Tag Archives: mobile gaming

Train2Game News Unity introducing multiplayer tools

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unity-logoUnity is developing an array of new multiplayer tools and services for developers using its game engine.

The first phase of the new UNET project will include features such as a high performance transport layer based on UDP to support all game types, a matchmaker service and a relay server to help solve connectivity problems.

The new multiplayer tools will be introduced when Unity 5 is released later this year.

You can find more details on UNET here.

Unity’s announcement comes as indie developers have aired mixed opinions on whether multiplayer games are viable for small teams What are your thoughts?

Train2Game News Trials Frontier hit huge sales mark

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Trials FrontierUbisoft announced that Trials Frontier, one week after its release, has been downloaded more than 6 million times. The free-to-play mobile title from RedLynx, part of the best-selling and award-winning Trials series, launched on April 10 only on the App Store.

Trials Frontier is currently the number one free app on the App Store in 75 countries and   has been reviewed by more than 10,000 players who have rated the game an average of 4.6 stars.

“We are thrilled with the success Trials Frontier has had in its first week of launch,” said Jean-Michel Detoc, Managing Director of Ubisoft Mobile. “Trials Frontier has the most first week downloads of any Ubisoft mobile title to date, and the thousands of players reviews we received are amazingly positive, an achievement Redlynx and Ubisoft are proud to announce. In order to keep players engaged, we have a robust post-launch content plan including new bikes and multiplayer modes that will allow players to continue exploring and enjoying the world of Trails Frontier.”

Trials Frontier transports players to the distant future where they find themselves the newcomer in a run-down town desperate for a hero. Players practice their skills, learning how to race, flip and cruise through tracks as they earn new gear for their bikes and complete missions for the townsfolk in order to prepare for a face-off with the town villain, Butch. As players progress through the game they unlock new maps, tracks, bikes and fine-tune their racing skills.

Trials Frontier will receive regular post-launch updates that include new bikes, missions and the introduction of infinite multiplayer brawls to keep players competing and racing on the newest bikes. Stay connected with friends through time challenges, leaderboard sharing capabilities and social network integration to prove who has the fastest time.

Players can connect with Trials Fusion, available on consoles since April 16 and coming out on April 24 on Windows PC, to gain access to bonus rider gear and see what some of the tracks looked like in their prime.

Train2Game News Unity games on Sony platforms free

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unity-logoUnity game engine support for PlayStation Mobile app development is on the way, and a preview version has just been released.

A public preview has been released today gives Unity users the opportunity to bring their games to PlayStation Mobile-compatible devices, including PS Vita, for no additional cost.

Unity users can register for free with Sony Computer Entertainment to obtain a licence to test and deploy on the PS Mobile and PS Vita platforms.

A full release for the new Unity for PSM development environment will follow in the summer.

Right now, however, the developers can get to grips with the preview version, which uses a specially customised version of Unity 4.3.

Sony said that the Unity for PS Mobile suite enables easy porting of iOS and Android games for Vita and Vita TV.

Unity support for PS Vita was added in January, and includes features such as Trophies, Friends list and matchmaking. The ongoing developments with Unity are part of a partnership the engine maker brokered with Sony at the beginning of its PS4 campaign.

Developer can find out more about the new software and register with SCE here.

Source: Develop

Train2Game News Gaming Tablet price drop

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WikipadWikipad, Inc. today announced a new price point for the Wikipad 7” gaming tablet for UK consumers.

Now priced at £179 in the UK, the Android-based Wikipad 7” is the only tablet to offer the unique combination of console-quality gaming with the functionality and portability of a tablet, thanks to its award-winning and patented detachable dual-analog controller.

The Wikipad is designed to let gamers experience mobile gaming like never before. The Wikipad includes fully customisable controller mapping thanks to the Wikipad Controller Assistant, which allows gamers to use the Wikipad gamepad controller to play virtually any mobile game – even if it’s been designed only for touchscreen controls. The Wikipad also comes pre-loaded with some of the best Android games out there, including Madfinger Games’ Dead Trigger 2, Shadowgun: Dead Zone, Hockey Nations, and titles from amazing partners such as Wild Tangent. The Wikipad also lets users download compatible Android games direct from Google Play, the PlayStation®Mobile store, and TegraZone – NVIDIA’s free app that highlights the best games optimized for the Tegra processor.

When the gamepad controller is detached, Wikipad’s sleek design and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system provide gamers with power, speed and functionality necessary for surfing the web, watching the latest YouTube clips, checking out your friends on Facebook and Twitter, and enjoying all the latest films, books, magazines and music. Wikipad owners can even use dongles such as Google Chromecast to stream content direct from their Wikipad to their TV.

Wikipad 7” comes standard with 16 GB memory and possess an additional micro SD slot to support a further 32 GB of storage together with micro USB, GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope. The tablets ultra-light, super thin chassis stands optimized for cloud gaming with a 12 core Nvidia GPU. With an aspect ratio of 16:10, a 2-mega-pixel front facing camera the Wikipad 7” gaming tablet offers true widescreen HD display and HDMI out.

For a full list of retailers, product specs, a comprehensive support page, technical forums, and retailers please visit: http://www.wikipad.com/

Train2Game News Derp Studios demo on Android

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Two SoulsIntroducing one of the most challenging games to grace the Google Store; Two Souls. In the game you take control of two little androids on their journey through the stars. Although their goal is the same, their paths are very different. Using the analog sticks guide your two little soul mates towards the end zone of each level in the best time you can achieve!

  • 10 levels, each more challenging than the last
  • Challenge mode, a true test of dexterity!
  • Achievements; beat the challenges set by the developers and earn achievements via Swarm.
  • Leader- boards: Attain bragging rights and post high score on; Swarm, Facebook and social media. Show the world you have what it takes to be the best!
  • Beautifully composed soundtrack.

Two Souls is Train2Game student studio; Derp Studio’s, award winning game from the Swan PR competition. Derp Studios would like to thank all those who helped get Two Souls where it is and a very special thanks to Train2game for allowing it to use their iconic robot as the in game character.

Click here to visit Derp Studios. Download the game for free on Android devices here!

Found a bug or want to give your thoughts on the game? Contribute to the game’s development by taking part in QA here.

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 Android optimisation eBook

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Intel SoftwareRight now you can claim a free copy of Iggy Krajci and Darren Cummings’ eBook ‘Android on x86: An Introduction to Optimising for Intel Architecture’.

This fantastic resource gives developers a guide to the unique opportunities that arise from x86 architectures, as well as an overview of best practices for x86 app development so far.

Not only geared towards those interested in developing for Android devices featuring Intel architecture, it also includes a rather handy summary of the history and evolution of the operating system itself, from its humble origins through to the present day and Android KitKat 4.4.

You’ll also get a useful overview of the current mobile device and operating system landscape and an introduction to some of the business considerations for Android developers.

The real meat of the eBook goes into great depth about how you can make performance optimisations for Android applications on x86 architecture. It gives you helpful tips and guidance on using development tools such as the Intel Graphics Performance Analyzers and the Intel Power Monitoring Tool, and how you can get the best out of them with step by step walkthroughs.

If you’re completely new to Android and x86, or just looking to brush up on your knowledge, this is a really useful resource that is currently provided completely free of charge. It’s available from the Apress site in a variety of digital formats and this useful post on Intel Developer Zone has the steps to follow if you need any help claiming your copy!

Source: Develop

Train2Game News Winners of PR Competition Announced

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Swan PRIcey Monty and Derp Studios scoop a month’s free PR in Swan PR Competition. Train2Game student studios beat stiff competition to win free PR services from the leading technology and gaming PR firm.

Judges couldn’t separate the two potential winners of The Swan PR competition, deciding the best thing to do was to have two winners. Both studios will now have PR packages designed for them and Swan PR’s support for a month of PR activity. Icey Monty wowed the judges with its online games website Gamonaut, which releases a new title every week. Whereas Derp Studios impressed the judges with its 2 Souls game, which has players controlling two characters in a platform puzzler.

Harry Cole, Operations Director, Swan PR: “When we launched the competition we didn’t know what to expect from the students, but as soon as the entries began to come in, we were delighted at the standard across the board. We selected Derp Studios and Icey Monty as their titles were what we would describe as ‘ready to go to market,’ we played the games and straight away saw their potential. We can’t wait to start working with both teams.”

Christopher Ledger, CEO, Derp Studios: “We are extremely happy to be joint winners with Icey Monty (well done guys!), it has been a challenging few weeks. We would like to say a massive thank you to Nicola and Darroch for their hard work on developing such a great title and seizing the opportunity to use this competition as a boost to our studios success.”

Nick Walker, Director, Icey Monty: “We’re extremely grateful for the fantastic opportunity that Train2Game and SwanPR have generously awarded us. We would also like to congratulate Derp Studios, as they deserve this success. It’s a humbling surprise to all of us at Icey Monty Ltd, including our partner at Gamonaut. We look forward to the coming month!”

The Swan PR team will be taking the studio’s games to UK press for reviews and features, as well as advising on social media. The studio’s creations will feature in blogs and on websites, getting the much needed publicity that will result in titles getting in the hands of gamers. Introductions will also be made to business connections to give the teams further support in releasing their titles.

Watch this space as Swan PR will continue to announce more details of the winning studio’s games.

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 AppEngage Network

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To prove the value of an engaged user, Midverse Studios is offering developers who implement the AppEngage Network up to 100,000 installs for free.

The offer is available to all Android developers (Google Play and Amazon) who implement the AppEngage SDK within the next 30 days.

With the AppEngage Network, Midverse is pioneering a Cost Per Quality Engagement (CPE+) model, leaving behind the increasingly expensive and decreasingly effective Cost Per Install (CPI) model. The mobile platform provides incremental in-game rewards to users based on players successfully completing tasks across a number of in-network games. Through these cross-game incentives, the AppEngage Network keeps players involved across multiple apps, creating a reason to try new titles and to continue playing them well after the first play session.

“CPI is broken, with developers paying a premium for users who are encouraged to install their apps by other ad networks, but then immediately delete or never even play their games,” said Rizwan Virk, co-founder and CEO of Midverse Studios.  “With the AppEngage Network, we’re delivering users who stick around long enough to get hooked and actually want to play your game.”

Developers currently using AppEngage have increased monetization by at least $.01 in average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU).  That means an app with 100,000 daily active users (DAU) will have a revenue increase of at least $1,000 per day.

Midverse’s 100,000 Free Users promotion will run for a limited time.  The number of free installs is based on the developer’s DAU and how many users their application shares with the Network. Complete terms and conditions for the offer are available at http://www.midversestudios.com/100kpromo_terms.