Snowboarding TnT

The first Tilt n Twist / Super Happy Fun Fun title Snowboarding TnT [$1.99] was just released tonight. We recorded a quick video of the game at WWDC:

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The game offers 6 different levels with 30 different tricks that can be invoked using the accelerometer. Power ups including speed, trick multiplier and time bonuses. Snowboarding games on the iPhone have been poorly represented thus far. We haven't had much time to spend on this title, though some first forum impressions on an iPhone 3G were a bit disappointing.

App Store Link: Snowboarding TnT, $1.99

Big Buck Hunter Pro

Another game that Super Happy Fun Fun will be releasing later this year is an iPhone port of the very popular Big Buck Hunter Pro arcade game. The arcade version allowed you to (obviously) shoot bucks while avoiding does to see how well you would fare. A unique aspect to the Arcade game included the use of online accounts to coordinate tournaments. The iPhone version of the game will incorporate these networked games using the same login ids. The game is expected in Q3 2009.

Dark Castle

Finally, in our conversation with Super Happy Fun Fun CEO Mark Stephen Pierce, we discovered that he was one of the original developers for the Mac classic Dark Castle. Additionally, through a series of events, his company has managed to regain the rights to the title.

As a result, Pierce indicated that they do have plans to bring Dark Castle to the iPhone and is tentatively scheduled for 2010.

Simply put, 3D Checkers is the best checkers game available for the iPhone.  And, well…it's free.

The game features drag-and-drop gameplay, two play modes (player vs. player and player vs. computer), two AI difficulty levels, and two board designs.  Indeed, checkers is not the most hardcore of games, but anyone who enjoys a little of the red and black (or white, in this case) would do well to grab this one.

App Store Link: 3D Checkers, Free

Rogue Planet is a turn based strategy game that consists of 15 campaign missions, as well as 15 additional maps for free play and multiplayer. In the initial release, multiplayer will be limited to local WiFi, but with 3.0 right around the corner, Bluetooth local multiplayer as well as asynchronous online multiplayer with push notifications will be available as a free update.

The entire game is rendered using extremely detailed 2D sprites on a 3D background, and the presentation is absolutely gorgeous. The isometric 3D view reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics and each unit has its own set of sounds which gives the game a very lively feel as vehicles' engines start when you activate them and soldiers speak to you.

Each of the two factions have 10 different units to wage war with, and cover the standard array of what you would expect in a turn based strategy game. One intriguing mechanic is the importance of defending and destroying bridges. Tanks and other heavy units cannot cross rivers without a bridge, and the engineer unit can both blow them up and repair them.

Capturing buildings works a little different too, unlike Advance Wars, buildings must be destroyed first, then you send any foot soldier inside to instantly capturing it, which also consumes the unit. Rogue Planet also has all the multitouch view controls you'd expect in an iPhone game, complete with rotation of the game field.

The video I shot includes a demonstration of the view controls, how the story is delivered in the campaign, a few turns of gameplay, a demonstration of free mode, and some other surprises. Make sure you notice how fast the game loads.

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The game in its current state is a work in progress, Kebeci said they have about two weeks of development left on the 1.0 release that they're going to spend adding sounds in the cinematic battle scenes, localizing to English countries, add some additional animations when your turn is over, and a few more unit actions such as repairing and refueling.
To celebrate this exclusive announcement, Agharta Studio has put their earlier game, 1112 episode 1, on sale for $1.99 (down from $7.99) [App Store]. 1112, an episodic adventure game, has been very popular in Europe, and comes packed with the same high quality hand drawn art and original musical score that we're going to be seeing in Rogue Planet.

If all goes as planned, Rogue Planet will be submitted to the App Store inside of two weeks.

Wednesday night Touch Arcade and MacHeist held the iPhone Launch Party 2009 during Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco.  The RSVP list included industry celebrities (such as Steve Wozniak and "DVD Jon" Johansen), a large number of notable iPhone developers, and fans of iPhone gaming in general. 

The party served as the launch event for a number of great iPhone titles as well as a demo opportunity for the recently announced Doom Resurrection.

Games demonstrated or introduced at the event:

• Grunts, Warp Gate, TrackZ, Thor,Flick Baseball – Freeverse
• iSamurai [$0.99]- Toy Kite Software
  
• Real Racing [$9.99] – Firemint
• Doom Resurrection – Escalation Studios

A particularly entertaining part of the evening was Monodomo's demonstration of their iPhone beat-box app, bChamp [$0.99].  Have a look at the raw beat-boxing action that unfolded at the event.

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Even The Woz couldn't help himself (video)….  See our party walk-through video for a quick spin around the venue.

The Launch Party 2009 seems to have been a blast for all involved and Touch Arcade is very happy to have been involved in making it happen.  We thank all that were in attendance for being part of the event.

See more photos of the event after the jump.

Waiting for the event to begin

Rob Murray of Firemint (center) and Jeff Scott of 148apps.com (right)

The Imangi crew (Keith, Natalia, and dad) with The Woz and his wife

Bruce Morrison of Freeverse (right)

David Frampton of Magic Jungle Software (left)

PowerGlove interfaced with iPhone!

Full set of images on Flickr.

For those not familiar with the Real Racing, we thought the game offered an unrivaled racing experience on the iPhone. The game has been earning some much deserved recognition and is quickly making it's way to the top of the App Store charts.

We caught up with Rob later in the evening to see what his plans were now that Real Racing had finally been released. Rob indicated that they still have a lot of work planned for Real Racing itself and that the 6-player local Wi-Fi multiplayer update would be submitted soon. For the Real Racing plans beyond that, we'll just have to stay tuned. Rob also reports that they are still working on other iPhone games and have been heavily prototyping various concepts. He seemed aware that the expectations for his company are quite high after the massive popularity and success of Flight Control and the wonderful early reception of Real Racing. We'll be sure to report on their future plans when they are ready to announce them.

App Store Link: Real Racing, $9.99, Flight Control, $0.99

The gameplay itself is best described as an "on rails" experience where the player is moved through the levels automatically while aiming their targeting reticule with the accelerometer and tapping a button to fire. The game also offers a dodging button to avoid enemy fire as well.

The game is set in an impressive 3D environment and across 8 brand new levels. Like with their PC titles, the Doom Resurrection engine is pushing the boundaries of what has been thought possible on the iPhone. Gameplay time is estimated at 4-6 hours.

While some are going to pass early judgement due to the "on rails" aspect of the game, we think that's premature as both Eli and I had a lot of fun with our time with the game. The tilt controls to target felt good. The game would auto calibrate to your natural position when the game started. Almost needless to say, the graphics and sound were very well done and immersive (the game borrows the assets from Doom 3 which cost millions to make). Dodging with a button and aiming with the accelerometer provided a good amount of Doom feel even though your forward movements were scripted.

Escalation Studio's Tom Mustaine told us that a lot of work went into finding the right gameplay mechanic and that before they came across this latest incarnation, they were ready to scrap the entire project if it wasn't going to be fun enough to play.

Mustaine has a long history in game development and has been involved a laundry list of projects including several using the Doom and Quake engines.

iSamurai is an accelerometer-based iPhone game that recognizes certain gestures as specific sword fighting attacks or blocks. The developer's video shows it well:

The moves take a little practice to learn but the game comes with an extensive tutorial with videos of the exact movements.

App Store Link: iSamurai, $0.99

While not all the presentation video has been released, we do have some early footage of a couple of these games.

Warpack Grunts is a squad-based shooter in which you control your pack of soldiers and lead them across various missions. Grunts are first equipped with a standard machine gun but can later pick up rocket launchers and sniper rifles. This basic video shows the early gameplay:

A second video that was shown at the launch event shows the sniper rifle as well as vehicular play (tank and helicoptor). The game is said to have gone gold master so we should expect it shortly

The next notable game Freevers previewed is one called Warp Gate. The game is described as a 3d space exploration / shooter / trading game that seems similar to Escape Velocity with a fully 3D engine.

The game is still under heavy active development, so many of the details are not yet complete. The game is said to include hundreds of different star ships and 30 different solar systems.

This early gameplay video shows the controls of the game, while a second video offers an overview of the game.

Warp Gate is due sometime in Summer 2009.

From a game perspective, the is serving as the launch party for Firemint's just released Real Racing as well as first looks at Freeverse's War Pack Grunts and Toy Kite Software's iSamurai. Meanwhile, Escalation Studios will also be present to demo the just announced Doom Resurrection.

The live stream of the party is online and can be seen at the iPhone Launch Party 2009 website.

TouchArcade met with Brian Robbins of Fuel Games to discuss their ongoing iPhones projects and games. Fuel Games is the development group behind Van's SK8: Pool Service and we've been told that there will be a Lite version of that game shortly. Brian also gave us a preview of their upcoming Lifeboat game which we will detail in a later article.

The other big news they had for iPhone gamers was that the massively popular Desktop Tower Defense flash game is coming to the iPhone.

Fuel Games is working closely with Paul Preece of Handdrawn Games to bring this classic to the iPhone. While iPhone-only gamers may have been introduced to the Tower Defense genre through Fieldrunners, for a large number of people Desktop Tower Defense was the game that brought it to the masses. From Wikipedia:

The game is played on a map resembling an office desktop. The player must stop a set number of enemies, known in the genre as "creeps," from reaching a set point on the playing field. This is accomplished by building and upgrading towers that shoot at, damage and kill the enemy creeps before they are able to reach their objective. Unlike many other tower defense games, the path of the creeps themselves is not set; instead, the towers built determine the path of the creeps, who take the shortest path they can find to the exit. The game prevents making an exit inaccessible.

Original creator Paul Preece is said to be taking an active role in the port and is working hard to stay true to the original game. Robbins stressed that the game has always been seen as a light hearted puzzle/strategy game, different from the more seriously themed action TD games that have followed.

The game will essentially be a port of the 1.5 version of the Flash game but will have updated graphics and other iPhone-specific features. Fans of the original should be reassured that a "Retro" mode will also be available to relive the original feel of the game. The iPhone version will also feature the original easy / medium / hard levels and eventually incorporate other modes of play.

The game is due later this summer. We'll provide more information and screenshots as we receive them. The Flash version of the game can still be played at HandDrawnGames.com.