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On this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show, we fight through the appeal of talking about weird people who use library computers in ‘interesting’ ways in order to bring you discussion of the latest and hottest on the App Store. I think Groove Coaster takes center stage, but we also end up talking a little Angry Birds, and again, the “masocore” genre. The latter is due to Jared’s inability to play fun, wholesome games. Dude likes to lose — a lot.

As usual, you can hit us up just below through all of these fancy links. Additionally, you can support the show by subscribing to us on iTunes or the Zune Marketplace and then rating us sixteen stars out of five. We’re good like that.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
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Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-010.mp3, 37MB

Here’s your show notes! And prepare for another bonus podcast this coming Monday, as well as the regularly scheduled show this Friday. If you’d like to get in touch, podcast@toucharcade.com is the best way to do it, but you can also hit us up via the Twitters and the Facebooks.

GAMES

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In case you didn't know, Unity provides the glue that makes a considerable amount of iOS games work. It's a game engine, development environment, and multi-platform publishing tool rolled into one easy to use package. (You can read all about it here.) The magic behind Unity is what brings the world of Aralon [$4.99] to life, and what allows you to level up in Order & Chaos Online [$6.99]. Similarly, it's what allows Gameloft to take Order & Chaos and seamlessly turn it into a Facebook game. The engine isn't limited to 3D either, it's what's behind fantastic 2D platformers like Max and the Magic Marker [99¢] and too many other games to list.

Recently, Unity 3.4 was released which brings a whole boat load of new features, functionality, and other tweaks. So many, in fact, that it's hard to pick out which to highlight. Personally, I'm excited for better water effects, because who doesn't love water effects? Also, finally having gyroscope support is going to be great. The best part about these kind of engine upgrades, is that most of the tweaks and enhancements are essentially "free" just as part as developers upgrading to the new version, and testing to make sure that nothing breaks in the process.

If you're a Unity developer, download 3.4 and give it a shot. If you're a gamer, keep an eye out for upcoming Unity titles that benefit from the mile long feature list of the 3.4 upgrade.

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One hurdle when making games for the iOS platform is creating controls for an entirely touch screen interface. Often, the simplest approach is the best, and it doesn’t really get much simpler than single-tap gameplay. That is the approach taken in Space is Key [99¢] by ChrisJeff Games, which was recently released in the App Store. Space is Key started out as a popular Flash game, which is another platform that is well-suited to single-button mechanics. Because of this the game translates extremely well to iOS, and offers a fiendishly difficult but strangely captivating arcade experience.

Space is Key is a series of 43 single screen challenges distilled down to the basics of running and jumping. Your tiny square character handles the running part automatically, entering from either the right or left side of the screen. Your job is to tap the screen to jump at just the right times to clear the obstacles in each level and safely make it to the other side of the screen.

That may sound simple, but Space is Key is anything but. If your square so much as grazes an obstacle, you’re instantly killed. This is a game where you will die no matter what, and you will die often. There’s no avoiding it, and that’s really the point of the game. Your score is calculated as the amount of times that you end up dying after a straight run through all 43 levels. So yes, we're all going to die when playing the game, but let's see who can die the least.

The margin for error when trying to successfully navigate past obstacles is razor thin, and the difficulty can be erratic. A certain level you might completely nail in just a few short tries during one play through, then the next time that same level might take you a hundred tries or more (literally). This makes it difficult to get too excited even if you are doing particularly well, since it can all come crashing down at the drop of a hat, but that also adds an intensity to the game which I like.

This sort of masochistic gameplay ends up working because Space is Key is so darn quick and easy to play. Upon death, your restart is instantaneous and automatic, to the point that many times you haven’t even processed that you’ve screwed up before you’re already off and running into a new attempt. This means it's incredibly easy to just waste lives with reckless abandon when becoming particularly fixated with passing a certain level, and if you aren't careful, a potentially good score can slip away in the blink of an eye.

At first blush, Space is Key might look like nothing more than an early Atari 2600 title. That’s basically correct, but little flourishes like cool particle effects and a kick ass chiptune soundtrack give it a modern touch that would never been possible on that old hardware. Despite the retro aesthetic, the game has a lot of personality. This is mostly due to the humorous messages that pop up throughout the game that are designed to teach, praise, and pester you along the way.

The only downside to Space is Key is that it doesn’t have a whole lot of lasting appeal. I played it pretty obsessively for a few days until I’d achieved a decent score, but after that there’s not much reason to revisit it. A global leaderboard and 25 well designed Game Center achievements extend the experience, but I’d really like to see some more levels or possibly some additional modes down the line. Hints on the game's Facebook page lead me to believe that we'll see such things in the future.

While the gameplay on the whole is a bit thin, Space is Key is pretty entertaining for a 99¢ title. At times you’ll feel like breaking your device over your knee due to the difficulty, but completing the game is a fairly quick and satisfying experience. It’s hard to not want to keep replaying through the game hoping for that “one perfect run” where you get an insane score. As infuriating as it can be at times, when you do finally have a great run in Space is Key it makes all the pain worth it.

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At the beginning of last month we learned that developer Godzilab was currently in the process of making a sequel to their 2009 hit physics puzzler iBlast Moki [$2.99/HD]. iBlast Moki 2 will feature similar bomb-blasting physics gameplay as the first game but with many new level elements and Moki characters, as well as an improved level editor.

Since our first post about iBlast Moki 2, Godzilab has posted additional screens and new information about the game on their Facebook page. One nugget of information they divulge is that there will be many new Mokis, including this little yellow guy on the right who the developer notes is from the Steam World levels in the game.

Another new element, the pink paint bomb, is shown in the gameplay screen below on the left. The paint bomb will blast its insides all over the ground, creating a rubbery surface for the Moki to bounce off of. In the gameplay screen on the right, you can see a mechanical structure which will move a rudimentary vehicle carrying a couple of cute little Mokis (click images to enlarge):

One of the most exciting new prospects of iBlast Moki 2 is the revamped level editor. Godzilab has improved the editor by adding new features like curves, joints, and many other new elements for even greater flexibility in creating levels. As a testament to how robust the level editor is, they admit that every level in this new game was actually created using the same level editor that will ship with the final product.

Being such a huge fan of the original iBlast Moki, it’s getting pretty painful having to sustain myself on these little tidbits of information that Godzilab keeps trickling out. I’m dying to get my hands on the final game, which they are hoping to have out sometime this Summer, though nothing is concrete. There’s an active thread in our forums for discussing iBlast Moki 2 as we all impatiently wait for the release, hopefully sooner rather than later.

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On this week’s bonus edition of The TouchArcade Show, a crew of three — count ‘em! — chat with indie games visionary and creator of Canabalt [$2.99], Semi Secret Software's Adam Saltsman. The conversation kicks off with a light discussion of Adam’s oddly elaborate sandwich and then into other much more hard-hitting topics such as the themes and ideas that went into, ultimately, the creation of Canabalt, what Adam offers the indie games community, and several of his other games including Zits & Giggles and Wurdle [$1.99], one of the first iOS word games to hit the App Store.

You can download this episode directly or stream it via the links provided below or, hey, you can even subscribe to our fair podcast via iTunes or the Zune Marketplace.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-006.mp3, 30MB

This is an awesome and honest discussion that I think you’ll like. We’ll be back, of course, with another bonus episode next week with another developer chat. Also, prepare yourself for another flagship podcast this Friday. Yay! If you want to get in touch with us and get your name in the show the e-mail is podcast@toucharcade.com. You can also hit us up on the Twitter and the Facebook if social media is your thing.

Interstitial for this episode is all via Overclock Remix’s Daniel Baranowsky, the man who composed the iconic song for Canabalt. A snippet of Jim Guthrie’s Audio Pepsi opens and closes the ‘cast. Here’s a track list of what we used:

• Jurassic Park Before Time OC ReMix
• Final Fantasy VII ‘Damn Those Turks!’
• VVVVV ‘Clubbed Baby VVVVVeal’

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In this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show, the cast and crew discuss the usual —- cats, dogs, muscles, and movies from the mid-to-late 1980s. But we also decide to do our duty and talk about the latest and greatest of this week’s news and games. Specifically, we spit a little game about Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Lodsys’ latest lawsuits, Cat Dance Party, and the most recent cloning fiasco to hit the App Store.

We’re really pumped about this episode, so we hope you like it, too. As usual, you can grab the podcast just below via direct download or streaming. Additionally, you can check us out on the Zune Marketplace and iTunes if you want to subscribe to our pods.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-009.mp3, 47MB

Of course, we do hit a lot more than I mentioned in the opening there. Here are this week’s show notes with the relevant links to the articles / games we discussed. Go nuts and, hey, have a great weekend. We’ll be back next Friday for another episode.

GAMES

• Sid Meier’s Pirates! [$3.99]
• Bean's Quest [$2.99]
• Cat Dance Party [$.99]

FRONT PAGE

Music, as usual, is provided as always by the talented Jim Guthrie. Specifically, we ripped the opening track of "Audio Pepsi," one song in an album he's selling. Check it out over here if you'd like to stream it or buy it.

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4th & Battery, the creative wing of developer PopCap Games, has released its second iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch title. It’s a track-based strategy game called Allied Star Police [Free], and its available for the low-low price of $0 just like the studio’s previous work, Unpleasant Horse [Free].

As a whole, Allied Star Police is an OK title as far as free games go. The “build and deploy on tracks” concept works well enough in execution, but the economy over substance approach to the design doesn’t do the game any favors. Then again, this was a special project developed for and produced by a special person in a special studio that specializes in releasing massaged proof-of-concept material. It jives, in other words with the mission of the place.

The special dude, by the way? That would be nine-year-old Owain Weinert. This game was his Make-A-Wish dream and 4th & Battery saw the development through. According to the studio, Weinert was in the office every morning and was allowed to steer the production and development. The studio and Weinert are both pleased with the outcome and with the experience, which makes me really feel like a complete jerk for criticizing the effort.

"I have to say, my brother can't stop playing it, my dad can't stop playing it, and neither can I," Weinert said in a statement. "This started off as a dream of mine, and now my friends and people all over the world can play my creation."

You can expect several more games from 4th & Battery in the near-ish future. The studio is primed to release several a year and across other platforms, too, like the PC and Facebook.

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Connectrode [$0.99] has it rough. At a glance, you might mistake it for a match-3, and it ain't easy to stand out on the app store as a match-3 these days. It's probably even worse when you're an awesome puzzle game that just happens to look a bit too much like one.

So let's clear up that assumption. While there's a fair bit of color matching in Connectrode, there's no sliding or swapping to deal with, and no timers to beat. Instead, you're presented with a board of static, adorable computer chips. The only way to clear them off the board is to link them up with their matched partners, and to do that you're given a series of colored connectors. These connectors can link chips up with each other if you match their colors, but you can only place them in spaces that are in a clear path from the top. Close off a section of the board and you won't be placing anything into it until you clear some chips out of the way.

That one little limitation may not seem like much, but let me assure you — it is. If you give Connectrode less than your full attention, it's easy to slip up and place a connector somewhere that blocks off not only the connection you're trying to make, but, say, the whole lower half of the board. Coming back from that might be hard, or it might be impossible.

If you manage to clear an entire board, you're awarded a high score. This gets interesting, because the boards are randomly generated. Traditional leaderboards don't quite work for this set up, so Deep Plaid Games had to come up with a more creative way to share scores: when you complete a level, you can share your score with friends on Facebook or Twitter, and it includes a link that allows them to play a copy of your level. If you're a purist, though, the developer has mentioned on our forums that Game Center integration is on the to-do list, presumably for sharing your top score on each of the game's four difficulty modes.

In the meantime, you can spend some time perfecting your high scores. Earning streaks (clearing chips multiple turns in a row) gives you a nice bonus modifier, so you'll need to plan your line completion carefully to get the best possible score. You also earn bonuses for clearing more than two chips in a combo, and for clearing a color without leaving any single orphaned chips behind. Add all the factors together, and you'll find a game absolutely requires you to plan a few moves ahead if you want a score worth noticing.

Connectrode is everything I look for in a puzzle game. The game design is smart, and strikingly creative. As an added bonus, the art and interface are colorful and cute, and the music is quite cheery. If you like puzzle games that require strategy and thought, you'll definitely want to pick this one up.

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Quiz Climber [Free/$1.99] is about as simple as a trivia game can be. The game asks a question, you pick from one of four options, and then you move to the next one, bam, bam, bam. It'd be easy to write it off as a game that's not worth noting — if I could just stop playing.

As trivia games go, this one does the job. It's published by Chillingo, but it was created by Relentless Software, the developers behind the Buzz! trivia game series. At the very least, this should give you some faith in the questions. Relentless does a great job of bringing in a variety of topics — pop culture, sports, history and literature feature heavily — with well-designed questions and answers. They're a British studio, but the questions offer a good mix of British and American influences, and they're occasionally surprisingly funny.

But the questions aren't what keeps me coming back. Rather, it's the way the whole game hinges on a single failure. Your Quizzel, some sort of chubby squirrel, ascends into the branches of a pair of trees as you answer questions, and the questions get more difficult as you reach new heights. You keep climbing until you fail to answer a single question, and with that one screw-up, you're done. Your position is marked and your high score is noted, and you're left to start over again.

I never stop wanting to start again when I fall, because the games are so quick and it always feels like that one mistake that cost me my run could have been avoided. It's even worse if you take the plunge and sign into Facebook, because then you're competing with your friends for who can reach the highest branch. I've had a running competition with a friend since the game was released — right now I'm on top, but I know it won't be long until I'm overtaken. Even with a strong lead, scores are reset every week.

If avoiding even a single mistake is too much pressure, you can give yourself a break with a lifeline. You earn them by answering enough questions correctly, or you can buy them with in-app purchases. You can only use one per game so it hardly gets abusive, but it's nice to have the option. When you miss an answer while sitting right under another Quizzel and a new high score is within reach, you aren't going to want to sit back and accept failure.

When it comes down to it, Quiz Climber is an extremely straightforward game. If it weren't so totally addictive, I'd have a hard time recommending it. But at the low, low price of free for the ad-supported version, or $1.99 for the ad-free version, it's worth roping a few Facebook friends into competing with you. When you leap right past their Quizzels, leaving them frowning in your dust, you'll be glad you did.

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