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BulkyPix's MMORPG Yslandia [$4.99] recently hit the App Store after a considerable beta testing period in Canada. Earlier this month we posted an extensive hands-on preview of the game, and found quite a bit to get excited about:

In so far as the gameplay is concerned, MMOs traditionally have been about lengthy solo leveling experiences (read: grinding) with a smattering of teamwork needed in certain encounters. Yslandia on the other hand is more focused all around Player vs Player combat and social interactions (but with its own share of grinding). The three islands that make up the initial release of Yslandia are comprised of respective starting islands for the Simeh'a Alliance and the Zaa'me Coalition (essentially, Light vs Dark), and a neutral territory called Gilda where all the PvP combat goes on. And it's on this latter island that most of your time in Yslandia will be spent.

On Gilda, teams have to work together to capture Totems on the battlefield, thereby claiming territories for their Faction. The game itself encourages this teamwork– particularly teamwork through guild participation– by way of its skill system. Departing from any existing skill-building concepts, characters in Yslandia learn additional skills by "training" with other guild members. Every 10 levels, you accumulate training points in addition to your standard skill points, which can then be invested in other guild members, bestowing upon them a skill you currently have learned. Aside from skills learned in this fashion, characters start with 4 skills, 2 of which are usually passive.

'Usually' in this context is used quite loosely, as Yslandia boasts a massive lineup of 18 different classes to choose from divided amongst 6 very different races (some of which have no passive skills). The developers have also gone beyond the usual warrior/ranger/mage archetypes to offer interesting classes such as the Necrophage, the Lycan Bloodhound or the mana-sucking Nocturn Deceiver.

A thread on our forums is serving as a bit of a staging point with people trading tips and likely banding together as more people pick up the game. Similar to nearly every MMO launch since the beginning of recorded human history, Yslandia has a few bugs and some areas that feel rough around the edges. Thankfully, tthe developers are actively posting in the previously mentioned thread and mentioned that an update to address these problems and implement Game Center support is in the works.

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John Carmack, technical director of Id Software and founder of Armadillo Aerospace, has a lot on his hands these days. Aside from building rockets, he's also been hard at work on Rage, an upcoming first person shooter. Not much is known about Rage yet, aside from a few details that have leaked out along side the various game trailers over the years it has been in the works.

Carmack went on to surprise everyone at QuakeCon this year when he showed the game running at a solid 60 fps on an iPhone 4. Rage is still in development for both the PC and iPhone, and won't be released until next year. In the meantime, John Carmack has stopped by our forums and is asking forum members what things they commonly see developers doing wrong in iPhone games. He's compiling these suggestions in to a list that Id Software is going to do their best to adhere to them in future titles.

If you've got something you'd like to see become standard in iPhone games, please leave your comments in John's thread.

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I suppose I should start this out with a little history lesson since the roots of this game are likely obscure enough that they won't be apparent to some readers. The House of the Dead is a video game series that began its life as a light gun rail shooter arcade machine in 1996. The games all share common themes in that you play as an agent (or pair of agents in two player mode) fighting various flavors of zombies, mutants, and mutant zombies. Many of the games have since been ported to other platforms such as the PC and quite a few home consoles. Typing of the Dead made its debut in 1999 in arcades of Japan, and just like the House of the Dead games, eventually made its way to the PC and home consoles as well.

Based on House of the Dead 2, Typing of the Dead had similar gameplay to the light gun shooter series, except the light gun was replaced by words appearing on screen which must be typed to "shoot" each zombie. Typing of the Dead is a cult classic, so it can be difficult to track down, but I highly recommend picking it up if you ever come across one just for the sheer "WTF" factor that the game is dripping with. This is what the game looks like:

Today our friends over at ScrewAttack.com released their first iPhone game, Texting of the Bread [$1.99], a fantastic homage to Typing of the Dead. The gameplay remains mostly the same, with two main differences that are hinted at in the title. First of all, quite a few of the things you'll be typing are commonly used acronyms in text messages, internet slang, and video game lingo. Secondly, zombies have been replaced by gingerbread zombies of all shapes and sizes. Sticking with the cookie theme, when you're in a pinch you can shake your device to unleash a tsunami of milk to wash everything on screen away as well.

Texting of the Bread comes with three game modes: Arcade had you fighting your way through waves of zombies, with some sparse story elements sprinkled throughout. Freeplay allows you to then go back and replay any of those waves you've unlocked in arcade mode. Finally, survival mode is exactly what it sounds like– Typing as fast as you can to see how long you can survive. To spice things up further, there are a bunch of achievements to farm and online leaderboards for both arcade and survival modes.

I'm really surprised how much fun I'm having with the game, although, I'm sure a bit of that has to do with my love for just how ridiculous Typing of the Dead was. Texting of the Bread shares an identical gameplay mechanic, and I appreciate ScrewAttack upping the ridiculousness ante by arming you with some kind of typing-powered milk bullet chain gun up against an onslaught of gingerbread zombies.

The only real down-side to the game is that currently it's only playable with the horizontal iPhone keyboard. I've always been a portrait mode typer myself, but according to the developers they've found that the vast majority of people out there are horizontal typers. Either way, portrait mode is on the list of things that we could potentially see in future updates.

If you're part of the cult following of Typing of the Dead, you need this game. Otherwise, Texting of the Bread is a fun and silly way to either brush up on your iPhone typing skills, or in my case, come to the depressing realization of just how fast you can type on your phone. (And the subsequent realization of just how much time you have had to spend typing on your phone to get that good.)

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Developer Rocketcat Games, who have previously brought the swinging adventure games Hook Champ [$2.99/Lite] and Super QuickHook [$2.99] to the App Store, have just announced they have a new hooking game in the works titled Hook Swing Worlds (tentative title). According to the Rocketcat blog, Hook Swing Worlds will be a collection of three different style endless hooking games, which sounds similar to the Avalanche/Eruption modes from Super QuickHook. The developer has given some details about each of the three game styles to be featured in Hook Swing Worlds:

Game World #1: Curse of the Death God

Play as adventuring family patriarch Theodore "Gramps" Hooker as you swing through jungles, caves, and volcanoes while clutching stolen treasure. Beware the guardian spirit of the idol!

Features: Chaser Survival, Quick Recharge Rocketboots Ability

Game World #2: Dungeon Gunner

Zelle finds herself trapped in a huge dungeon filled with precious, ancient gold coins. Also monsters, spikes. Luckily she brought her revolver, armor, and her coat with the really big ammo pockets.

Features: Looting and Shooting, HP Meter, Revolver Ability

Game World #3: CyberGnome 202X (Early content patch)

In the grim dystopian world of the future, the Gnome Police rule with an iron fist. One rebel Gnome stands alone against the totalitarian rule. Can *YOU* help Gnomey escape the grim future?

Features: Obstacle Survival, Gravity Flip Ability

Rocketcat notes that they are aiming to make Hook Swing Worlds more accessible to brand new players of their particular brand of swinging gameplay, while still bringing new challenges to test veteran hookers. Also, despite Hook Swing Worlds being a collection of endless survival type games, there will still be story elements as well as unlockable hooks, hats, dialog, and exclusive content for early buyers. Rocketcat will be releasing more information in the coming weeks on Hook Swing Worlds which they are shooting to have released by late October for 99¢.

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The dual-stick shooter is an overcrowded genre on the App Store, but every once in a while one of them stands out from the pack. Developer Facet Studios is working on a new dual-stick shooter called Etolis: Arena, and based on their preview video it looks like it may just have a chance of standing out. Etolis: Arena is a space-themed game that almost has a Halo-like look to it, with metallic ship chambers and bright neon highlights. Rather than just one big open map like most dual-stick shooters, the levels in Etolis: Arena have a lot more structure, and are made up of different corridors and rooms.

You'll play as a soldier of the United Front Alliance who has been captured during an invasion of the planet Etolis by an army known as the Kraven. The Queen of the Kraven, Natus, has requested that you fight for your life in what is known as the Arena for her amusement. Battles consist of 3 waves of attackers per round, with an endless amount of rounds across 5 different maps. As you defeat each wave, the Queen will give you honor points which can be used to upgrade your weapons to take on the increasingly difficult enemies. The developer details some of the features of Etolis: Arena:

- Battle for survival on 5 different maps
- Use 7 different weapons and 3 grenade types to destroy your enemies
- Battle against 11 different enemy types
- Use 1 of 4 temporary special abilities for those emergency moments (invisibility, invincibility, self explosion, and endless ammo)
- Unlock secret information about the invasion as you play in different locations
- Leader boards and Achievements
- Compelling Music

Etolis: Arena is still one to two months off from release, but is looking pretty nice in the teaser trailer. The structured arenas seem like a fun place to do battle, and the game has a cool style and impressive graphics to complement this aspect. There's also a fairly fleshed-out storyline to accompany all the action, which can be rare in games of this type. More information and screens can be found in the upcoming game thread in our forums, and we'll bring you more news on Etolis: Arena as it becomes available.

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If you missed Mind Juice Media's Charmed [Free] the last time the game went free, now's your chance to download one of the better match three games available on the App Store. Charmed combines classic match three gameplay with accelerometer controlled gravity, the ability to freeze time, and multiple game modes. Clearing levels in Charmed involves matching charms on top of gold tiles, and this is made more difficult by immovable purple blocks which stop blocks from falling past them.

To see how this all goes together, check out the following gameplay video:

Charmed was made free today in part to promote their new game, Flight Deck: Reloaded [99¢], a military-themed line drawing game similar to Flight Control [99¢]. Definitely download Charmed while it's free, and if you can't get enough of landing planes and helicopters on color corresponding runways and landing pads, give Flight Deck: Reloaded a look.

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Last week we reported that, thanks to Apple recently relaxing its iOS SDK agreement, Manomio submitted a major 2.0 update of Commodore 64, their C64 emulator / game system, to the App Store with BASIC reenabled (and fingers crossed). We're happy to report that the app has been approved and is now available for download [link].

I had a chat with developer Stuart Carnie yesterday, shortly after he received word from Apple that Commodore 64 v2.0 was approved, during which he shared further details concerning this notable update.

With BASIC back, so too is the full C64 keyboard. Carnie is excited about the prospect of users having full and complete access to every game presented, which, in some games, can only happen when a full keyboard is available. And, while it's here in v2.0, the keyboard hasn't gotten any attention since it was removed back in November and, as such, a near-term update will address the absence of a few missing keys (semi-colon, colon) as well as a lock mode for the RUNSTOP, C=, and SHIFT keys, to use in conjunction with others.

A bit further out will come cycle-exact emulation on newer hardware (ARMv7), to resolve digital sound issues with Space Taxi and enable a few free games from Beam Software, such as Exploding Fist.

We've seen a lot of anticipation from readers for an iPad version of C64, and Carnie tells us that it's big on the roadmap. Thanks to Apple allowing BASIC, he really wants to create a great experience for iPad users wanting to experiment with the language, including a finely tuned keyboard and even Bluetooth support. "Think 'full' C64 experience," says Carnie. Due to Manomio's work on the upcoming Amiga classic titles, these more significant upgrades are slated for release next year — and we can't wait.

As for additional games on the horizon, Carnie was able to reveal that they're in the progress of bringing several more Thalamus titles on-board: Creatures I and II and Retrograde. Also on the way is MYTH: History in the Making from System 3, which requires emulated 1541 floppy drive support and a disk-swapping user interface (which is already in the system).

Thanks to Apple for their relaxed stance on the SDK agreement and thanks to the folks at Manomio for giving retro fans like myself so much sweet candy to enjoy.

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If you've been following App Store gaming for a while, you may remember a retro-inspired RPG named Undercroft from developer Rake in Grass. It was a turn-based RPG that replicated the faux first-person exploring of old-school titles that used scaling of 2D images and sprites to simulate a 3D world. Undercroft was released last October to a largely positive reception in our forums, but strangely the title was pulled from the App Store last month. After some confusion as to why, a representative from Rake in Grass informed our forum members that the Undercroft IP and the game engine that it ran on had been sold to fellow developer Jagex, who many may recognize as the creators of the online MMO Runescape but who also have an assortment of titles available for the iPhone.

Due to being busy with several upcoming games, Rake in Grass didn't feel they would have the time or resources to devote to Undercroft and hence turned the title over to Jagex. The old version was taken down, and a new version published under Jagex was sent to the App Store and released earlier today, surprisingly for free. This is essentially the exact same Undercroft that you would have paid $5 for up until last month, and when questioned in our forums about ulterior motives behind this Jagex responded that there are no plans for in-app purchases and Undercroft will remain free for the foreseeable future. There is an unobtrusive advertisement for Runescape on the title screen, but other than that this is the full game for free.

Jagex will support this current version of Undercroft and most likely is working on expansion packs or a sequel to the game. My guess is that they made this version of Undercroft free so as to build up a large user base that would want to buy into these future endeavors. Regardless of any of that, there's no reason not to take a look at Undercroft now that it's free. It may be old-school at the core, but it offers a compelling gameplay experience that lets you build a team from many different classes, complete quests, fight enemies, explore an interesting world, and more. Undercroft was definitely a solid choice for $5 before and is pretty much a no-brainer now that it has returned for free.

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A few weeks ago we showed a new trailer for an upcoming gravity-based puzzle platforming game called GravBot from Team Phobic. They have since sent us a near-final build of the game, and after completing nearly all of it, I'm thoroughly impressed with just about everything that GravBot has to offer. Team Phobic has already proven that they know how to bring cute, colorful graphics and excellent level designs with Bounce On [$1.99/Lite] and Bounce On 2 [$3.99/Lite], and those skills have translated well into the creation of GravBot. The levels start out simple enough and ease you into the different elements in the game, but as you progress GravBot will really test your puzzle solving skills and force you to look at each level from every angle.

In GravBot, you'll play as a tiny robot who must collect all of the batteries on each perilous level. In order to accomplish this, you can spin the entire level either 90 degrees left or right or entirely upside down to change the direction of gravity. Your robot can travel left and right on its single tire, and will fall towards whichever way happens to be down at the time. Levels are filled with hazards like spikes, enemies, and lasers which will kill instantly if not avoided. The batteries can be tricky to get to, and a color-coded system of trapdoors, elevators, and various other obstacles will need to be triggered by switching a lever or pushing blocks onto buttons – all in the name of snagging every last battery on a given level.

While just completing each level is sufficiently challenging and fun, the real hook to GravBot is trying to obtain gold medals for each one. The game keeps track of how many times you switched gravity to complete a level, with bronze/silver/gold medals awarded for using it efficiently. What is really satisfying is when you figure out a way to win gold using fewer gravity switches than is required. Due to the physics engine in the game, you can sometimes make it to a hard to reach area without changing the gravity and instead gliding through the air or just barely catching the edge of a platform and hanging on. These types of moves can be risky however, and if you don't pull one off just right you can easily fall to your death. If you do happen to beat a level using a ridiculously low number of gravity switches, you will be immortalized in leaderboard form thanks to the Plus+ network, and there are a number of achievements to obtain as well.

GravBot looks and sounds absolutely great, with Retina Display enhanced graphics and catchy music and sound effects. I especially love the little blips and bloops that your robot will spout out during the game, and he has a ton of personality for essentially being a TV set with a wheel. GravBot has already been submitted and Team Phobic is shooting for a September 30^th release. The game will be free to download and comes with 12 levels, with two additional 20 level packs available as in-app purchase for 99¢ apiece. The 12 free levels aren't terribly difficult and serve mostly to get you familiar with the game, but the additional level packs contain some seriously challenging stuff that should keep you busy for quite a while. Make sure to head over to the upcoming thread in our forums to check out more about GravBot, and we'll take another look at the game when it hits the App Store later this month.

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An App Store favorite of our readers who relish the retro is surely Manomio's Commodore 64 [link], the C64 emulation system / game store that does a great job of putting an expanding list of 8-bit classics right in our pockets. We first got wind of Manomio's emulation effort in June of last year, when it was submitted to Apple and rejected, as it was determined to be in violation of the iPhone SDK agreement.

Then said Apple,

Thank you for submitting C64 1.0 to the App Store. We've reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it violates the iPhone SDK Agreement; "3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

It was the system's included BASIC interpreter that was the sticking point for Apple, it turned out. Manomio disabled (and then removed, as it was deemed necessary) the BASIC interpreter and the app finally found its place in the store, and in Apple's good graces.

Last Thursday, Apple made significant changes to the iOS SDK agreement, relaxing restrictions on development tools used to create iOS applications. One of the areas of the SDK agreement affected was section 3.3.2, the specific part of the agreement that Apple determined Manomio had violated with the initial releases of C64. Upon hearing this news, Manomio CTO Stuart Carnie was quick to read over the new Apple document and found the following, updated section 3.3.2.

3.3.2 An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not downloaded. The only exception to the foregoing is scripts and code downloaded and run by Apple’s built-in WebKit framework.

As can be seen in the new language, interpreted code is now acceptable under certain circumstances. In light of this fortunate turn of events, the developer has put together an updated version of C64 (v2.0) with BASIC enabled. Wanting Apple to be fully aware of his re-inclusion of the BASIC interpreter, Carnie extensively underscored his changes in the Reviewer Notes section of the submission form and additionally sent a courtesy e-mail to Apple on the issue. Since then, the developer and Apple have had further correspondence regarding the update and the response so far is positive. Apple will, understandably, spend additional time reviewing the application, but Carnie says he remains cautiously optimistic.

If Apple does end up rejecting the update, Manomio's plans are to remove the BASIC interpreter, but leave in place the other enhancement that this update brings, Carnie tells us. Those other enhancements include:

• FIX – fix crash when attempting to use the "Download All" feature and many games are queue
• FIX – Add additional controls to Hunter's Moon
• FIX – iPad landscape view is no longer partially off the screen
• NEW – Upgraded to OpenFeint 2.6.1 (includes time-scoped leader boards)
• NEW – iOS 4.1 tested
• NEW – New "Always use keyboard" option to access additional in-game features

Apple's recent update to the SDK agreement gives developers of all manner of apps more flexibility, but is a particular boon to developers of retro system emulators and games. We've got our fingers crossed that C64 with BASIC enabled is given the nod by Apple and that other developers are inspired to bring others classic systems and games to our favorite mobile device family.

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