Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ on iOS

Review Fix chats with Neil Rennison, who discusses the release of“The Warlock of Firetop Mountain” on iOS. Breaking down the development process of the game and its goals on a new platform, “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain” is primed to be a mobile breakout hit.

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Review Fix: What is the difference between the Steam version and the iOS version?

Neil Rennison: In terms of art and playing style, they are pretty similar to be honest! The major differences that players will notice is that Souls collected during the adventure will now accrue as a score, which gets added to a leaderboard. The iOS version comes with the first four heroes unlocked, with extra heroes accessible via in-app purchases.

Review Fix: What was development on the iOS like?

Rennison: It was pretty tough but the team did a great job! Major hurdles were implementing touch screen usability, which meant we had to redesign some of the UI especially for smaller phone screens, as well as getting the 3D environment to run nicely on as many iPads and iPhones as possible. Originally we were only going to get it working on iPads due to screen layout, but the team worked really hard and squeezed it down on to an iPhone 5S screen and made sure it was just as playable as on the bigger Apple screens.

Review Fix: Why should people play it that haven’t experienced it before?

Rennison: We’ve taken something that is 35 years old and given it a very modern spin. If you’re into RPGs in any form — especially tabletop RPGs — then this is like a solo fantasy adventure game. It has the nostalgic charm of the original gamebook, with the modern sensibilities of more recent releases.

Review Fix: How does it feel to see the game go from Table Top to Steam and now iOS?

Rennison: It feels pretty great! I feel we’ve been on a big adventure ourselves with this one and getting it out to as many players as possible has been an achievement we’ve been really proud of.

Review Fix: How do you want the series to be remembered?

Rennison: I’d like Warlock to be remembered as one of the games that broke the mold in terms of converting a gamebook or table-top RPG experience to a digital format.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Rennison: We are currently working on a very exciting VR project. We can’t reveal too much yet, but if you’ve followed our adventures so far you won’t be surprised with our next step!

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Rennison: If you meet some living skeletons in a shack by a river, expect some sassy conversation.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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