Last week at WWDC we ran in to Kevin Beimers, the writer, programmer, and game action director for Straandlooper, creators of Hector: Badge of Carnage [$3.99]. Hector is an episodic point and click adventure game where you play the role of a disgruntled police officer in the town of Clappers Wreake. Like similar games, advancing the plot involves solving puzzles using items found in the game world either by themselves or combined in interesting ways with other items. There are also dialog trees to work through with the various citizens of Clappers Wreake and your conversation skills also become a large part in accomplishing the goals set out in front of you.

We really enjoyed the game in our review, and after hearing the story behind Hector, I can't help but enjoy the game even more. Before the filthy world of Hector was even imagined, the guys behind the game actually created a 52 part childrens' series, Lifeboat Luke, which is currently being aired in Ireland. Lifeboat Luke goes on nautical rescue missions and teaches children about safety at sea. Interestingly enough, Hector originally was pitched as a TV show as well, and there was even ground work for a pilot episode laid. Some clips of Hector can be seen in Straandlooper's showreel of animated clips they've worked on:

Aimed at a primetime UK time slot, Hector was meant to go up against South Park and other raunchy evening shows. Unfortunately, the insane popularity of reality TV has significantly cut in to the willingness for anyone to fund an animated project. Or, as Kevin put it, with reality TV all you need is a dozen people in a room with a camera and you've got a show. With the future of Hector as a TV series getting increasingly bleak, Straandlooper decided to turn their ideas in to a point and click adventure game.

Originally they debated building it as some kind of Flash game, but the lack of any strong way to monetize Hector as a browser game pushed them to the App Store-- A place where, as Beimers explained, people are more likely to pay for and appreciate the amusing gameplay and animation quality of Hector: Badge of Carnage. Since the developers have been long time fans of point and click adventure games, the transition from animated short to interactive adventure was fairly natural. (And as fans of the genre, Kevin noted how awesome it was to have his works compared to classics such as Day of the Tentacle or Monkey Island.)

The project so far has been a success for Straandlooper, as from the first episode on the App Store alone they've already made more than they have on any of their other short animated projects. Hector's initial popularity has practically guaranteed the release of the second episode, where players will explore the police station that Hector works with as well as spend time getting to know Hector's various coworkers. They hope to release episode 2 within a year.

Some other fun Hector facts came out of our conversation such as the entire game being voiced by a single person. As many people in our forums have mentioned, Hector is a shockingly raunchy game to be approved on the App Store. Straandlooper actually planned for this, and had contingencies in place to do things like replace the porn shop with a store similar to Wal-Mart. Hector was under development for 6-7 months, with another 2 months spent on the "last 2%" of the game making sure everything was as refined as Straandlooper wanted it.

An iPad version is in the works, but since so much was tweaked and customized for the resolution of the iPhone screen, it may be a while until we see its release. However, they do plan on releasing the second installment on both the iPhone and iPad.

If you haven't played Hector: Badge of Carnage yet, you really need to give the game a try if you've ever enjoyed a point and click adventure game. For more about the game, take a look at our review.

WWDC 2010 wrapped up this past week, and we have almost recovered from the activities.

Of course, the big Apple announcements that were made last week included the announcement of iPhone 4 as well as details of the iOS 4 launch. For gamers, the new iPhone 4 represents a few notable changes.

A much higher resolution display (640x960) and faster A4 processor should be able to deliver a much better experience -- for games that bother to take advantage of it. Also included in the iPhone 4 is a new gyroscope that promises much more accurate spacial positioning. While a combination of compass and accelerometer controls have been able to provide similar data in the past, I've been told that the gyroscope input is a significant improvement. It also should be able to handle extreme positions -- such as laying in bed while playing a tilt-game.

But, if experience has taught us anything, the new features won't become mainstream for some time. The biggest iOS 4 feature that the rest of us should be waiting for is Game Center - Apple's leaderboard/acheivements system. Apple was talking about Game Center at WWDC, but only behind closed doors to developers. Apple had originally announced the release of Game Center for "this fall" and hasn't publicly revised that timeframe yet.

Prominent iPhone developers, of course, were on the scene. Pictured above are Igor Pusenjak of Lima Sky (left) and Alexandra Peters of Firemint (right) during the TouchArcade developer mixer. Both companies were honored during Apple's WWDC 2010 Design Awards for Doodle Jump (Limasky), Flight Control (Firemint) and Real Racing (Firemint).

Limasky is working on an iPad version of Doodle Jump while Firemint is working on brand new games. Neither company was ready to talk about details, however. Korean developer Gamevil mentioned that they were hard at work on Hybrid 2, but weren't yet ready to release screenshots or video just yet. We did manage to talk to a number of other developers throughout the week and posted articles on their upcoming games. A few more WWDC stories may still trickle in over the next few days as we prepare for E3.

E3 kicks off on June 15th and TouchArcade will be there. Based on early info, the iPhone's presence at E3 has increased dramatically from last year. We expect announcements/demos from a number of major companies including Square Enix, EA, and SEGA.

Developers looking to meet up with TouchArcade should email us for details.

During WWDC 2010, we had a chance to talk with Owens Rodriguez and have a quick look at his upcoming iPhone shooter, Alien Space.

The game, which strikes me as something of a cross between Asteroids and Super Stardust HD (and, as such, Meteor Blitz), is a dual-stick space shooter featuring 50 levels, various upgradeable heavy and light weapons, and online achievement tracking and leaderboards via Apple's Game Center.

Alien Space is pretty much a one-man effort, with Rodriguez working on the code and graphics assets in his spare time over the past year and a half. His Alien Space Facebook page provides some history on the title. According to Rodriguez, the game should be finished in late July.

Have a look at the developer's trailer video, which our forum readers seem to be liking.

Although I only spent a short time with the game during the conference, I came away impressed. We'll take a detailed look at Alien Space once we have the release version in our hands. Stay tuned.

French development studio Coladia first crossed our radar back in December 2008 when they announced that they were developing an iPhone port of their Mac prehistoric point-and-click adventure Secret of the Lost Cavern [App Store]. The game went live last year, as did their iPhone port of point-and-click adventure Return to Mysterious Island [App Store].

We had a chance to meet up with Coladia here at WWDC and to hear about a few iPad titles they've got in the works.

The existing iPhone versions of Return to Mysterious Island and Secret of the Lost Cavern are rather abbreviated titles as compared to the PC originals (or Mac ports). CEO Frédéric Aloe informed us that his studio is currently readying iPad ports of both titles that deliver the complete original game experience to Apple's largest touchscreen device. Both iPad titles clock in at around 800MB in size.

Additionally, Coladia is bringing a feature-complete iPad port of Destination Treasure Island to the App Store. As the studio sets up the title,

Four years have passed since the end of the adventure recounted in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. Jim Hawkins has become an upstanding adventurous young man, attentive to those around him. Imagine his surprise when, one morning, he sees a parrot enter his bedroom window : none other than Captain Flint, Long John's own companion. The bird brings him a message from his master. In the message the old pirate announces that he has buried a marvelous treasure on the secret isle where he retired : Emerald Island. Jim is going to have to hurry though. Pirates, old enemies of Long John, are on his trail.

The iPad version of Return to Mysterious Island should be appearing in the App Store any day now. Destination Treasure Island is set for a release late this month, while Secret of the Lost Cavern is slated for release in September. All titles are expected to launch at an App Store price of $9.99.

Coladia plans, in time, to bring most of the adventures of PC studio Cheops', responsible for the original aforementioned titles, to the iPad with full PC assets and a touchscreen interface.

CDE Humble Gaming was at WWDC 2010 showing of their upcoming trading card game Arena 9. Game developer and long-time Magic: The Gathering player Jeff Lyndon described how they were trying to create an iPhone suitable experience for a collectible card game.

High amongst their priorities was an accessible game that was easy to learn, but also one that didn't overwhelmingly advantage those who had simply collected better cards. The game revolves around a collectible cards that are earned by the user. An initial set is provided, but over time, new cards can be collected by earning in game experience or through in-app purchase. Cards are organized into 5 card decks that you can take into battle.

Battle will primarily be on-line against live opponents. While single-player (offline) mode does exist, it's primarily intended for practice and training as experience points aren't earned.

Battle is waged on a 3x3 grid. Each player's hands is in plain view to the other player, and cards are placed on the grid in alternating turns. The goal is to win as many cards as possible by "turning" opponents cards to your own. The initial rules are simple. If the adjacent number on your the card is higher than the opponent's number when side-by-side, then you turn the other card to your own. Additional rules, however, such as lining up same numbers on two sides or surrounding an opponents card with similar elementals can act as special moves. In addition, the board also has randomly placed elemental-marked tiles that either enhance or detract from a card's power if placed on that space.

Each battle should take about 3-4 minutes and a matchmaking system tries to match you with a comparable opponent. The game is expected to launch during the first week of July and will be free for the base game. Additional cards can be purchased in packs or can simply be earned with enough experience points and wins.

I have immense respect for Backflip Studios. They are one of the few iPhone development groups that has been able to leverage one of their early successes and build it into a strong and sustainable business.

The company was founded by Julian Farrior (pictured left), Dale Thoms (pictured right) and Tom Blind in April 2009. Their first game was Ragdoll Blaster and launched on May 15, 2009. Three weeks later, they launched Paper Toss for free. Paper Toss, of course, went on to be massively popular to the surprise of everyone including Backflip. But Backflip recognized the value of having such an incredibly successful free app and used it to both generate revenue for the company and also help launch its other games up from obscurity.

After their first year, Backflip has generated $3.5 million in net revenue and has expanded to 8 full time employees and over a dozen contractors. 60% of their revenue comes from direct App Store sales while 40% comes from advertising. Of the 11 apps (including Lite versions) they've released, they've seen 8 of them reach the top 5 overall rankings, and they presently serve 1 million unique players a day.

We spoke with Backflip's Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms today at WWDC 2010 and got a look at their upcoming projects. Farrior reports that they have been aggressively ramping up production of games and has 4 new games coming in the next couple of months. He provided us hands on demos for them. They included one paid game and three free games:

• Tunnel Shoot - tunnel shooter developed with Team Phobic
• Graffiti Ball - level-based physics game
• Ninjump - casual jumping/climbing game
• Buganoids - retro-styled circumferential shooter

Julian and Dale walk through the gameplay of each in this video:

We expect they'll continue with their great success. Tunnel Shoot is the first title to be delivered on June 24th with Graffiti Ball, Ninjump and Buganoids each following every 2 weeks. Julian Farrior is an active participant in our forums as Backflip Studios.

Imangi Studios, made up of husband and wife team Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova, were also in attendance at WWDC 2010. We met up with Luckyanova who sat down and gave us a hands on demo of their upcoming dual stick shooter Max Adventure. We had previewed the game back in April which remains a work in progress. Imangi hopes to have the game ready by the end of July.

The game's plot consists of an end-of-the-world scenario where all the adults have been abducted by aliens. That leaves you, Max, as the only one who can save the other children and save the world.

The game specifics remain a work in progress but currently features multiple weapons (standard, wide spread, dual shot, radial shot), powerups (invincibility, power boost) and 3 different types of enemies. They haven't finalized the number of levels that the final game will contain.

Max Adventure is due for release in late July. Both Natalia and Keith are active participants in our forums as nattylux and kshep.

At WWDC 2010, we got a chance to meet up with New Zealand developer David Frampton who had his latest creation in hand to show off. Frampton was a long time Mac developer turned fulltime iPhone developer after the success of his original App Store launch title Chopper. Reminiscent of Choplifter, Chopper put you in tilt-control of a chopper with missions to save your comrades while taking on enemy forces.

After a year in development, Chopper 2 hopes to add a number of improvements to the game. Frampton has worked hard on improving the graphical engine for the game. The sequel offers a 3d terrain over which to fly as well as offering both iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch support. The level designs have also been tweaked by adding a variety of goals. Goals can include saving your men, pick up and drop off goals, as well as defending a structure from spawning enemies. The game comes with 4 different terrains each with 3 different missions. Meanwhile, these 12 missions come in 3 different difficulties offering 36 total distinct levels.

One eye-catching feature that Frampton will be adding to the final version is the inclusion of the Bluetooth remote control that allows the iPhone to act as a controlled for the iPad version.

The game will come in a single universal binary that can be used on either device and includes the remote functionality within. So, a single purchase can be used for both devices.

We shot some video of the current version of Chopper 2 at WWDC. This shows a couple of terrains as well as the Bluetooth iPhone/iPad interaction.

Chopper 2 is expected to be complete in the next couple of months and the base price is going to be $4.99 (Universal) but with an introductory sale.

During WWDC this week we met with Glu to get a peek at their upcoming game lineup, along with the not entirely surprising news that they're going to be shifting towards the freemium market towards the end of this year. In the meantime, they showed us four of their upcoming games, which will all be coming out in the next few months.

Escape From Nom - A physics-powered puzzle game where you have to aim a colored circle (named Alan) to get to the bottom of the water at the bottom of the screen. You can control where you drop Alan, and levels often involve either using existing or placing new gizmos in to the game world to bounce off of to avoid being eaten by the Noms, multi-colored blobs which are either stationary or moving about.

Much like Enigmo, later levels require a quite a bit of thought and manipulation of various objects to bounce Alan about. Some levels even have Alan starting out as a different color than the water, at which point you must have him bounce off an appropriately colored bumper in order to change to the correct color to complete the level.

Escape From Nom also comes with a full featured level editor which will allow you to create and share new levels. Aside from user-generated levels, the game will come with 30 pre-made levels of increasing difficulty across 3 different game worlds. Escape From Nom will be released soon, potentially even before the end of June.

Build-a-Lot 2 - This is a sequel of the original Build-a-Lot, which came out in early 2009. We liked the original in our review, and it sounds like the sequel is more of the same with additional enhancements. There are new blueprints to unlock, and a new curb appeal system that adds another level of depth to the game as curb appeal increases as a house is built closer to a playground and other desirable structures.

Tons of other parts of the game has been tweaked, and it's safe to say if you enjoyed the original you will also like the sequel. Build-a-Lot 2 is expected mid-July and Glu is also working on an iPad-optimized version of the game.

Deer Hunter African Safari - More of the same Deer Hunter action, this time set in Africa. You'll be able to do 3 different hunts in 4 separate locations and shoot exotic game like lions, zebra, kudus, elephants, and other virtual African animals begging for your bullets. Like the other Deer Hunter games, there will be DLC to purchase additional equipment and other fun hunting toys to allow you to more efficiently cleanse the land of life.

Deer Hunter African Safari will be available mid-August.

Deer Hunter 3D for iPad - The original Deer Hunter 3D is making its way to the iPad, with 16 different hunts in 4 different locations. 7 different types of animals are packed in to the game, and there are 13 different weapons to shoot them with. Everything is up-scaled to 1024x768, and the game looks just as good as you would expect on the iPad.

Deer Hunter 3D for iPad is coming in early July.

While the Apple A4 processor and higher resolution screen of the iPhone 4 will be fantastic for gamers, what likely will cause the biggest splash in future game development is the addition of the electronic gyroscope buried inside of the device. This additional orientation sensor will likely add a similar dimension to gameplay as the Wii Motion Plus, an addon that also utilizes a gyroscope for incredibly accurate motion tracking.

While on stage during the keynote today, Steve Jobs showed a brief demonstration with a Jenga game that was able to rotate the stack of blocks while utilizing the gyroscope in addition to the accelerometers. When only using the accelerometers like games on today's devices use, rotating the stack of blocks worked, and was fairly precise, but once the gyroscope was enabled the difference was remarkable.

Here is a brief video of the gyroscope portion of the keynote, the quality is mediocre but you can easily see how the phone is able to track Steve's various movements then translate it to the game world:

The game that immediately sticks out to me that would benefit the most from this extra degree of control would be a game like Zen Bound [$2.99 / Free], as I imagine manipulating the objects you wrap could be even easier with yet another degree of control. It's not hard to think of other games that could be enhanced by the extremely precise motion tracking, especially if you've ever used a Wii Motion Plus and have seen just how much the addition of a gyroscope can improve how accurately a game can track your movement.

Like anything on the App Store, it's up to developers to implement these new features. All we can do is wait and see what they come up with once they finally get the device in their hands.

This morning in sunny San Francisco, California I lined up ridiculously early for the Apple keynote outside of Moscone. After hours and hours of waiting, we finally filed in to the convention center and up to the massive meeting room to watch Steve Jobs take the stage and officially reveal the new iPhone.

Dubbed the "iPhone 4", it comes packed with the same A4 processor found in the iPad, a new gyroscope sensor, a screen that is 4x the resolution of the existing iPhone, and plenty of other awesome features. From a gaming perspective, the additional horsepower provided by the A4 means much like the iPad, existing games will load up faster as well as have higher frame rates. New iPhone 4-enhanced games will look even better on the device, although I can't wait to see how developers tag these games as "HD" is already in use to signify an iPad game.

The iPhone 4 will debut at $199 and $299 for 16GB or 32GB models, with the iPhone 3GS taking the iPhone 3G's current spot as the $99 "entry level" iPhone. Pre-orders for the new device will begin June 15th, and Apple plans on shipping out the new handsets on June 24th.

Even bigger news is that the iPhone OS is not only officially dubbed "iOS 4", but it will also be available for free, even for iPod touch owners. (Although, unfortunately the first generation iPod touch won't be capable of running iOS4.) This should be a boon for developers, as they will no longer be pressured in to supporting ancient OS versions for the sake of compatibility if everyone can upgrade for free.

We'll be taking an in-depth look at what all of these things mean for us at TouchArcade later today. In the meantime, take a look at the Apple site for the new iPhone and be sure to watch the video.

WWDC 2010 is about to kick off. We are on the scene to cover new Apple announcements as well as meet with game developers about their latest creations. Apple is widely expected to launch the new iPhone as well as provide more details on iPhone OS 4. As always, there will likely also be a few surprises. Live coverage available at MacRumors amongst other sites.

Developers attending the conference should contact us by email to arrange meetings. Stay tuned.

We are going to be attending both WWDC in San Francisco as well as E3 this month. WWDC runs from the 7th to the 11th at the Moscone Convention Center, and E3 goes from the 15th to the 17th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Readers can look forward to an avalanche of news, game previews, and other interesting things from both events.

Coverage from these events in 2009 is viewable either by taking a look at the E3 Expo 2009 or WWDC 2009 categories.

WWDC will likely bring about the official announcement of the new iPhone, even more iPhone OS 4.0 details, and potentially several other things floating around the Apple rumor mill during the keynote on the morning of the 7th. While game coverage from WWDC will likely focus on games by the various indie developers in attendance, the big players of the gaming industry will be in full force at E3. We're expecting a Sonic 4 hands on, and many other exciting developments from well known console game developers/publishers throwing their hats in to the iPhone ring.

If you're a developer or publisher and would like to meet up at either WWDC or E3, send us an email at tips@toucharcade.com or send me a message via AIM to schedule an appointment. Our event schedules usually fill up very quickly, so don't wait to long if you have something you'd like to show us.