For the first time since Rovio announced its acquisition of the Casey's Contraptions IP, the game's co-creator Noel Llopis has gone on record to explain why he waved goodbye to the franchise.

Speaking via his blog, Llopis hinted that it just wasn't the prospect of money that tempted him and fellow co-creator Miguel A. Friginal to sell, but also the knowledge that the game – soon to be relaunched as Amazing Alex - would be "in good hands."

All-conquering offer

"Half way through development we realised we had something special in hand, and when Apple selected it as the iPad game of the week and the reviews and comments came pouring in, we knew the game had connected with a lot of people," said Llopis of the game.

"We were understandably very attached to the game we had just released, but Rovio eventually made us an offer we couldn't refuse."

Llopis, however, went on to express his admiration for Rovio and its highly popular Angry Birds series, which recently hit 1 billion downloads.

"I've always had a lot of respect for them: Angry Birds wasn't just a fluke, it's a super approachable game, perfectly suited for mobile phones, and crafted to perfection.

"They deserve all the success they got."

Moving on

Llopis, who founded Snappy Touch, stated he and Miguel have chosen to have no involvement in the future of Amazing Alex instead choosing to focus on new projects.

"Whatever my next game is, it's going to be a more personal, more niche game. Something that I can be really excited about working for however many months it takes, and something I can be really proud of after launch," said Llopis.

Rovio plans to launch Amazing Alex on iOS and Android in July. The original game has since been pulled from the App Store.

"At least we can rest easier knowing Casey is in good hands," he concluded.

"Whenever Amazing Alex becomes a worldwide hit, we can proudly point to that and say we started that game."

[source: Noel Llopis]