Sponsored Feature: Ivan Cascales on how Letris 2 is another iOS word game that gets it just write

Word games seem to have found a very comfortable home on iPhone and iPad, with the iOS devices' touchscreen controls allowing developers to make some stellar and highly accessible entries in the genre.

Ivan Cascales, founder and CEO of Ivanovich Games, believes that his company's latest title Letris 2 has all the ingredients to appeal to a large audience, too.

Cascales spoke to us about how his free-to-play iOS game works, what it boasts over its predecessor, and future plans for the title.

Pocket Gamer: Can you explain the gameplay behind Letris 2, and what it offers that's different from other word games on the App Store?

Ivan Cascales: The basic gameplay is very simple: the game starts a little like Tetris with an empty screen with continuously falling blocks.

In Letris 2, however, each block has a letter inside, and to clear the blocks, you must try to build valid words by touching the blocks in the appropriate order.

Letris 2 offers a unique puzzle mechanism that is highly addictive. Levels that you thought were impossible on your first playthrough soon become beatable as a result of your skill levels improving in an organic way.

Letris 2 also includes several different game modes, so that every type of player can find his favorite game.

Do you like the relaxed games where you can try to create long words without pressure? Then try Wordmatrix mode.

Do you like solving enigmas? Acronymus is the mode for you.

Or do you like competitions and playing with friends? Try the online modes.

All the game modes support English, Spanish, French, and German, with more languages coming soon.

The name of the game is a spin on the venerable Tetris, but do you think fans of traditional puzzlers like EA's falling block veteran can find something to enjoy in a word game such as Letris 2?

Letris 2's gameplay is totally different from Tetris, though it does have a similar look.

I think Letris 2 can be loved by anyone: whether they're fans of Tetris or not.

What improvements have you made to the original Letris to make this sequel seem fresh?

There are new game modes such as the aforementioned WordMatrix, Acronymus, and Multiplayer options. It's also a Universal application, so you can play it on both iPhone and iPad.

There's significant Game Center integration, too, with global leaderboards, 50 achievements, and an advanced player stats screen all included in the Letris 2 experience. The graphics, music, and sound effects have been significantly improved, as well. What challenges are there in making a word game like this? To dream up an original idea that's capable of capturing the attention of, and encouraging repeated play among, a wide spectrum of players, regardless of their skill level. We made around seven prototypes in order to make sure the final gameplay model was suitable for most players. Is the bank of words you can make simply ported across from the original? We started off developing Letris 2 using an improved version of Letris's bank of words, but we have made a big effort to improve it. There are online descriptions for each word, and it's possible to send online suggestions - we appreciate the contributions of the thousands of fans that made the improvement in the word bank possible. What are the main differences between the iPad and iPhone versions of the game?

We have tried to design the versions of iPhone and iPad side-by-side, so we could guarantee that online gamers can play together on a level playing field. The iPad version does have some exclusive split-screen multiplayer modes, though. Do you have any other updates planned for the game in the future? If so, can you give us some details?

Of course. We just released a major update with many new features last week, but there are many others improvements on our "to-do list". We will add support for more languages over time, and we have some cool ideas for a new game mode. We also plan to improve the online mode, making it possible to organise tournaments. We still have a few months of fun ahead of us. Are there any plans to bring Letris 2 to any other mobile platforms, such as Android or Windows Phone? There are no short-term plans to port the game to other formats, but we are looking at Android as the next platform. Letris 2 is available for iPad and iPhone now as a Universal app, and is available for free [iTunes link].