Among the best things in life is playing printed games in person with family and close friends. When those are not convenient we like iOS Board Games.
News, reviews, previews, and opinions about board gaming on iPhones, iPads, iPods and even Android devices. (iPhone board games, iPad board games, iPod board games, Android board games)
Scotland Yard Released Hot off of winning the Deutscher Computerspielpreis for The aMAZEing Labyrinth, Ravensburger Digital isn't slowing down. They have just released none other than 1983's Spiel Des Jahres winner, Scotland Yard, for iOS Universal. This release marks another family-friendly modern classic board game app for Ravensburger which now has a total of five modern board game adaptations to iOS in the App Store. Early looks at the app are so far showing a quality filled approach, with this one ticking a lot of iOS board game feature boxes like good tutorial, slick and intuitive UI, various multiplayer modes including Game Center and bluetooth/WiFI, AI, chat, and even some rarely used premium features like voice chat. The app is launch priced at $4.99. You can pick it up on the App Store.
Master of Maya Released Kaasa solution has released Master of Maya, a free to play head-to-head real time card battler CCG for iOS. Of course we're not sure about this one. Apparently it has a predecessor which back in 2007 claimed to be the world's first mobile TCG and was clearly designed for mass market appeal. You can download it for free on the App Store.
The Latest News
Cities and Knights Info Update USM says that the upcoming Cities and Knights Update to Catan is in the final phase of beta. There is a lot of fine tuning of the AI going on. USM wants to make sure the AI makes use of all the new rules that C&K brings to Catan. They are also tuning the AI difficulty levels to please beginners and advanced Catan players alike. They say they will let everyone know when the testing is complete.
Empire of the Eclipse Coming Soon Empire of the Eclipse is an upcoming MMO 4X space game app being developed by Zarksoft. We'll admit that we initially looked past this for our audience. It was the first M in MMO, which stands for "massively", that scared us off. Maybe it's the board gamer in us, but we're not too keen on games without endings. My early impressions, however, were wrong. Recently, we've been in contact with Lee from Zarksoft and seen the overview video. It's at 1:56 in the video where the narrator utters some magic words:
Quote:
Your empire may achieve victory through military conquest, economic superiority, or by harnessing advanced technologies.
The music of "multiple paths to victory" chimed out for us at that point and we were ready to take EotE back in as a title we'll anticipate. Who cares if you'll be competing against 1,369 other players? Multiple games will be occurring simultaneously and games will take months to complete. We know this scares some gamers, but it sounds very intriguing and strategically rich. Take heart in the fact that the app has been three whole years in the making. You will only have to wait until May 24th to see for yourself what it is all about. Check out the overview video:
App Updates
Fealty Updated Asmadi Games has updated Fealty to version 1.1. The update includes background music, UI enhancements, and bug fixes. Asmadi says they are continuing to work on enhancing multiplayer GameCenter support, and are planning to bring a Fealty expansion pack with new pieces in the coming months. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Rune Raiders Updated Retro64 has updated their quick-playing tactical dungeon crawler to version 1.03. The update includes a new character: Idaho Smith; five new missions, three new monsters, a new boss, survival mode improvements and scoring changes, and more. It appears they even updated the app icon. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Hot Deals
Codito Drops Prices Chris dropped by to let us know that all Codito apps (except Puerto Rico) will go on sale from Thursday trough Sunday and priced at just $0.99. Check out Medici, Ra, Tikal, and Tigris & Euphrates on the App Store.
Return of the Fallen Price Drop Playdek wants you all to know that in celebration of the success of the in-app expansion, Ascension: Return of the Fallen, they are is temporarily dropping the price to $1.99. They also want you to know if Ascension is running in the background, the observed price will not get updated. They recommend players end the background process and re-launch the game. Playdek is currently working on a fix this issue. You can get Ascension on the App Store, if you haven't already.
Time of Heroes Now Free smuttlewerk interactive has dropped the price of their turn-based strategy app, Time of Heroes. For a limited time it is now free. You can pick it up on the App Store.
Wit Gomoku HD Price Drop After the iPhone version went on sale a couple of days ago, ZASoft has now dropped the price of their five-in-a-row abstract strategy iPad app to $0.99. You can pick up Wit Gomoku on the App Store.
Neuroshima Hex Online Multiplayer Update Submitted Big Daddy's Creations has finally submitted their update that will add asynchronous online multiplayer to Neuroshima Hex. The new update will also include new ipad Retina support, chat, a better tutorial, a new game engine, and much more. We estimate that the update will probably be available early next week. You can read all about it on Big Daddy's Creation's Neuroshima Hex site.
Here are some screen shots:
Scotland Yard to Release Soon Scotland Yard will soon be released by Ravensburger Digital...and by soon we mean by this Thursday! Scotland Yard is the 1983 Spield Des Jahres winning game of cat and mouse, where players try to find the elusive Mr. X by traveling around London via taxi, bus, and tube. The iOS Universal app will feature support from 1-6 players, AI, multiplayer through pass and play, WiFi/bluetooth, and online through Game Center, a tutorial, Retina support and more. Somebody from Ravensburger posted quite a bit of details on it in the Press Releases forum and you can read more there.
Here are some screen shots:
Legion of the Damned Update Submitted This past weekend Offworld Games submitted version 1.1 of their hex turn based strategy game Legion of the Damned. The update will include support for retina display graphics. Look for it in the App Store soon.
App Releases
BattleCON Released Brad Talton and Level 99 Games has released BattleCON. It's an iOS adaption of the head-to-head fighting card game BattleCON: War of Indines by the same designer and publisher. You can read all about it in our review or just download for free directly on the App Store.
Elf Ludo Released Artex Studios has released an elf-themed Ludo app appropriately called Elf Ludo. You can check it out on the App Store.
App Updates
Forbidden Island Updated Button Mash Games have updated Matt Leacock's Forbidden Island to version 1.1. The update includes a plethora of improvements including one new island shape and 10 more available through in-app-purchase, new achievements, better Facebook and Twitter integration, improved launch time to start games and more. On Monday, we did learn that there was a temporary problem with the in-app-purchase, but were assured by the developer that it should be enabled anytime now. You can check out the full details on the App Store.
Imperial Updated Javelin just keeps working at this app, with the promise of online multiplayer coming some day, but not quite yet. In the meantime the app has been updated to version 1.3. The update includes Tweeting your score, ownership change popup, funding countries from your treasury, a feedback button, and various other improvements. The app is playable at present, but the $9.99 price tag may have some waiting still for online multiplayer which is promised for the next update along with enhancements to the AI. You can check out the details of the present update on the App Store.
Hero Academy Updated Robot Entertainment has updated Hero Academy to version 1.2.2. The update includes faster initial game loading, a fix to memory crashes on the iPad and Touch, and various fixes. You can check out the full details on the App Store.
StoryLines Updated Root-One has updated StoryLines, its Eat Poop You Cat-like app, to version 4.0. The update includes in-app-purchases of colors and brush sizes. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Jungle War (Dark Chess) Updated Brisk Ideas has updated Jungle War (Dark Chess) to version 1.1. The update includes new leaderboards, new achievements, bug fixes and minor UI and graphics improvements. You can check out the full details on the App Store.
Wit Gomoku Updated ZASoft has updated their Wit Gomoku app for iPhone to version 2.0.1. The update includes the addition of Game Center. You can check it out on the App Store.
Gobang Social by Kwalee Updated Another five-in-a-row app is Kwalee's Gobang Social. This app has been updated to version 1.5. The update includes new direct feedback, better Facebook integration, and bug fixes. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Pwnz! Updated Pwnz! is another Ludo-type app. This one has online multiplayer features like async and chat. Developer Captain IT has updated it to version 1.02. The update includes new add friend by name, rematch option, new sound notifications, and minor bug fixed and improvements. You can check it out on the App Store.
Interesting Links
NECA/WizKids, Icarus Studios Announce Heroclix TabApp™ For iPad Today National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) and WizKids announced the HeroClix TabApp™, an upcoming action-based iPad game, and the first in the TabApp™ series, integrating physical miniature toys with digital arenas. HeroClix TabApp™ is set for release this fall.
The gist is that physical miniatures are placed on the iPad device, the “digital game board.” Utilizing Icarus Studio’s xScape Platform figure recognition technology, exclusive content and game maps are unlocked based on the miniature selected. Players then move along the virtual board and take part in battle. Features will reportedly include a dozen physical super hero miniatures, 50+ virtual enemy figures, over two dozen digital maps, real-time combat.
The HeroClix TabApp™ is expected to release this October and will be free for iPad. Physical miniatures will be available at participating hobby and comic shop retailers. There's more info at the HeroClix TabApp site.
The Latest News Storm of Souls Released We put this in the update section below too. Playdek's release time caught us by surprise (again). The Ascension: Storm of Souls expansion to Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is out now and available as an in app purchase for $3.99. Here are some screen shots:
Summoner Wars Trailer Released Playdek released the first trailer for the upcoming release of Summoner Wars. Not many details, but a nice look at the factions to further whet your appetite.
Le Havre Goes to Beta Testers Chris from Codito posted that Le Havre went out to beta testers on Tuesday. Chris says the release is a matter of weeks now and he's guessing at mid-June. Even if he's wrong, we love Chris because he's always quick with a date, ever springing hope eternal!
BDC explains position on Android In a thread right here on the 'Geek, Łukasz of Big Daddy's Creations minces no words as he addresses user questions about an Android version of Eclipse and his experiences with the soon to be released Android version of Neuroshima Hex. If Neuroshima Hex for Android is profitable, then they will port other games to Android. Simple as that.
Pocket Tactics Interviews One Man Left and Discusses Outwitters Owen Faraday of Pocket Tactics sits down with Alex Okafor and Adam Stewart of One Man Left to discuss their upcoming multiplayer async hex strategy board game app, Outwitters. According to OneManLeft, the app is due out "precisely in approximately a month". You can read the interview over at pockettactics.com
Interview with Gilded Skull Games and Galactic Keep Slide to Play's Chris Reed chats with developer Gilded Skull's CEO Rob Lemon about the renewed push to develop Galactic Keep, a tabletop RPG game for your iPhone. You can read the interview at Slidetoplay.com.
Battle Chess on KickStarter Here is another project in the continuing trend of old nostalgic favorites seeing new life or sequels through the wondrous bounty of Kickstarter pledges. A planned sequel to the video game favorite from 1988 known as Battle Chess has recently shown up as a project on Kickstarter. Developer Subdued Software has been working on the project for two years now and claims they were told by the man that "board games don't sell." They pushed on undeterred until the money ran out, then they discovered Kickstarter. The rest...they now say in this topsy turvy new Kickstarter world...is the future. You can check it out on kickstarter.com. I list it here because if they get enough funding, they'll go iOS and Android as well.
App Releases Splut Released At long last, Tommy De Coninck and developer Christophe Todts have released Splut (without the exclamation point). Splut! is an abstract strategy board game for 2-4 players where you move your Sorcerer, Dwarf, and Troll to kill the Sorcerers of your opponents by throwing a Rock on their heads. You can get it for free on the App Store.
Z!Checkers Released Nevonix has released Z! Checkers for iOS Universal. This is a Checkers app in 3d with fully animated pieces. It's got three levels of AI or you can play a human face to face or over bluetooth. You can get it in the App Store for $0.99.
Pegcasso Released A developer named Shnap has released Pegcasso. This turn-based multiplayer app is kind of like a drawing game. You and up to 3 friends take turns placing pegs on a Lite-Brite-like board, but nobody really knows what the other person is trying to draw. The game ends after 4 turns, and everyone gets to laugh at what each person drew and what they thought they were drawing at the time. If you are not convinced, don't let the app's price stop you. It can be had for free on the App Store.
Pyramid Wars - the card game Released MammutApps has released Pyramid Wars - the card game for iOS Universal. This app is a card-driven game in which you are a Pharaoh trying to build a pyramid faster than your computer opponent. The game appears to have euro-game influences of building with limited resources and using cards for actions like build, attack, and conjure. You can get it for $1.99 on the App Store.
Casino By Zeniz Released The US Playing Card Company, who is probably the biggest manufacturer of playing cards in the world, has released a mobile casino game app called Casino by Zeniz. This free app features poker and slots and promises more games coming soon. Both games of the app are highly socially connected with tournaments, reward systems, and co-op play. Perhaps there's something here that developers of strategy game apps can apply to our player communities. The app is free on the App Store.
Titanic Released SmartGames, a maker of many one-player print logic and puzzle games, has released Titanic by SmartGames. The aim of this one player game is to move lifeboats to catch drowning passengers in an orderly and strategic way, because after all everyone must remain calm and act orderly when the ship goes down, right? For $0.99, see how many passengers you can save by picking this up on the App Store.
App Updates
Ascension: Chronicle of the God Slayer 1.2 Released (Storm of Souls and Promo Bundle) The latest update for Ascension has been released. The major updates include Storm of Souls and Promo Pack 1 added as in app purchases, iPad Retina graphics, an in app purchase manager, and a next game button. You can read the full text of the update here.
Titan HD Updated Valley Games has updated Titan HD to version 1.1.1. The update includes fixes to persistence, AI, game state sync, and artwork. See the details on the App Store.
Dungeon Crawlers Update Ayopa Games has updated Dungeon Crawlers for iOS Universal to version 1.1.3. The update includes various fixes and even a hint. See the details on the App Store.
Dice Soccer Updated LambadMu Games has updated their soccer-themed dice rolling game to version 1.2.4. The update includes better loading performance, user interface improvements, adjustments to gameplay and balance, bug fixes and more. You can check out the full details on the App Store.
Wit Gomoku HD Updated ZASoft has updated their five-in-a-row app to version 2.0.1. The update includes a new user interface and performance optimization. Check out the details on the App Store.
Hot Deals
Dice with Buddies Updated and Free Stofle Designs has made its async dice app free for a limited time. They have also updated the app to version 2.0. The update includes various UI improvements, Tweeting, bug fixes and better stability. Check out the details and get it free now on the App Store.
Interesting Links
Study Shows Big Growth in Paying Mobile Gamers Newzoo, the international market research and consulting firm completely focused on the games industry, revealed key insights into mobile gaming in the US market as part of a broader study. They found that the number of mobile gamers in the US has grown from 75 million to 101 million, of which 69% plays on smartphones and 21% on tablets, with the largest growth in the conversion to paying players. The number of paying players has grown 35% to 37 million Americans, or 36% of all mobile gamers. From this Newzoo projects that mobile gaming is set for another year of double-digit revenue growth in the US. Newzoo finds that American players spend five times more on iOS games than on Android games. You can read more of this study at the Newzoo site.
TouchArcade App Released The site dedicated to all things iOS gaming has released their very own app. Features include News and Reviews, Top Reviews, Hot New Games, Watch List, and Forums. We will certainly be making use of it. You can get it on the App Store for free.
Gamezebo App Wanna Play Released Gamezebo casts its video game net a bit wider than TouchArcade, but in our experience they have been very good about covering board and card game apps. Therefore we mention that they too have fairly recently launched their own app called Wanna Play. The app features game previews of upcoming games, a wish list for being notified of releases and sharing with friends. You can get it from the App Store for free.
The Latest News Dominion Developer Revealed By Rio Grande Games Saturday nights are pretty slow on BGG. Perhaps that's why Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande Games decided to drop some important news about the grandaddy of deck building games, Dominion by Donald X. Vaccarino. The news is that Jay finally revealed the developer of the official digital version of Dominion. FunSockets is the name of the developer. They are a publisher of HTML5 games. We have actually been in contact with them for quite some time and were not at liberty to disclose their identity until now. We have laid eyes on a working game. We will actually be meeting with them (and participating in their company monthly board game night) in couple of weeks to learn more about what they've got in store for Dominion.
Battle of the Bulge Reaches Kickstarter Goal Shenandoah Studiotweeted over the weekend that their upcoming true war game app had reached its Kickstarter goal of $20,000 with about 600 backers on Saturday night. This means that the app will now have features and production values that, as a startup on a shoestring, Shenandoah couldn't otherwise afford and will deliver the most value and best possible play experience as communicated to Shenandoah by its backers. All signs point to this war simulation app clearly going in the right direction. The app is scheduled for launch in late summer. You can read more about it at their Kickstarter campaign page or on the Shenandoah Studio site.
[Click each to enlarge.]
Happy Meeple Launches HappyMeeple.com is a new digital board gaming web site that just launched. It is not an iOS app. We mention it because you can play it on your iOS device quite easily, as we have, but also on your desktop browser and Android. The site has launched with four games including Lost Cities, Finito!, Level X, Keltis Card. It also features Multi-language support, tutorials, multiple AIs, online human opponents, user experience earning and a meta-game construct. The site was developed by Nicolas Guibert. It does not currently use any HTML 5 features. Animations are done with traditional HMTL/Javascript techniques, though the press pack indicates that it could benefit from HTML 5 new features "as soon as they are widely available". You can check it out directly at HappyMeeple.com.
Big Daddy's Creations Nearing Neuroshima Hex Update Submission It's getting ever closer. Łukasz says Big Daddy's Creations plans to test the latest update, the one with async, for Neuroshima Hex this week and after that send it to Apple.
App Updates
RAMPage Soccer Updated and Price Drop We've got a weak spot for dexterity games that you two people can play face to face on the iPad. RAMPage soccer is such an app, kind of like Foosball, where you shoot marbles at the soccer ball. Ruma Studios has updated the app to version 1.2.0. The update includes new field skins, new music, iCloud support and various bug fixes. Additionally, they've dropped the price from $2.99 to just $0.99. You can check it out on the App Store.
Glitch Tank Updated Michael Brough has updated Glitch Tank, the born digital board game, from version 3 to version 4. The update is only mysteriously called "BOUNDARY MALFUNCTION". You can check it out on the App Store.
Big Win Soccer Updated Hothead Games has updated its soccer team management CCG, Big Win Soccer to version 1.3. The update includes Friends Trophy, Fountain o Youth Energy Drink, and various new card packs. You check out the details on the App Store.
Hot Deals
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land Price Drop Red Wasp Design has dropped the price from $4.99 to $2.99 on Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land, their turn-based strategy/role-playing game based on the award winning Call of Cthulhu RPG. The app is iOS Universal. You can get it on the App Store.
We are Seeking Testers For Our Voice Server and "Virtual Game Nights" iOS Board Games wants to experiment with a Ventrilo server. The idea is that we would like to provide a place where interested people can go and use their headsets to engage in push-to-talk voice chat in a virtual "game room" and at size-limited semi-private "tables" while playing iOS board games online in realtime. The idea would cover both organized events as well as more loose usage 24/7.
After testing, we plan to gradually open this up more widely to you all. If you are a reader of this blog and are interested in voice chatting with other interested iOS board game players online you will get to try it out relatively soon. For now however, we're just looking for testers who can put up with a rough testing environment and give us feedback on how we set up and manage what users see when they connect to our Ventrilo server.
If you are interested in helping out with the testing, please GeekMail me.
App Releases Yggdrasil Released Ludonaute has finally released their iPad implementation of Cédric Lefebvre and Fabrice Rabellino's Yggdrasil. The app is a co-operative game in which you play the role of a Norse god and must join forces and co-ordinate your efforts to repel the relentless invasion of your enemies in Asgard. The app offers a choice of difficulty levels, unlockable content, and support for 1-6 players. You can get it on the App Store for the launch price of $5.99.
Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets Pipes Released And the Knizia puzzle app train rolls on. This time Aidem Media has released Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets Pipes. The good doctor's latest release has you reconstructing a system of pipes in a steam powered flying machine from the underground kingdom in an effort to save somebody named Moles and the whole ship from an epic distaster. Heh...and they say Knizia starts with the theme first. This iOS Universal puzzle app selling for $1.99 supposedly has some connection to celebrating the upcoming release of a board game, but we can't figure out the fragmented sentences about it in the description. Maybe you can on the App Store.
Conquest! Medieval Realms Released Slitherine, one of the more established video game developers but a newer serious player in the strategy/board game app space has just released a turn-based strategy app for iOS Universal called Conquest! Medieval Realms. Some are calling Conquest! a step up from Slay in both gameplay and presentation. The gist is that you unite territory, build up an economy, raise armies, defend your homeland, conquer your opponents by defeating their armies and capturing their lands. The app features 5 levels of AI, campaign and skirmish modes, randomly generated maps that give billions of potential battlefields, 9 different units and more. You can check it out on the App Store for the launch price of $1.99.
Futbol Fury Released Developer Paul Lind had released a turn-based peg-style table top soccer game app named Futbol Fury. The app is two-player only affair and the developer implores you to grab someone you don't like and play it. You can find it on the App Store for $0.99
The Latest News Gilded Skull Games Picks Up Again With Galactic Keep: Dice Battles Nearly three years ago developer Gilded School posted on TouchArcade about Galactic Keep: Dice Battles. At the time the vision for the app was described as one that
Gilded Skull wrote:
"takes core elements of classic dice and paper role playing games (like dungeon crawling for loot and experience on paper maps, a ‘DM’ style of telling a story and rolling dice to create characters, move and to battle) and translates them into an iPhone experience."
After that Gilded Skull was last heard from at the beginning of last Summer, discussing the app's delay. Then on Tuesday they surfaced once again on TouchArcade, this time announcing that they've learned a lot as a developer of four other apps and were starting over with an all new Galactic Keep. Sometimes that's what it takes. Color us interested.
Frozen Synapse Approaches iPad Release The guys at Mode 7 tweet a lot, but rarely about the iPad version of Frozen Synapse. Recently they've tweeted a little about the iPad version saying that there is still no official ETA but they are probably three weeks or so away from starting a small closed beta. They also mentioned Android, saying they are getting a little bit closer to figuring out the possibility of getting FS on Android devices.
Tikal Update in Next Few Weeks Codito has posted that we should be seeing a Tikal update in the next few weeks.
Puerto Rico Submitted to Ravensburger Codito has also posted that they have sent off version 1.1 to Ravensburger for their approval before submitting the app to Apple. The update is meant to finally include the long awaited asynchronous online play. Additionally an iPhone version has been mentioned as well.
App Updates UFO Hotseat Updated Hippo Games has updated UFO Hotseat to version 1.1.3. The update to this turn-based tactical app includes new iPad support, viewing of enemy's turn, interface improvements, AI improvements and more. Check out the details on the App Store.
Pwnz! Updated The game itself isn't much more than a kind of Ludo/Parcheesi, but we love the app name and it's interface approach. Floor Rietveld has updated Pwnz! to version 1.01. The update includes on/off toggle for turn notifications, a show friends status, time limit adjustments and various improvements and bug fixes. You check out the details on the App Store.
Time of Heroes Updated and Price Drop Smuttlewerk has updated Time of Heroes to version 1.3. The update includes Chapter 2 content now available as In App purchase, new maps, and new heroes. Additionally Smuttlewerk has dropped the price on the app from $2.99 to $0.99. You can check it out on the App Store.
Carcassonne Updated Code Monkeys have updated Carcassonne to version 2.51. This update includes fixes for user with new iPads, ads some missing retina graphics, and fixes an issue that could cause negative total points in local highscores. You can get all the details on the App Store.
Lead Wars Updated Demon Studios has updated Lead Wars to version 1.5. The update includes Staff Sergeant campaign missions, a new map, minor graphical improvement and bug fixes. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Wit Gomoku Updated Zasoft has updated its 5 in a row/Gobang app Wit Gomoku HD to version 1.2. The updated includes the addition of Game Center support and 50 battles to study and exercise. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Interesting Links
Labyrinth HD Wins German Computer Game Prize for Best Mobile Game The German Computer Game Prize or Deutscher Computerspielpreis for Best Mobile Game was awarded to none other than Ravensburger's THE aMAZEing Labyrinth HD. The award apparently includes a €50,000 prize if our German translation was correct. You can read more about this prize and its history at the Deutscher Computerspielpreis site.
Days of Wonder Interview on Pocket Gamer Will Wilson at Pocket Gamer sits down with Eric Hautemont and Mark Kaufmann of Days of Wonder to talk about their past, their successful apps, Android, and what might or might not be planned for their future. You can read the interview at the Pocket Gamer Site.
Summoner Wars Launch Window Announced Perhaps no single app has been more highly anticipated round these parts than this one, so we thought we'd post without delay. Playdek contacted us with a simple message today to let you know that Playdek and Plaid Hat’s Summoner Wars for iOS is nearing launch and will be coming in June. In the coming weeks we will be posting screen shots, trailers and other information here that Playdek will have to share. You can also keep visiting the Summoner Wars page on Playdek's site. Stay tuned!
Slitherine and Matrix Announce Conquest!, Panzer Corps, Field of Glory, Battle Academy For Android, Close Combat "Possible" in 2014 Slitherine Software and Matrix Games holed themselves up in a grand hotel along the shores of Lake Maggiore in Stresa, Italy to have their annual Home of Wargamers Press Event and made enough announcements to make your head spin. Among the upcoming gaming goodness announced (and date/relevance sorted):
It's all just an incredible bounty of upcoming wargame and strategy releases this year that we're quite awestruck. We will certainly be tracking these titles along the way and as each gets closer to release. For now we'll leave you with the Panzer Corps PC (iPad Product page up soon) gameplay trailer:
Agricola Moved to Summer We try to watch iOS board game developers like a hawk. Last week we noticed the Playdek site got a slight modification to show that Agricola's time frame has now been updated to Summer rather than Spring which Playdek verified for us. And y'know, we're ok with that. I mean at least they didn't wait until the very last day of Spring, right? We also expect to be getting some news of sime kind soon.
Ogre Kickstarter Reaches $300k, Commits to Computer Game, Which Platform? Other huge news of course has been the success of Steve Jackson Games's Kickstarter campaign for the Ogre Designers Edition. Since the Ogre Kickstarter campaign just recently hit their $300k stretch goal this means an Ogre computer game will now be forthcoming:
Steve Jackson Games wrote:
$300,000 - We will commit to releasing an Ogre computer game, for some platform or platforms, by the end of 2014. It might very well be a lot sooner. This is totally separate from the record sheet app, which will be free and come out before the boardgame ships.
This does not say iOS specifically, but they have committed to a helper app already, so we are going to wonder and start tracking down some answers soon.
App Releases
Tricky 6 Released Benjamin Zachey has released Tricky 6 for iPhone which appears to be another Qwirkle clone. You can check it out on the App Store for $0.99.
Game of Gale Released Doug Sartori has released Game of Gale. The app is of an abstract strategy game invented by David Gale. The game appears to be similar to connection games such as BRIDG-IT, Twixt or Hex. You can check it out on the App Store.
Bicycle® Jacked Up!™ Released The good ol' The United States Playing Card Company has released Bicycle® Jacked Up!™, apparently complete with it's all of its apparently necessary registrations and trademarks. The app is played with special decks of printed playing cards you buy from TUSPCC that can be read by your iOS device. When the app description claims the app will "turn your next card game into a virtual adventure complete with twists, comedy, and vibrantly engaging animation!" and "changes the rules with every hand", we admit our gimmick-ometer starts buzzing quite a bit. But judge for yourself and check it out on the App Store for free (cards purchased separately).
App Updates
7 Planets Updated 7 Planets is a logic board game from Tomislav Puzak and some indie developers in Croatia. The app is based on board game they invented in 1985 called Ziv Zav. The object of the game is to roll wooden balls all around the screen in order to get them into their correct rows. The trick, however, is that when one ball is moved, all of the balls in that row or column move with it until they are stopped by a wall. Your score is based on how long and how many moves it takes. The update to this app includes a new expert mode after the previous update included achievements, classic mode, visual and UI improvements and various bug fixes. Check out the details on the App Store.
Cabals Updated Kyy Games continues to regularly update Cabals: The Card Game. The latest update to version 1.09 includes new cards like Changeling Trick (Danann), Faberge Egg (Bearclaw), Escalating Inflation (Vril), Disciple of the Third Eye (Zahir) and a few game play fixes. You can check out the details on the App Store.
Starbase Orion Updated Chimera Software is another developer who frequently makes updates to its main app, Starbase Orion. Version 1.1.3 includes Custom Starbases, Upgradable Ships, Precise Orbital Bombardment, Weapon Damage Modifiers and a host of other improvements and changes. Chimera wants everyone to know that the next version will see one of the most requested new features: Colony and Fleet Leaders. Check out the details on the App Store.
Samurai Bloodshow Updated Sega has updated Samurai Bloodshow to version 1.4.1. The update includes the addition of Korean-language and various bug Fixes. Check out the details on the App Store.
Hot Deals
Danger Alliance: Battles Price Drop TOME Studios has dropped the price on it turn-based strategy app, Danger Alliance: Battles from $2.99 to $0.99, the app's lowest price yet. Get it now from the App Store.
Interesting Links
Pocket Tactics Site Launches We like to keep up with the latest in iOS strategy gaming. Our latest find for helping us stay abreast is a relatively new and well done web site called Pocket Tactics. It's a nice looking site with some very good content. We highly recommend it!
Hero Mages To Become Physical Board Game Ross Przybylski, passionate designer and developer of Hero Mages, dropped in to let everyone know that his cross-platform multiplayer turn-based tactical strategy video game will get lovingly immortalized in cardboard as Hero Mages: The Board Game. The press release claims that Hero Mages may perhaps become the first-ever Flash game to be ported to a physical, tabletop game. You can check it out at the App Store or on it's free-to-play site at www.heromages.com.
Legend of Grimrock Heading to iOS Back in the day we would occasionally take a break from die-rolling and map making of D&D, and veg out in front of the Apple IIe and play a grid-based dungeon crawler like Wizardry. This was before anybody had even used the phrase "dungeon crawler". Since then games like Eye of the Beholder and Ultima Underworld have come along offering three walls and the truth of classic grid-based dungeoneering. The Legend of Grimrock by Almost Human Games is the latest in the old-school dungeon crawling genre. It's been available for PC since early April and according to a tweet by Almost Human Games will be coming for iOS as well.
Shenandoah Studio Puts Battle of the Bulge on Kickstarter Shenandoah Studio has been working and documenting their progress on their first and forthcoming war game app known as Battle of the Bulge. Shenandoah is now putting the game on Kickstarter for a 33-day campaign, with a goal of $20,000 and a lot of rewards available for contributors. The first goal of the campaign will be to punch up production values and features in a way that they currently cannot afford to. The second goal is to give the customers a voice in what goes into Shenandoah's first game. There should be more announcements throughout the campaign. Here is a look at some delicious screenshots from the app:
Playdek Celebrates One Million Games of Ascension, Announces Storm of Souls In their latest press release Playdek celebrated one million online games of Gary Games’ Ascension and announced that its next in-app purchase of the first full size expansion Ascension: Storm of Souls will be released in May 2012. Playdek states that Ascension achieved one million plays in less than nine months. To celebrate Gary Games and Playdek will offer Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer at $.99 for a limited time. If you haven't picked up by now, then now is your chance. Seriously, this app has never dropped in price since it released almost a year ago. Don't miss it.
Hacienda HD To Submitted Soon Cube Your Mind tells us that Hacienda HD is almost finished. They are implementing tutorial right now, and hope to submit the game to App Store by the end of this week. They postponed the official launch of the game, because they wanted to improve it as far as they could (and and also fix all known bugs).
Worthington Games Looking to Adapt Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles To iPad Grant Wylie of Worthington Gamesdropped into the Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles forums this past week to put out a general call for a developer for an iPad adaptation of their game. That tells us that Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles will be coming to iPad and that it probably won't be soon. If you are a developer it should tell you of a potential project.
Ubisoft Announces Might & Magic Card Game Ubisoft announced this week the coming of a collectible card game app called Might & Magic: Duel of Champions. The game will be for iPad and Windows and feature cross-platform online play. The free to play app will have IAP for new cards and decks. This marks the first foray of the Might and Magic franchise into card game territory. More information should be coming to the game's website soon.
App Updates
MindFeud Updated Monkeybin Studios has updated MindFeud (the Qwirkle clone) to version 1.1.0. The update includes "huge" performance improvements, stability fixes, bug fixes and more. Check out the full details of this free app on the App Store.
Gobang Social Updated Kwalee has update their slick 5-in-row app Gobang Social to version 1.4. The update includes various bug fixes and a free upgrade to the ad-free version. You check out the details and download this free app on the App Store.
Hearts Tournament Updated Trivial Technology has updated Hearts Tournament to version 1.0.3. The update includes online tweaks to make access to games faster and stop crashes. You can check out the full details on the App Store.
Interesting Links
Esquire Magazine Says Get Battle Academy Who knew that a famous mainstream media magazine would ever poo poo the likes of Angry Birds and praise a heavy niche game like Slitherine's Battle Academy? Well there it is, right next to cover shots of Jon Hamm. They call it a "slow burn". That's a good phrase for much of the joy in our hobby. I'm guessing either they took note of the premium price tag or there must be a geek at Esquire...or both.
During the week that Playdek and GMT Games announced their partnership on the Commands and Colors series of games, we conducted this interview with Joel Goodman, CEO of Playdek. That was also the week of Nightfall's first screenshots. It's been several weeks since then but everything in the interview is still relevant. We are very excited to see what Playdek is going to bring to the Commands and Colors experience on a mobile device. Now sit back and read Joel Goodman talking about the partnership and other Playdek topics.
Gabe: It's been an exciting week.
Joel: For us it has and I hope for you as well.
Gabe: We never have any idea for how long things-when we're following guys like you-we don't know how long these things have been in the planning and then you just spring it on us one day.
Joel: Yeah...
Gabe: And when you do we got two really exciting announcements this week. Great stuff.
Joel: Thank you. Sometimes they are in the works for quite some time, so you can imagine, things based on timing and what not, and also you don't want to be too premature about what you let out, We're figuring out a whole other side from the publishing end as far as controlling when product is announced. when it's gonna come, so you want to create as much anticipation as possible but at the same time not wear out the consumer in waiting for it.
Gabe: Sometimes I find the consumers like to wear out themselves. At least our audience does.
Joel: They do in a good way. I do appreciate that. As far as a core group, it's pretty amazing, people dedicated with such a passion to this type of gaming.
Gabe: It's an exciting time to be a hobby board gamer with an iPad.
Joel: Indeed.
Gabe: So I'm curious, how long Playdek has been talking to GMT and how the partnership came about?
Joel: A lot of these engagements usually start on a low level contact of reaching out. I probably started discussions well into last year with Gene. You just gotta present yourself, present your position, look for where you line up. Along with all the other partners, I expressed to Gene the vision of what we want to do in digital tabletop gaming and what we can do for building a community in this space. And it resonated.
I really respect GMT. I really respect quite a bit of what Gene has done there with there consumer and the core product. They put a lot of care into it and you can see that. I wanted to assure they were going to be in good hands with us. At the same time for us it was just a matter of which great product to work with. We started a while back and penned a while back as well. Just through our engagement again, we wanted to make sure that when we did announce that the announcement get its full attention, we don't want it crowded with anything else that we were doing.
Gabe: GMT's got a great list of board games, some pretty beloved games for hobby board gamers. We are curious if Playdek signed on to do any more titles besides the Commands & Colors Series?
Joel: None that we can announce at this time. But you can consider that when Playdek enters into an agreement with any partner or publisher that we enter into it for the long term and that's a long term relationship. We think those are the best to foster. And it takes time to truly build that out. So you can presume that our approach in general is not necearrily one of just looking for the one quick game as much as it is as "who can work with for a long time?"
Gabe: So we could see how this goes first and then if it all goes well, hopefully look forward to more fruitful stuff in the future? But that's a ways away isn't it?
Joel: A bit. We'll put as much care as we put into everything else. So it will be--when we do hit it and bring it to retail--it will be, at least from our perspective, another stellar launch, meaning that we put every bit of quality and design and production and testing effort that we can into the product. And the just truly hope that we build something that resonates with the consumer which, I think they are changing dynamically as we go.
So, it's board gamers that are consummate players with a physical product moving into a digital world and digital spectrum. You are basically digesting the medium through this electronic platform. That is something that we've known how to do for quite some time and hope that with everything that we do that if we continue to enter that care, and that it comes out. You can figure that we'll be working with GMT for quite some time to come.
Gabe: On this game, is Richard Borg (the designer of C&C), in any way involved with this? And in what capacity if he is?
Joel: As far as the deal itself, there has been a level of involvement. I have been more directly involved with Gene. The presumption is from our perspective, and then it will prove from GMT's side, that we want to engage as many people who are involved in the core product as possible because it's just going to make it that much better. As development goes forward you will probably see levels of involvement from everyone who had been engaged in the product.
Gabe: Being that this is a deeper, more complex game that the average board or card game apps to date, who is the intended audience for this app? How big of a market is that for you and this game?
Joel: That's a great question. I don't think it is known, but we do have a perspective and handle on where we would like to go with it. We've already seen this with Ascension itself, where an absolutely marvelously designed product really blossomed in a whole new way in digital and has brought in engaged casual consumers. We have had so many types of players, not even tabletop gamers at all, who absolutely love playing Ascension and engaged with it. So I think that that promise exists in everything that we are assigning and working with.
So in the case of this series I think that it has a lot of that kind emergent potential in it. So figure that at the very least there is the core player, the core gamer who loves this kind of game that we must ensure that we don't alienate, that everything that they would think of they would think of in the experience is going to be there. And then at the same time, being video game designers so to speak, and dealing with a digital medium that we take into the next levels of perspective from intuitiveness, from an easy to use interface and interplay and graphically appealing that can pull into a broader audience.
One thing that's quite special about these games is that since we are able to create and do so many things under the hood, artificial intelligence and whatnot aside, is that it definitely frees players in many ways to have a quicker more accessible type of experience. So that will engage the broader consumer, especially the broader consumer on digital products who you need to engage rather quickly in order for them to stay with the product and then move through its lifecycle.
Gabe: You mentioned AI with this game. As you know the C&C system has been implemented by Days of Wonder for Memoir '44 Online and I think we have heard them say something to the effect that it would be too hard, or that the processer in the iPad was not powerful enough to do good AI for an iPad version. And we have also seen another Commands & Colors clone effort done by Puffin Software who dropped their app (Viking Lords) from the App Store. So what would you say in terms of the ability to bring a good AI for the really hardcore players, some of whom really just want to play against a computer?
Joel: Exactly. I guess I would be on the side that disagrees with that position. I believe that from a core processing side we still haven't yet maxed out what the iPad can do. From Gary on down, the team is quite consummate in artificial intelligence design in coming from our previous experience. There are different ways to build and architect different AI models, which is one solution. So as far as whether the game will have AI or not, rest assured that it will. You can rest assured that at this point every single product that we ever release will have AI. That's just something that in and of itself we find to be critically important as tabletop gamers always, in the physical world, always need someone else to play with, unless it happens to be solitary game. In the case where there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players who would love to sit and play with something on the AI side. So we can put that to rest.
Complex AI is not something to be taken lightly, but also something that is not daunting in our capacity in what we can handle and do. The next tier is from graphics to the final base coat that goes into any game itself. We are very confident in our optimization abilities, which is where the game is finished and wrapped up and you do all levels of optimization, including AI, graphics, etc. to achieve optimum performance on the core processors. You will find a very very stellar, very entertaining AI that will probably, on it's harder settings, give you quite a challenge or give any of the best players, which would be the benchmark for a difficult AI, is how well they can do with that.
Gabe: That's great to hear and our readers should be excited to hear about that. Beyond good AI, can you tell us if Playdek or GMT have any specific ideas for this app, perhaps in categories that we have not yet seen much in board game apps to date?
Joel: Not sure I quite understand.
Gabe: Ok, for example, we have not seen much in the way of metagaming constructs around games where a player plays online, with friends, just plays a LOT and would like to see something for his efforts like how good he is compared to everybody else. And what about tournaments? I think there is a great desire among people who play these games, especially the async games, because those seem to be really "sticky". I think people want to see how far they can take competing with other people, but we're also interested in hearing about any other possible features we have not seen yet the GMT might want to see or any new Playdek-ism features in upcoming apps.
Joel: Good question. A short answer is that we will have a very very big announcement on that front, probably in Summer.
Gabe: Which front?
Joel: On everything you just asked. Put it this way, one we hear you loud and clear. I'll distill it down, if I may, to a broader asking of how can we address the community? How can we address the digital community and all of their needs: friends, tournaments, events, playing, connectivity, etc.? We are addressing it. We have a bigger goal. We'll have a big announcement on that. Look to early Summer. If not Origins, then some time after that.
Gabe: You are doing a freeplay business model for Summoner Wars, but for this app do you know if it will be a purchase app with additional IAP or starting free with IAP?
Joel: Not sure yet. How we approach that is on a case by case basis...not only from the product itself but how it can lend itself to being monetized in certain ways and also how we think it fits the product which means how we think it fits the consumer. I think there will be different options, but again it's too early to tell on that.
Gabe: I did mention the other Commands & Colors titles, like BattleLore from FFG, Battle Cry, Memoir '44, might there be other Commands & Colors Titles for Playdek in the future?
Joel: I would say there is an opportunity for any of that. Absolutely.
Gabe: The announcement for the GMT partnership did not mention any specific platforms. It said "mobile gaming" and "tablets", and the we are always asked "What about Android?".
Joel: Android is definitely on the horizon for us. So that will 1) be addressed by a specific launch product which we are still targeting. And when we make that move, what you will see more or less out of the gate is a multi-release going forward. We will try to work our way back that at that time hadn't gotten Android...how we approach it from the platform, which phones are supported, etc., the jury is out on that. But eventually, once we've got it integrated into our system, you will kind of see these kind of standardized launches from Playdek which will include everything from localized to the multi-platforms of iOS and Android.
Gabe: I see. So at some point in the future a Playdek app will come out on both platforms and then from that point forward we can expect to see all Playdek apps come out with Android support?
Joel: Yes. Exactly. Mind you, you put in the development window, there could be up to a month lag between platforms, but we would consider that nominal at that point. That could even be brought down to multi--I mean in our video game days we use to have to submit to 360, PS3, and Wii all at the same time anyway.
Gabe: Would Playdek ever consider video game consoles such as xbox, PS3 or portable such as 3ds or Vita?
Joel: Absolutely. We are completely, after George and Gary and I spent umpteen years at Sony on one bit of hardware, moving on from there we've become platform agnostic. It really comes down to what makes sense 1) for the business and 2) for the consumer and you can bring that back around and say the consumer is the business. So whatever makes sense. Would every product work? Not necessarily, but there's always that potential and we still can do that. Not only from our core engine side on down we're still licensed developers for the major console publishers. So we'll maintain those relationships, and of course from our core engine side, we can adapt it at any time because it runs...its fully available...it's actually not an iOS engine at all from the technical side.
Gabe: Will Playdek ever produce any original titles not based on licensed board game properties, like something built from the ground up to specifically take advantage of all of the iPad's capabilities?
Joel: That's a good question. It's something that, looking toward the future, we've tossed about or thought of, but really not anything that we could dwell on or really put in any kind of a formal plan or planning stage, as we are so busy with what we have and so much love and attention to pour into the partners we have signed. And as you must imagine, you are just hearing about GMT now, there's plenty more that we have not yet announced, up to and including product that hasn't yet been announced. It's really a fair question and its really kind of an exciting time and we are working with some great people
Gabe: We talked earlier about Summoner Wars free to play model, but it gets at the topic of pricing. We've seen recently a tabletop gaming type app priced at $20. Does Playdek have an opinion on App Store pricing in general?
Joel: I think that if you set a fair price on your product consumers will engage. We have found that from our $4.99 pricing on Ascension there was zero push back. It resonated and clicked extremely well across the board. We didn't even get into the argument of how does that actually compare to the physical cost of if you want to buy the physical game or compare it to apps that are $0.99 or free games or half the price of $9.99 app like Carcassonne...you try to price accordingly to what you think is the perfect sweet spot for consumer and product. So far our $4.99 has worked quite well. But as you can see with Summoner Wars, we are more than willing to adapt and change that based on how we think it will be the best way to engage the customer on price.
It's quite interesting as you see out there, in big ways companies and models shifting, and freemium games with In App purchases taking a certain amount of the brunt of sales and what not, and really what we're focused is yes we want to get great games out there and we really want to pull together a broad digital community of tabletop gamers that can be engaged across the board. That's been our goal since day one. That's why with Ascension we built our own servers, we have our own code, we don't use any third party code because at some point we want to look back and say yes this is one very engaged and very well addressed community that is extremely happy with the broad spectrum of product that they are able to play, how they can connect, the ease to connect, and continue to address that. At the end of the day it's really not that difficult to listen to your customers if you just put an ear towards it.
Gabe: So we'll be hearing more about what Playdek has in store in regards to community in your announcement the early Summer or around Origins time?
Joel: Absolutely.
Gabe: Do you have an opinion on visibility in the App Store and how you think Apple could possibly improve it?
Joel: I do. I'd like to see a little bit more focus on different types of genres in grouping things in your searching so that you could get a little bit better surface. Like for example, when you search for Ascension, you don't get it much anywhere unless you go into "cards" or go down into "board games" and try and find it, but in its ratings of where it exists it consistently is in the top twenty in both categories on iPhone and iPad consistently. So if you take every single board game/card game that's out on iOS, that product sits and it fluctuates anywhere from the top ten to the top twenty. So then you wonder if that's the case, that's the strength of that product, what can they do to plan to engage the customer, I think that by trying to just at least realigning things so you could see it a little bit more clearly rather than you click on "games" and at "games" you get, which is great product, but you get everything from an EA offering and some other massive offering that's not even related to what you are really looking for.
And then the focus is on the "what's hot" and what's selling well, that also is a bit of a harder curve to get over. Is that really what people want to know? Is this is the absolute biggest selling game, the biggest top ten selling game, whereas you see them filled with some of the same games over and over, and they are great games by all means, we all have them on our phones but I think that could be probably modified a bit as well. I tend to kind of look when I'm looking for things, at some of the staff picks and things like that. I've found a few gems when somebody said try this out.
Gabe: You would think that in this day and age that Apple would have a better recommendation system going on in there...
Joel: Yeah, and it's going to be tougher and tougher as you go. It's going to be very tough for independents who just have one offering, who have just one direction, you know a small group "we've made a game, we've brought it in" because the old adage is they are coming to play already and it's going to take the efforts of marketing and presentation to make sure that these things can connect. That's why we have taken it upon ourselves and said we know what we need to do here, we don't need to get 50 million customers, though that would be wonderful, in order for us to succeed and to engage. Because this is actually, in the physical world, this is a very very big industry
Some of Playdek's partners
Gabe: People are amazed by the partnerships that Playdek has lined up. There's been some concern expressed, however, that Playdek might be getting ahead of itself. Can you address that?
Joel: Absolutely, I'd be glad to. I wanted to personally address those because it's a good insight. It's something on which we've been working and our goal is to get a handle on. For one we are very transparent here so we have no shame in talking about what we've planned, what we try to achieve, and where we're succeeding and what we need to fix. We moved as a core group of very very highly professional video game developers who have been in all kinds of different studio positions and models and then ran an independent studio working in a publisher model in the video game industry. What we've moved into is publisher and developer and we've had to work through and manage that publishing side. What we've always prided ourselves on, and we've had one of the best track records, is execution, delivery, and being on time. When we say something's going to be done, it's done. So this is actually news to us when we say this is going to be done this quarter and then it's not. There's a lot of factors that I won't completely go into, but yes part of that is the growth, etc. But we are also extremely careful as far as what we're signing and bringing in. So we have not oversigned in that sense to where we're oversaturated and can't get things adressed with the partners.
Two, we now have a really really good handle on these development windows, of what the Playdek bar is, what we hold ourselves to, and what has to be achieved. So that gets the estimates better.
Third, how we're going to manage the information and know that when we are a quarter out from the release, we have a really good handle on that window. And that's roughly about when the general public should be hearing about what's coming. Because we don't want to get into this bait-and-switch of "it's this quarter" and then they are waiting an additional quarter or longer. I'm thankful for every single one of them (customers) patiently waiting. We completely get it. But that aircraft carrier is being turned.
As you can see, getting a GMT announcement along with Nightfall, this incredible Nightfall release that is coming , and then right after that the Summoners Wars release. So that's completely addressed from a development end. You will see more consistent windows; when we're saying it's coming within this quarter it will be in that quarter. When you get an actual release date a month or so out, it will be right to that release date or within a week or two if there is a stopgap bug. And from what we've signed you will see a nice steady healthy delivery of great product from these wonderful wonderful partners and games.
Gabe: Any news on the partnership with Ludically and Gryphon on what might be coming down the pipe for them?
Joel: Great news that I can't yet say. We're probably looking at another good scoop for you within the next few months, probably no later than Origins. You will definitely get some more specific product announcements from Eagle/Gryphon and Ludically by Summer, as well as Lock N' Load.
Gabe: Last question so that I don't get flamed by our readers for not asking about Summoner Wars. Anything to say to readers about Summoner Wars?
Joel: Other that it's amazing? Summoner Wars is on time for delivery. We've probably got a good month and half or so to go. It's a go from a feature side which includes some level of polish and we'll continue to polish. And I guess for your readers to understand is that when we get that close, it really comes down to the polish. We'll polish something for a week or two months. It doesn't matter how long it is. The only thing that matters is getting it right.
From the game, of course full AI, online, async, Universal and a whole new exciting interface approach that Summoner Wars lends itself to and we hope that really pulls the player in and engages and immerses them. And graphically it's got some really really amazing looking stuff.
Gabe: I think we've covered a lot of ground and I want to say that I appreciate your time. It's been great talking to you guys. You are fast becoming one of our readers' favorites. Exciting times!
Joel: Yeah, we appreciate that and believe me we are very thankful to be here.
Heh...and they say Knizia starts with the theme first. This iOS Universal puzzle app selling for $1.99 supposedly has some connection to celebrating the upcoming release of a board game, but we can't figure out the fragmented sentences about it in the description. Maybe you can on the 
