Following the release of Rolando 2 as the first free-plus-paid game - and the news SGN is doing a similar version for FAST, another significant release will be Aurora Feint's VSL (working title).

Few gameplay details have been announced about this free-to-play social networked game, but the company is happy to talk about the business model.

We spoke to Aurora Feint chairman Peter Relan to find out more.

Pocket Gamer: How much inspiration have you taken from Facebook games such as FarmVille?

Peter Relan: A good casual social game, by definition, is going to have some concepts that overlap with Facebook games. However VSL is much more about your character and virtual goods than Facebook games such as FarmVille, which are more about resource management.

The micro-transaction model hasn't yet been proven with iPhone so what are the main obstacles you think you'll have to overcome for VLS to be successful?
VLS must not, and will not, nickel and dime players. After a certain number of levels, we will allow people to purchase a bunch more levels and a pack of virtual goods, as opposed to getting them to purchase these one at a time.

Real micro-transaction of individual virtual goods will happen but it will use the in-game soft currency. This can not be bought for cash however.

How much of the game will players be able to play without paying any money for virtual items etc?

Players will get a bunch of the initial levels for free. Then they will be able to level up using gameplay over a certain period of time if they don't want to purchase the next set of level. Or, alternatively, they can just skip over and purchase the next set of levels and virtual goods.

What will be the price range for your in-app purchases?

We like 99c for the levels and virtual good packs.

Thanks to Peter for his time.

More details about VSL will be announced in November, with its release expected sometime in December.