GOPHER - official Thread

[SioSae]

Hi there,

I am Silvio from SioSae Design and will anounce our first game for the iPhone/iPod Touch called

GOPHER, a remake of an old game I played as a young boy 20 years ago on my dad's KC 85/3.

The game includes game play elements from Boulder Dash(R), which is a registered trademark of First Star Software, Inc. Copyright (C) 1984, 2009 First Star Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

It is published with permission from First Star Software, Inc.

Features:
- 80 levels (in three different Cave Packs)
- monthly updates with all new Cave Packs
- a classic old school in game design
- an all new CAVE EDITOR to create your own levels
- controls designed after the original keyboard of an old KC85/3
- an automatic intelligent savegame mechanism
- replay caves without changing your savegames
- control the game by multitouch on the buttons or swipe from one button to another with one finger

- uploading and sharing of cave packs will become available with an update of the game later

a video showing the game in an earlier state (before the final name and graphic changes):
Youtube (please watch in HQ mode)

here are some screenshots:





Have fun,
Silvio

Side Note: I had another thread here but due to ongoing negotiations and a resulting rename of the game I had to open this new and official thread.

[SioSae]

I start to think maybe I choosed the wrong time to release my game:
During the GDC the whole attention is on this event and maybe also in apple's review team ;-)
Does anyone know, how long a review and approval for release takes usually? I've heard apple have been taken "ages" to accept apps to the app store recently.

[pharmx]

Well, it seems like Chillingo will be co-publishing First Star's Boulder Dash, and that it will be coming out soon...so yeah, I'm not sure about the timing. I'm sure they told you about this during your negotiation with them though. You'll just have to find a way to convince people to buy your app instead of waiting for the one by First Star.

[SioSae]

Originally Posted by pharmx

Well, it seems like Chillingo will be co-publishing First Star's Boulder Dash, and that it will be coming out soon...so yeah, I'm not sure about the timing. I'm sure they told you about this during your negotiation with them though. You'll just have to find a way to convince people to buy your app instead of waiting for the one by First Star.

Yes they did. Not exactelly who and when. But you know there is promotional information about the release of Boulder Dash in my game too (as beeing part of the publishing agreement).

And about the convincing, thats a good point and having:
- 80 completelly different levels by default(and not less in different difficult settings),
- monthly releases of new levels and
- a Cave Editor to create your own levels
could be reason enough to grab my game too. The problem is getting enough attention anyway.

[SioSae]

added a new game play video showing the final game and editor:

watch here (use the HD version for more detail)

have fun,
Silvio

[SioSae]

while waiting for the release (how long does the review take normally anyway?) i uploaded two more close up videos:

Game Play

Cave Editor

Cheers,
SioSae

[pante]

i want this one so BAD

[Zincous]

Shortest time for normal reviews seem to be taking about a week (7 days-ish)

But there are several cases of them taking a bit longer.

[SioSae]

Originally Posted by Zincous

Shortest time for normal reviews seem to be taking about a week (7 days-ish)

But there are several cases of them taking a bit longer.

And with 7 days you mean weekdays, right? I am just curious, but does updates take as long as first reviews too?

[SioSae]

great! just recieved an eamil from apple that they rejected my game. and you know why? because the large icon doesn't match with the small one inside the binary. arrghh, i start to believe i will make every mistake possible to get the release of my own game delayed again and again. stupid me...