Game Developers Choice Awards at GDC 2021
Monday, August 2, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
Organizers of the 21st annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) have revealed the recipients of this year’s Pioneer Award and Lifetime Achievement Award. Tom Fulp, creator of Newgrounds and trailblazer of the Macromedia Flash games that helped define a generation of indie developers, will receive the Pioneer Award, while influential game designer with 28 years ...
AudioMob runs competition for aspiring games developers and students
Friday, September 18, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
AudioMob ,and pioneers of the audio advertising format in mobile games, announced one of the most exciting game jams of the year! It has been designed for Indie developers and students looking to break into the industry and the prizes are some of the best a game jam could offer.
AudioMob’s ‘Resonate’ competition is aligned tightly w...
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...
App developer and software jobs might be declining says new report
Thursday, January 17, 2019 by Richard Harris
If your title is app developer, or work if you work in the software development field and are starting to feel like the Jedi are dying off - you might be on to something.
According to a new report put out by Freelancer.com, the software developer job title, and a few others including app developer, and app designer, have seen a dramatic decrease in popularity since l...
New app marketing tool gets smart about user acquisition
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 by Richard Harris
Mobile monetization and marketing company ironSource has announced the launch of its ROAS (return on their advertising spend), Optimizer tool. The new tool enables user acquisition managers to automatically bid on dynamic CPI (cost-per-install) rates to reach the desired ROAS goal, solving one of the most painful challenges of user acquisition today of efficient and rea...
Software architecture in 2019
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 by Richard Harris
Software is increasingly becoming more complex, and dealing with the changes happening in the software industry every day is something all developers, especially software architects, need to pay attention to.
While software architecture isn't anything new - the speed of mobile undoubtedly has put critical elements of creating software outside of the main focus fo...
Appodeal rewards Indie developers this holiday season
Wednesday, November 28, 2018 by Richard Harris
Appodeal is launching a limited-time bonus program exclusive to Indie mobile app developers and small to midsize mobile app publishers. The #TimeToEarn program, which promises an up to $7,000 bonus on top of ad revenue, ends on December 31, 2018.
“As a part of the Indie developer community, too often we see great mobile apps fade away due to the lack of income....
Mobile publisher Gismart teams up with Appodeal
Friday, August 17, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Gismart partners up with Appodeal to support mobile apps and games chosen for publishing with global monetization reach. Strategic cooperation between companies will allow indie developers to benefit from Appodeal’s ad monetization platform and Gismart’s publishing expertise by improving the application, bringing their mobile product to millions of players, ...
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...
Learning ARKit for the average iOS developer
Monday, November 6, 2017 by Angela Yu
Augmented Reality is not new and developers already have tools to create augmented reality (AR) apps. But with Apple’s brand-new ARKit, we’re going to see a massive shift in the landscape as this new framework simplifies the process of building AR experiences for iPhone and iPad. With ARKit in their arsenal, developers are presented with a golden opportunity a...
App monetization and choosing the right partner
Friday, September 22, 2017 by Ignasi Prat
The process of defining the business model for monetizing your apps and mobile games starts before even a single line of code is written. It's one of the most important considerations that'll shape your future strategy. It's the type of strategic decision that will influence your present and future development. And if you decide to monetize through advertising, choosing...
HacknPlan 1.0 game developer project management tool launches
Monday, April 3, 2017 by Richard Harris
HacknPlan is a collaborative project management tool tailored for game developers and producers. With HacknPlan, teams can create tasks and assign them to members, set up milestones and deadlines, create game design documentation, track the progress and generate metrics and statistics to evaluate the performance of the team. This way, game developers can avoid or minimi...
How to increase app revenue by using analytics
Wednesday, March 1, 2017 by Richard Harris
Editors note: Guest submission by Mark Rosner, CRO of AppLovinYou wouldn’t create a website without at least one line of code for Google Analytics. So why would you create an app without it? Analytics might seem like an obvious element to incorporate into app development, but I’m still shocked that I regularly meet developers who don’t use analytics at all, or bare...
Comparing server virtualization and containers
Monday, November 14, 2016 by Richard Harris
Apcera is a San Francisco-based company building the next-generation container management platform, and they believe that cloud computing is an ever-evolving way of interfacing with technology. With Apcera’s platform, they aim to solve the hard problems that enterprises face in embracing the new world of containers to unlock the potential of modern architectur...
AppGameKit Now Offers HTML5 Version of Game Development Engine
Thursday, June 9, 2016 by Richard Harris
The Game Creators, the team behind the AppGameKit instant game development engine, have announced the launch of an AppGameKit HTML5 version.The new functionality leverages the latest HTML5 Hypertext Markup Language which now fully supports native execution of 3D games content, which means no more plugins to install. With the new version of AppGameKit, developers c...
Pocket Gamer Connects Vancouver Game Developer Conference is June 28 and 29
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 by Richard Harris
Pocket Gamer Connects Vancouver is a mobile gaming conference offering five tracks covering global strategy, monetization, future technologies, funding/deal making and indie survival. The event will be held on June 28 – 29 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.The conference offers access to more than 100 speakers from the mobile games and technology industry. It provides ...
Webinar To Help Indie Developers Learn How to Increase App Revenues
Thursday, November 19, 2015 by Richard Harris
Apsalar and InMobi will host a webinar titled “Six Ways Top Apps Drive More ROI” to be held on December 10 from 11 am – Noon PST. The webinar will focus on techniques and advice on how to increase ROI for an app based on its category.The webinar will focus on tactics and stratagies practiced by some of the top apps within their specific category. Topics will include:- H...
How WildTangent is Shaking Up the Android CPI Market
Monday, September 14, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
We recently visited with WildTangent’s Sean Vanderdasson to discuss how the company’s platform helps developers achieve Android app installs.The WildTangent network is facilitated by distribution partnerships with many of the world’s top devices manufacturers (OEMs) and mobile operators. The WildTangent network provides the ability for users to choose in one click which...
Discussion: How Can App Developers Earn Revenue With Low Download Numbers
Monday, January 19, 2015 by Richard Harris
One of the biggest challenges facing indie developers in today’s mobile economy is being able to get a revenue stream from a small amount of free downloads. Discoverability is a big issue but many indie developers do not have budgets to help with marketing or general discovery issues other than stock ASO options such as keywords, review sites, and the like. An exam...
Avocarrot's New Tool Set Aims to Help Developer's Revenue with Native Advertising
Monday, December 15, 2014 by Richard Harris
Avocarrot recently unveiled its launch of a tool-set for developers that allows the same native ad type of displays (including in-stream ads) that companies like Twitter and Facebook are using for their apps.The product is a technologically advanced tool for mobile native advertising. The product offers premium eCPMs and users get $2 eCPM on average and up to ...
An App Developers Starter Guide To Mobile Analytics
Thursday, October 9, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
Mobile analytics as a business has exploded recently and there are a number of reasons why. One primary reason is that companies who serve the app development industry are learning how to squeeze out every bit of information available from a variety of sources: the mobile devices themselves as well as from outside influencers such as WiFi vs. carrier connections, i...
How to Turn Your Mobile App into a Scalable Business
Monday, August 25, 2014 by Itay Riemer
It might be easier than ever to develop your own app, but turning that app into a viable business is only getting harder.Apple's App Store is adding close to 20,000 new apps every month, and Google Play is matching or even topping those numbers. This makes for a crowded market where app developers are struggling to cut through the noise to have their product discovered ...
Advice for Mobile App Developers Turned CEOs
Friday, August 22, 2014 by Miguel Valdés Faura
When Apple introduced the concept of mobile “Apps” on the first iPhone, they provided developers with the unique opportunity to sell their creations directly to consumers. And all of the sudden, developers were not just developers, they were business people concerned with all aspects of running a business – marketing, accounting, etc. Many indie developers for all inten...
Games Developers Conference Opens Calls for Submissions for a Chance to Win $50,000
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The 17th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF), a festival, summit, and showcase for indie games, has announced the opening of its call for game submissions. The 2015 IGF will be held at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco March 2-6. Entries for the main competition are now being accepted through October 22, 2014. Entries for the Student Showcas...
iOS 8 App Store Changes That Will Help Indie Developers
Monday, July 7, 2014 by Richard Harris
Over the past couple of years Apple inadvertently hampered the ability for Indie developers to gain exposure in the app store by changing the way users interact with the app store in general. Letting giant app publishers pay for downloads with incentives, changing the way search results appear, and the browsing experience overall has only gone to hurt, rather than...
The End of Incentivized App Downloads Will Bring New Opportunities to Indie App Developers
Thursday, July 3, 2014 by Filipa Oliveira
Apple is introducing a revamped iOS App Store with iOS 8 and with that, according to some news that has spread across the Internet, the end of incentivized app downloads, incentivized ad watching and social media sharing. In their defense, Apple has said that incentivized app downloads were driving inaccurate rankings in the App Store, because paying consumers to d...
Why Developers Should Hop on Board the Edutainment Train Before it Leaves the station
Tuesday, July 1, 2014 by Nancy MacIntyre
Ten years ago, educators, and game makers hotly debated the validity of ‘edutainment’ for kids’. Accusations leveled against technology companies were that entertaining educational games compromised the habits of mind (study analysis, reflection, contemplation and deliberation) and the experts questioned the balance of fun versus educational content.The debate has ...
Report: Freemium and In App Advertising See Massive Revenue Gains
Thursday, April 3, 2014 by Richard Harris
Lets face it, at the end of the day, anyone who creates a mobile app is doing so to generate revenue (most of the time). The largest enterprises all the way to small indie developers don’t spend all the time, energy and cost to develop an app just for grins and giggles, revenue is always the bottom line.From an app monetization and marketing standpoint, mobile still rep...
App Developers Below the Poverty Line 60 percent Make Less Than $500 According to Recent Report
Monday, February 10, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
It’s hard to think that there are impoverished app developers out there, and it’s probably not the reality, however a new Vision Mobile report shows that only 40% of indie developers make more than $500 per month per app. Yes, they can launch multiple apps to make more money, but keeping up with and maintaining several apps can be difficult.It just underscores...
Silver Lining from New App Development Report by Gartner
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
On the surface, the newly released Gartner report spells doom and gloom for indie developers looking for success with consumer apps.It didn’t take an official report to tell us that the app markets are getting more crowded and the holy grail of discovery/monetization can be an elusive goal. However, as you dig deeper into the details of the report, you can see...
Splitforce Brings AB Testing to Unity Apps & Games
Friday, November 29, 2013 by Richard Harris
With the increasing popularity of free-to-play and ad-supported mobile apps and games, indie developers and large publishers alike have begun to embrace the big data analytical methods popularized by web giants like Amazon and Netflix to improve key metrics like average revenue per user and retention rates.One of these methods is A/B testing, the practice of showing mul...
App Mention Alerts Service Debuts Offering iOS App News Tracking
Monday, October 21, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
Indie app developer Tomasz Kolinko has introduced a new iOS blog/news tracking service, called App Mention Alerts, to help fellow indie developers track their app marketing efforts.
Through his company, Motivapps, Kolinko develops iOS apps as well as providing an app SEO tracking service called AppCodes. App Mention Alerts is an outgrowth of the AppCode service.
App ...
Lanica Game Platform: Why App Developers Should Pay Attention
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
Lanica has announced the release of its Lanica Game Platform for iOS and Android app developers to the indie development community. While the meat of the platform is Platino, a 2D and 2.5D cross-platform JavaScript game engine, the company also sets a full plate with its Cosmo cloud back-end services and Animo toolset which includes a sprites animation editor and much m...
Microsoft Xbox One ID@Xbox Program Encourages Indie App Developers
Thursday, August 29, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
We were really impressed when we reviewed the updated Microsoft Xbox One Program developer’s website which has provided instructions on how any developer can sign up and self publish games for the console.
It seems that the company has really thought about its communication with small indie developers, not only in how it approaches the certification process for develo...
The End of the Flashlight App and More
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 by Richard Harris
iOS7 is bringing some incredible new features, from transparencies, a new look and design, and the control center. But coming with the new controls and usability, Apple may also be putting a nail in the coffin of the many flashlight apps that are available in the iOS App Store by indie developers, among other offerings.Being able to turn on your phone and immediat...
