HermitWorks bringing Space Trader to iPhones throughout the solar system

Indie developers HermitWorks surprised the world last month when they managed to get a multiplayer match of Quake III running on two iPhones. The coders are now hard at work on a port of their original Mac game Space Trader to the iPhone. Reportedly, the Quake III stunt was just a test to find out how first-person movement and controls might work on the handheld, motion-sensing platform.

Space Trader was reasonably successful when it released on Mac and Linux platforms in the Summer of 2007. An intriguing cross between a strategy board game, space opera and frantic first-person shooter, it is no exaggeration to say that Space Trader broke new ground with its innovative gameplay. The objective of the game is to make money by buying and selling commodities at various locations around the solar system. Things get physical when players take on bounty-hunting missions, or become the bounty themselves for refusing to pay their taxes. The bargain-priced game did not attract a huge mainstream following, but the smattering of reviews around the net were mostly positive, praising the resemblence to early strategy games like Elite.
If HermitWorks can update the graphics and iron out some small issues with the play mechanics, this could be a promising title to watch out for when the iPhone Store opens its virtual doors in June.