Twitterific’s Easter eggs find new life in retro-gaming app ‘Ollie’s Arcade’
Twitterific’s Easter eggs find new life in retro-gaming app ‘Ollie’s Arcade’
The Iconfactory, home to a number of popular apps like wallpaper app Wallaroo, puzzle game Frenzic, and the unfortunately shuttered Twitterific, among others, is out today with its latest creation: Ollie’s Arcade. The new app aims to bring a retro gaming experience to iOS users with a collection of mini-games reminiscent of classic arcade-style or electric handheld titles.
Included in the debut lineup are “Ollie Soars” a Flappy Bird-like game where you fly around the world collecting gems while also soaring past obstacles; “Snake,” a familiar game where you try to gobble up apples while avoiding running into your snake’s own twists and turns; and “Tranquility Touchdown,” a space exploration game where you pilot your lander to the surface of six different planets.
The team says they wanted to recapture the magic of the classic games they played in their youth, citing favorite titles like “Asteroids,” “Moon Patrol,” “Battlezone,” and handheld games like “Mattel Football,” “Simon,” and “Merlin.”
With Ollie’s Arcade, players have a chance to “turn their iPhone or iPad into a retro gaming experience,” the company’s announcement states.
Plus, two of the new titles — “Ollie Soars” and “Tranquility Touchdown” — were inspired by Easter Eggs in Twitterific, Iconfactory’s long-lost Twitter app that was a casualty of Elon Musk’s API changes that put third-party Twitter clients out of business.
“Ollie Soars,” an Easter egg introduced into Twitterfic 5 in 2016, was completely revamped for the launch of the new app, while Tranquility Touchdown was touched up and polished for the release. The team then added their own take on the classic “Snake” game to round out the trio.
The games can be played on your phone or even with a game controller or wireless keyboard, the company notes.
All of the mini-games are ad-free and subscription-free — the app is a free download that includes “Ollie Soars,” and you can unlock the other two games with a one-time purchase of $1.99 each.