Actor Asa Butterfield, 16, says he used to like to kill time on the set with his dad, Sam, playing a game they made up called Racing Blind. They would draw racetracks on paper and get around on them by hand with their eyes closed. Last year, while making the sci-fi thriller Ender’s Game, father and son thought it would be fun to make a digital version of the game, as an iPad app.
Butterfield, in from London for the movie’s premiere, told us about the app, his favorite game and iPad apps, and camera of choice in an interview at his publicist’s office here.
‘RACING BLIND’
“It’s the only game on the app store you can play with your eyes closed.” Dad wrote the music for the game, Asa helped design the tracks, and they got a friend to write the digital code. “We hope to do an Android version soon.” His future as an app developer? “If acting doesn’t turn out to be the right job for me, then maybe an app designer.”
DOTA 2
His favorite PC game, from publisher Valve, is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients. “It’s a strategy, team game, and lots of fun.”
TOP 5 IPAD APPS
PHOTOGRAPHY
One of Butterfield’s favorite subjects in school is photography.
He uses the compact Panasonic Lumix G3 ($600) as his camera of choice. “It’s quite a small camera for the quality of photos it takes. It’s really sturdy, quite user-friendly and not too complicated to use.”
He likes to shoot portraits and landscapes, and edit them in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
MUSIC
He plays the drums and piano, by ear, and composes music that he posts on the audio sharing service SoundCloud.
Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
