Wonderland Mobile FAQs

[David]

1. How do you control the characters without a keyboard?
   There are two controllers for characters. There is a joypad shown as a small white circle surrounded by a larger circle. You press and hold the small circle and move your finger in the direction you want to move the character. There is also a set of four movement triangles, one for each direction. You can tap one of the triangles to move a single tile, or press and hold a triangle to keep moving. The joypad is useful for rapidly moving around a level map, while the movement triangles allow precise movement control.
2. How do you switch between Stinky and Loof?
   Levels with more than one character include buttons that you can tap to switch between characters. Buttons have a picture of the character they switch to that changes when the button is tapped so that you can keep tapping the button to rotate between characters.
3. Can you save your position mid-level?
   Yes! One of the biggest changes in the mobile game is the ability to save a position mid-level. Just tap the Pause button, then the Save Position button to save a position at any point. If things don't work out, and you want to retry from the saved position, tap the Pause button again, then the Restore Position button. No more replaying an entire level due to a mistake near the end!
4. Are there any other enhancements from the PC games?
   Yes! The mobile game contains several new features, such as:
   • A Connect with Facebook feature that allows game progress to be shared between all your devices
   • A set of Power-Ups that can make a level a little easier, such as by supplying a hint, or slowing enemy movement
   • An integrated set of level solutions that a player can purchase
   • A built-in help page
   • A Contact Us form allowing players to send questions and suggestions directly to TootSuite Games
5. What levels are in the mobile game?
   The mobile game contains all the levels from the first two Wonderland games, Wonderland and Return to Wonderland. The mobile game can run any level that plays in Return to Wonderland, and will soon include the levels from Wonderland Secret Worlds.
6. How does the mobile game organize levels?
   The game groups levels into chapters that are the equivalent of the worlds in the PC game. These chapters are further grouped into stories of about 50 levels each. The game currently contains six stories, four from Return to Wonderland and two from the original Wonderland.
7. Can the mobile game play custom levels?
   Yes! However, the level import utility that converts a PC game level into the format used by the mobile game is not included in the game itself. To add new levels, TootSuite Games (aka me!) must convert them to mobile format and package them with a new release of the game. The plan is to allow community members to submit sets of levels that make a new story and share in the revenue from selling them (and their solutions!) to players.
8. How is the mobile game monetized?
   The mobile game is free-to-play. However, except for the first ten levels of the tutorial, the game shows you an ad before starting a new level. You can avoid the ads by purchasing the story containing the level, or by purchasing all stories in a bundle. Also, not all of the stories are free-to-play - two of them, including The Search for the Rainbow Spirits, are available only when purchased.
   
   BTW, beta testers don't pay for in-app purchases, so sign up as a tester if you want to experience the entire game for free!
9. Is the mobile game a port or a re-creation?
   The mobile game is 100% new code (in C# for the Unity platform). Its internals are completely different from the original, though I've tried throughout to exactly replicate the original behavior and timing of all objects. UFOs were the trickiest, as there's a number of levels dependent on the exact behavior of UFO targetting, such as Firing Squad, Boarding Party, and Beam Me Up. IMO, I've been successful, and hopefully the testers from the community can verify that.

[Muzozavr]

Ooooof, I wish I actually had that sort of phone now... (yes, I know my preference to have phone functions and computer functions separate is old fashioned, whatever, but I still believe phones are best used for phonecalls and maybe a built-in simple camera, while computers are best for the other stuff)

Emulators aren't an option here, right?

3. Can you save your position mid-level?
Yes! One of the biggest changes in the mobile game is the ability to save a position mid-level. Just tap the Pause button, then the Save Position button to save a position at any point. If things don't work out, and you want to retry from the saved position, tap the Pause button again, then the Restore Position button. No more replaying an entire level due to a mistake near the end!

I wish Patrick backported that into the originals...

Can the mobile game play custom levels?
Yes! However, the level import utility that converts a PC game level into the format used by the mobile game is not included in the game itself. To add new levels, TootSuite Games (aka me!) must convert them to mobile format and package them with a new release of the game. The plan is to allow community members to submit sets of levels that make a new story and share in the revenue from selling them (and their solutions!) to players.

Are you going to replicate the effects of hex-edited jank? Also, is this an engine port (meaning all the glitches and physics quirks are identical), or a recreation? If it's the latter, some PC levels might not be mobile-solvable and vice-versa, so players would likely benefit from instructions on that front. (But judging by what you're saying here, I assume this is an engine port.)

How do you switch between Stinky and Loof?
Levels with more than one character include buttons that you can tap to switch between characters. There is one button for each character in the level, identified with a picture of the character it controls.

The original has a specific order in which to switch -- Stinky -> Loof -> Qookie -> Peegue -- and then it loops back around. Four separate buttons doesn't seem like a bad option (flexibility is good, although it might allow you to do things you couldn't do in the original), but you might want to have an extra button that you can just hold down for a classic-style switch to ensure that you can easily complete challenges with rapid-fire switching. If Stinky and Loof are both running from chompers in the same direction, for example, on PC it makes sense to just hold down ENTER and the direction key to make them both move as fast as possible. With separate buttons for each character being the only switch option, it seems like this sort of stuff might be much harder.

A set of Power-Ups that can make a level a little easier, such as by supplying a hint, or slowing enemy movement

The latter seems like it might interfere with certain designs. Could a simple "slow the whole game down" option be better? (Although slowing everything down to a crawl seems like it could be fun to mess around.)

Anyway, this is very unexpected and welcome news, and might hopefully draw in an additional audience. Best of luck on the project, David.

[David]

Hi Muzozavr,

Thanks for your questions! Here are some replies

is this an engine port (meaning all the glitches and physics quirks are identical), or a recreation?

Excellent question - I've added it to the FAQs. In short, the mobile game is 100% new code (in C# for the Unity platform). Its internals are completely different from the original, though I've tried throughout to exactly replicate the original behavior and timing of all objects.

[For custom levels] are you going to replicate the effects of hex-edited jank?

I'm afraid not. For one thing, in the mobile game, levels are JSON files that aren't subject to hex editing. However, all custom levels will be playtested before being added to the game, and if sufficiently useful, game code can be changed to support them. That's a future consideration, though - adding new stories with custom levels depends on how successful the game is after release.

you might want to have an extra button that you can just hold down for a classic-style switch [between characters] to ensure that you can easily complete challenges with rapid-fire switching

Excellent idea. I'll see what I can do to incorporate it. It'll be necessary to figure out how to accommodate another button without cluttering the current UI.

Could a simple "slow the whole game down" option be better?

Another good idea, and not too hard to implement as the game is designed. I'll look into adding it as a new Power-Up.

[Muzozavr]

Excellent question - I've added it to the FAQs. In short, the mobile game is 100% new code (in C# for the Unity platform). Its internals are completely different from the original, though I've tried throughout to exactly replicate the original behavior and timing of all objects.

In that case, I'm pretty sure that means RIP to esoteric and poorly understood misbehaviors like the transporter bug, but I guess no new player actually wants to encounter shenanigans that stupid without proper warning anyway, so since you plan for all custom levels to be playtested before they transition to the mobile version, I guess that's not really a problem. Secret Worlds abuses the round/timer button interactions and even the "prism right next to a cannon doesn't explode" bug (in The Treadmill, although that can be avoided with Bearsland's solution), so if you plan for Secret Worlds, those ones definitely need to work.

Outside of Secret Worlds, "can you still stop transporters mid-path by destroying the object on the transporter?" and "can a single reflector deflect a shot twice if teleported into the line of fire again?" are the edge cases with the most puzzle potential that I can immediately think of right now. The second almost certainly works, but I mentioned it just in case, both lead to some really good puzzle creation potential. If those are covered and everything else "works mostly as expected", that should be enough for most puzzle designs.

Although RE trickier tricks, there's an interesting boulder/round button timing thing exploited in a few levels, like Mark's "Theo's Trio", where only two boulders are needed to pass through three gates. (Same is exploited and taken to the next level in my "Security Through Insanity", actually.) I'm honestly not expecting that to work in a "recreated from scratch" port, but if something as subtle as that works, I'll be VERY impressed!

[David]

Secret Worlds abuses the round/timer button interactions and even the "prism right next to a cannon doesn't explode" bug (in The Treadmill ... [so that] definitely needs to work.

Thanks for the head's up! I haven't started working on Secret Worlds yet but will review this post when I do.

Outside of Secret Worlds, "can you still stop transporters mid-path by destroying the object on the transporter?" and "can a single reflector deflect a shot twice if teleported into the line of fire again?" are the edge cases with the most puzzle potential that I can immediately think of right now.

These types of issues will come up during playtesting of custom levels. As the game is currently designed, stories with custom levels will require a new release in any case, so any new requirements can be accommodated at that time.

[Wonderman109]

Interesting model, hope it will be successful because it sure looks it can be

[gottfriedjacob5]

When can we expect a general release.

[gottfriedjacob5]

Secret Worlds abuses the round/timer button interactions and even the "prism right next to a cannon doesn't explode" bug (in The Treadmill ... [so that] definitely needs to work.

Thanks for the head's up! I haven't started working on Secret Worlds yet but will review this post when I do.

Outside of Secret Worlds, "can you still stop transporters mid-path by destroying the object on the transporter?" and "can a single reflector deflect a shot twice if teleported into the line of fire again?" are the edge cases with the most puzzle potential that I can immediately think of right now.

These types of issues will come up during playtesting of custom levels. As the game is currently designed, stories with custom levels will require a new release in any case, so any new requirements can be accommodated at that time.

When can we expect a general release date for the game.

[David]

I'd like to resolve most or all of the outstanding issues before general release, which likely puts it towards the end of the year.

[gottfriedjacob5]

I'd like to resolve most or all of the outstanding issues before general release, which likely puts it towards the end of the year.

Glad to see that the 7th, or 8th game, depending on if you count Krabby Quest is (realtivly) almost here.