GDN: Gobliiins Invade iPhone, Mini Developer Interview

First in the Goblins trilogy, an Atari/Amiga game series from the early 90’s that became one of the first hits in the puzzle platformer genre, now available on the iPhone

The Gobliiins Story Line

King Angoulafre cheerfully dines with his court when he is suddenly overwrought by terrible ailment. An unseen foe stabs a voodoo doll with a large pin, and the king howls in pain. As he further assails the doll so does the king feel all the torment. In Gobliiins, a team of three goblins, each with a unique skill, is tasked with finding out who is tormenting the king and discovering a cure.

The Gobliiins Mechanics

You are given control of a team of three goblins, each with a unique skill. There is a warrior goblin (BoBo), a magician goblin (Hooter), and a technician goblin (Dwayne), all three of which have completely different attributes and can take advantage of completely different items. You touch the goblin and lead him through the task you desire him to complete. All of the levels/puzzles take up only a single screen but are filled with all sorts of challenging puzzles and traps, all of which must be completed using all three of the goblins special skills.

The Game

Gobliiins offers a mix of elements of adventure and puzzle gaming. The puzzles in Gobliiins are unusual and challenging, and lots of fun. The game consists of 22 levels. Each puzzle must be solved before you can progress to the next level. It’s a great adventure game, featuring amazing graphics and sound effects. It contains funny sequences that will make you laugh all the way through the game. The game is challenging and frustrating at times, but gamers who enjoy solving twisted, illogical puzzles will love working their way through its various worlds.

The Look and Feel

The graphics in Gobliiins are playful and whimsical, and almost demented at times. A variety of curious creatures, flora, and architecture populate each and every screen of the game. This unique style is used throughout the entire Gobliiin series.

Gamers Daily News had a chance to chat with the developers and talk about how hard it was to take a known franchise and update for a new platform.

How hard was it to stay true to the original but work for a new platform and interface (control scheme)?

DotEmu’s goal is to bring the best of the old classic games to new platforms and devices and to give the new audiences a change to discover how amazing they truly are. It’s what we did with Gobliiins. We kept the spirit of the original game and even the graphical style of Pierre Gihodes, the co-creator. But the game is simply amazing. We worked hard to improve the gameplay to make the easy and intuiting and enjoyable. We modified it in order to play the game with the fingers and we added a lot of new elements in game. We allowed the player to search the screen with his finger to find objects or elements of the game, which then he can interact with. We also implanted hints in game to help the player find the best approach to resolve the puzzle and go to the next…

The interfaces have also been revisited and we tried to be as close as possible of the graphical touch of Gilhodes.

What kind of pressure is there to make sure that you take an already established franchise and not screw it up? Do you feel you’ve succeeded in not doing that? (Sort of tongue in cheek and not all that serious of a question really)

First, to your second question. It’s kind of scary, but, yes! We needed to freshen up a classic and bring it to a completely new platform and we really achieved it, while keeping the original style of Gilhodes. It’s his universe, his original game, his baby.

The iPhone is a completely different device than a PC and for that, the gameplay had to be adapted. And that’s what we did, successfully. It’s kind of scary to bring a game that’s a classic with a huge following to a new platform. But we believe we stood up to the challenge and that the gamers will love the game. The original fans as the new players should be pleased.

Gobliiins is available NOW.

Worldwide on the Apple App Store. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gobliiins/id394372440?mt=8 PRICE: $0.99