Steve Jackson's Sorcery headed to iOS as "a whole new genre of interactive fiction"

Cambridge indie inkle has announced a May release for Steve Jackson's Sorcery, a fondly remembered 1983 gamebook.

You might be surprised to hear it's not coming from Tin Man Games, but although it's considered part of the Fighting Fantasy brand, it's not formally part of the license, apparently.

Headed to iPad and iPhone, the app apparently boasts more than your regular book-to-app conversion; For one thing, it has a touch-based sword fighting mechanic rather than just dice rolls.

Player actions are said to affect absolutely everything, offering "thousands of choices". Creative director Jon Ingold said it started as a gamebook, "But now it's something entirely new. I don't think anyone's ever made a game like this before."

"Sorcery was by far the most ambitious Fighting Fantasy adventure I ever wrote. At the time, I got completely carried away in my ambition for the series," Steve Jackson said.

"Playing through this iOS version, it's obvious that inkle has been equally ambitious - perhaps even more so. What it has created is nothing short of a whole new genre of interactive fiction. And I applaud them for it."

Jackson is, of course one half of the Fighting Fantays team along with Ian Livingstone, with whom he also co-founded Games Workshop. He's quite a busy co-founder, in fact, having joined Peter Molyneux in setting up Lionhead.