Seizing St. Patrick’s Day as a green-and-gold opportunity, we’ve been profiling a few Irish and Ireland-based Dribbblers over the last week.
The bunny rabbit wears scuba gear and drives a submarine that looks like a killer whale. Make that a submarine that looks like a killer whale sporting a shark’s tail. With a starry pink top. Festooned with a periscope.
The submarine careens down a rickety wooden slide resembling the downhill on an old Coney Island roller coaster, then dives deep. The bunny steers the sub towards fish and jewels, earning stars and trying his damndest to avoid floating green barrels and grey spiked balls akin to those topping medieval mace.
The game is Wee Subs, the second offering from Wee Taps, AKA Dribbbler Paddy Donnelly and iOS developer Alain Hufkens. In it, players design their own sub and embark upon a deep-sea adventure. Reviewers rave.
We’re not underwater experts, so we need apps for deep diving, like Wee Subs. It’s perfect for filling in the gaps when it comes to what’s under the sea. — iPad Kids
Wee Subs is a beautiful digital toy that I would gladly recommend to any parent who wants to encourage their juniors to play and have fun. — Geeks With Juniors
Wee Subs is delightful to play with, and inspires young children to use their imagination and create in a way that seems to delight and entertain. — #fourlittletesters
Co-creator Donnelly, originally from the seaside town of Ballycastle (County Antrim, Northern Ireland) and now based in Belgium, chose to share a shot from Wee Subs, his second game, because of what the experience meant to him.
"This one in particular has great significance because it showed me that our first game, Wee Rockets, wasn’t just a fluke or a one-off,” he told Dribbble. “Seeing our second app make it to the App Store showed us a lot about our capabilities and that we had something special.
"There’s no better feeling than working on your own products and knowing that people enjoy them."
That good feeling, working on your own products, motivated Donnelly to leave his job at Nascom and go solo about a year ago. Today he works at his own shop, lefft.com, as an illustrator and UX designer. He travels to conferences like New Adventures (Nottingham, UK) and Build (Belfast) to catch up with his web pals, scattered around Ireland and the UK.
Donnelly has discovered a bit of an Irish contingent in Belgium, and expects they’ll wind up at the local Irish pub today. While the Guinness that flows outside Ireland is never as good as the Guinness at home, the Belgians know a thing or two about beer. Donnelly expects the taps’ll keep him happy.
Donnelly and every other designer in this series squirmed when asked to pick a favorite designer. “But we love them all,” they protested, to a one. After submitting the now-familiar refrain, Donnelly let his numbers do the talking.
"Looking at my stats page, it’s clear that I’ve delivered the most likes to Dan Matutina’s incredible shots,” he said. “His stunning style is so unique that you can spot his work a mile away. Seeing the continuous stream of great work coming from Dan has been a strong motivator for me to keep shipping my design work.”
One more thing. Related to no other thing. Still, worth a mention. Paddy Donnelly wishes Pluto was still a planet.
Donnelly can be found online at lefft.com and at weetaps.com, and on Twitter @paddydonnelly.
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