One imperative part of iPhone game development is the inclusion of online capabilities. Online connectivity has become a large part of any game, with iPhone gamers recently receiving the same type of exposure thanks to services such as OpenFeint and Plus+. PlayHaven aids developers in establishing a community online and in-game. Oh, did I mention it’s free? Yeah, it’s free.

I took a look at PlayHaven myself and I must say, that site is heavily populated! There are so many games, each with walkthroughs or hints and reviews, praise, criticisms, etc. The amount of content on the website feels absolutely daunting, but it is very accessible. I encourage any iPhone gamer or developer to check out PlayHaven at least once to understand what they strive to achieve.

It’s the work of one individual under the name Studio Fung Fung; a 9-year industry veteran who has coded for Microsoft, Lionhead, and even Sony Graphics. But despite all the successes he has had and even the work he did on the Fable series, but Studio Fung Fung was where his heart truly resided. In comes MiniSquadron, a shooter in which you control a little plane and opt for the supremacy of the skies.

Obviously, now is a great time to be an iPhone/iPod Touch owner. What with all the indie releases, there are some golden gems on the App Store and MiniSquadron could potentially be one of them. Studio Fung Fung promises the game will have a fluid control system that will allow you to make most of your experience. Take to the skies and perform loop-the-loops while shooting absolutely everything in your sight! Over 50 types of planes and weapon types will be at your disposal once you have unlocked them. Your enemies will be other planes, bombers, UFOs, ducks, turtles, seagulls, and more. The title is available for $2.99 on the App Store.

Read on for a trailer!

Fishing Cactus’s 4th iPhone/iPod Touch game is a force to be reckoned with. The developer is coming off of a strong success with its past Shift earning over 1,400,000 downloads; naturally, Minim follows. In fact, Minim is perhaps one of the freshest concepts to grace this platform. You will be asked to combine atoms into molecules, in order to form one final particle. How well you do is based on how quickly and well you conjoin the molecules, which can often get tricky!

Let’s not forget that these are the same guys who did Equilibrio. Speaking of which, in celebration of the release of Minim, Equilibrio has been reduced in price to $0.99. Honestly, that’s a steal for one of the best iPhone games! Minim also is only $1.99 and with 50 (and more to come) challenging levels and innovative gameplay, Fishing Cactus seems to have another hit on their hands! Want to try it out before you buy? Not a problem. Download the lite version of the app, which contains the first 5 levels.

Video after the break!

When Handjoy calls itself a “creative agency,” they’re not exactly kidding. About two weeks ago I reported that 78-year-old developer Marie Bila, AKA Granny Coder, had submitted Gelex for approval on the App Store. The puzzler is an interesting physics-based take on the match-3 genre mixed with Tetris.

The good news, however, is that Handjoy has devised a contest. The contest has one simple rule: you must write, “I want Gelex for free!” and your wish will be their command. It should be written anywhere that Google can record it; this includes Twitter, YouTube comments, any blogs, forums, etc. On the day of the release of the title, the agency will search Google with the aforementioned quote and depending on how many results are acquired, they will determine the price of the game. Here is what they have in mind:

To have an indie game translated into another language is almost unheard of. To have an indie game translated into five languages is surely unheard of. But, from Modena, Italy, comes indie developer MaxMars. MaxMars new iPhone title, Jacques & Stella’s Mystery Files Club, is awaiting approval from Apple; the game, which is something of a detective story, has been translated fully to five languages.

In MaxMars’ title, the gamer will aid the two main characters, Jacques and Stella, solve mystery cases. Accompanying the two young detectives will earn you a randomly generated case each time. Every case is set in a building, contains items that may or may not have been used in the murder, and features six suspects. You must interview the building’s inhabitants and find out any background through dialogue you will share with the suspects. This will give way to motives or other information to aid you in your quest to solve the mystery. However, these actions can only be operated by completing challenges, which are 9 minigames divided into 3 categories: action, memory, and observation. Also at your disposal is a PDA that will archive all of the information you gather.

Each main game will last about five to ten minutes but there are also separate game modes available. These game modes are based on the minigames and contain their own leaderboards through Open Feint. Once approved, Jacques & Stella’s Mystery Files Club will be on sale at the App Store for $2.99. Here’s a video of the game in action!

membrane studios announced that it has submitted its upcoming shmup (shoot-em-up) game, Orbital Defence, for approval on the App Store. The game has also been submitted to the Independent Games Festival Mobile competition. As Orbital Defence is the first shmup operated by flicking the screen on the iPhone, membraine studios prides itself in taking the classic genre to a new direction.

The developers worked to ensure the game’s availability before Christmas, opting for a mid to late November release so that they may be eligible to enter IGF Mobile. Now, membraine studios must play the waiting game. Glenn McLeod, a game designer from membraine studios, had this to say about the game’s beta process.

Team17, the veteran indie developers who brought us the Worms franchise have delivered yet again. This time, it is Worms Express, available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Featuring the classic Worms gameplay, the game even has new single player challenges. The title is available for only $0.99 cents.

Team17 will also be releasing a heavy 2.0 update to the original Worms which will allow 3GS users to experience graphical enhancements, said to rival its counterpart on the XBOX 360 and PS3. In addition to graphical elements, the update will also feature the new Survival mode, Facebook/Twitter integration, and even a choose-your-own-playlist feature. The update is free, but the full game is available for $4.99.

You can visit the French developer’s website here.

As an iPhone/iPod Touch maniac, I have seen many puzzle games on the App Store. So obviously I like to report stuff that interests me. At first thought, Marble Merge made me think of every other puzzler out there. However, upon looking at the gameplay video, I was actually really into what the game had to offer. For $2.99, there 3 game modes available. The title also offers mini games for when you want to get your quick fix.

This is not the last we will see of Superstar Games either. The developer commented on their plans for 2010, claiming to have multiple games lined up for the upcoming year. Until then, players will enjoy the touch controlled Marble Merge to its fullest potential, I hope.

Check out this trailer after the break. For more info on the game, visit the official website.

What better way to usher in the holiday season than to cover the snowy North Pole with elf blood!? I know it sounds a little off-balance, but do not worry! Indie developer Games Faction Ltd has submitted its upcoming title, Trigger Happy Christmas, to the Apple App Store. While it is expected that the game will be released on November 21, the second iPhone/iPod Touch title from Games Faction Ltd will be sure to excite fans (like me!) of Zombieville USA.

For only $0.99 at its release, you too can run around as Santa and set those pesky elves back to order. The familiar face of Rudolph will help you in your quest by supplying you with violent–ahem–”persuasive” goods. This includes flame throwers, rocket launchers, and I’m hoping chainsaws. Okay, the gore aspect of this really has me going, sorry! Trigger Happy Christmas will even contain Twitter/Facebook integration as well as Christmas eCards to send to your friends, so you can take a break from the process of brutally ending elf-lives. Interested? I’m sure you are!

Here’s a video of some gameplay footage after the break. If you’re itching for more info, check out the game’s website.

She’s a 78-year-old developer and they’re distributors, Marie Bila (aka Granny Coder) is ecstatic to see her iPhone/iPod Touch physics-based title, Gelex, come to fruition on the App Store with help from Handjoy. Within a few weeks, the puzzler–which, I might add, looks so goddamn addictive–will hit the App Store and wow match-3 fans everywhere. Your objective is to help physicist Alex destroy and vaporize Gelex, a matter which he has invented.

The game is very similar to Tetris and many traditional match-3 puzzlers, but its unique gaming physics offer character that has been unseen in other titles. Now, in its final stages of testing and development, Gelex will see a release sometime at the end of this year in December. Until then, Marie Bila left us a parting gift with this video.