Venan Entertainment’s Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! still has its place in my heart as well as the App Store — it is a well-renowned casual platformer in the same vain as Doodle Jump. I was actually surprised to find Venan Entertainment on the E3 floor, right next to the IndieCade showcase (a fitting area for them). I’m certain that as media and other bystanders passed on, they couldn’t help but notice the adorable giant ninja costume and just had to see what all the commotion was about. Good on Venan’s part for trying to get everybody involved!

Having reviewed the game nearly two weeks ago, the experience was fresh on my mind. Since their spread also included two iPads, I had to stop by and ask them a couple of questions. As it turns out, there’s quite a bit happening with Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! and you guys can read all about it below:

Firstly, Venan has been hard at work on the iPad version of the game — they’re hoping for a release sometime by the end of this month. No word was given to me on pricing, but it’s safe to assume they won’t go over five dollars for this casual title. I tried it out on the iPad, and it certainly looks beautiful and translates extremely well from iPhone/iPod Touch to the iPad. The colors are vibrant and alive and the touch interface is as responsive as ever. Venan’s main concern with this new iPad build is that although they’re increasing the resolution, they’re still looking to keep the game under 20 MB so consumers can still download on the go.

However, the iPad edition wasn’t the only thing that Venan had to show off. For those of you who felt that the game was great but lacked a bit more playability in terms of content — Timed Mode is here for you. In Timed Mode, rather than falling off the trees when you hit obstacles, you’ll instead be penalized on the clock. Obviously enough, flying mustaches and the like will offer you some extra time and your goal is to get as high up in the time allotted as possible. It’s not a gameplay-defining concept and not entirely original, but it’s nice to have double the gameplay modes.

In addition to Timed Mode, the upcoming update will provide gamers with new skins for the game as well. The skins basically change the aesthetic of the entire experience; they are activated by simply tapping the logo at the main menu. I was shown the “Scribble” skin, which looked just the way it sounded — a very paper-and-pencil/doodle-like representation of what we normally play in Ninjatown. I thought this to be a great idea. The original aesthetic feel of the game is superb, but there’s a lot that can be done with the new skins. Venan also noted that they wanted to work on an Empire State Building oriented skin, complete with flagpoles and the like for wee ninjas to ascend.

The update is free, and Venan’s looking to have it released sometime in the next week. I highly recommend checking the game out if you already haven’t — it will get you hooked. We’ll keep you posted here at DIYgamer about all things Ninjatown: Trees of Doom!