At GDC, Touch Arcade met with India-based 99Games, an iPhone-focused division of Robosoft, the 10-year-old Mac publisher responsible for a large number of big-name conversions, including Lego Star Wars, Fable: The Lost Chapters, and Sid Meyer’s Pirates. They shared with us details of their upcoming iPhone updates and new releases.
WordsWorth
The company revealed that their popular word puzzle game WordsWorth [App Store] (which was on the App Store’s Top 100 list for 3-4 weeks) will soon be getting a notable update that includes Facebook Connect functionality, which will allow friends to keep track of each others’ scores and progress. What’s more, the company will be releasing a Flash-based version of the game that ties to the Facebook Connect functionality in the new iPhone version.
Chess Pro
99Games’ Chess Pro [App Store] will also be receiving a major update adding online gameplay functionality to the title. The new version will allow gamers to engage in multiple (asynchronous) online games at once and will also include a chat system. Facebook Connect will also be rolled in and another new feature will allow players wanting to learn from their game sessions to able to play back the moves of a chess game after it has ended.
The update to Chess Pro will be available in the next couple of weeks.
Aqua Jigsaw
Simple Jigsaw puzzle game Aqua Jigsaw [App Store] will soon be receiving an update that enhances the game’s visuals by adding fluid water animation effects, similar to those in Koi Pond [App Store].
New Titles
Wordulous is one of several new titles in the works at 99Games. It’s a Text Twist-like word making game that displays a series of six jumbled letters to the player and challenges them to use them to form words. A 180-second countdown timer paces the action. The more words formed within the time limit, the higher the score, and any word greater than 4 letters in length adds seconds to the timer.
The game will feature local and online leaderboards, cut-scene characters that offer encouragement along the way, and localization in six languages (English, French Italian, Spanish, German, and Russian). Wordulous will debut in late April at a limited-time introductory price of $.99.
While details were few, the company is also working on two licensed titles that will appear in the App Store later this year. One is a hidden-object game and the other is a conversion of a PC title similar to the popular Pocket God [App Store]. Stay tuned for more info on these as it becomes available.
