A Premium version of Underworld just got into the AppStore.

• In-app purchase support
• Map screen bug on 3.1 firmware fixed (incorrect positions)
• Interface improvements (‘stock value’ in Money screen, dealers’ profiles in Recent Deals, etc)
• Ability to choose how much stuff to dump in Stock controls

If you know what the Premium version is, just go download it. If you don’t, read on!

What is Premium version?

It’s a version of Underworld supporting in-app purchase mechanics, that was brought to the AppStore by 3.0 firmware earlier this summer.

Underworld has always been free, why paid now?

Underworld is still free-to-play and it will always be. However, currently existing UW Points distribution scheme is neither convenient nor intuitive; this is why we decided to switch to in-app purchase support.

Right now, only paid applications can feature in-app purchases. That is why Premium version is paid after all: $0.99 in US iTunes Store. For this minimum possible price, UW Premium grants you:

• 4×1 hour of full police protection
• 4 days protection from the loan shark
• 1 Supply & Demand info request
• 1 Carry Space 30% boost for 4 hours

All the stuff you get is placed into your Inventory (a new entity in Underworld screen) and is activated/used any time you need it.

I still have some UW Points left, what do I do?

No worries! If you still have UW Points left on your account, there is a subsection in Underworld screen, which allows you to spend them.

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Still having questions? Ask here in comments, in our twitter or on the game forum.
See ya!

Finally, the update has made it to the AppStore.

• Map blackout bug fixed
• New tiled-mode view added in the map screen
• Push notifications about your sales & received new messages

Quick, download it  and let us know what you think!

Bad news kicked in about the anticipated Traffic theme of Underworld. Got rejected again. Apple contacted us, saying that nothing that involves trafficking of illegal commodities won’t pass the bar.

Is it the time to make a theme featuring medical use of Underworld commodities? Seems like this works pretty well for other iPhone apps. Prescription only, 100% legitimate business, eh?

Anyway, this doesn’t stop us from improving the game along the roadmap. We are releasing a new version in the next couple of days. Feature preview;

• Push notifications about your sales and new messages;
• The improved map screen: you’ll see not only your current tile but also tiles of other dealers you can reach;
• A couple of other useful improvements suggested by the community: like an option to make the system bar visible in the game;

What happened to the In-App purchase functionality? Although we have already done a lot of work to make this mechanics happen in the upcoming version, we’ll have to postpone it to the next release. The thing is, AppStore has a very strict policy on the in-app purchase usage and selling UW points as in-app goods doesn’t comply with this policy very well. We have to work on that a bit more and push another update within a week or so.

Well, how about new ranks then? Right. New ranks (=upgrades) will come out together with a big new chunk of gameplay, right from the top of the Open Roadmap based on your votes. Yep, we’ve promised ‘Missions’ some time ago and to bate your curiosity, we’ll squeeze a separate post soon about the stuff we’re cooking right now.

Stay tuned!

Image credits to GenMed64, via Flickr.