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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/839
MacDirectory 163 FEATURE MD > Any chance of bringing Maelstrom back and updating it? AW > We actually open sourced Maelstrom years ago... so you can download it for just about any platform under the sun, or even modify the source code yourself! Sam Lantinga asked us permission to use Maelstrom for his PhD project SDL, and we obliged. Have a look: www.devolution.com/~slouken/Maelstrom/ MD > What games for the iPhone are you developing? AW > We currently have the following games out for the iPhone: • Aki Mahjong — Aki Mahjong was designed specifically for your iPhone or iPod touch, allowing you to enjoy Mahjong Solitaire anywhere. Combining the ancient Chinese game of Mahjong with an enchanting journey across Japan, Aki is easy to learn even if you still haven't mastered chopsticks, so don't hesitate to dive right in. The principle is simple: you have a number of ivory tiles arranged on a beautiful Japanese backdrop. Your goal is to make all of the tiles disappear by matching them to similar tiles. • mondo Solitaire — mondo Solitaire is the ultimate Solitaire experience. • Mr. Sudoku — Mr. Sudoku's unique and innovative interface lets you use a familiar input device to select your digits — your own personal digits! Simply use your finger to draw the number you want, and it's instantly converted into the actual number. Ensuring the strategy and brain-flexing doesn't stop, there's four difficulty levels with thousands of different Sudoku puzzles to choose from! • Many other games for your iPhone or iPod touch like Klondike, Spider, and Pyramid. There are also new games for you to discover, like Angkor Wat and Xerces. MD > What are the concerns for devel- oping iPhone games? Are you going to be porting any older titles to the iPhone? AW > It really makes the most sense to look at the iPhone and iPod touch, and try to figure out what types of games really make the most sense to do. What kind of game will someone want to play on the go on their iPhone? I think it's quite a different game than what they might like to play on their home console or computer. They want someone easy to use, casual, that does not drain the battery life, and that they can play for a quick few minutes. MD > Would you say you're selling more utilities than games? Which are your most popular utilities? Are you developing any for the iPhone? AW > Our video capture product Snapz Pro X continues to be very popular; it's essentially a camcorder for your screen, it can record any on-screen activity and turn it into a QuickTime movie that you can upload to a Web site, or build into a larger production. WireTap Studio is an audio capture product that allows you to record the audio output of any application or hardware device like a microphone. It also has innovative features like our patent pending LivePreview feature that lets you hear what compressed audio will sound like on the fly, and a unique lossess audio waveform editor. WireTap Anywhere is a professional-grade audio capture solution that takes the unique application audio recording capabilities of our WireTap Studio product to the next level. Using WireTap Anywhere, all of your applications become audio sources that can be discretely recorded just as easily as you can record from any microphone or line in. WireTap Anywhere leverages the expertise you have already invested in your audio processing software of choice by extending its capabilities, rather than requiring you to learn yet another tool. MD > Do you have any pending games/apps you'd like to talk about? AW > We're working on a number of projects, but one that is coming out fairly soon is a game called Aquaria. It's a fanciful underwater aquatic adventure of self-discovery and imagination that I think people are going to love. I'd say that the Mac game industry is a bit sluggish at the moment...which is surprising given the additional number of Macs being sold these days. WIRETAP