What do you do when Apple rejects the gaming app you spent nearly a year developing? Boston-based Owlchemy Labs has been working through this exact issue over the past several weeks.

We previewed the company’s latest game Smuggle Truck here on BostInno way back in December, when the team had a workable demo and was prepping for its live release this Spring on Macs, PCs and Apple iOS devices.

The original idea stemmed from co-founder Yilmaz Kiymaz’s troubles achieving a Visa to stay in the United States, with the premise of the game being to successfully bring immigrants in the back of a pickup truck across the border. The game was started at a Boston local developer meetup, Boston Game Jams, and by all accounts its development has been supported heavily by the gaming community here in the Hub.

With demo of the addicting game released (at the time available only on Macs and PCs — and despite its innovative backbone that allows you to edit and create levels yourself), the focus in the press centered on the political (in)correctness of the premise of the game. Heck, the game was even the butt of one of George Lopez’s jokes on the comedians late night show around Latino iPhone games.

Alas, the game was officially rejected by Apple, and Owlchemy has since been prepping a strategy to keep the game alive. The result: Snuggle Truck, where the goal is to get stuffed animals in the back of a truck from the wilderness back to the zoo.

You can download the game for $1.99 in iTunes for iPod Touch and iPhone and $2.99 for an HD version of the game on iPad. Want to play the original Smuggle Truck? No worries, for $5.00 you can do so right from your computer. The game can also be controlled using your iPhone as the controller, thanks to Boston-based Brass Monkey’s cutting edge technology.

Check out this video demoing of the game below:

What do you think: Was Apple in the right to reject Smuggle Truck? Let us know in the comments.