Today, a new version of Underworld appeared in the AppStore. The one unique feature you will notice there is in-app purchase mechanics for paid in-game extras.

Right now, Underworld is the first MMO in the AppStore that has micro-transactions, so we decided to drop some knowledge on the whole micro-transaction deal and what troubles we were facing while working on it.

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Finally, the update has made it to the AppStore.

• Map blackout bug fixed
• New tiled-mode view added in the map screen
• Push notifications about your sales & received new messages

Quick, download it and let us know what you think!

Bad news kicked in about the anticipated Traffic theme of Underworld. Got rejected again. Apple contacted us, saying that nothing that involves trafficking of illegal commodities won’t pass the bar.

Is it the time to make a theme featuring medical use of Underworld commodities? Seems like this works pretty well for other iPhone apps. Prescription only, 100% legitimate business, eh?

Anyway, this doesn’t stop us from improving the game along the roadmap. We are releasing a new version in the next couple of days. Feature preview;

• Push notifications about your sales and new messages;
• The improved map screen: you’ll see not only your current tile but also tiles of other dealers you can reach;
• A couple of other useful improvements suggested by the community: like an option to make the system bar visible in the game;

What happened to the In-App purchase functionality? Although we have already done a lot of work to make this mechanics happen in the upcoming version, we’ll have to postpone it to the next release. The thing is, AppStore has a very strict policy on the in-app purchase usage and selling UW points as in-app goods doesn’t comply with this policy very well. We have to work on that a bit more and push another update within a week or so.

Well, how about new ranks then? Right. New ranks (=upgrades) will come out together with a big new chunk of gameplay, right from the top of the Open Roadmap based on your votes. Yep, we’ve promised ‘Missions’ some time ago and to bate your curiosity, we’ll squeeze a separate post soon about the stuff we’re cooking right now.

Stay tuned!

Image credits to GenMed64, via Flickr.

If you follow the news, you probably know that since the release of a new firmware, the whole iPhone/iPod Touch community expected it to bring a lot of apps previously rejected from distribution in the AppStore. Yet we are still unsure if it helps Underworld to get its original setting back, but we promised to take our chances anyway.

Yes, we have re-submitted the gray-trade version of the game, called ‘Underworld: Traffic’. It is rated ‘17+’ for Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References and Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive themes.

Underworld: Traffic will bring players into the same world as SweetDeal, with a difference in available commodities and dealer ranks.

Now we wait for the news from Apple and will let you know as soon as we get an update. Stay tuned!

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Update [July 10]: Hey, we’ve  got an update from Apple. Not a very fruitful one though:

‘Your application, Underworld: Traffic 1.0, is requiring unexpected additional time for review. <…>’

Sounds like bad news to us, considering that a previous response like that led to two and a half months of waiting and then to a reject.

Well, fingers crossed, we let you know the minute something new comes up. Meanwhile, we are still working hard on the planned game improvements. Stay with us

Please welcome two new packs: 350 UW points & 750 UW points. Available in iTunes AppStore now!

These are probably going to be the last packs we publish in an old-fashioned 2.0-style. New version supporting in-app purchases is on the way, to be submitted soon. As a bonus, push notification support will be squeezed into this version as well Stay tuned!

Everyone will probably agree that these are exciting times both for the iPhone game developers and for the players. The long and highly anticipated 3.0 firmware is finally coming out tomorrow!

We would like to take a minute and summarize what does this new firmware mean for the Underworld and other MMO & location based games.

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