Friday, April 11, 2008

HermitWorks Hoping To Bring Space Trader To iPhone, iPod


Following up on the recent release of a video depicting Quake III running on linked iPod Touch devices, GameCyte tracked down HermitWorks Cameron Tofer to talk about the accomplishment. In the interview Topher also revealed that HermitWorks is planning to bring Space Trader to both iPod and iPhone, as well as a new "casual iPhone RPG" called Quest.

Sure enough, HermitWorks has set their sites on Apple’s mobile gaming platform the iPhone, but their goal isn’t to enable armies of iPod-wielding Apple fans to play Quake III; instead, they’re “madly coding,” says Tofer, to port their own Space Trader to iPod and iPhone, hopefully in time to be released in June with the official iPhone App Store. “I’d love to have it by June; we’re just in a kind of porting frenzy right now.” Problem is, in order to be a part of Apple’s official offering, they’d need at least minimal support in the form of the official Apple SDK, which has been rather late in making the rounds. HermitWorks doesn’t want to be viewed as a group of iPod hackers: they want “people to be able to go to iTunes and download” their games through an official channel.

...Details were scarce, but HermitWorks has something else hidden away in their dusty straw hut: the underpinnings of a casual iPhone RPG, tentatively called Quest. Before you call up memories of King’s Quest, Puzzle Quest or even Peasant’s Quest, know that this game isn’t your average 2D Fetch Quest. Using the same modified Quake III with the graphics “kicked up a few notches,” HermitWorks promises a heavy-duty 3D single-player role-playing experience with one very ambitious addition: instead of NPCs, characters you meet will often be other players.

Tofer was quick to dispel the notion that players will just be sitting around in shops just waiting for the hero to come buy something, but instead imagines that characters won’t always be questing about — “Once you defeat the bad guy, what’s next?” — and envisions ‘king of the hill’ situations where successful players could be toppled by others attempting to rise to power themselves.

[Thanks: http://www.insidemacgames.com]

No comments: