Here's the news link I found:

http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/23/zooloretto-board-game-from...

I downloaded it last night and it seems pretty good. It's got cute, animated animals that make animal noises and a pretty good UI. I've only played once against two computer players and lost (3rd place) so that was encouraging from an AI standpoint.

I'm glad to see some of these games making the jump!

I purchased this for the iPhone. It's a little pricey but, in my opinion, they did an excellant job with this game.

- They have both a "pretty graphics" display with animated animals, as well as a way to view the game like the board game version.
- They have AI players, as well as the ability to play with multiple human players. The AI is pretty good, and allowing multiple human players as well was a nice touch.
- The game goes up to 5 players. Some other iPhone boardgames have ended up limiting the number of players, which can hurt the gameplay, not so in this game.

I really recommend this game to others, and hope these game developers do more boardgames for the iPhone, it's one of the best examples I've seen so far.

$5 is considered "pricey"? I suppose so. I got 'spoiled' by a whole slew of freeware apps that were available during the peak days of the Palm OS platform. I'm glad that the iphone is such a viable platform, b/c if it weren't, you'd only have moreso amateur developers who'd probably charge $10 to $20 for such an app.

Yeah, in the Appstore world everything over $0.99 is considered pricey... most apps seem drop to sale prices sooner or later. It doesn't feel very healthy, but the competition for visibility is quite fierce.

I think $5 (3 euros here) for a well-made game including free support and future updates is a very good price.

I couldn't agree more. A very good value.

Yay! We have Zooloretto!! Bring on the animals!

Right now you have to buy the 4th and 5th players via points in the game. I wonder what other items you'll be able to purchase in the future.

It's a fun little program and I hope to see more updates from the developer to add in expansions, etc.

Maus

This really isn't the case. There are tiers, and there is a significant drop when you go from $1 to $5, but its not as much as you'd think. Indeed, there seems to be a market that will not buy $1 apps, but does buy $5 apps, perhaps perceiving it as a statement of quality. Bugs aside, Zooloretto outstrips the quality of most $1 apps I've played.

Unless sales on this exceed expectations I'd not hold my breath for expansions or future "point spending" options.

Again, this goes back to my Palm OS days.... Perhaps I'm too used to those apps, but the graphics on Zooloretto for iphone appear to be high quality, but perhaps this may not be good enough for iphone users. Perhaps they expect more, as NOT being an iphone owner, I wouldn't know. From my perspective, $5 for such a good looking, and what sounds like such a solid app sounds great. Ditto with vid games as well. I have seen Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 games, as well as eurogames implmeneted on the last one, so it could be I need to "get with the times" on graphics with some of these apps.

Don't get me wrong, some folks have made some fine looking games for Palm OS, but much everything else nowadays pales in comparison

Found a forum response on some ipod game site. Stupidly I closed the window before I thought to remember what forum it was, but here's a quote from the developer:



People on the forum where asking for the current expansions that are out for Z also (XXL, etc).

Just throwing out more info...

Maus

Some images:

Single-player view of a game in play:



A female elephant being delivered to an enclosure:

I'm assuming there's no online play available and you have to pass it from person to person to play against humans. Is that right?

Here's the start screen:



(Not in the game gallery, because it was rejected.)

Correct.

I noticed the game on the App store this weekend. Saw a video and it looks very good (probably the best board game to computer replication out there). I do wish it had WiFi/3G access to play against other people.

Now if only they would import this to the Wii...

The quote is most probably from http://forums.toucharcade.com
There is a longish thread about Zooloretto under Iphone/iPod touch games. I agree that Zooloretto is one of the, if not the best boardgame adaptation available for iphone (haven't checked all as I've got no interest in Monopoly and such).

I hope Zooloretto will sell well enough to allow the devs to continue supporting the game. I think the price is right, and although there is a trend to boost sales by aggressively reducing prices, selling cheap can be two-edged sword as low priced apps tend to get worse ratings due to casual buyers who shop just for price (it's easy to bash something you've got almost for free). Also, higher price gives apps a bit more of "class" and shows the developer had some pride on their product

Sami

There's also a nice overview of the whole game:

Downloaded today as well. In addition to being nice to look at there is a quick tutorial on the first play.

I give it high marks for the thought that went into it.

Yes, it's really perfectly done. The only complaint I have is that I've become so accustomed to the animal noises that I can't play the paper version without growling, squawking, and screeching each time I place a tile!

I picked this up also.. I'm happy with it. I just wish there were more things to spend points on. Bring on the expansions!

I'm enjoying it. Complaints are it runs a bit slow with all the animation, and that you have to "unlock" four and five player games by playing multiple times (about 4-5 times to unlock five player).

I don't get the $5 price point being a problem. People get so used to the $1 games on the platform, but I've downloaded worse games on PS3/360 for $5-$20.

I like it.

Wishlist:

Change the names and genders of all the players, with more image diversity.

When a game ends, leave the board inspectable so you can see how everyone did.

The rules mention the "wooden disc" but all we get in the game is a red light coming up when the animal tiles run out. Shouldn't the countdown be more explicit in terms of the number of tiles left?

Is it just me, or does anyone else find that the application doesn't follow the scoring rules and bonus enclosure money rules?

My version of the application is scoring both for full enclosure and one empty space points.

I'm also getting the bonus money for a full enclosure when it's filled by an offspring.

I've only played one game, but is anyone else noticing this?

I don't have the rules in front of me, nor do I own the game, but from the 4 plays or so of the game I have done, all of that sounds spot on.

For full enclosure, it's typically ALMOST worth twice as many pts.
For enclosures with one empty space left, it's # of spaces filled + 1pt
Otherwise, you get points ONLY if that enclosure has at least one vending stall in it.

Offspring count as a regular animal, so they're legit in filling up spaces of an enclosure. In fact, if you get an offspring but have no space left in the enclosure, it may count AGAINST YOU just like any adult animal.

No, things look okay after all.

I didn't have a chance to check my score after my first game, because the application just shoots you straight back to the start menu, so my calculations were done based on memory of what I'd bought. The game highlights both points values for an area, but only counts the higher one for the score. So, the application scoring is correct.

A quick check of the rules with regards to last enclosure bonus:

"There is also no bonus awarded if an offspring produced by the exchange fills the last space."

It seems this can only occur when exchanging with the barn, so the bonus being awarded for the last space being filled by an offspring seems to be correctly implemented as well.

So, it's all good. I should have checked first before bringing it up.

My ADD is kicking in on this one BIG TIME! This is a great game for five bucks.