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.