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Let’s talk about Rope Racket. It’s a physics-based puzzle game with adorable birds and long, brown lengths of rope. Instant hit, right? It might be, but not because of its inclusion of two of the hottest trends in iOS. Fact is, it’s a plain-old entertaining and unique game.

You’ll get a better sense of what Rope Racket is all about in the video below, but I’ll express what I can here. The goal is to wrap a wobbly bit of rope around a set number of rotating wheels. Then, you can free a bird with said rope at the end of a level.

Of course, there are hooks and interesting pieces of design. Rope is limited, however, the way you approach each wheel “puzzle” is not scripted. There are different solutions. But some of your more unconventional approaches might bring you too close to the Rope Racket’s diverse set of obstructions: vampire bats that relentlessly follow your bird around, cannons that fire flaming stones, and even darkness.

I want to note one mechanic that grabbed me. When you wrap the rope around a special wheel, the wheel then moves with the rope. In the short demo I watched at GDC in San Francisco, I saw Untame’s Itay Keren block those flaming cannons with the wheels. This is remarkable, to me at least, because you’re using the world to interact with the world.

We’ll be keeping our eyes on this one as it comes down the pipeline. It’s slated for a release on the iPad and iPhone 4 at some point in the next month.

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So, earlier at GDC in San Francisco I went hands-on with an upcoming puzzle title called Daddy’s Dojo. Don’t read into that playful, unconventional name — it offers more depth than you’d figure, but also offers the ease of play that it should.

In a nutshell, Daddy’s Dojo is about moving pegs to their appropriate holes. The catch is that each space a peg has previously occupied becomes a space that can no longer be used by future pegs within the same level. And as the progression ramps up, more unusual obstacles will meet you: elemental pegs that can only travel and land in certain places and also arrows that allow you to teleport across the board.

So, yeah, it’s a traditional type of puzzle game. Here’s a video of it in action starring the sultry tones of one of the developers who showed it off to me. You’ll get a better sense of the game when you check this out:

A couple of things to note: the target release date is April and the team plans to throw it out on the App Store for a penny shy of a dollar. An HD version is in the works too, and while it’ll cost a bit more, it’ll also offer some different content on top of the iPod touch and iPhone stuff you see above.

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I’m not a huge fan of posting about proof of concept demos. Games evolve during the design phase, and mechanics, whether promising or not, tend to disappear. But I have to share what I saw earlier last afternoon, an ambitious puzzle / adventure game dubbed MacGuffin’s Curse. It smells like the kind of game I’ll be able to dig for long stretches, and it definitely has a fun art style.

The concept art I’ll share below, unfortunately, won't give you a taste of the action. But in a nutshell, MacGuffin's Curse is a top-down puzzle game in which you’ll be tasked with moving a special object within the confines of a singular, locked room. Think: older puzzle games. In this specific case, though, you’ll be moving around batteries as one of two different characters: a man and his werewolf alter ego — the dynamic here is a weak, cunning character versus a strength-based avatar. You'll be able to switch to the wolf when the sun goes down.

What I saw this afternoon was early, so nothing really feels “confirmed” to me, but the devs, Brawsome, told me that the game would support a rich hint system and over 150 rooms to figure out, and that includes side-missions. Look for the game later this October at a premium-ish price point on the iPad.

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This week at GDC we had a chance to sit down with Gamevil to have a look at what's in their pipeline — and pipeline chock-full of games it is. The Korean studio has been quite busy of late, and this year they expect to release more than twice as many iOS titles as they did last year. Gamevil, who caters to both the featurephone and smartphone markets, has restructured to enhance their focus on the latter. And, while they have so far strongly established themselves as an RPG maker, in 2011 all types of games will be landing in the App Store, as evidenced by the titles they shared with us here at GDC.

Zenonia 3

The third member of the popular Zenonia RPG series, Zenonia 3 brings notable enhancements along with a new story to play through.

The story goes like this: The world of Zenonia was divided into the Heavenly Realm and the Earth Realm until a war between the Divine Tribe and the Devil Tribe caused the creation of the Midgard Realm. The main character of the original Zenonia, Regret, appears to his son, Chael, the hero of this story. Chael, shortly thereafter while walking in a wood with his fairy friend Runa, disappears into the mysterious Midgard Realm. Your goal, as Chael, is to help the Divine Tribe get back to the Heavenly Realm and return yourself to Earth.

Fans of the earlier versions of the game will appreciate the dramatically improved, razor-sharp Retina graphics and lovely onscreen animation.

Chalk n' Talk

Chalk n' Talk is a multiplayer draw-and-guess game something akin to Charadium, but with the addition of social dating elements. The game allows up to four online players at once to join a room and participate in a game of drawing a scene and trying to guess what it is.

Seeds and flowers are given to players that solve the puzzle, which represent the game's basic currency. By default, the canvas is represented as a chalkboard, but other backdrops can be acquired, both by spending virtual currency as well as via in-app purchase, to mix up the look and the finished drawings can be shared and liked by others. (Some of the existing works I was shown were pretty impressive!)

Players setup Gamevil live profiles that track their progress and allow groups of friends to connect. The profiles contain a self-photo which others can see and, if interested, reach out, send virtual gifts, request a game session, etc. It's a social mechanic that's proven quite popular in the original, Korean version of the game.

Chalk n' Talk will be submitted to the App Store this week and launch in Canada and various countries abroad around the 20th of this month.

Skipping Stone

The original Skipping Stone was apparently the first "one button" game for mobile phones and was IGN game of the year in 2005. The game is basically a simple timing / rhythm title where you to skip a stone across a scrolling field of water as far as possible by timing your taps to the the leaps of the stone. A tap precisely when the stone hits the water keeps the next leap at the same height, while missed taps result in smaller and smaller leaps until your stone sinks. Along the way, dolphins and such may jump out of the water to give your stone a helping nudge upwards.

Skipping Stone will be submitted to the App Store in late March or early April and will be available for both $.99 and free, with ads. (See gameplay in the video, below.)

Mr. Penguin

A simple, pick-up-and-play title, Mr. Penguin (tentative title) is an entirely tilt-controlled game where your goal is to help a cute little penguin make his way along the vertically scrolling field of snow and floating slabs of ice. On the snow, it's an exercise in dodging obstacles as you slide along through the snow, while on the floating ice you must use delicate timing and tilt skills to bounce your penguin from slab to slab and on the backs of turtles, without falling in — all while avoiding the sharks.

Game Center and Facebook integration drive your progress along the way. (See a gameplay sample at the end of the video above.)

Soccer Superstars 2011

Gamevil is following up last year's Soccer Superstars with the new Soccer Superstars 2011, an evolved installment of the title featuring a significantly upgraded game engine with much more advanced player AI. The game allows players to select team countries like the original, with the added ability to choose from among a roster of (fictional) club teams. The title is graphically similar to last year's release and maintains its special players and special shots, while bringing with it most of the peripheral features of the Baseball Superstars series.

Soccer Superstars 2011 will be submitted to the App Store in late March or early April.

Kami Retro

We've just had the opportunity for a bit of hands-on time with the amazing looking Kami Retro, developed by Paw Print Games. The game is a platform puzzler that combines elements from Jet Set Willy, Rainbow Island, Mario, and Lemmings.

Gameplay involves flick-guiding a series of "Kami's" from start point to end point across colorful 2.5D, blocky retro playscreens. There are five stages with 13 levels each — 65 screens in all. In addition to fixed platforms, the task at hand involves positioning movable platforms, utilizing upward-blowing fans, and the like. Game Center integration keeps the gameplay competitive.

Ever since we first got word of this one, we've been eagerly awaiting its arrival — and the wait is almost over. Kami Retro is set to launch on March 10th.

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Touch and swipe are what iOS games do best. In my opinion, focusing on these two native user inputs often spawn the best design in iOS games.

These are the two thoughts that hit me as I went hands-on with a demo of MecaPix at GDC in San Francisco yesterday afternoon. It’s sort of looks like Tetris with a touch of Space Invaders. And it’s also a game with no virtual d-pads or buttons — just touch and swipe, the bread and butter of the iPad and iPod Touch.

In Tetris, the idea is to organize descending blocks into piles. In this game, the idea is to draw and fire off ascending blocks (with your finger) in order to clear falling blocks before they reach the bottom of the screen. It’s a unique, simple idea that plays off the familiarity we all have with the classic puzzle game, Tetris. It’s even got that retro look and similar shapes. Check it out.

But there are twists. For example, some descending block patterns have special abilities packed within their constructions. Bombs can be placed in the middle, and when you hit the bomb, the entire patterns clears. Other patterns have laser blocks that fire adjacent blocks at other constructs falling down at the screen.

So, the idea is to be precise and hit the blocks that matter. There’s an ammo counter that keeps you from firing blocks wholesale. Otherwise, you could theoretically just build massive lines of blocks that would eliminate all enemies.

MecaPix mixes things up with classic puzzle elements, creating a cool balance between basic trigger-finger play and thought. One level, one out of around ten in the stage, forced me to consider each of the special blocks in a descending pile and pick the best ones to kill the construction before it reached the end of the screen. It’s a neat change of pace.

Precision, and therefore conservation, is rewarded with points. And so are combos. As you anticipate and shoot blocks in the right place, points skyrocket.

There’s a lot more to the game that I didn’t get to play directly, but demonstrated the amount of depth to be had. There are boss battles, for example, that have you attempting to reach the heart of a tumbling monster. There’s also a cool level that uses the classic game Snake as its inspiration. The falling blocks in this level resemble the Snake and squirm, keeping you from drilling the heart without thought.

Mecapix is being built by Robotalism Games, a developer out of Paris. The plan is to launch the game is as soon as they possibly can and at an agreeable price point: a mere .99 cents. From what I saw this afternoon, this might be a very special game. I’ll be keeping my eyes on it, for sure, as it combines unique and possibly deep play with the two things that spawn the best games: touch and swipe.

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Last November, indie developer Spaces of Play released their unique take on the Lemmings formula called Spirits [99¢/HD]. In Spirits, you negotiate a series of 40 cleverly designed levels while commanding a group of floppy-headed spirit folk. The general gameplay is pretty similar to Lemmings, where you can assign tasks to individual spirits like digging holes or becoming ladders so your fellow spirits can make it past a blocked path. What really set Spirits apart is how there are various wind currents flowing through each level, and when you direct your spirits into these currents their umbrella-like heads filled with the breeze and they were swept up into the flow of air.

The wind factor turned Spirits into a very different beast than its inspiration Lemmings, and the fantastic hand-drawn artwork and beautiful music made for an incredibly engaging gameplay experience. We really liked Spirits in our review, and it has even gone on to win several different design awards since its release in November. While originally released on the iPad, in December an iPhone version hit the App Store, and despite the smaller screen space the excellent gameplay translated very well. Now, to celebrate the coming of GDC in San Francisco which kicks off next week, both the iPad and iPhone/iPod touch versions of Spirits are available for just 99¢.

Either version of Spirits was well worth their original price points, and at 99¢ each they are practically no-brainers if you're into puzzle games, or if you just like games with very pleasing aural and visual features. There is a very challenging nature to Spirits if you try to beat each level using the least amount of spirits as possible, or if you are trying to collect the often difficultly placed bonus plants throughout the levels for maximum completion. But these are not required, and there's also a very casual aspect to Spirits if you're just looking for basic completion of each level, and the music and visuals offer an almost zen-like experience as you play.

There's a discussion of Spirits taking place in both the iPad games thread or the thread for the iPhone version, and it's highly recommended that you check out Spirits during this 99¢ sale which will be running until next Friday, March 4th.

App Store Links:

• Spirits, $0.99
• Spirits for iPad, $0.99 (iPad Only)

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Back in January the folks at Team Phobic, the developer responsible for the excellent platforming games Bounce On [$1.99/Lite] and Bounce On 2: Drallo’s Demise [$3.99/Lite] as well as the puzzle platformer GravBot [$1.99/Lite/HD], announced their newest iOS title called Undead Island. Undead Island is another platforming game but is more action-oriented than any of Team Phobic’s previous efforts, and still features their colorful art style and solid level designs.

Just last week Team Phobic released the first trailer for Undead Island which shows off a good amount of gameplay, and so far is looking fantastic:

I’ve had a preview copy of Undead Island for the past week and have been enjoying it a ton. It really brings me back to those classic side-scrolling action games from the arcade and 16-bit eras. Undead Island will feature 16 levels on release with attractive graphics built for the Retina Display. Game Center will also be included for high score and achievement purposes. The game has been submitted already and Team Phobic hopes to have Undead Island out in time for GDC, which starts at the end of the month.

There’s currently a discussion about the game in our forums, and if you’re a fan of any of Team Phobic’s previous iOS efforts, or just a fan of solid action-platforming games in general, then you’ll be in for a treat when Undead Island releases sometime in the next couple of weeks.

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This week, TouchArcade attended EA's "Swing Into Spring" game event in in New York and had a chance to spend a bit of quality time with some upcoming titles from both EA and Chillingo. And, while we can't (yet) talk about everything we saw, here's the goods on the open-for-discussion titles.

• Fight Night Champion from EA

Fight Night Champions is the first installment of the Fight Night series, which debuted on consoles in 2004, to appear on iOS. Incidentally, the Fight Night series is the successor to EA's 1998 console series Knockout Kings.

Fight Night Champions is a boxing title set for a simultaneous iOS and console debut on March 1st. The game presents a virtual boxing match, rendered in 3D with four possible camera angles (sorry folks, no photos allowed). You can create your own highly customizable boxer or rebuild a legend like Iron Mike and use this boxer to move up the ranks — fight to fight, ring to ring.

A very cool aspect of the game is its control system. The screen is invisibly divided into quad hit-zones, where a tap in each zone executes a different move, and a swipe from zone-to-zone triggers additional, directionally keyed moves. And there are hidden moves to — illegal moves. These you can specify for your character in its configuration screen, but you have to figure out the gestures on your own. How awesome is that?

There are several venues in which to compete: the Staples Center is for real, and the rest are fictional, some of which are rather elaborately arranged. Matches across these stadiums can be customized as far as number of rounds, round length, difficulty, etc.

Local WiFi and Bluetooth multiplayer is provided. But not so with online leaderboards.

Fight Night Champion looks awesome and is structured such that gamers that are a little more casual on the sports side — like me — can get enjoyment out of the title.

• Battlefield Bad Company II from EA

Not much to say here, but the game got an update last week that corrected various multiplayer bugs and upped the multiplayer games from four to six players.

We posted a hands-on with this one back in December.

• Ultimate Mortal Kombat III from EA

An iPad version launched last week (iPhone version came pre-Christmas).

We reviewed the iPhone version of this one back in December.

• High Speed 3D from Chillingo

High Speed 3D is a new racer on the way for both iPhone and iPad (universal) that offers glossy visuals and a variety of playmodes to mix up the action across 20 tracks in all. As far as playmodes, there's the standard Career mode, in addition to a number of Quick Play modes, including Get The 1st Place, a quick race to the goal; Drift King, a chance to paint the track with rubber; and Crash Them All!, a destruction derby of sorts.

We are told that there's about another month of performance tuning and polishing on this one before it lands in the App Store. Even so, High Speed 3D played very well and looks to be a fun time for fans of arcade style racers.

• Collision Effect from Chillingo

Collision Effect is an iPad game that puts celestial objects of various colors on the screen and it's your task to merge the like colored balls together. In Action Mode, the balls are moving, and a collision between two blobs of differing colors is a bad thing. In Puzzle Mode, they start off stationary, and your tap upon one ball begins the gathering of its like-colored kindred — but clever strategy and timing is needed to keep balls of different colors from colliding. It's a simple, yet challenging, mechanic done up with nice particle effects.

We should see Collision Effect arrive sometime next month.

• Play Kalei from Chillingo

We took a look at this clever graphical matching title last month at Macworld and really liked what we saw.

The basic idea in Play Kalei is that you’re presented with a high quality photograph and a random point of the picture is highlighted in a circular window in the upper corner of the screen. The catch is that the window highlighting the point in the photograph is shown as if you’re looking at it through a kaleidoscope, and you must find that particular point by matching the kaleidoscope view in a second window by sliding your finger around the screen.

Play Kalei is set to arrive in mid-March.

• Food Processing from Chillingo

Here's one for the iPad that takes inspiration from Fruit Ninja, but adds a bit of complexity and a dose of whimsy to the formula. The game puts you in front of a conveyor belt ferrying food across the screen and its your job to slice it up properly — and properly is the twist. Each item must be sliced in a particular fashion, a skill you'll need to learn along the way. And, all the while, a hard rock soundtrack keeps you bouncing.

Food Processing should hit the App Store later this month.

All of the Chillingo titles listed here will feature Crystal integration for score and achievements tracking.

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It's really not an every day occurrence that a puzzle game piques my interest, and while I've yet to get my hands on RoboSockets, I really can't wait to try it. According to the preview material, instead of being a simple match three, RoboSockets also mixes in gameplay from both Tetris and pipe games. Instead of typical tiles, you're working with robots, and each robots needs to connect to a chain of five or more to be cleared. Doing so gives you energy, which plays in to the story of the game where you're attempting to revive the robot civilzation.

Check out the trailer:

RoboSockets is due for release on February 22nd for 99¢. For more details on the game, take a look at the game's thread in our forums.

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