**Four photos of Line Rider on iPhone below **
Line Rider, the simple line-drawing game, is being turned into an iPhone game, according to Brian Fargo, chief executive officer of inXile Entertainment.
Developers at the Newport Beach game company, which owns the rights to Line Rider, are putting finishing touches on the game and still need to go through the Apple approval process. Fargo hopes that it’ll be available at the Apple Apps Store later this month.
The $2.95 iPhone Line Rider will look pretty much the same and play the same as what’s available at linerider.com for free. Fans have been enamored by the flash-based “game” where users draw on a screen and then hit ‘play’ to watch a bobsledder ride the lines until he crashes or comes to a smooth stop.
In the iPhone version, players use their finger to draw lines. Also new: Sharing creations online will be instant, unlike the current Web version that requires messing with separate software to capture the video and upload it to YouTube. The videos will be hosted by inXile, which was already getting its sharing system ready for the upcoming launch of Line Rider 2 for Nintendo’s Wii and DS and PC.
But what is missing from the iPhone version is something Fargo told me was the whole reason he was attracted to the iPhone: the accelerometer.
“It’s the ‘A ha!’ factor, like when you first tried the Wii. The interface on the Wii is what really makes it so great. For the iPhone, you start picking it up and playing the games and it’s ‘A ha!’ That got me excited and when something gets me excited, my instinct is that others will get excited,” Fargo said.
But as much as he loved the feature, inXile hasn’t been able to utilize the accelerometer for Line Rider. Yet. His team is still working on integrating it, Fargo said.
“We’re still struck with how best we want to use this one in a more meaningful way,” Fargo said. “We are doing a Line Rider add-on product. … We have it up and running but not smoothed out.”
Fargo expects the Line Rider game for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be available later this month at the Apple Apps store for $2.95.
The cell-phone industry has been eyeing Apple’s Apps store, which had more than 10 million apps downloaded in the first weekend. It’s provided a market for small developers. Recently, iPhone app developer Tap Tap Tap published its sales figures for two products. In the first month, its $2.99 “Where To?” app made $50,597.40 after Apple took its 30 percent cut, while the 99-cent “Tipulator” app made $2,217.60. As Tap Tap Tap says on its blog, “Not too shabby at all.”
Fargo is hoping for similar results. His background is games, having founded Interplay Entertainment, one of Orange County’s first game companies, in 1983. Compared to developing a video game, iPhone apps don’t require as much time, investment or graphics. His crew has been working on various iPhone products for the past 3 months.
“Big publishers with their huge overheads should be quaking in their boots. Small companies like me can now access direct to the public. It’s wonderful for us to have this access to the consumer again,” Fargo said.”What I always used to say to people who would ask me, ‘Who are you afraid of the most?’ I say two guys in a garage who I’ve never met before.”
Click photos for larger image. Photos courtesy of inXile:
More on Line Rider:
- Line Rider 2 game ditches simple for slick
- OC’s Line Rider game turned into McDonald’s commercials
- Line Rider meets OC: The video
- Watch the original video with Bostjan Cadez explaining his pet project
- Official site:Welcome to Line Rider
- Jagged peak video (YouTube)
- Wikipedia entry
- Original story: If you draw it, Line Rider will come (OC Register)
Tamara 'the Gadgetress' Chuang
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