Google Revealed Cross-Platform Game Support for Android and iOS – Could It Be the Next Big Thing?
If you’re a hardcore mobile phone gamer chances are you already know how frustrating it is to not be able to compete against of your friends just because they own an iPhone. While universal coding that will work on multiple platforms is still far from being a real thing, Google has made some serious efforts into trying to close the gap between platforms, their latest step in this matter being the release of a cross-platform game support between Android and iOS. Simply put, Google just made it possible for games across Android and iOS to have common leaderboards, achievements systems and many other aspects that basically brings together the two platforms.
Cross-Platform Game Development for Coders
At the Game Developer Conference that took place between 17 and 21 March 2014, Google announced an update to its Google Play services SDK which will allow a cross-platform support for games running on Android and iOS. The Google Play services SDK already allowed game coders to create games that had a high level of social media integration, allowing the players to interact with friends or other players by signing up into their Google+ account. Unity, the plugin used by Google to connect games from Android to web games was also updated to make it compatible with iOS games as well. Gamers on Android and the web were able to interact at a certain level already, but the latest updates in the Google Play services SDK also brought the iOS players into the circle.
For coders, this opens up a lot of new paths, both in terms of game development as well as for monetization purposes. The new Google Play services SDK doesn’t just come with a cross-platform support, but also allows iOS game developers to take advantage of Google’s analytics system from the Google Play Developer Console and its in-game ad service, AdMob. Google also added 18 new categories in its Google Play Store to allow game developers to place their games into the right spot, for better targeting and maximum visibility.
The best news is that this first step towards cross-platform support is just opening the path to something much bigger – cross-platform multiplayer gaming. As Google stated at the Game Developer Conference, they are doing their best to make this a reality, but it will take a bit of patience, as the task is not an easy one.
Cross-Platform Game Development for Users
While coders have plenty of reasons to be excited about this big milestone, the users are basically the audience that will benefit from this the most. This first step only widened the competition between players by putting both platform into the ring, but it is the cross-platform multiplayer feature that is yet to come that will push things to a whole new level. Despite the fact that cross-platform multiplayer is just a beautiful dream at this point, you can still play a game with your friends and compete through leaderboards and achievements, so even though there is basically no direct interaction, this recent cross-platform support will still allow you to be in a competition with your friends.
Author Bio: Alfred Austin is a tech freak guy who loves sharing his knowledge about latest games and technology. He also runs a gaming site Airplane Games 365 to play online games.