Steph Thirion's games understand the power of touch. While most iOS games require tactile contact to play, so few translate what it means to touch in real life. Touching a thing or a person can connect you to it intimately. Think about touching ingredients when you cook or affectionate laying hands on a romantic partner. There's an specific kind of pleasure and feedback that comes from that dynamic and Thirion's Eliss—one of our iPad Bests—revels in that
While at GDC, I took a look at the indie designer's in-development game Faraway. It lets you soar across the galaxy and draw constellations to harvest energy to keep a dying comet alive. Faraway's fun to play in a gotta-keep-going kind of way but there's also a specific kind of poetry at work here, where going to new places and creating unique patterns generates its own rewards. I think Faraway's going to be great whenever it comes out.