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Handcircus set to return to iOS with free game based on Okabu
Simon Oliver's Handcircus studio was one of the biggest winners in the early days of the App Store. His game Rolando was originally published by Ngmoco back before the company went completely bonkers with social and free-to-play casual games. After Rolando 2 sort of sputtered out into the marketplace, hamstrung by Ngmoco's own strategy, Oliver and his company strayed away from iOS and created a game called Okabu for the PlayStation Network. Oliver is coming back to iOS, according to The Guardian. The company has been working on a new mobile title set in the same universe as Okabu that will again be free-to-play. But before Rolando fans worry, don't forget that the app market changed a lot in the few years since Rolando was released, and Oliver himself has changed as well. "When Ngmoco decided to go free-to-play, I didn't know how to make games like that," he tells the Guardian. "But ideas have been bubbling away for the last couple of years." I'm interested to see what Oliver gets up to. He suggests that Handcircus still may use a third-party publisher to get the game out, which is a little bit worrying. But it'll be good to have one of the biggest original iPhone devs back on the platform with a new release.
Rolando and Rolando 2 updated with Retina Display, on sale now
Ngmoco has surprised us with some updates. Rolando and its sequel Rolando 2 have both been updated for the iPhone 4's Retina Display and have had a few bug issues fixed. To celebrate the update, they're both on sale for just US$0.99. Either one of these is a bargain at that price. They're both very solid, original platformers, designed specifically for the iOS system. What's most interesting about this, though, is that Ngmoco has updated these at all. Rolando was one of the first big titles for the now gigantic iOS developer, but when Ngmoco moved into the We Rule freemium model, the Rolando series was more or less abandoned in favor of games that could use more microtransactions and attract more "DAUs" (daily active users). A lot of Rolando fans were disappointed with that direction, though Ngmoco's We Rule and other freemium games have seen plenty of success anyway. Rolando creator Simon Oliver's HandCircus has been working on a PSN game instead, but maybe with these updates, there's a possibility we could finally see Ngmoco return to the little rolling hero and his series.
Unity CEO disses Jobs on gaming
Unity CEO David Helgason gave a talk at the Develop conference, going on this week in Brighton, England, and had some harsh words for Steve Jobs on supporting iPhone gaming. Jobs previously said that using "middleware" like Unity to develop iPhone games "produces sub-standard apps," but Helgason fires back that Jobs "doesn't understand the economics of game development fundamentally." Most developers, Helgason seems to be saying, can't be jack-of-all-trades with their code -- they need libraries like Unity to do some of the lifting, especially on smaller-scale platforms like the App Store. Stuart Dredge at Mobile Entertainment is doing a great job of covering all of the other iPhone gaming news coming out of Develop as well -- he's got talks by the developers of Ngmoco's Godfinger, Rolando's Simon Oliver, and Ideaworks Game Studio, the company that brought World at War: Zombies to the iPhone for Activision (that last talk sounds similar to the one we saw earlier this year at GDC). If there's a theme among everything developers are saying, it's probably that they're finding flexibility a must on the App Store -- while an app may be developed with one feature or pay model in mind, things often have to change quickly during development or even after the app goes live. Lots of interesting things to read in there if you're interested in iPhone game development.
Rolando dev claims barriers to publishing much lower on iPhone
Simon Oliver has been a game developer for more than a few years now, so we're going to trust him when he says, "The barriers to publishing, compared to developing for the Wii, or PlayStation Portable, or Nintendo DS, [are] incredibly low," regarding Apple's iPhone. The Rolando developer recently spoke with GamesIndustry.biz and had some interesting things to say regarding the development and publishing processes involved in his massively successful game."There were a lot of aspects in my own skillset that I felt needed work - my C++ was okay, but it was quite seat-of-the-pants stuff initially," he says, regarding development of Rolando. He believes that while "there's not the same level of quality control that you get on XBLA or WiiWare" the games released for Apple's platform are more interesting as "the barrier to entry is so unbelievably low." We've certainly heard this tune before and it looks as though some major players are jumping on the iPhone bandwagon. We're hopeful that the future for the iPhone's developmental wild west can withstand the pressure of big money publishers wrangling up all the mindshare.
Rolando 2 gets a website, regular info updates
Rolando creator Simon Oliver must be a busy man. Aside from the two currently in-development Rolando sequels -- Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid coming in June and Rolando 3 in November -- the developer is also posting regular updates to publisher ngmoco's new Rolando 2 website. Promising new character and environment reveals as well as tours of "exciting new gameplay" on the site, we imagine Rolando fans like us might make this a stop on their daily stroll down internet street. Though we can glean little from what's currently on the site, it seems Rolando 2 players will be encountering a tropical island theme when the game arrives on iPhone this summer. The prospect of that thrills us just as much as it does you -- does that mean we get to take a boat?!
Rolando's Simon Oliver in the Daily Mail
The Daily Mail has reported the story of our friend Simon Oliver, creator of Rolando (whom we interviewed quite a while ago when the game originally came out). Apparently things have worked out very well for him -- the game has sold 700,000 copies so far, Oliver's set to be a millionaire, and he's now, as he says, the head of a game studio that already has a hit under its belt. Very impressive (too bad they still call him a geek).It's stories like this that are pushing the little App Store bubble we've got going nowadays -- every investor with money to spare (not as many as usual, given the current economy) is happy to sink it into releases for the iPhone, and while there is plenty of money being made, not every developer ends up like Oliver (let's not forget he had a quality product in the first place).But there is some good news here: without the App Store and the iPhone platform, this never would have happened. Say what you want about Apple's release policies or their initial "no SDK" choice, but with the iPhone, they've brought development and distribution down to anyone who can dream it.
More Rolando rolling out in 2009
Hand Circus's Rolando is one of the iPhone's breakout hits (IGN called it the iPhone's "killer app" in their review), so it's no surprise that the developer would want to follow up the Loco Roco-esque puzzle-platformer in some way. Creator Simon Oliver told Pocket Gamer that plans are in the works for more Rolando content of some kind. "I can't say too much about this now, but you'll see some more activity on the Rolando front in 2009," Oliver said, "and I've got a couple of new game ideas bubbling away at concept stage right now."This could mean some kind of new version of the first game with added content, or a sequel, or even a game on another platform -- although Rolando's success on the iPhone platform will probably inspire Oliver to stay there. Whatever the details of the content, this is great news for people who like rolling little circular guys around.
TUAW goes hands-on with Rolando
It's no secret that we've been looking forward to Rolando probably more than any other game on the App Store, and now that it's here, we can safely say it doesn't disappoint. From the beginning, Rolando has shown tons of potential as a completely original game that shows off just why mobile game developers should see the iPhone as a dream platform, and creator Simon Oliver has brought that potential to bear in an amazing puzzle/platformer.There's almost nothing to not like here -- the graphics are colorful and run perfectly, the writing is simple and witty, and the gameplay is not only fun from the beginning, but creatively builds itself over time. Just like any great platformer should, every single level delivers a new way of thinking about the tools you're given, and even when you've conquered the whole game, there are multiple reasons to go back and play again.TUAW got a copy of the game a few days ago (it's out on the App Store today for the first time since its announcement back in July), and since then we've saved Rolandos aplenty, worked our way through most of Rolandoland, and been charmed endlessly by the App Store's first real, original classic.%Gallery-39617%
TUAW Interview: Rolando's Simon Oliver is ready for release
So today, on the release of one of the first games that really got us excited about the potential of the iPhone as a gaming device (yes, you can buy it right now if you want), we sit down again with Simon Oliver for an exclusive interview, this time to talk about the road he's traveled over the past few months, and how far both he and his game about little rolling "Rolandos" has come. He talked with us about the Ngmoco partnership and how it helped him as a developer, the viability of Rolando as a $9.99 game, and the future of both what he's working on and what the App Store needs as a gaming platform.
Rolando: A different iPhone game
Here we go. You guys sounded really jaded on the comments for the kart racing game, so here's an iPhone game that might actually break some new ground. It's called Rolando -- Simon Oliver is the developer, and he sent us a tip and the trailer above, and if you're looking for some fun and innovation in iPhone gaming, here you go. It looks kind of like a cocktail of LocoRoco, Lemmings, Kirby's Canvas and Katamari Damacy all mixed together with some iPhone originality for good measure. With a mix like that, you can't go wrong.Simon tells us it's a "physics-based platform/puzzler.". He says that there will be four different worlds in the game, with ten levels each, including boss levels and bonus stages, and while it's not seen in the video, there might be a little accelerometer action as well. There are a few different versions of the little circular guys, called Rolandos (the King Rolando, with the crown in the video, has to be moved around by the others, for instance), as well as various implements throughout the levels that can be controlled directly. Simon's aiming to get it in the App Store by August, and while pricing hasn't been finalized, he's thinking $9.99 sounds good.Don't like kart racing on the iPhone? As long as we can get a few good original games looking as good as this one does, you may not have to worry.
