Game developer IUGO has been in the spotlight lately thanks to their release of Toy Bot Diaries [App Store] for the iPhone last week.  Perhaps the best example yet of a true iPhone game, Toy Bot Diaries with its natural control system delivers highly enjoyable gameplay that's hard to put down.

iPwnGames recently interviewed Sarah Thomson, IUGO's Business Development executive regarding the company's thoughts on the iPhone, the recently released Toy Bot Diaries, and the company's upcoming titles Re-Volt and Shaky Summit.

When asked how IUGO has liked working on the iPhone, Thomson concealed little of the company's enthusiasm for Apple's mobile platform.

Yes, this device is a pleasure to work on. The iPhone is currently the number one mobile platform by a mile not just in gaming, but verticals, music, social networking and it is also catching up rapidly on corporate functionalities. John Carmack sums it up pretty well: “It is more powerful than the Nintendo DS and PSP combined.” The ARM11 processor and dedicated MBX-lite graphics core [TA: more details] can work wonders, if you know how to push them. All that said, it is still a low-powered mobile device which presents several unique development challenges even for experienced mobile developers like IUGO. We suspect developers taking the leap from PC/console/handheld might be in for some surprises and may need to change the way they usually do things. Overall, we like how the device is pushing the envelope for gaming and IUGO’s immense mobile development experiences actually allow us to assimilate the iPhone platform painlessly.

Thomson indicated that the company likes the notion of episodic content and, as such, Toy Bot Diaries, as it sits in the App Store currently, is only the first title in a trilogy of games.  She revealed that a free demo version of the game will soon appear in the App Store to allow users a taste of the gameplay before committing to buy.

Thomson also spoke of the company's up-coming accelerometer-controlled first person shooter (FPS) Re-Volt which targets the more experienced, hardcore gamer.

Re-Volt is going to be our high-impact, earth shattering FPS for the iPhone. This game is definitely geared towards the more experienced player. That’s not to say beginners won’t love this game too. The beauty of the iPhone is the simplistic and just plain fun controls that make a game like Re-Volt a real form of entertainment for a broader audience. Because it is an FPS, I think it will initially strike a chord with the hard core gamers. But, I think word will spread and its popularity will be wide spread.

Re-Volt gameplay video

See the full interview for more details from this promising iPhone developer.

French development house DotEmu has recently revealed to Touch Arcade that they will add the iPhone to the list of mobile devices supported by their game releases, with the first title set to debut in the Q4 '08 / Q1 '09 timeframe.  Formed in 2007, DotEmu has a single mission: to bring quality, classic games to modern devices. We recently had the opportunity to interview DotEmu's Xavier Liard, CEO, regarding the company and their thoughts on the iPhone as a game platform.

DotEmu has positioned themselves between Intellectual Property (IP) owners and distributors, licensing classic games and bringing them to modern devices, primarily by way of utilizing emulation technology created in-house by DotEmu's CTO.  The company's early work was mainly involved with delivering browser-based game conversions utilizing Java applets.  In 2003 Tisserand was successfully emulating various 8-bit systems at full speed in-browser and hit a breakthrough in 2005 by developing the world's first Java-based 68000 emulator (the processor used in the Sega Genesis, Atari ST, Amiga, and original Macintosh).  Not long ago, the company moved from exclusive browser and PC-based releases to mobile platforms, supporting the Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Palm platforms.

The iPhone is a good match for the types of titles DotEmu is delivering, claims Xavier.

It has a great resolution for classic platform games, and the ability to use it in a friendly way using landscape mode is quite good for platform games too. Getting only ONE device (one resolution, no specific phone bug), development process can be streamlined a lot, and therefore enables developers to bring a more "in depth" gaming experience by polishing the product a bit more.

DotEmu aims to provide greats classics games for the iPhone and we will do our best to get the most exciting titles. We believe that there is a kind of game for each player, and we will offer diversity among casual or high-end graphics games.

The first title DotEmu will be bringing to the iPhone is the Amiga classic platformer NickyBoom which was recently released for several mobile devices.  In NickyBoom, the player controls "Nicky," a little boy on a quest through a fantastical world to save his grandfather form a witch's spell.  Nicky must defend himself from monsters that inhabit the game world by throwing apple cores, bouncy balls, logs, etc.  The game sports a lively soundtrack and features eight levels based on four different themes including a castle, a swamp, and a dark forest.  Other, unnamed titles will follow and Xavier indicated that basically all titles in DotEmu's catalog could be ported to the iPhone.

NickyBoom for Mobile (non-iPhone)

DotEmu's work is challenging–most IP owners they work with have lost the source code to these classics, forcing the company to find alternative ways to bring them to modern devices.  While excited about the iPhone's capabilities, Xavier indicated that developers need to invest time in the platform in order to ideally match their games to the unit's unique control system.  He also lamented the fact that official iPhone 2.0 development is a Mac-only affair, as many indie developers without Macintosh hardware are unfairly locked out of the game.

When asked, DotEmu expressed excitement about the prospect of the iControlPad and hopes to support the device assuming it makes it to market as a supported iPhone 2.0 device.

We're anxious to get our hands on NickyBoom and the other titles the company has in the works.  Retro gaming is a growing genre and it's great news to see such a prolific retro developer as DotEmu targetting the iPhone with their releases.  Hats off, guys!

Gamasutra recently interviewed former EA executive, Neil Young, who plans on forming a new iPhone-focused gaming company. The company will be called Ngmoco.

Young says "It feels to me like the time is right to really innovate, both in terms of the business and the games that can get made for mobile platforms."

When questioned about the appeal of the iPhone platform, Young talks of the performance of the iPhone being up to par with the PSP. In addition, the iPhone's set of standard features, including location aware, touchscreen, accelerometers, always on and always connected to a network opens the doors to unique possibilities.

The interview provides some interesting insight into the App Store from a business perspective and the future potential:

We're at this moment where there's an opportunity to lead both in terms of the type of software they we make and give to people in mobile phones, specifically, starting with the iPhone. And from a business standpoint, there's an opportunity to lead in the growth of the industry. And not incremental growth, but dramatic growth. And that's, from a business standpoint, why I'm excited about the device.

Ngmoco plans on both commissioning both original games as well as funding independent developers. They seem to be taking iPhone development seriously with the goal of leveraging the strength of the platform.

I don't really think the right path to go down is to immediately start thinking about how to build bigger, better, higher-end, more traditional gaming experiences. Rather, not to obviate or ignore those things, but rather try to take true advantage of what's in the system. So if you saw a game on the iPhone, you'd say, "Wow, this is only a game that can function on this platform."

David Frampton of Majic Jungle Software has been hard at work porting his excellent Macintosh title Chopper to the iPhone in hopes of making it available on iTunes App Store launch day.

Chopper is a $15 shareware side-scrolling helicopter game in which you try to complete specific missions and return to base while avoiding enemy fire. A version is available for the Macintosh. Majic Jungle Software is working on porting this game over to the iPhone taking advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer and 3D hardware.

We've recently had the opportunity to engage in a little Q&A with David concerning this upcoming iPhone title.

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The folks over at TUAW recently conducted an interview with Anders Nilsson of Polarbit, the development house that brought the 3D racing title Raging Thunder to the iPhone platform as a free beta via jailbreak.

Be sure to check out the full interview, but here's a taste:

I really love the way the game takes advantage of the iPhone's built-in accelerometer. What are some of the other features of the iPhone that have inspired you while porting this game and how do they affect the software?

As you may or may not know, we target all the major high-end mobile platforms (Symbian, Windows Mobile, Brew etc), so we've supported features like accelerometer, touch-screen and 3D acceleration since well before the iPhone was announced. That said, where the iPhone really excels is in the integration of these features – how nicely it all works together. And really, you'd expect nothing less from an Apple product.

Nilsson indicates that Raging Thunder will be available as an "official" iPhone application via the iTunes App Store once it arrives later this month.