''Ro'' is a

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...

first developed for the

Qualcomm Brew Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (Brew MP, Brew, Qualcomm BREW, or BREW) is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones, featuring third-party applications such ...

development platform in 2006 and for the iPhone platform in 2008.

History

Ro was initially created as part of a larger unpublished FMV game titled, "Red Sky", which was proposed to Trilobyte Inc in 1996. It was intended to be a puzzle "Lock" mechanism for doors, safes, and other locking devices. "Rotating Off-Centers" was the working title of the game for several years, hence "RO" as a name. Ro was designed with the casual gamer in mind, even before

casual games A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a Hardcore gamer, hardcore game, which is targeted at Gamer#Dedication spectrum, hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They genera ...

became a genre. As it was originally intended to be part of a larger game, it needed to be challenging, yet simple enough to solve quickly, without destroying the larger gameplay. Ro for the iPhone has evolved to a game that can stand on its own, with Twenty (20) increasingly challenging levels.

Gameplay

The objective of this game is to realign a scrambled image by rotating the rings. Each selected ring will rotate either 90 or 180 degrees. In doing so, the selected ring will cause neighboring rings to rotate as well. These neighboring rings will rotate at a different rate and direction as the selected ring. These differing rotation patterns change from puzzle to puzzle. The challenge is for the player to discover the pattern for each puzzle, and use it to solve the puzzle in the fewest moves.

Influence

Ro, while an original design, is somewhat influenced by the traditional

sliding puzzle A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a combination puzzle that challenges a player to slide (frequently flat) pieces along certain routes (usually on a board) to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to ...

s. A greater influence is what's known as the "Parent Child" relationship in animation. The "Parent Child" relationship is what governs the rotational relationship between rings.

References

''Rotation is the Aim of this Game''
(by Michael Alexander, Appcraver, 2009.)
''RO for iPhone''
(by Lex Freidman,

MacWorld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...

, 2009.)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ro IOS games IPod games Puzzle video games Single-player video games