SwordOfFargoal
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Sword of Fargoal 2 crosses the Kickstarter finish line
Sword of Fargoal was one of the earliest great games on the iPhone (after making the transition over from the Commodore 64 version a long time ago), and as we reported previously, the developers behind the game recently took to Kickstarter to try and pick up funding for a sequel. They held a livestream of interviews all this past Friday and Saturday (which they kindly asked me to join for a little bit), and as of early Saturday morning, the drive was still about $10,000 behind. But that money was made up in the last few hours, because Sword of Fargoal 2 reached its Kickstarter goal of $50,000. Congrats to the whole team over there -- that's very impressive for a mobile game on Kickstarter. The good news for all of us is that the game can finally get production underway, and it should be set for the expected release sometime next May. Backers of the Kickstarter project (above the lowest level) will all get copies of the game when it arrives, and the rest of us will have to look for it in the iOS and Mac App Stores later on next year.
Daily iPhone App: Sword of Fargoal is great, goes free
Sword of Fargoal is an older title from the App Store -- it was introduced quite a while back as a graphical roguelike RPG, in that you run around a randomly generated dungeon while collecting gold and beating down anything in your way. The game actually started back in the early '80s, but came to the iPhone early on, and has since been updated a lot in terms of graphics, gameplay elements and just general stability. At this point, it's a really well-polished, well-traveled action RPG game. And right now, it's absolutely free, so you should grab it for your iPhone for sure. The reason it's free is because the developers of the game are working on a sequel (that we got to see at Macworld at the beginning of last year) that's currently trying to pick up $50,000 in funding on Kickstarter. Sword of Fargoal 2 is a much bigger and better sequel, and the devs are looking to raise some money to help them make it. Unfortunately, it's going to be a tough road, as they've only raised about $14,000 with a few weeks to go, but the plan here is to make Sword of Fargoal free, and hope that raises awareness (and interest) in funding Sword of Fargoal 2. I don't know if they'll make the goal itself ($50,000 is a lot to ask for an iOS game, in my humble opinion), but I can tell you that the original title is excellent, and a great bargain at the low price of free. Definitely pick it up while you can, and do fund the sequel if you think it's worth supporting.
Macworld Expo 2011: Trouble Brothers' Sword of Fargoal 2 and other titles
Jeff McCord and Steve Shippert head up a Seattle-based company called Trouble Brothers, and while I visited their booth at Macworld to talk about iOS games, the two have quite a gaming history. They met while playing trivia games in Seattle, and they have worked on real-life board games in the past. They've also done some educational game titles and even a city-wide treasure hunt in their hometown. So these guys know gaming, and the games they've produced for iOS make that very clear. First up, I got to see Sword of Fargoal 2. Sword of Fargoal is one of the most popular RPG titles on the App Store -- it's a retro title that is based on an old roguelike game that's actually run by another company -- Fargoal, LLC -- of which McCord is a part. With his partners Elias Pshernig and Lead Designer Paul Pridham, McCord was showing the game at the same booth, even though it's not technically a Trouble Brothers title. Sword of Fargoal 2 keeps that basic idea, but updates the aesthetic quite a bit. In addition to new music and new dungeon types, there will also be new classes to play via in-app purchase (Thief, Magic user, Ranger and Fighter) as well as male and female versions of each. I also got to see some new animated openings for the game, and they look terrific.
TUAW's Daily App: Powder
TUAW's Daily App spotlights one great App Store app, every single weekday. Powder probably isn't the most polished roguelike RPG experience on the App Store (Sword of Fargoal is generally considered to be among the best), but what it lacks in graphical quality, it makes up for in ease-of-use. The genre is sometimes tough to get into, but Powder, originally designed for the Game Boy Advance, uses easy buttons and icons to let you guide your turn-based RPG character through random dungeons, killing monsters, gaining XP, and drinking weird potions of various colors, all while trying to avoid cursed gear. It's still not easy (roguelikes are notoriously ruthless affairs, and permadeath is still the rule), but the controls are surprisingly intuitive, and the included tutorial makes an often steep learning curve much more gentle, even if you're new to the genre. Plus, Powder wins points from me for its flexible save state process; it's very easy to work your way through a dungeon floor, exit out to make a call or do something else on your iPhone, and then dive back in and pick up right where you left off. Best of all, it just recently went free; that makes sense, considering the other versions are free as well. If you still want to support programmer Jeff Lait, you can do so by donating on his Web site. Meanwhile, Powder is a free download in the App Store, and definitely worth checking out.
