An interesting success story is brewing in the local Calgary iPhone development community. Prolific app developers, Robots & Pencils, seams to have dug-up a major success with their latest release of Minecraft: World Explorer for the iPhone and iPad.

Minecraft World Explorer - iPhone/iPad

For those unfamiliar with the Minecraft ethos, the game is million-user worldwide phenomena. Players take an avatar and then can create or destroy blocks to , form anything their little hearts desires in a vast multi-player environment. Minecraft World Explorer is essentially a portable porting of the Minecraft world and map editor. Think the old school world creators of Wolfenstien and Quake in the palm of your hands. As an app, World Explorer is an incredibly detailed game with a simple interface and a robust set of tools. Users can create, explore and develop their own maps and then port them to their home machines once they’re done editing their masterpiece on their daily commute.

With it’s fantastic pixel rendering and expansive building interface, this is a real treat for fans of the orginial Minecraft.

And while, the story would typically end there. The other element of the story is that Minecraft has become an instant hit since launching late last week. As of writing this, Minecraft Explorer is stationed at 7th place on the top 25 grossing apps on the Canadian and American iTunes stores.

So a big congratulations is in order Robots & Pencils. (P.S. It’s currently on sale for 2.99, so make sure you get in on the action)