As an ex Zzap64 reader Rockford > everything

As an ex Zzap64 reader Rockford > everything

I assure you that the 'retro' mode is VERY accessible. e.g. Right off the Main Menu = whenever you start a New Game, the next screen let's you select the mode ('Play with updated graphics' or 'Play with retro graphics') ...make your choice...and you'll stay in that mode if you Suspend Game; Restart Cave; 'Resume' or 'Continue'. We've sent a bunch of 'retro' screens to Chillingo so I expect (hope) that you'll all be seeing some here at TouchArcade VERY soon!

I assure you that the 'retro' mode is VERY accessible. e.g. Right off the Main Menu = whenever you start a New Game, the next screen let's you select the mode ('Play with updated graphics' or 'Play with retro graphics') ...make your choice...and you'll stay in that mode if you Suspend Game; Restart Cave; 'Resume' or 'Continue'. We've sent a bunch of 'retro' screens to Chillingo so I expect (hope) that you'll all be seeing some here at TouchArcade VERY soon!

Rockford is a cat ... like ... thing. And diamonds had colour cycling bars. And dirt was dirt! Not boxes, dirt! I miss the dirt. My lawn has dirt under it.

Rockford is a cat ... like ... thing. And diamonds had colour cycling bars. And dirt was dirt! Not boxes, dirt! I miss the dirt. My lawn has dirt under it.

Oh, and cheers Richard for coming back with some good info on the game. The mention of the 3 control-methods is reassuring. ..Have y'all seed "Edge" on the iPhone yet? Though it may not be the most appropriate control method, that one might be worth considering.

Oh, and cheers Richard for coming back with some good info on the game. The mention of the 3 control-methods is reassuring. ..Have y'all seed "Edge" on the iPhone yet? Though it may not be the most appropriate control method, that one might be worth considering.

Some of you have mentioned the importance of gameplay and THAT has been a primary focus; which I hope some of you will get to experience. No that we didn't focus on the graphics as well. We did. There's a lot you can not 'see' when looking at static screens. Besides the character animations, dirt and walls shift colors at times, etc....all unseen in the screens here.

Playing on a mobile device, as one 'kills some time', in usually short play- sessions, as you all know, is a lot different than sitting down in from of the TV while playing on the C-64, joystick in hand, for hours on end. For that reason; and, to take full advantage of the unique abilities of the iPhone/iPod touch, we've put a lot of time and effort into providing 3 different types of controls (that can be customized for left/right handed play) and added the ability to zoom in and out as well as single-finger (flick) pan/scroll the cave maps...those...and being able to rotate between portrait and landscape on the fly are all things we felt primary to enhance play on this (mobile) platform.

Rockford has been depicted in several different looks since his first introduction in 1984. As early as 1988 (before the Data East ...2nd...arcade version) he was portrayed as a human miner, with hardhat and headlight e.g. in the NES version. In fact in the vast majority of games in the series Rockford (and recently his sister Crystal) have been humanized. He has also appeared as a human/cat-like creature as well as an alien, doctor, astonaut, cowboy, chef, etc.

Unlike some of the other, older 'classics' we have endeavored to evolve both the gameplay as well as the look of the games in the Boulder Dash series over the past 25 years, while ALWAYS remaining true to the game's core gameplay.

First Star Software developed the game, with our development partner XXIst Century Boy Soft, so we have to take any knocks you may feel warranted...but we would hope that you would reserve your final opinions until you have played the game or spoken to someone who has.

BTW: I co-founded First Star Software and have been its president since inception and have been intimately involved with the designs and development of this game; so, rest assured it was not left to people too young to remember the original.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this.

Some of you have mentioned the importance of gameplay and THAT has been a primary focus; which I hope some of you will get to experience. No that we didn't focus on the graphics as well. We did. There's a lot you can not 'see' when looking at static screens. Besides the character animations, dirt and walls shift colors at times, etc....all unseen in the screens here.

Playing on a mobile device, as one 'kills some time', in usually short play- sessions, as you all know, is a lot different than sitting down in from of the TV while playing on the C-64, joystick in hand, for hours on end. For that reason; and, to take full advantage of the unique abilities of the iPhone/iPod touch, we've put a lot of time and effort into providing 3 different types of controls (that can be customized for left/right handed play) and added the ability to zoom in and out as well as single-finger (flick) pan/scroll the cave maps...those...and being able to rotate between portrait and landscape on the fly are all things we felt primary to enhance play on this (mobile) platform.

Rockford has been depicted in several different looks since his first introduction in 1984. As early as 1988 (before the Data East ...2nd...arcade version) he was portrayed as a human miner, with hardhat and headlight e.g. in the NES version. In fact in the vast majority of games in the series Rockford (and recently his sister Crystal) have been humanized. He has also appeared as a human/cat-like creature as well as an alien, doctor, astonaut, cowboy, chef, etc.

Unlike some of the other, older 'classics' we have endeavored to evolve both the gameplay as well as the look of the games in the Boulder Dash series over the past 25 years, while ALWAYS remaining true to the game's core gameplay.

First Star Software developed the game, with our development partner XXIst Century Boy Soft, so we have to take any knocks you may feel warranted...but we would hope that you would reserve your final opinions until you have played the game or spoken to someone who has.

BTW: I co-founded First Star Software and have been its president since inception and have been intimately involved with the designs and development of this game; so, rest assured it was not left to people too young to remember the original.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this.