Tag Archives: iOS

Train2Game News Google Play outnumbers iOS

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Google PlayGlobal Google Play downloads exceeded iOS App Store downloads by around 60 per cent last quarter, according to a new report.

According to the Q2 2014 Market Index from analyst App Annie, Google Play downloads shot up by 15 per cent compared to the same period in 2013.

The growth is apparently being driven by emerging markets, with Brazil, Thailand and India all seeing significant increases in Google Play downloads.

In India this is being helped by a large number of consumers switching to smartphones. The country climbed two spots to become the third biggest Google Play downloader during Q2 2014.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s market share in Google Play downloads doubled in the Sports category from Q1, partially thanks to the country’s hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The World Cup’s impact on the Sports category wasn’t limited only to Brazil – the entire category grew by 20 per cent, with notable increases in World Cup winner Germany, runner-up Argentina and the US.

China and Japan were the primary drivers of iOS revenue, which despite falling download numbers still managed to bring in 80 per cent more revenue than Google Play. The latter remains the largest country in terms of App Store and Google Play revenue combined, with games providing more than 90 per cent of the total figure.

Oliver Lo, EVP of marketing at App Annie, commented on India’s rise in the download charts: “The notion that ‘West is Best’ is holding less sway as Google Play and iOS App Store are being increasingly supported by emerging smartphone markets such as India and China.

“The fact that only 10 per cent of the Indian population is smartphone-enabled is an exciting prospect for app publishers looking for new markets to explore. We expect strong Google Play downloads combined with future smartphone adoption to help set the stage for rapid growth in India’s mobile app-related revenue by 2017.”

Source: MCV

Train2Game News 12 Year Old launches successful game

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Spacepants, the hit iPhone and iPad game developed by 12-year-old Sam Smith, is now available for Android devices on the Google Play store.

Spacepants was named one of the “Best Apps of the Week” in  The Guardian on its original release, and was featured by Apple on the front page of the UK App Store. Since then, it has received acclaim from players and critics across the world for its “Easy to play, hard to master”, “just-one-more-go” gameplay.

“Spacepants are the future of trousers,” explained Sam. “In the game they give our hero, Guy, the ability to walk up walls and along ceilings. But when his Spacepants malfunction and cannot be stopped, Guy’s survival skills will be tested to the limit. And beyond. And, incredibly, beyond even that.”

The objective is to survive for as long as possible against hordes of deadly aliens, and to compete against other players for the highest score possible.

Its young creator has been delighted by the game’s success. Despite his age, Sam has been making games for some time, having been taken out of school and home educated from the age of nine.

“School just didn’t work for me,” he said. “I’ve learned much more through game development than I ever could in the classroom. I couldn’t be happier to see so many people play and enjoy Spacepants, and I’m thrilled to bring it to Android devices.”

Sam has received tremendous support from the game development community. Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell helped Sam to launch his Twitter presence @boxfacegames, and gave Spacepants breakthrough coverage. Gaming radio show One Life Left and the Indie Haven podcast had Sam as a guest – and Spacepants has been used as an outstanding example of British creativity in presentations to teachers, students and even to government.

Sam is now hard at work on his next game. At this stage, he will only reveal that “it’s about a robot”.

Spacpants costs 99p from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Train2Game News Final Fantasy VII G-Bike

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Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announces FINAL FANTASY VII G-BIKE, a thrilling high-speed action chase game from FINAL FANTASY VII, is coming to iPhone and Android. The game will be free to play with in-app item based purchases.

G-BIKE is one of the most loved mini games from the FINAL FANTASY series. Making its appearance in FINAL FANTASY VII (released in 1997), G-BIKE could be played at a specific point in the main story or from the Gold Saucer amusement centre. G-BIKE is now taking its turn in the spotlight, completely re-made with modern technology as a brand new mobile game experience.

FINAL FANTASY VII G-BIKE is an authentic racing game that sees you speeding through the FINAL FANTASY VII world. The game offers quick and easy play on touch devices, in which gamers can enjoy thrilling high-speed bike chases as well as deep RPG like elements such as customisation, character growth and item collecting.

Enjoy one of the most visceral parts of the FINAL FANTASY VII universe in the palm of your hand!

FINAL FANTASY VII G-BIKE Key Features:

A motorcycle chase based action game set in the world of FINAL FANTASY VII

·         Perform many exciting actions in full 3D stages, evading obstacles and attacking the enemy at high speed.

Elements unique to FINAL FANTASY VII

·         Experience familiar sights from the unique universe of FINAL FANTASY VII, such as classic monsters and Cloud Strife’s awesome fighting techniques, recreated with beautiful graphics.

Deep gameplay to savour, including numerous missions and character development

·         Contains a wealth of familiar gameplay features including different missions, gigantic boss battles, detailed weapon customisation and item collecting elements

Train2Game News Marmalade SDK goes free

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MarmaladeDevelopers will now be able to download the Marmalade SDK for free.

Marmalade Technologies has announced that a free license is now available for its flagship product, which enables studios to create games for multiple platforms, including iOS Android, Blackberry, Tizen and both Windows Phone and Windows Store using a single codebase.

Developers will also have access to other products, such as Marmalade Quick, Marmalade Web and Marmalade Juice, which helps them convent iOS projects to run natively on Android.

Meanwhile, developers with Marmalade’s Indie, Plus or Pro licences can now develop games for Windows and Mac, Roku and selected Smart TV platforms.

“Following feedback from our developer community, I’m delighted that we are now able to give all developers the world over the ability to experience the full power of the Marmalade SDK for free,” says CEO Harvey Elliott.

“We know from our community that maintaining native performance for apps across different platforms is a top priority, and now all developers can use a free version of the Marmalade SDK, meaning no compromise on performance whatever their platform and freeing them to concentrate on making fantastic apps and games.”

Source: Develop

Train2Game News Dragon Quest VIII on Mobile

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Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the initial Japanese launch on the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, SQUARE ENIX’s DRAGON QUEST VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is now available on iOS and Android devices.

The game lets players take on the role of the “Hero,” the last survivor of King Trode’s army. “Hero” must track down the evil jester who stole a powerful sceptre and caused this tragedy.

“Following its PlayStation 2 system launch in 2004, DRAGON QUEST VIII: Journey of the Cursed King saw immense success and became an instant cult classic,” said Noriyoshi Fujimoto, producer of the mobile version of DRAGON QUEST VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. “The game is perfectly suited as a tremendous value for mobile and tablet as a full 60-plus hour console game with an epic tale of friendship, bravery and adventure. We’ve put in extra effort for the controls to be intuitive and easy to play. Its 10th anniversary is the ideal milestone to re-release the game for fans and new players alike.”

DRAGON QUEST VIII: Journey of the Cursed King lets mobile players explore the game’s vast grassy fields, snow-capped mountains, daunting dungeons and restless seas. Players can slide their screens to pan the camera in a full 360 degrees around the character. In addition, DRAGON QUEST VIII: Journey of the Cursed King also features the original title’s revolutionary synthesizer score, orchestrated by the series’ long time music composer Koichi Sugiyama.

Additional Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King features include:

Controls: Players have access to smooth, intuitive touch-panel controls and a customizable user interface. The in-game directional button is also customizable, allowing one-handed (or two-hand) play.

Battle: Reworked combat system allows for one-tap turn-based battles as well as more complex play. Players can choose an in-game battle strategy to move their character and parties automatically during battles; players also have direct control of their characters and parties during battles.

Auto Run Mode: As the fields are vast, players now have the option to auto-run through boundless environments.

Monster Recruit: Monsters inhabiting the game can be recruited into the player’s party.

Alchemy Pot: This pot allows players to mix various products in order to create new, stronger items.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is now available for $19.99 on iOS and Android devices which I find a particularly steep price for a mobile game but you may think differently!

Train2Game News Port iOS Games to Android

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MarmaladeCross-platform game development SDK  Marmalade Technologies Ltd announced today that all iOS game developers can now use the Marmalade SDK to bring their games to a market of over 1 billion additional devices worldwide.

Marmalade Juice, the new iOS to Android porting tool, will be included in all Marmalade licenses and from today, for a limited time, the annual Community license is free.

The full release of Marmalade Juice will be welcome news to millions of game developers who, until now, have taken a single platform approach, finding themselves locked into the iOS ecosystem and unable to maximize the wider market opportunity for their app. Now, using Marmalade Juice, developers have the ability to recompile their Objective-C code for Android, providing a clear and cost-effective route to stores including Google Play and the Amazon App Store. Once their games are compiled into Marmalade, developers have many of the benefits of working within the cross-platform SDK such as maintaining a single codebase and the option to target further platforms in the future.

Justin Ng, Engineering Manager, Storm8: “Working with Marmalade Juice has made the process of bringing games to Android almost invisible. The Marmalade toolset integrates well into our process and because everything is still developed in Xcode, there was a minimal learning curve. Using Marmalade Juice was incredibly easy and allowed us to focus on what we love – building hit games for our more than 50 million monthly active users”.

Harvey Elliott, CEO, Marmalade Technologies Ltd: “Adding Marmalade Juice to our powerful SDK means that at last developers have an easy way to extend from iOS to the now dominant Android market, using technology from a company that has grown up with mobile gaming. The release of Marmalade Juice underlines the long established aims of Marmalade in ensuring that operating across platforms can be a sustainable strategy for the developer and the industry as a whole.”

Marmalade Juice now comes included with all Marmalade SDK seats at no additional cost. To celebrate GDC 2014, Marmalade Community licenses will be free for a limited time, so all qualifying iOS developers can unlock their games to Android for free. Developers should use code: GDCFREE here: www.madewithmarmalade.com/free.

Train2Game News Free App Game Kit available this week only

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App Game KitCross-platform development tool App Game Kit has been made free for all developers throughout GDC this week.

AGK enables developers to code in AGK or C++ and then compile their game to their target platform of Android, iOS, Mac or PC.

The game engine has been used in titles such as Cannon Ball, Hide It Find It and Jumping Jack.

“AGK is a tool we needed at TGC, it’s already saving us time and money developing new apps. This is our gift to the development community; grab a copy while you can,” said The Game Creators CEO Lee Bamber.

The offer for AGK will end on March 21st. To take advantage of the offer, developers must use the voucher code AGK4FREE.

The Game Creators is currently at GDC to showcase its tools.

Visit the official website for more information.

Source: Develop

Train2Game News Unity acquires Applifier

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unity-logoUnity Technologies, creators of the Unity multiplatform engine and development tools, announced that it will acquire Applifier, one of the world’s largest and most successful mobile game service providers.

The acquisition will see Everyplay, the pioneering game replay sharing and community service, integrated into the Unity development platform. The GameAds video advertising network will complement the free cross-promotion network currently in development for Unity Cloud.

Everyplay, created to let players express themselves with game replay sharing, provides developers with a unique way to acquire new players and increase retention for free. The service gives players the power to easily record, share and discuss extraordinary moments from their gameplay sessions leading to authentic virality with the players’ friends and the broader audience of involved gamers. Everyplay boasts a global community of over 6 million registered mobile players and is now growing by over 1 million new users each month with millions of shared replays from hundreds of integrated games on iOS and Android. The social game replay service, already easy for developers to adopt, will get integrated into Unity for effortless activation of features. Everyplay will continue to offer its SDKs outside of Unity products and enthusiastically welcomes any developer interested in using Everyplay with their games.

“Unity was founded to democratize game development, and we are incessantly searching for tools that can make our community more successful,” said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. “By welcoming Everyplay to the Unity platform, we’re arming our developers with an incredibly powerful and authentic way to connect with a rapidly growing community of passionate gamers.”

“The challenge for today’s developers doesn’t end with releasing awesome games – they also need to attract and retain legions of true fans,” said Jussi Laakkonen, CEO, Applifier. “We are thrilled to join forces with Unity and, with the help of the incredible Unity community, overcome these important challenges together.”

The acquisition also brings GameAds, a broadly adopted video ad network, to Unity. The service is used by leading game publishers to find engaged new users and to monetize non-paying users with video ads. The GameAds video ad network and Everyplay gaming community will work side by side Unity Cloud and its upcoming cross-promotion network. Together the three services will provide mobile game developers with multiple methods to grow their customer base.

Train2Game News: Play to help beat Cancer

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Play to cureA new iOS and Android game allows players to help Cancer Research UK scientists fight cancer in real life.

Play To Cure: Genes In Space is a free game in which the player has to collect a fictional substance dubbed Element Alpha. This represents genetic cancer data, which might underpin certain types of cancer.

By playing the game and collecting Element Alpha, players are actually helping analyse significant amounts of genetic data, which would take Cancer Research scientists hours to do.

The game is actually a cleverly disguised data analysis tool, so by mapping a route through an asteroid field and then collecting the Element Alpha in it (while dodging and shooting asteroids), players are actually sending back data analysis to the Cancer Research labs.

Play To Cure: Genes In Space can be downloaded free on the iOS App Store and the Google Play store.

You can enjoy the trailer for Play To Cure: Genes In Space below.

Train2Game News: Warner Bros mobile game sale

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WB InteractiveIn celebration of the holidays, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces mobile games priced at £0.69. For a limited time starting today, the following games will be discounted on the App Store:

·  LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes
·  Batman: Arkham City Lockdown
·  Man of Steel
·  Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters
·  LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
·  LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
·  Harry Potter: Spells
·  Scribblenauts Remix
·  Bastion
·  AdvenChewers
·  Midway Arcade Games
·  Tapper World Tour

LEGO The Lord of the Rings is also available on the App Store for the low price of £1.99.

Additionally, for Android users, Batman Arkham City Lockdown, Man of Steel and Scribblenauts Remix are available on GooglePlay and in the Amazon Appstore for Android for £0.69.

If you are looking for an entertaining game to play over the holiday season you are spoilt for choice!