Rolando news and fresh trailer
(If you can’t see the trailer above, click here).
I’m very happy to announce that Rolando has found a friend in the form of ngmoco, a publisher focussed on bringing fresh, original and most of all fun games to the iPhone. They have a huge wealth of games industry experience and will help take Rolando to new heights.
The trailer above shows a ton of new and exciting features from the current version of Rolando, and all four of the playable worlds. All of the 36 levels are now at alpha stage and we’re now entering the final stretch of polishing, tweaking, bug-fixing and making it as fun as possible. Thanks for your continued patience – I know this was going to be a Summer release and its certainly not summer any more, but I hope the extra time we are taking will result in a better game 
You can find regular updates, screenshots and trailers, at the ngmoco Rolando site.
19 Comments
Quix on October 16th, 2008
Rolando is looking better and better! Hope it really is out before Christmas – this game will help me decide if the kids are getting the Nintendo DS or iPod Touch this year.
Curious side note: why do you need a publisher for a game to be sold in the iTunes App Store???
Adam on October 16th, 2008
Good news. So it looks like things are now tilt based instead of pull based? Thats too bad, I was really looking forward to a game that wasn’t reliant on the iphone’s accelerometer.
If you can, make those controls really tight (so that they only start rolling once you are at an obviously DELIBERATE angle. There is nothing worse than feeling like you can’t count on the bastards to stay still in a game like this. It kinda looked like that may be the case in the trailer, but I wanted to make sure. Good on you for the publisher, hope they are paying you the big bucks!
Pierce on October 16th, 2008
@Adam
While I can’t be sure, I think the developer said that only some of the bonus levels used the accelerometer.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that this game will be the BEST game for the iPhone/iPod Touch once it’s out.
handcircus on October 16th, 2008
Hey Adam,
Yeah we’ve been through many, many, many iterations on the controls, refining as we go. Each had its pro’s and cons, but we’ve settled on this one. Yep tilt is used for rolling left and right, but flicking up still makes you jump and all of the environmental interaction is still done using your fingers (as is panning around the environment). The nice thing about combining tilt with touch is you can do several things at once (change direction while manipulating an environment object), you have more control over the little Rolandos, and your fingers obsure the screen less when you are making critical movements. The game has definitely become more fluid as a result.
And to answer your question, yes there is a dead zone in the middle! We’ll hopefully make the dead zone size configurable to preference but at the moment I think it strikes the right balance between precision and safety from unintentional movement.
Look forward to getting it out there for you to play 
Another thing we’ve
handcircus on October 16th, 2008
Thanks Pierce!
Adam, I got cut off there – I was going to say another thing we’ve done that you probably cant see from the trailer is that we’ve added in “Rolando markers” that let you pan across the level quickly and jump to other Rolandos that are far away. This is really useful when you send different Rolandos to opposite corners of the level and want to pan between them quickly.
Drie nieuwe games van ngmoco: Rolando, Topple en Maze Finger > Nieuws > iPhoneclub.nl on October 16th, 2008
[...] nu ter goedkeuring ingediend bij Apple. Rolando komt pas rond de feestdagen beschikbaar, ook al was ontwikkelaar Hand Circus (ngmoco is in dit geval alleen de uitgeverij) eigenlijk van plan om Rolando afgelopen zomer al te [...]
Andrew on October 16th, 2008
Hi, I’ve been looking into starting to build a game on the iPhone but am unsure of the best technology to use. Do you use core animation for the nuts and bolts of Rolando or OpenGL or something different? Now the NDA has been lifted I’d really appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction?
Felix GG on October 17th, 2008
Well I have to say, I too, was happy to see a game not relying on accelerometer.
Will all the rolando in the level be affected by the tilts ?
Anyway, the whole game seems to be looking great and it will still undoubtely be the best game on the appstore when it releases.
Ngmoco Debuts on the Store: Maze Finger & Topple - RazorianFly | RazorianFly :] on October 18th, 2008
[...] Circus announced it’s now involving ngmoco in the development of it’s title Rolando. I think Rolando it [...]
Adam on October 23rd, 2008
@handcircus:
It sounds like you have really spent time investigating what works best, and the dead zone is an absolute must that you already have! Kudos! I really couldn’t be more excited about this release.
The Rolando markers that allow you to quickly pan are BRILLIANT (and we got to see them in the trailer, nice touch!) and you make a very good point, that the dual tilt and flick controls will allow for both types of movement. Oh, I also wanted to know, if you tilt the screen and you are focusing on one rolando, do the ones across the level that are out of you sight move as well, or are they locked in place? Again, its clear that this is going to be the first truly awesome game out for the iPhone, so take your time and blow our minds (and then get ready to make more levels!)
handcircus on October 23rd, 2008
Hey adam. Again, thanks for the kind words! In answer to your question, the only Rolandos that respond to tilt control are the ones that you currently have selected.
Jesse on October 29th, 2008
Wow this game looks great! I’ll definitely buy it as soon as it comes out, but I’m worried if i actually can buy it. When ngmoco released Maze Finger and Topple, it was for iPhone and iPod touch 2nd generation, so like many 1st gen iPod touch owners, I couldn’t install the games on my iPod; but then after many complaints it became available to all three devices. Will rolando be available for a 1st gen iPod touch also? and by holiday 2008, does that mean Halloween, or Thanks Giving, or Christmas?
handcircus on October 30th, 2008
Hey Jesse, It works great on the iPod touch first generation – thats one of the main test devices we’re using! I think the only reason that happened with the other titles was a small mistake on the metadata specified on the iTunes store and I’m sure that won’t happen again.
It won’t be out in time for halloween, sadly, but will definitely be out by Christmas
Dylan on November 2nd, 2008
This looks so amazing! I miss loco roco so I hope this is like it!!!!! So, I know it will be released around the holidays so does that mean maybe by thanksgiving? thanks! cant wait!
Pierce on November 2nd, 2008
I know it has been asked before, but are you by any chance looking fore BETA testers? I really want to get my hands on this game, but I don’t know if I can wait for Christmas…
Keep up the good work.
Pierce on November 2nd, 2008
*for BETA testers
Sorry, I’m on my iPhone.
Mat Morrison on November 6th, 2008
@pierce, @handcircus – I second that emotion
Steven on November 17th, 2008
Hey, will this game be out by thanksgiving? it looks amazing…
ngmoco to Publish 3 New Games | FingerGaming on October 16th, 2008
[...] information about all three games. One game, which you may have heard of, is Rolando. Hand Circus announced today their highly-anticipated platform/adventure game will be published by ngmoco [...]