WWDC 2023: Apple announces design awards for best apps and games

As part of encouragement to the apps and the gaming developer community, American consumer electronics major Apple rewards top-class teams with Apple Design Awards during the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).

This year, Apple has chosen 12 apps and games in six categories such as inclusivity, delight and fun, interaction, social impact, visuals and graphics, and innovation.

Here is the winners list of the Apple Design Awards 2023:
Universe- Website Builder (by Universe Exploration Company, US) won the award under the inclusivity category. It offers a platform for all users of colour to help build websites, community group pages, and online storefronts to run businesses.

stitch (by Lykke Studios, Thailand) won the award under the Wellness category. It is a game of embroidery with a focus on helping players' mental wellness and developing calmness to beat stress and depression. With each level, the difficulty increases, and background music lulls players into a state of tranquility. It is available in multiple languages and has custom accessibility options for those with color blindness, low vision, and motion sensitivities.

Duolingo on App Store. Credit: Apple

Under the delight and fun category, Duolingo (by Duolingo, Inc., US) and Afterplace (by Evan Kice, US) won Apple Design Awards. The former offers a comprehensive approach to help customers learn new languages through a redesigned experience. Recently, it has introduced new courses for endangered, indigenous, and fictional languages. The programme offers a fun gamified experience, including quests, challenges, and leaderboards to keep learners engaged.

Afterplace is an indie role-playing game, which offers a balance of modern and nostalgia, dry humour, and exploration. It is designed for mobile and controlled by swipes and taps instead of virtual buttons.

Flightly (by Flighty LLC, US) won the award under the interaction category. This game offers players detailed flight maps, airport navigation, and delay forecasting — all through a beautifully designed app experience. It provides key information where it’s needed most, an intuitive interface, and comprehensive live maps, Flighty makes navigating travel seamless.

The app thoughtfully integrates native Apple technology and apps, including Siri Shortcuts, Apple Maps, Live Activities, and more, to keep travelers covered at every part of the journey.

Railbound (by Afterburn, Poland) too won the award interaction category. It fun interactive puzzle game, which offers an engaging user interface and gameplay for the subscribers.

Headspace on App Store. Credit: Apple

Under the Social Impact category, Apple has picked Headspace (by Headspace, US) for the 2023 Design Awards. It offers a minimalist user interface, charming video content, and signature illustrations, offering calming game play with guided sessions for the users to relieve stress.

Endling ( by HandyGames, Germany) too won the award under social impact. It is a side-scroller game. Here players are playing as a fox fighting to navigate a land charred by environmental disaster and human impact.

Under the Visuals and Graphics category, Any Distance ( by Any Distance Inc. US) has won Apple Design Awards. It is a workout tracker that offers medals and other incentives to keep the user motivated to maintain a routine every day. The app also takes full advantage of Live Activities and Apple Watch integrations to collect and present fitness data, which can include not only traditional workouts like running and cycling.

Resident Evil Village (by CAPCOM Co., Ltd. Japan) too, has won Apple Design Awards under the Visuals and Graphics category. As the name suggests it is a horror-inspired adventure game. It comes with masterful visual detail powered by Apple silicon, ProMotion, Metal 3, and an extended dynamic range.

SwingVision- A.I. Tennis on App Store. Credit: Apple

Under the Innovation category, SwingVision: A.I. Tennis App (by SwingVision Inc. US) won design awards. It is powered by artificial intelligence and the Neural Engine of the Apple device, to offer coaching to budding Tennis play. It offers advanced video-tracking capabilities that help to evaluate form, highlight strengths, and suggest areas of improvement for the player.

And, MARVEL SNAP (by Second Dinner, China) has made it to the list under the innovation category. It is a virtual collectible card game and offers brisk gameplay and an innovative 'snap' mechanic that instantly doubles the stakes and introduces whole new layers of strategy to the game.

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