Well, well, well. A small announcement that chainWorks has hit an Alpha 1 stage. That is to say the game has been rebuilt on TGB 1.7, and integrated nicely with the level editor. The core functionality of the game rules are there. Next steps are enhancing the funcitonality and polishing it a little before really tweaking and playing with the game to squeeze the most amount of fun out of the concept. For those new to GG, or those who didn’t catch my blogs over the last 5 years here’s a video to show you what chainWorks is about:
Obviously all artwork is placeholder for the time being. Hopefully we should be able to get a nice, polished BETA, featuring 4 different protypes, ready for public consumption and feedback to help us decide the best direction to take the final game.
PS If you’re a handy artist then please get in touch. We’re looking for some nice bespoke artwork in an original style!
This isn’t really a review, rather it’s a dump of personal opinion. Assuming you’ve watched the above video, you’ll know that Rolando is a 2D platformer recently released for the iPhone . Perhaps “released” is the wrong verb, as this game was clearly designed from concept to deployment to be an iPhone application. The game involves the rescue of “Rolandos”, little balls of joyous fun, which can be manipulated via tilting, touching, poking and stroking them through levels towards an ominious black doorway.
Along the way you become acquainted with various assistants, such as the Royal Spikey Commando’s who act as handy assistants as you try to rescue kidnapped Kings, or trapped comrades. The game requires a little bit of thinking, but mostly just a sense of humour and a spare £5.99.
Pricing & Presentation
The price point, at £5.99, is an interesting one to pick. With the 99p - £1.99 price point being bombarded with some decent game titles, it would take a game which looks top quality to pursuade punters to part with the cash, and that’s perhaps where Rolando shines. It looks fantastic. The art style, attention to detail, quality of presentation and audio design is solid and consistantly high quality which delivers a genuinely premium game experience.
The Gameplay
Ahha! The critics wail, “But surely they’re just masquerading poor gameplay with glitzy polish?”. I’d be inclined to disagree with this ill-informed hypothetical critic. I wouldn’t say it was ground breaking or revolutionary, but the simple fun to be had from manipulating the main protagonists with such familiar actions mimics the joy you first experienced when you unwrapped your shiny new iPhone and spent a week just swiping your finger across the screen, before locking it again and starting over. The game features the swipes, tilts, finger pinches, and panning we’re used to, but puts them in a fun, colourful context in which you don’t feel guilty for touching up your iPhone for 10 minutes.
The level design is confident, with simple tutorial levels introducing the key actions and characters, building into an interesting blend of puzzles and action/skill based gameplay. After passing the game across my friends a common complaint has been that the initial “tutorial” levels are too slow and not challenging, which breaks the flow of the initial pacing. Indeed, perhaps for “experienced” gamers that’s the case, but for your average iPhone owner I think the difficulty ramp is appropriate.
Conclusions
I love Rolando. A professionalreview would cite it’s criticisms; a (comparatively) high price point, a slightly “overly inspired” art style and gameplay mechanic (Loco Roco?) but I’m no professional, and this isn’t a review.
Rolando justifies a fair price point by delivering a polished and consistently high quality game experience not tailored, but designed for the iPhone platform. As an independent game developer I find it particularly exciting that a non-blockbuster franchise can justify a price point higher than a couple of quid. The future is bright for us! Congratulations to NgMoco for a solid title.
