Landka

Mobile software development company

Landka

Company type| Private
Industry| Mobile app development
Genre| Educational apps, Educational games
Founded| 2010
Headquarters| Portugal
Products|

* Back in Time
* Kiwaka
* Kiwaka Story
* Overpaint
* Art Legacy
* Art Legacy Live
* Live Gallery
* Stars and Ghosts
* Earth and Science

Website| http://landka.com

Landka is a mobile software development company focused on educational apps. Notable products include Back in Time, Kiwaka and Art Legacy.

## History

[edit]

The Portuguese company was founded in 2010 and gained notability with its flagship product Back in Time, an education iPad app about world history.[1][2] Back in Time was released in September 2011 and brought instant success to Landka, being featured in the App Store worldwide and reaching the top sales of iPad book apps in nearly 40 countries.[3][4][5] This project won Landka a World Summit Award (UN based initiative) in Learning and Education and was later ported to Windows thanks to a partnership between Landka and Intel.[6][7] Back in Time was distinguished by The New York Times and selected for the top 10 apps of the year.[8][2]

Later developments included ThinkO, a brain-training game released in 2012 that reached the top1 downloaded apps in Brazil, and Kiwaka (2014), an educational game to teach children about astronomy developed in collaboration with ESA and ESO.[9][10][11][12]

In 2015, Landka released Overpaint, an educational game about colors and Art Legacy, an education book app about the most relevant paintings in the history of art, that won the company another nomination for the World Summit Awards.[13][14][15][16]

## Apps

[edit]

Title  | Year  | Description

|
|

Back in Time | 2011  | Education book app for iOS about the history of the universe, earth, life, mankind and civilization that uses a time analogy to explain different timescales. The app presents key events since the beginning of the universe until the present day covering the chronology of the universe, the geological history of earth, the evolutionary history of life and human history.[1]
ThinkO  | 2012  | Puzzle game for iOS where the goal is to clear the board by moving rows and columns of colored rings into the matching squares. (discontinued)
Kiwaka | 2014  | Educational game designed to teach children about astronomy. The app explores the concept of tangential learning by presenting scientific information about stars and constellations as a reward for completing game levels. Developed in collaboration with scientific institutions such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO).[10] Available for iOS, macOS, and tvOS.
Kiwaka Story  | 2014  | Interactive book app for children that tells the story about the characters in the game Kiwaka to teach children about the constellations in the night sky.[17] Available for iOS, macOS, and tvOS.
Overpaint  | 2015  | Puzzle game for mobile devices that explores the ability to mesh primary colors to clear a board of moving circles.[14] Available for iOS, macOS and tvOS, Android, and Windows.
Art Legacy  | 2015  | Education book app about the most famous paintings in Art History. The paintings are interactive through a parallax effect.[15] Available for iOS, macOS, and tvOS.
Art Legacy Live  | 2016  | Screensaver app that displays famous paintings using a parallax effect.[18] Available for iOS, macOS, tvOS, Android, and Windows.
Live Gallery  | 2016  | Screensaver app that displays nature photos using a parallax effect.[19] Available for iOS, macOS, tvOS, Android, and Windows.
Stars and Ghosts  | 2016  | Side scroller halloween game. Simple one-touch game controlling a flying witch in a broomstick.[20] Available for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and Android.
Earth and Science  | 2021  | Educational app that explains key concepts in the field of Earth and Life Sciences .[21] Available for iOS and macOS.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Product website
* App Store developer page

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b LANDKA. Back in Time. ISBN 978-989-97421-0-9. Retrieved October 17, 2018. `{{cite book}}`: `|website=` ignored (help)
2. ^ a b "iPad Apps - the Best of 2011 - App Smart". The New York Times. January 5, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
3. ^ Usher, Oli. "Educational App with ESA/Hubble Content in New York Times Top 10 Best iPad Apps". Hubble Space Telescope | ESA. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
4. ^ Coentrão, Abel (January 24, 2012). "Portuguese app reaches top sales in 38 countries". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese).
5. ^ "Portuguese app in the US top sales". Jornal Expresso (in European Portuguese). October 10, 2012.[permanent dead link]
6. ^ "Back in Time | WSA 2012 Winners". World Summit Awards. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
7. ^ Totura, Nathan. "Redesigning 'Back in Time' from an iPad* to Windows* Store App - Case Study". Intel. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
8. ^ Tedeschi, Bob (October 5, 2011). "Watching Stars Fall, Cellphone in Hand". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
9. ^ "News | LANDKA". LANDKA. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
10. ^ a b Sandu, Oana. "New App Kiwaka Features ESO Material - Mobile app company LANDKA brings the Universe closer with ESO images and videos". European Southern Observatory. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
11. ^ Dredge, Stuart (June 9, 2014). "20 best iPhone and iPad apps this week". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
12. ^ Coentrão, Abel. "Portuguese company Landka launches a new iPad game following the success of "Back in Time"". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved November 11, 2019.
13. ^ "Google Play App Roundup". Tested. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
14. ^ a b "Portuguese company releases app design to explore colors". Sabado Magazine (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
15. ^ a b "Art Legacy: the latest temptation from Landka… and from the App Store". Exame Informática (in European Portuguese). Retrieved November 4, 2019.
16. ^ PÚBLICO. "Seven portuguese projects selected to compete at the World Summit Awards". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved November 4, 2019.
17. ^ Kiwaka Story. ISBN 978-989-97421-1-6. Retrieved 2020-03-01. `{{cite book}}`: `|website=` ignored (help)
18. ^ "Art Legacy Live". App Store. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
19. ^ "Live Gallery". App Store. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
20. ^ "Visão | Is Halloween night and Landka releases a new game". Visão (in European Portuguese). 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
21. ^ "Earth and Science". App Store. Retrieved 2021-03-17.