So, we got a build of Forever Drive and decided to put the pedal on the floor in order to bring you some early impressions. And, wow, guys, does this seem cool.

With Forever Drive, Supermono Studios is taking a smarter approach to user-created content design: instead of asking players to mold and shape entire experiences, it asks that they mold and torture a fraction of a blip on an infinitely expandable super-highway. By managing user expectations before people even begin creating, Supermono is freeing its users from failure and the game's players from having to filter out tons of garbage. Most user-created content titles, including Media Molecule's venerable series starring a boy made of sacks, do not practice any kind of control or creative constraint, which is what makes Forever Drive unique, and as we've been discovering, pretty fun.

You got to at least appreciate Supermono's core design conceit. It's shooting from the hip with Forever Drive � there are no curated races, no lifeless campaign, and no attempts at narrative. Through and through, this is a racing game about racing forever, and it's built by you and everyone else. The basic idea behind this is simple. Supermono wants you to play a racing game about the journey instead of the destination. That's some next level stuff.

"What we've tried to create is a very streamlined experience � something a little different from the "load a track, do 3 laps, stop, repeat" gameplay that's become almost universal in driving games," Supermono's Dave Ferner told us earlier this year.

"We're trying to create something that feels more like an epic journey, with that feeling of discovery and wonder you get driving fast into an unfamiliar land…"

I recently gave the level editing portion of the title a go and I've been surprised by how deceptively simple it is and how graceful most of your projects tend to be, even if you're just goofing around and attempting to make something phallic. You'll probably never make a level on par with 1-1, but you'll make something that works and fits with the game.

Basically, there are two parts to the creation process: track editing and environmental editing. The former editor lets you build a small swathe of track from one end of the editor to the other, while the latter gives you the power to add scenery. Other tools give you the power to raise or lower the track where you please, as well as make fine adjustments on the turns you may or may not choose to have.

It's not rocket science and I think that's important: execution on design concepts floating around on your head is about as hard as drawing your bedroom realistically from the picture you see when you close your eyes. By making the editor simple and keeping the bar low with the amount of content you're responsible for, Supermono is constricting the scope of your ideas, but not their potential.

And while whatever you make will probably be gold, there are tricks to making a good track, as I've learned from Dave. He suggests paying attention to the actual curvature of tracks, how a straight benefits the overall design, other high-concept-y things. He also suggests checking out this article by Luke McMillan called A Rational Approach To Racing Game Track Design, which is crazy good read if you're into design or production.

"One of the main barriers to mainstream acceptance of user-created tracks is the complexity of the editors � we didn't want a PC style professional tool with a million hotkeys, we wanted a super-streamlined editor which was fun to use," Ferner tells us. "We honestly spent months on that thing � it takes a lot of work to make something simple out of something complicated!

"And because our game relies on users to create the content, we aimed to create an editor that was almost a mini-game in itself � there's even some unlocks which you can only get by building popular tracks, and we may even put a highscore table for track creators… it's all a big experiment, but hey, you never know until you've tried it!"

If a section of track somehow manages to suck, you'll be able to down-vote it. After enough, it'll be removed from the rotation.

The track I made while farting around (after the no-no shaped one, that is) was a simple "S"-shaped joint. The game automatically integrates in spots where players can drift to earn XP (which is currency used to purchase upgrades, cars, and more stuff for the editor) and it also auto-scaled the height in order to accommodate some lackluster building placement. The actual placement was a simple as dragging and dropping or pinching to zoom to smooth out the rough spots. You'll see a few images of it if you look around this write-up.

We still haven't seen the full-full game � you know, the one with the potentially hundreds of thousands of user-created sections of tracks, so we haven't really dug into the core of the experience. We'll definitely do that when the game goes wide later this October.

On that note, this is definitely a game that'll live and die by its audience. At the end of the day, it's a title that is relying on a community and a vast one at that, so we'll have to wait and see how people react it hits and how long they'll stick with the user-creation component in a post-release environment. Provided there is an audience, Forever Drive has the potential to fulfill the promise of its insane conceit, and really, we can't wait to see if it can manage.

A new turn-based iteration of aerial combat game Steambirds [$1.99 / HD] is on the way, and get this: it's a free-to-play venture headed up by the original crew behind Steambirds, Spry Fox, AND the video game gurus over at Fruit Ninja [$.99 / Lite / HD]creator Halfbrick. Talk about a mash-up.

Phil Larsen, Halfbrick's potential Hollywood movie star and marketing wizard, calls Survival the "ultimate dog-fighting tactical aerial combat game" and he's probably right. I mean, what other game manages to fall under that description? This is why he's a wizard, folks.

We've seen preciously little of Survival thus far, but we do know that it's a turn-based combat joint similar to Spry's original game in look and vibe. It'll hit later this October with eight planes and 64 missions at launch with the promise of more to come. We'll definitely try to get this in our e-office soon and give you the skinny from a hands-on perspective.

I've been�chastised�in the past for using phrases like "Unless you grew up under a rock, you've probably heard of…", but in this case, if you haven't heard of FarmVille, you've probably never used the internet. Or you're Amish. Possibly both. At any rate, while there's nothing new about the whole land management genre, we can definitely give FarmVille a nod for making it popular on a massive scale � and not with just gamers, either. Facepalm all you want, but when your mom tells you that she totally built out her English Countyside, you have to admit that games like this have changed the gaming landscape in a major way (although good or bad, we can't quite agree on.)

Tiny Farm [Free]� is the latest offering in this popular genre, and I'm just gonna say it right off the bat so I don't feel like I'm holding back: It looks a billion times better than FarmVille. It trades in the deformed character style that makes you feel like you've stumbled into an avatar generator for a clean cartoon look, and I admit it made me like the game ten times more right off the bat. The cute little sounds the animals make when they get all swoony over you for feeding them in pretty great, too.

As far as gameplay goes, it will be very easy for any person who has played this type of sim before. You start off simply with a small plot of land, a shop to buy things from, and a basic tutorial which will show you how to grow crops and adopt animals. You'll start off with a few sheep, learn to breed them, and soon enough you'll be a regular master, mixing breeds and so on. One mentionable here is the menus, which are just as clean as the gameplay and make it a pleasure to play Tiny Farm. Since these types of games rely so heavily on menu interface, this gives the game a little boost and makes you want to keep on playing.

So how do you make your farm bigger and better than anyone else's? Well, by doing things such as upgrading your house, breeding bigger and better animals like pigs, cows and fancy roosters, and expanding your land. To do these things, you'll need to spend time in the game � there are some processes you can hurry along with items like Bells, which make animals instantly level up, but other things you'll simply just have to wait out. The good news is, while you wait you can fill your land with all sorts of decor, from trees to statues. �By the time you're done, you can harvest some crops and check on your animals, and you'll be well on your way to expanding your universe.

Part of the allure of these types of games is sharing your country with your friends so you can brag about how vast it is. Since Tiny Farm is Game Center enabled, people can check there to see how fast you are progressing. You can also use a message board to leave messages for other visitors to your farm, or you can also back into the world map and use it to invite friends using the game's built in system. Just like FarmVille, there will be certain quests later down the line you'll need help with, so you're best off making some pals so they can come over and water your lawn or whatever it is people do in this crazy world where people just tend farms and build things for fun. I'm kind of jealous, honestly.

Tiny Farm doesn't do a thing to break the mold here, but what it does do, it executes expertly. This is a fun game to play, and it's absolutely adorable, which means any gamer with a soft spot for cute things is going to fall in love with it instantly. It doesn't cost a penny to play, although you can spend money in-game if you want to hurry up certain processes. The game's website tells us to expect themed events as well, so expect fun stuff to come up around Halloween time. All this for the big fat price of …free. Call me crazy, but I have a sneaking suspicion it might end up being popular…

Bit Blot's Aquaria is heading to the iPad and iPad 2 later this fall and in the most recent news regarding its impending release, Semi-Secret Software's talented hands will be handling part of the publishing duties. In a new blog post, Semi-Secret tossed out an awesome video of the game in action with bonus commentary with the original game's co-creator Alec Holowka.

Think of Aquaria as an underwater Castlevania. It's a traditional 2D side-scroller with a huge, explorable world and an emphasis on shooting. According to Holowka, this touch version of the 2007 Independent Games Festival winner won't sacrifice what made it great by being a touch controlled title. He reckons it'll enhance the experience instead and also bring the game to a lot of people (including some of us in TouchArcade tower) for the first time.

You can read more about Aquaria in a bunch of places, so definitely hop to it if you're into teasing yourself. The original game was, obviously, rated pretty highly, so we're more than stoked to give this a spin � especially if this touch version is as promising as it appears to be.

It seems like a question that pops up on a near-daily basis on our forums is "How do I get started to make my own game?" Well, if my Twitter feed is any indication, iOS developers can't get enough of Unity and, as this video illustrates, you can have a totally functional prototype of a basic game using the Unity development environment in under an hour:

What's even cooler, is that all the tools shown in the video are totally free to download, and there's even a fully-functional 30 day trial of the "pro" licenses. You don't even need to know how to build 3D models, as the Unity Asset Store has tons available, both for free and for reasonably cheap licensing fees.

If game development is something you're interested in, but don't really know where to start, give this video a watch. A lot of stuff might initially go over your head, but that's OK, there's no shortage of Unity tutorials online and you really can't go wrong with all the software being free� The only cost to you is your time, and really, if you're learning something, that's not much of a "cost" at all.

[@infinite_ammo via @rje]

As if simply touching a screen with your finger and interacting with an iPad game wasn't magical enough, Disney Mobile is taking things to the next level with a special toy and game tie-in for Cars 2. All Things D recently got a first glimpse at the first "Disney Appmate," a weird experiential racing game that requires Cars 2 toys. Basically, you turn on the game, put a toy Cars car on the surface of the iPad, and then you push it around and explore (and crash into things in) the virtual top-down world that Disney Mobile has developed alongside the corporeal item.

The meatspace-slash-cyberspace tie-in isn't a new concept by any means, but it's interesting to see a new product utilizing the iPad's touchpad enter the realm. Also, this is definitely the mother of all free-to-play experiments so far. The game part will be free and packaged in with a $20 blister of two interactive Cars 2 toys.

Kids love the gadget and word on the street is that they also love toys, so on a conceptual level this all sounds like a promising venture. We can't really envision a world in which this actually takes off, but hey, who saw that electricity thing coming? You? Nope.

[Via All Things D, 9 to 5 Mac]

You remember the brothers Marsh, right? They're the two dudes behind NimbleBit of Tiny Tower [Free] fame? We chatted with them on our podcast? Glad we're on level because the dynamic duo was recently in the news for doing something other than making a wildly successful free-to-play game. In a heartwarming move, the Marshes gifted 35 iPad 2s and a bunch of "other equipment" totaling more than $30,000 to a small school in City Heights. Undoubtedly, this'll go a long way in improving the school's technology education and teaching in general. Also, it makes us go "Awww."

The reason? The school's principle was the duo's technology and business teacher at their old high school. In a statement to Sign On San Diego, Ian Marsh, the right brain of NimbleBit, said they just wanted to give back.

"We knew we wanted to do something to give back, but we didn't know exactly what to do. I'm a geek when it comes to tech stuff. When I was in school, I would have died if someone handed me an iPad," he said.

Props to these guys for using some of their skrilla to make the world better. In the spirit of the Marshes, I think I'm going to send a picture of my biceps to my old gym teacher. I think she'll appreciate that. I mean, who wouldn't?

[Via Sign On San Diego]

Big Blue Bubble's Burn The Rope Worlds [$.99] is an intensely faithful follow-up that feels like a yearly iteration of a well-trod franchise. It's as great as its predecessor is, but only in the strictest sense. It's as if the core of Burn The Rope [$.99 / Lite / HD]was transplanted, not massaged and implemented, into this sequel, which makes the staggering amount content the only meaningful mark of differentiation between the two games. A better name for this would have been Burn The Rope: More Burn The Rope � a great proposition, but a flat approach to sequel design.

If you're new to Burn The Rope, the short of it is that it's a rotation-based puzzle game where you control multiple points of interest (fire) on a line of virtual rope by tilting your phone. If you tilt it the wrong way, the flame goes out. You're awarded with medals and progression if you manage to burn significant chunks of rope, which can be a harder task than you'd think since additional flame can spurt whenever it hits fulcrum points. Colored rope and bugs are later introduced as complimentary parts that add to the strategy. By setting fire to a bug, you get a special color of flame that can only effect that color of rope.

The disconnect between the characterization of the flame and the actual fire mechanic is an issue in Worlds just like it is in the original, but Worlds is a much more coherently themed package. As its namesake implies, there are several worlds to visit and all four of them have an effective thematic hook. The coloring of the puzzles and the art design in general are the real stars of the approach, as they subtly give each world a vibe that the others don't have. Each world is also represented by an avatar overlord, but just like with fire character, Big Blue fails to connect these things in a meaningful way.

If you tire of one world, you can switch to another freely, which is a great touch that can stall the monotony of long sessions. The increased focus on bugs and colored rope helps too, as well as the intricately produced � and sometimes wildly angular � puzzles. In the first title, these three constituent parts fleshed out a fire mechanic that could quickly get dull. In this one, the focus tends to give levels more of a puzzle-y vibe and add to the strategy, as well as compliment an overall pace that feels ramped up.

One of the key improvements outside of Worlds sharper presentation is the cornering of the flame: tough angles are easier to manage from a rotation and a difficulty perspective. This alone makes for a slightly better experience on an already tight and refined foundation that, really, had no other significant flaw. It's just more fluid now.

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If you're going to take home one thing about Worlds, it should be that � sure, it's more of the same, but the "same" part is consistently fun, well-produced, and well-designed. Worlds straight up has the potential to provide hours of entertainment. The 100 puzzles that Big Blue has added is like an extra and prettier layer of icing on a fab cake.

There are a few misfires. The penetration of ads across the "Puzzle of the Day" and the full-screen ads before regular campaign missions are disruptive. On a more insignificant note, the new Snake-like game mode "Endless Burn" feels like an out-of-place and tacked-on feature. It doesn't feel like a part of the game, it doesn't play like the game, and it plain just isn't that much fun to fiddle with.

Worlds fulfills at least one promise of any sequel: it's more of the same great game. And while we'd love to have seen more progression, this is still a fantastic product that should keep you busy in bursts or even in couch sessions. I recommend it.

Thanks to a handful of savvy developers out there, iOS retro fans have been able to enjoy classics from a variety of different platforms of old on their Apple mobiles. Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, the Atari VCS, the Amiga � the list goes on, and I'm happy to report that it just got one platform longer. At long last, the RetroVex Advanced Games System is being accurately emulated under iOS!

Surely our oldschool readers will recall the RetroVex. Come on � little cabinet, cartridge slot up front? No? Well, you can be forgiven if that one seems to have passed you by, as it's actually only been spotted at the labs of Upside Down Games. And, only in the mind of the studio's two-man crew, at that. Developer Greg Michael, lead programmer on Alien Trilogy and Forsaken on the Playstation, and Ned Langman, artist on Silkworm, SWIV, and Rodland for the Amiga, have recently released the first in a series of retro-inspired titles to be published for their virtual RetroVex game console that lives exclusively within iOS.

They duo explains what they're going for in this playful effort of theirs,

We want to try and capture the elements of our favourite classic games like Robotron, Galaga, Berserk, Tempest, Tron, etc. A lot of those old Williams games had an edge to them that most retro revival games haven't quite got. Mostly to do with the sound. The sound is really important. If you play Defender with the sound off it isn't quite right!

We love the humour and quirkiness that the old games had, like Manic Miner and Llamasoft games. That kind of content is only achievable by independent developers.

This first RetroVex game, Space Junk [App Store], a universal app (for iPhone and iPad), is a lovely Asteroids-inspired shooter featuring a wide range of 3D wireframe objects and enemies to blast into bits.

Space Junk throws you into the precarious situation of planetary orbit in an area of space littered with debris of all kinds, protected only by a jet-powered space suit. You must use your jet pack to avoid crashing into aforementioned debris, blasting them piece by piece into smaller and smaller bits, all the while avoiding the occasional alien saucer out to find more probe fodder. As you move through the game's 25 levels (plus three bonus levels), you'll encounter a variety of recognizable derelict craft, such as Sputnik, the Hubble telescope, Rutan's SpaceShipOne, and the 2001 space station, all rendered in glowing 3D vectors. And, with each blast of your laser

Your little astronaut stays fixed in the center of the screen as you fly about the scrolling playfield, with a parallax starfield zipping along to provide motion cues. As you blast all the junk to bits, multiplier and power-up items emerge that can be collected to further your progress. But, don't blast away all willy-nilly; at the end of each level you're awarded for shot accuracy. The three bonus levels are multiplier-collection orgies set against a short timer.

Your navigation jets prove surprisingly nimble in getting you around the debris field and are controlled by way of an on-screen analog stick and buttons in both portrait and landscape orientations. The controls work well, but the ability to customize their placement would be a nice addition � and it seems it may be on the to-do list, given the lively back and forth forum readers have been having with the developer in our forums. Also on the to-do list for Space Junk updates is an accelerometer control option, iCade support (it's a perfect iCade candidate) and � #1 on the list � Game Center high score and achievements support, the lack of which in this initial release is the only real downside to the game, but it's a notable one.

I have to tip my hat to Upside Down Games � the virtual console idea is fun, and sets a clear tone for the titles to come. I've been really enjoying putting the first RetroVex title, Space Junk, through its paces. The warm vector visuals against the spacescape backdrop, the intense dodge-and-shoot action, and the satisfying retro laser-zap audio come together to make a title that feels highly retro, but with action that's anything but dated. The whole thing will get a lot more addicting when I can rank on Game Center with the first update, but even as it stands now, Space Junk is a highly enjoyable space shooter well worth a look.