Monster Costume

Monster Costume is all about exploring what multi-touch devices have to offer, and then blowing away the limits to bring new experiences to the masses. Founded and run by recognized trailblazers in the iOS development and user experience industry, the company specializes in giving rich, intuitive, and mentally tasty applications to the world.

Founded in 2009 by Kyle Kinkade, Monster Costume is an angel-backed entity with an impressive portfolio of first-party apps and third-party client contracts. You’ll find the company regularly working on its own internal IP (like the Bartleby children's book series) while simultaneously bringing the vision of its clients to life from the initial sketch, all the way to the touchscreen.

The developers are led by Chief Engineer, Nate True. The entire Monster Costume crew of twenty can be found “rocking those beats” (no, they seriously give out a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones to every employee) while imaginatively brainstorming and coding away in an attempt to bring joy to more faces with their next finished product.

Monster Costume can help enhance your brand through its unique approach of meeting customers where they are through superior design and user interface development, with a little bit of our secret sauce dashed in.

We love what we do.

Bartleby's Book of Buttons Volume 2

With the release of iPhone 4s and iOS 5, Monster Costume is excited to announce a brand new addition to the adventures of our favorite bowler hat friend with Bartleby's Book of Buttons Volume 2.

Not only are we bringing out a brand new story filled with interactive puzzles, but we are proud to introduce a whole new way to read with your child.

Bartleby Vol. 2 supports Airlay, which pushes the story to your HDTV using an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S. Meanwhile, on your device you still have all the buttons and interactive puzzle in which to guide Bartleby through his new quest.

In addition to this brand new way to experience an interactive book, we have added in collectible stickers to the mix that you get from achievements in the book, as well as 18 fully interactive pages with gorgeous new animations and interactions to discover.

Grab a copy and experience the way interactive books were meant to be played.

Full Press Release

Monster Costume Releases Vol. 2 of Critically-Acclaimed 'Bartleby’s Book of Buttons' iPad App

Vol. 2 Showcases New AirPlay Mirroring Feature of iOS 5

SEATTLE, October 13, 2011 -- Monster Costume, a Seattle-based mobile development company, announced today the sequel to its popular Bartleby's Book of Buttons interactive children's book app for iPad, Bartleby's Book of Buttons Volume 2, is now available on the App Store. Double the length of Volume 1, parents and children can now experience the Bartleby adventure puzzle book on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, as well as on their HDTV using Apple TV and the new AirPlay Mirroring feature of iOS 5.

Features include:

-Unique game play experience using AirPlay Mirroring and Apple TV; -Read to Me voice over; -Over 30 achievements which unlock collectable stickers in the game; -Achievements become stickers that can be printed using an AirPrint-enabled printer.

“At Monster Costume we are committed to building the best interactive media on iOS," said Kyle Kinkade CEO of Monster Costume. “The Bartleby series represents our commitment to bring the very best in interactive book apps to the App Store.”

Monster Costume is all about exploring what Multi-Touch devices have to offer, and then blowing away the limits to bring new experiences to the masses. Founded and run by recognized trailblazers in the iOS development and user experience industry, the company specializes in giving rich, intuitive, and mentally tasty applications to the world.

The Bartleby's Book of Buttons Volume 2 App for iPad is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at www.iTunes.com/appstore/.

October 12th.

Come back to this page on October 12th, and we'll show you what we've been up to, and what we're are currently up to.

Kyle Kinkade has been enamored with creating interactive experiences for years, stemming back to his work at Microsoft Game Studios in 2002. Through the years he’s served as Director of Mobile Development for Getty Images, and spent time as the Lead Developer for Tapulous, an iOS development company that was acquired by Disney due to the success of Tap Tap Revenge and its sequels, which Kinkade oversaw development of.

In 2009, Kinkade founded Monster Costume, an angel-backed iOS development house based in Seattle, Washington.

Today as CEO of Monster Costume, Kyle Kinkade (alongside Monster Costume partner Nate True) aims to bring newly-imagined methods of interacting with a touchscreen to the iOS universe. Aside from running the company, Kinkade also oversees the user interface and user experience designs of Monster Costume developed applications. Recent examples include Bartleby’s Book of Buttons: Volume I & II, Amazon iPad, and Bridgepoint.

When not obessing over making touch input more natural and fun, Kyle can be found hanging out on Alki Beach, and if you’re lucky, you may even find him serving hot dogs. For real.

In 2007, Nate True began his metamorphosis from tech hacker and inventor to becoming one of the most well-known independent iPhone developers out there, well before Apple formally introduced an official iOS SDK. Always looking to maximize what technology can do, True was one of the early pioneers in the iPhone jailbreak scene, developing WebVNC (the first VNC client for the iPhone,) iBrickr (the premiere jailbreak solution for the original iPhone,) and what has turned into the most popular iPhone game of all time, Tap Tap Revolution. True sold Tap Tap Revolution to Tapulous, where it was rebranded as Tap Tap Revenge, and thus began his full-time iOS development career.

After a two-year stint at Tapulous, where True worked on sequels of Tap Tap Revenge, and a game called Riddim Ribbon (in conjunction with will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas,) the company was acquired by Disney on the back of the Tap Tap series. Both Tap Tap Revenge and Riddim Ribbon have been featured prominently in Apple keynotes, with Steve Jobs himself playing Tap Tap Revenge during a demo. Tapulous is also where True met his current Monster Costume partner Kyle Kinkade.

Nate True is now a partner at Monster Costume, and serves as Chief Engineer for the company, overseeing the development of all apps. These include such titles as ABC News for iPad, Nick Chase HD, the Bartleby children's book series, and more.

When Nate isn’t busy at work working on iOS apps, you can find him relaxing with his iPhone or iPad, getting to know the devices more intimately. He has no problem mixing business with pleasure.

Monster Costume conceived, designed and built this acclaim winning interactive children’s book. Its a whole new way to experience a book! And its been translated into ten languages. Keep watch on www.bookofbuttons.com for the upcoming sequels!

Monster Costume created the Feed Me! game for Kamehameha Schools as a fun way to learn Hawaiian. Aloha!

We implemented UberSocial’s iPhone App, UberCurrent, which helped in the garnering 20% of Twitter traffic prior to the much publicized Twitter suspension.

We proudly help in the porting of several BFG titles. Check them out on the App Store!