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Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

TUAW exclusive: Makers of Aurora Feint unveil new game, codenamed "VSL"

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 20th, 2009


Aurora Feint was one of the iPhone's first big games, way back in the early days of the App Store. Since then, the company behind that first hit has added on a few different games in the same universe, each with their own separate features and focus, but all in the same vein of puzzle-based RPG. Today, Aurora Feint, Inc. has pulled back the curtain just slightly to reveal their very first original effort since that initial App Store release. The game is only codenamed so far -- they're calling it "VSL" -- but the developers at Aurora Feint plan to turn it into a "showcase" of what's possible with Apple's new policy of allowing free apps to provide content on demand.

Above is the very first screenshot of the yet-to-be revealed game, and TUAW got a chance to talk exclusively with both Peter Relan and Jason Citron of Aurora Feint about the new game, what it'll be like, and how it'll integrate with their growing social gaming platform, OpenFeint. Click the link below to read on.

Continue reading “TUAW exclusive: Makers of Aurora Feint unveil new game, codenamed "VSL"”

Tags: apple, aurora-feint, chat, codename, content, exclusive, gaming, in-app-purchases, interview, iphone, ipod-touch, jason-citron, microtransactions, openfeint, peter-relan, puzzle-based-rpg, social-gaming, tuaw, virtual-goods, vsl

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK

Freeverse goes with ngmoco's Plus+ for iPhone social gaming

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 31st, 2009

Freeverse has picked a partner in the ongoing dance of social gaming networks on the iPhone. They've joined up with ngmoco and their Plus+ system for all of their games, including Flick Bowling, Flick Fishing, and Moto Thunder. The first Freeverse game to use the system (which allows players to earn points across games, track friends' playing habits, and vie for the tops of leaderboards) will be an upcoming title called Warpgate, and then it'll be ported back to the already-released games as well.

This is actually a fairly big shot across the board of other networks vying for players, including Aurora Feint's OpenFeint, Chillingo's Crystal SDK, Scoreloop, and a few other competing services. ngmoco had originally announced that their Plus+ service would be proprietary to the titles that they published, but the inclusion of Freeverse as a partner means they're likely headhunting for quality titles to add to the mix, much like everyone else.

To a certain extent, this is a behind-the-scenes battle -- consumers will likely choose games based on what they want to play, not necessarily on what social network they're hooked into. It's as if Microsoft, instead of having the overarching Xbox Live system, left it up to developers to award and track achievement points. But you have to think that one big player will emerge here, and then it'll be interesting to see what kinds of rewards the devs who connected with that system will reap.

[via TouchArcade]

Tags: achievement, crystal-sdk, freeverse, ngmoco, ngmoco:, openfeint, plus, scoreloop, social-gaming, social-networking, socialgaming, xbox-live

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, iPhone, SDK, iPod touch

OpenFeint drops dev fees as Chillingo announces social gaming network Crystal SDK

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 15th, 2009

The social gaming market on the iPhone has taken two sharp turns recently. First up, right after announcing that their system hit a full million users, OpenFeint announced that their social gaming platform has gone completely free for developers. Originally, the SDK was free to download, and then there was a small cost-per-user fee for developers, but with this new change, that cost is gone, and OpenFeint will now make all of their money, as we were told by Peter Relan, from referring users to other games and in-app purchases, and then taking that cut from Apple.

The popular publisher Chillingo has also announced a newcomer to the social gaming scene: they're planning to introduce another system called Crystal SDK, that will presumably both be free to all developers, and automatically included in most of Chillingo's games. Their release specifically tells us that "Crystal is iPhone's answer to Microsoft's Xbox Live," so they're officially throwing their hat in an already crowded ring.

With a million users, OpenFeint is still the biggest network going, but obviously Chillingo believes there's still many more to pick up. Should be interesting to see, as always, what users decide to do.

Tags: chillingo, crystal-sdk, gaming, iphone, network, openfeint, sdk, service, social-gaming, social-network, users, xbox-live

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