How game developers can drive more revenue
Monday, September 23, 2019 by Offer Yehudai
Game developers tend to follow standard templates for monetizing their apps. Mid-core publishers focus on IAP and time-gated ads to be shown at a later date, usually based on their studios' recommendation. Meanwhile, hyper-casual ones go all-in on advertising, while casual games fall somewhere in between. These default strategies leave money on the table b...
Hot Wheels Infinite Loop mobile game released
Friday, August 23, 2019 by Richard Harris
Mattel, Inc. released the Hot Wheels Infinite Loop, a new digital racing game that brings the legendary Hot Wheels catalog to mobile devices for the ultimate smash-and-crash speed competition. With an introduction timed to Gamescom, Europe’s leading trade fair for digital games culture held in Cologne, Germany, Hot Wheels Infinite Loo...
How to create effects like Game of Thrones
Friday, August 16, 2019 by Richard Harris
Red Giant is once again taking on what is arguably one of the greatest TV series ever made with the latest edition of its popular YouTube tutorial series, Cheap Tricks, diving into the mind-blowing visual effects of Game of Thrones. In part one of the series, Action Movie Dad Dan “Hashi” Hashimoto demonstrates how to create magic fire effects like the many s...
Buildbox game creation software bought by AppOnboard
Thursday, June 13, 2019 by Richard Harris
AppOnboard, a company which focuses on app creation software has purchased Buildbox, the low code game creation platform that just released version 3.0. Jon Zweig, the CEO of ApponBoard and Trey Smith, CEO of Buildbox, both share the same belief that No-Code is the future of development.
Jonathan Zweig is the founding CEO of AppOnboard and was previously CE...
Blockchain based private messenger surfaces from ODIN
Tuesday, June 11, 2019 by Richard Harris
ODIN Blockchain is a platform enabling users to fully control their privacy. This claim is proven by the recent launch of ODIN.CHAT, the flagship ODIN Blockchain mobile app. ODIN.CHAT is launched in advance of upcoming ODIN products and services which enable users to privately communicate, whilst benefiting from innovative blockchain-related features on ODIN.
Mobile ...
New hyper casual game development studio emerges from Gismart
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Gismart has announced the launch of a new internal studio, which will focus on producing both hypercasual and casual games.
The new Gismart studio boasts an ambitious growth strategy, with a roadmap that will see ten quality casual and hypercasual games launched within its first year of operation, as the company looks to recruit over 40 talented games indus...
Apple Arcade game development and Stadia set to shift gaming industry
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 by Richard Harris
In the last few months, the gaming industry has witnessed major shifts as new emerging services begin to take shape across various platforms. Drilling down into mobile gaming, the recent launches of Google Stadia and Apple Arcade have presented gamers with two new mediums to flex their gaming skills. However, these emerging platforms have presented new implications, cha...
Making mini games for WeChat's platform now possible
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 by Richard Harris
WeChat is now opening up its newest and powerful Mini Games platform, enabling game developers around the world to create hit games on WeChat’s unique ecosystem.
Here are the proof points:
The Mini Games platform has grown to more than 400 million monthly active users.
The 7-day user retention rate of some the most popular Mini Games has already rockete...
The most popular gaming platform, and why cloud gaming sucks
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Richard Harris
Gamers spend an average of 7 hours, 7 mins each week playing (up 19% from last year), and cloud is the next frontier for video games it seems, with major tech players like Microsoft and Google teasing their cloud gaming launches at GDC 19. But getting gamers on board with these new services will require developers to create interactive games that don’t frustr...
Publishing mobile games with Gismart now possible
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by Richard Harris
Gismart has added an investment program for mobile app startups to its already established publishing unit. In addition to developing and publishing its own titles, Gismart also acts as a strategic partner for aspiring indie developers. The newly launched investment program highlights Gismart’s commitment to helping independent developers bring their titles to mar...
Gaming on mobile data says you are probably a gamer but don't admit it
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 by Richard Harris
Who’s a gamer? Chances are, it’s you. Most smartphone owners in the U.S. need look no further than their own mobile phone home screen for evidence that new categories of games are changing the face of modern video game players. From the early days of arcade games to the rise of Fortnite, mobile gaming - and the rise of casual games - has democratized gaming ...
Unity's Adaptive Performance gaming feature set for the Galaxy S10
Thursday, February 21, 2019 by Richard Harris
The Samsung Galaxy S10 will have many mobile "super-powers". From extended battery life to Instagram mode pictures - they have packed enough tech inside to make any propeller spin.
But something mentioned during the announcement caught my attention relating specifically to game development, did you hear it?
Unity is soon to launch what they call, "A...
Developing video games that work for everyone
Monday, January 14, 2019 by Matias Nicolas Rodriguez
Video games are interactive experiences – as the player, you can live many different lives racing fast cars, fighting great creatures and going on exciting, magical adventures. For as long as video games companies have existed, the focus has been largely on games that are fun to play.
Of course, though, we’ve all had to sit out a round and wait for a free...
Independent Games Festival finalists and ceremony at GDC 2019
Friday, January 4, 2019 by Richard Harris
The Independent Games Festival (IGF) has revealed the finalists for its 21st annual awards ceremony. The IGF Awards will take place March 20th, 2019 at 6.30pm PT during the Game Developers Conference 2019, and will be hosted by Meg Jayanth, the award-winning writer of 80 Days, the acclaimed globetrotting interactive storytelling game and former IGF Award winner for Exce...
The subscription based app model is working and here's proof
Monday, November 5, 2018 by Richard Harris
Liftoff released its annual Mobile App Engagement Index, describing trends in consumer app engagement and ways mobile marketers can adapt to thrive in the changing landscape. Specifically, the report reveals that mobile users are head over heels for the subscription model, with considerable momentum gained from last year. Additionally, the Index highlights a shift in ge...
Top ranking mobile games earn 10X what other games do
Monday, October 29, 2018 by Richard Harris
A report from Mobvista-owned GameAnalytics has shown yet again just how competitive the mobile games industry is, with a minority of top-performing titles capturing a disproportionate slice of the $70 billion forecast to be spent on mobile games in 2018.
The report, titled "Mobile Gaming Benchmarks", is GameAnalytics’ second global anal...
Unity Ads SDK 3.0 come to game developers
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 by Richard Harris
Unity has just launched the latest version of their Ads SDK, and it’s a doozy. The new Unity Ads SDK 3.0 introduces personalized placements, as well as two new ad formats: Augmented reality and Banner ads.
Personalized placements are particularly noteworthy. Now in open beta, personalized placements tie ads and in-app purchases into the same auction, serving th...
Game developers get the WRLDS SDK for free
Monday, October 15, 2018 by Richard Harris
WRLDS, the company that develops smart toys and platforms for connected play, announced the release of a new software development kit (SDK). The SDK will be free and easy to use and will give game developers a completely new medium to work with: an augmented reality (AR) and bluetooth-enabled connected ball with a bounce return rate of more than 70 percent.
&ld...
PC gaming developer fund launches from Intel and Overwolf
Tuesday, August 21, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Overwolf announced a collaboration with Intel Corporation to expand development opportunities for the PC gaming community. Through the collaboration, a development fund is being created for developers working on game applications, modifications, or game services that enhance the experience of PC games.
“We continuously look for opportunities to help developers ...
Mobile game developer help is coming to Barcelona
Thursday, August 16, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Tilting Point has opened a studio in Barcelona to better serve Europe’s robust mobile game development community, "as part of its mission to help quality games reach their potential scale." The move builds on the company’s momentum on the heels of its recent commitment to invest $132M annually to help developers scale great games to success. The Ba...
Flaregames partners with MeeWow to publish Tap Empire
Friday, August 10, 2018 by Richard Harris
Mobile gaming publisher Flaregames announced the next imminent global launch in its Q3/Q4 line-up with hyper-casual idle game Tap Empire releasing 11th October on iOS and Android devices. This debut game from San Francisco studio MeeWow Games will be the third title from the Flaregames Accelerator and the second to launch in the next two months, with Super Spell Heroes,...
GDC 2019 adds five new members to the advisory board
Monday, July 30, 2018 by Richard Harris
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 has announced five new additions to the Advisory Board of the upcoming conference, which will help further bolster its Programming, Business & Marketing, Design, and Production & Team Management Tracks.
The new additions to its Main Conference Advisory Board span creators & contributors to titles such as the Ratch...
Game streaming and the live streaming movement according to LiveCamp
Friday, July 13, 2018 by Richard Harris
Betaworks launched their 4th accelerator program, LiveCamp, which is now accepting submissions. This year, Camp will focus on companies looking to advance the "live" participation gaming and streaming ecosystem.
Here's how it works. Betaworks will choose 5-10 companies to build into culturally significant brands, similar to what they've ...
Unity 2018.1 has the biggest upgrades since the start of the company
Thursday, May 3, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Unity Technologies announced that Unity 2018.1 is now available. Unity 2018.1 is a major upgrade which introduces the start of several innovations, including the Scriptable Render Pipelines and the C# Job System, which make it easier and faster to achieve beautiful graphics and high-end performance.“With Unity 2018.1 we are introducing one of the largest upgrades in the...
USC Games announces first student games expo
Wednesday, April 18, 2018 by Richard Harris
USC Games announced that its inaugural USC Games Expo will take place on May 9th, presented by Los Angeles-based mobile games company Jam City, a developer of mobile games like Cookie Jam, Panda Pop and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. The event will provide a hands-on look at the future of interactive entertainment, showcasing games and innovations created by the next g...
9.7M developers use JavaScript
Monday, April 9, 2018 by Richard Harris
SlashData announces the release of the State of the Developer Nation Report 14th Edition, based on the results of the bi-annual Developer Economics survey, which reached 21,700+ developers from 169 countries in 9 areas of involvement in November-December 2017.State of the Developer Nation Report report focuses on 4 major themes, each with its own visualization:For the f...
Make interactive stories for mobile with Gamebook.io
Wednesday, April 4, 2018 by Richard Harris
Gamebook has announced its new production software for the quick creation of high-quality, episodic, interactive stories, such as “choose your own story” style mobile games, interactive audio dramas, interactive books and apps, eLearning apps, and more.GameBook.io is designed for anyone who wants to quickly create interactive stories, including storytellers with little ...
GDC 2018 breaks attendance records
Monday, April 2, 2018 by Richard Harris
The 2018 Game Developers Conference (GDC) ended after a week of networking, learning and inspiration. This year, the event saw a record attendance of 28,000 industry professionals at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 19-23. GDC and VRDC will be returning to the Moscone Convention Center on Monday, March 18 to Friday, March 22, 2019. The call for submi...
Orbital 1 mobile game launches from Etermax
Monday, April 2, 2018 by Richard Harris
Etermax, the creators of Trivia Crack, announced the release of its latest strategy game: Orbital 1. The new title sets users on a 3D intergalactic journey to challenge fierce opponents in a rotating competition, shaking up the whole PvP (Player Vs Player) genre with a unique twist.“We’re very excited to diversify our ever-growing portfolio with this new IP,” said Maxim...
Change the Game Design Challenge launches from Google
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Of the hundreds of millions of people around the world who enjoy games on Google Play, 49% are women, yet only 23% of game developers identify as women says Google Play's Jackie Lau in a recent blog article. In the article she announced that Google will be teaming up with the organization Girls Make Games and the ESA Foundation in order to launch a new contest named the...
The IGF 2018 winning lineup
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 by Richard Harris
Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods took home the $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game at the 20th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards. The ceremony took place as part of the 2018 Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. In addition to the grand prize, Night in the Woods also received top honor...
GDC 2018 is better than ever
Tuesday, March 20, 2018 by Richard Harris
The 2018 Game Developers Conference (GDC) kicked off its 32nd edition at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Adding to GDC’s lineup of lectures, tutorials, roundtable discussions and networking events, GDC 2018 will feature the Vision Track, a series of mini-keynotes designed to provoke and inspire, which will be presented by speakers including Supercell’s C...
For gaming companies data unification is critical
Monday, March 19, 2018 by Dan Schoenbaum
When it comes to understanding the entirety of player behavior, one thing that often gets in the way is data fragmentation. Gaming companies often have customer data stored across multiple systems, platforms, and software, resulting in a “siloed” model that fails to create a complete picture of the player journey.The good news is that behavioral analytics technology is ...
FoxNext Games opens San Francisco studio
Thursday, March 15, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
FoxNext Games continues its expansion with the formation of a new San Francisco-based studio, Fogbank Entertainment. Studio director Daniel Erickson and executive producer Nathan Germick lead the Fogbank team, and have assembled a team of games industry veterans in the fields of art, writing, and creative minds to further the studio’s push into the narrative games space...
Third Party Interface standards released by GSA
Monday, March 12, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
The Gaming Standards Association (GSA) has created a new specification, the TPI (Third-Party Interface) Standard, streamlining Remote Gaming Servers to iGaming platform interfaces, and breaking down barriers to entry for more game content suppliers.From a highly technical perspective, GSA’s TPI Standard is based on JSON, HTTP/REST, and WebSocket technology. It describes...
