Years have passed since we have responded to Apple’s rejection of Drug Lords by rebranding the game to Underworld: SweetDeal. And still the controversy echoes from time to time!

A couple of recent articles covering grey areas of modern entertainment and possible abuse of location-based games:

• GPS Technology Allows Smart Phone Game Apps to Cross Realism
• Dealing Crack? There’s an app for that too!

While we don’t want to get into murky waters of what’s right and what’s wrong about location-based games, a topic worth discussion is which setting / set of commodities would be the best fit for UW2.

It’s interesting that even though the sweets were supposed to be a funny cover for the game’s true theme, SweetDeal has earned itself a lot of loyal fans who loved it because of the candies. And that makes the question of setting for the sequel even more complicated and tricky. What’s your take, folks?

P.S. We know you’re waiting some news on the feature set of UW2 — let me assure you we’re on track with that, please be patient! =)

Hey everybody, long time no hear! As already mentioned in comments to the announcement post, we’re not hiding — we’re working our asses off on UW2. So, what’s been done since the last update?

The most important part is that we’ve finished all the necessary research & planning and dived into the code! That’s right. We have decided to throw out the first game’s code base and start from scratch. It was a tough decision because usually it’s not such a good idea, leading to enormous development timelines and huge risks. In the case with UW2, after looking at the vast amount of features and improvements we want to see in the sequel, it was clear to us that the new game needed a new foundation. The awesome part is that the new code works on both target platforms, allowing for almost simultaneous release on both iOS and Android. Cool, huh?

Now with the code development on track, we’re finalizing the Game Design Document and deciding what exactly goes into the initial release and what will have to wait until the update. As soon as we figure it out, we’ll share the scope of work with everybody. That’s the topic of the next update — stay tuned, folks!

Underworld: SweetDeal, our location based iPhone game has been updated. Read more about the new features on the game site >>

Good news for Underworld players: the Premium version is free now. Download it today and get some bonus: a full protection from cops for 2 hours. Go, go, go!

Another good stuff: we’ve put together a gameplay video. Check it out, comment and share with friends!

Background music: «To The On Position» by Wonderland Hollywood.
These guys are awesome! @Twitter / @YouTube.

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.

(more…)

Read the interview on PocketGamer >>

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!

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!

Another update of Underworld, 1.2 is ready and waiting for you in the AppStore.

We have submitted this version long before the 3.0 came out, so the 1.2 doesn’t have any of those bells & whistles of 3.0 iPhone firmware yet. Still it’s worth checking out.

Messages from dealers and other characters (Joey, Max, etc) now appear right over the offers screen, so you can read and answer to them without going deep into the Profile screen. The same has happened with sales notifications — check out the screenshots.

We have also improved the tutorial at the start of the game — hoping it’s going to be a lot easier for the newcomers to catch up with the rules now.

Many small bugs and glitches have been fixed in the game, thanks for the bug reports we get from the community.

Ok, now just go get the new version and let us know what you think. While you are enjoying it, we are almost ready with some 3.0-rich stuff. Stay tuned for updates

We have just added one more trick to the Underworld that you can use in exchange for UW points. It is a temporary +30% boost to your maximum Carry Space. This means that your current «carry space» value increased by 30% and this lasts for 4 hours!

One thing to clarify: if your carry space boost is over but you still have the amount of goods exceed your normal space limit, you don’t lose the goods anyway.

Visit Underworld to check out the new item!