint when you traverse through the endless beach. You don’t get to see your character.
Before you earn the right to send a message, you’ll need to pick up those seashells that lie on the lines of the beach. Five seashells convert into an empty bottle, paper included and your first message is just a composition away. Distant Shore promises that the more messages you send, the more bottles you’ll find scattered on the beach, waiting for you to pick up. They have an algorithm on the other end to decide this.
I did a simple test to see if a certain message gets routed to a few persons – no they don’t. Each message bottle that you sent one gets picked up by one and only one person. Very true to the message-in-a-bottle concept. There’s no obligation for the other end to reply to your message though. During my review, I have only ignored a few messages which are sent with no purpose and replied to the rest. Speaking of messages with no purpose, it is very obvious that you are going to receive messages that might be deemed offensive. Distant Shore lets you be the judge and report such messages received. Each message reported will be looked at by the team, so abusers please beware.
Once you get a reply for your message, you are allowed to continue conversation with the sender. Feel free to exchange contact details with the other end, officially making friends with him/her. The app supports international characters as well as the much-sought-after Emoji icons, so feel free to send those ‘hellos’ in Korean, if you wish.
When you are not busy sending/receiving messages, feel free to walk around the beautifully-designed beach in 3D, collecting those seashells to start your empty bottles collection. A star indicator appears on the bottom right icon to indicate incoming replies. The only way to get these messages is to run back to your bungalow. If you find yourself wandering too far away, a tap on the said icon lets you magically teleport back to the bungalow quickly to find your message waiting by the mailbox.
Messages and empty bottles are stored in your inventory box. The updated version 1.1 of the game offers an increased inventory space of up to 40 slots altogether. Empty bottles and messages received are now stored in the same inventory box. Deleting a message is as simple as dragging them out of the box, but the app does warn you before it sends your message to oblivion. You can also delete those empty bottles, but why? Aside to that, messages are now tagged with a replied icon and updated accordingly in a threaded manner when the other end sends a reply. If you like a certain conversation, feel free to share them via the app’s built-in email option. Also in the updated version is an option to include a signature for each new message sent out.
Overall, Distant Shore offers its users a new way to communicate and express themselves. At one time, I find myself replying to more messages than actually wandering around looking for them. When the experience of replying to anonymous messages wears itself out, you’ll want to be able to interact with the other objects in the app, which is not possible at this moment. If that happens, go walk around the beach to find more messages, after all, that’s what the app is designed for in the first place, rite?
Distant Shore offers a lot of entertainment value for the entry price of only $0.99 a copy. If you are like me, you’ll wish that your iPod touch is an iPhone, so there’s no need to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot whenever you need a fix of anonymous chat.
Distant Shore is developed by The Blimp Pilots, the guys behind 2008′s #1 selling app Koi Pond and also Name in Lights, a full featured banner app.
Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps
App Data
App Name: Distant Shore v1.1 | Developer: The Blimpt Pilots LLC | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $0.99 | Released: Jan 11, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch
