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About this guide

Mobile and tablets are becoming the key devices for games development with IOS and Android emerging as the key platforms There are new tools, libraries and engines emerging to help developers create mobile games This guide provides an overview of some of the most useful services for mobile game developers on IOS, Android and other platforms including HTML5

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Index
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Mobile game creation tools and engines Mobile game development tutorials and guides Mobile game promotion and marketing Mobile development forums

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Mobile game creation tools Mobile game builders

Construct 2 Mobile game maker for Windows that lets you create iOS, Android and Facebook games without any programming knowledge. Uses simple eventbased interface. GameMaker Platform that uses a drag and drop visual interface to let you create games for Android and iOS. Was used to build iOS gamese Froad and Grave Maker. Styncyl Game creation platform for iOS and Flash. Features a visual drag and drop interface. Says Android and HTML5 support coming soon. Multimedia Fusion 2 Lets you generate both games and apps for iOS, Android, Java and XNA without any programming. Says you can learn the basics within an hour. GameSalad Drag and drop game creation platform that lets you develop and publish to Windows Phone, iOS, Android and HTML5. Created iOS games Angry Anna and Zombie Drop. Gideros Mobile Uses Flash-like functions to let you create games and apps. Not quite as simple as some of the above game creators, but you dont need to know any high-level programming languages. LiveCode Lets you use an intuitive graphical interface and English programming language to let you create games quickly. Says it can port between iOS and Android. Game Editor Open source game creation platform thats free to use (as long as your game is open source). Supports iOS and Windows Mobile.
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Mobile game creation tools Cross platform (iOS/Android)

Edgelib 2D and 3D middleware game engine that supports iOS, Android, Windows Mobile (possibly WP, but not clear) and Symbian. Unity Mobile Mobile version of the popular 3D Unity engine. Supports iOS and Android. Used to create the Madfinger game Shadowgun. Emo Mobile game framework. Uses Squirrel scripting language and based on OpenGL ES and OpenAL/OpenSL. Lets you write your game once and run on both iOS and Android. Unreal Development Kit Free version of the industry-leading Unreal Engine III. UDK is used to create games, apps and advanced 3D simulations. Supports iOS and Android.

JMonkey Engine Free open source Java OpenGL engine that lets you program in Java and port to any OpenGL 2 compatible device.
ShiVa3D 3D game engine and development toolkit that claims to be the most cross platform mobile game engine, supporting iOS, Android, WP and BlackBerry OS.

Corona SDK Popular app development platform that lets you create games (as well as other apps) for iOS and Android. Claims to be used by more than 150,000 developers.
Lib GDX Android, HTML5 and Java 3D/2D game development framework. Free to use. Lets you write once and deploy to multiple platforms.
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Mobile game creation tools Cross platform (iOS/Android)

Papaya Social Game Engine 2D game engine from Papaya design to help developers create social mobile games easier. Supports iOS and Android. MoSync Light weight tool for HTML5/JavaScript devs to build native mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. NME Free open source framework that lets you develop Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone apps from a single codebase. No C or C++ skills required. SIO2 OpenGLES-based cross-platform 2D and 3D game engine for iOS and Android. Uses cross platform C/C++ syntax. Marmalade Game development tool that lets you develop cross-platform native games and apps in C/C++ and deploy to both mobile and desktop. Supports iOS, Android and BlackBerry. BattryTech Game development framework that lets you write native C++ code for Android and iPhone platforms. App Game Kit Uses a BASIC script language to let developers code once and deploy to multiple platforms including iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS. Antiryad Gx Cross-platform multi-core 3D and 2D game engine for iOS, Android and WP . Supports C, C++ and Gel.

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Mobile game creation tools iOS specific game engines

iTorque 2D game editor for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch development. Used to create titles such as Hospital Havoc and Sushi to Go. Cocos2D Framework for building 2D games for iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Claims to be used by more than 2500 games on the App Store. Sparrow Free-to-use open source game engine for iOS. Uses pure Objective C and was built from the ground-up for iPhone and iPad. Oolong Free to use game engine written in C++ that lets you create new iOS games and port existing games to iOS devices. Bork3D Low cost 3D game engine for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Only suitable for devs with programming experience. NinevehGL 3D engine built with Objective C, features the ability to import 3D models directly from 3D softwares, multiple shaders within a single object and numerous special effects. Newton Open source zlib-licensed real-time physics engine thats designed to be used with basic knowledge of physic principals. Free-to-use. Kobold2D Improved version of the popular Cocos2D engine for iPhone. Claims to be easier to use than Cocos2D and more powerful. DragonFire 2D iPhone and iPad development tool for Windows. Used to create games such as Little Train and CakeoRama.

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Mobile game creation tools Android specific game engines

Candroid Free-to-use (donation appreciated) game engine for Android. AndEngine Free-to-use Android 2D OpenGL game engine developed by Nicolas Gramlich. jPCT AE Free 3D game engine thats a port of jPCT for Android. Supports OpenGL ES 1.x and 2.0. Used to create Aaagh! and Airdroid on Google Play. Android Box2D Award-winning 2D rigid body physics engine written in C++ for Android developers. Catcake Free-to-use 3D graphics engine for Android (as well as Linux) intended to be easy-to-use and high-performance.

Cocos2D for Android Framework for building 2D games on Android. Based on the Cocos2D framework for iPhone. Free-to-use (donation appreciated).

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Mobile game game development tutorials and guides

Raywenderlich.com A whole load of tutorials can be found on this page, from Objective C crash course, to Cocos2D tutorials. Gamasutra Guide Brief guide to getting started with iPhone development, covering the administrative stuff. A little dated but still useful. iDevgames Programming for beginners Four page beginners guide to iOS game development. Including info on libraries and engines and programming languages. Publishing a Commercial iPhone Game Very useful guide from the developer of Asterope, detailing step-by-step how he made his game. iPhone 3D programming In-depth ebook covering iPhone game development with OpenGL ES. Not for beginners.

Complete iOS Game Tutorial Handy tutorial that takes you step-by-step through the development of Pong on iOS. Covers menus and design, as well as gameplay elements.
Learn Cocoa Whole series of articles on how to use iOS engine Cocoa, spanning Objective C lessons and Cocoa Graphics.

Cocos2D programming guide In-depth documentation for writing applications that use cocos2D. Starts at beginners level and goes through to advanced.

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Mobile game game development tutorials and guides Android mobile game tutorials
Building Your First App The introductory lesson on Android app building on the official Android site. Essential reading for beginners. App Fundamentals Another basic guide from the official Android website designed for complete beginners. Android Game Development Tutorial Guide specifically on making Android games for beginners. Still a work in progress, but pretty comprehensive. Android Application Development Videos Over 200 video guides to Android application development. A great resource if youre a visual learner. Android Game Development Basic introduction to game architecture and sprite animation over on the Javacodegeeks website.

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Mobile game promotion and marketing

Game promotion guides Android advertising: How to make money guide to maximising your app revenue. While this is geared toward Android devs, the advice is pretty universal. Well worth reading if you plan to use ad-based revenue model. How to contact the gaming press Guide to contacting gaming websites, blogs and magazines in order to help promote your game. MindJuice iOS marketing tips Nice little checklist to ensure youre properly marketing your game. IOS-specific, but good advice for all platforms. Idiots guide to marketing your indie game Gamasutras guide to marketing your indie-game. Not mobile-specific, but worth reading. Zero Budget Indie Game Marketing Guide on marketing and promoting your game without spending money. Not mobile-specific, but lots of relevant advice here. TigerStyle sales figures Popular developer Tiger Style shares some numbers and tips regarding dropping your games price on the App Store. How To: Promote your app mobyaffiliates guide on app promotion. Not gamespecific, but this guide covers pretty much everything you need to know. App promotion: Ask the experts we asked three app promotion companies what their top tips are for developers.
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Mobile game promotion and marketing

App promotion networks Applifier App promotion network that works by delivering a user to your app everytime your app delivers a user to another developer with no fees involved. Based in Helsinki, Finland, with offices in San Francisco. TapJoy App promotion network that offers non-incentivized app download network. TapJoy also provides sponsorship for developers looking to port their app to Android. Based in San-Francisco, US. App Optimisers UK-based app promotion agency specialising in social media marketing, video and blog promotion. Claims to have promoted 5 top 10-ranking apps.

HumanDemand App promotion platform thats entirely self-serve and aimed at developers on a tighter budget.
Fiksu App marketing company offering non-incentivized download network on iOS and Android. Works with brands such as VH1 and Barnes and Noble. Based in Boston Massachusetts, USA. App Promo Full service app marketing agency offering PR, ASO, development, mobile advertising and more. Based in Toronto, Canada.

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Mobile game promotion and marketing

App Stores
1Mobile Android app store that focuses mainly on games and claims over 60 thousand total apps. Tegra Store App store run by graphics chip company Nvidia. Highlights videogames that are designed for use with Nvidias Tegra smartphone chip. AppsLib Claims to be the second largest Android app store after Google Play. Specialises in lesser-known Android devices, such as tablets and eReaders, that are unable to get Google certification. Claims to have install base of over 2 million tablets worldwide. MatchFuel- Not quite an app store, but provides daily app videogame recommendations to Android users via a storefront. Formally known as Andspot. Handster Claims to features over 30,000 apps from 4000 vendors across Android, Symbian, Java and BlackBerry platforms. Also offers white label platform to manufacturers, distributors and carriers. Owned by Opera. AndroidPit App store run by the Berlin-based Android website AndroidPit. Includes apps selected by editorial team. GetJar One of the biggest 3rd party app stores currently in operations. Claims to distribute more than 350 thousand mobile apps, with 395 registered developers. Also offers a pay per download system to help developers get visibility.

Biskero Mobile content store that focuses on distributing Flash games and apps to mobile devices. Works primarily across Android and Nokia handsets.
Kongregate Mobile and desktop Flash-powered app store that focuses on videogames. Claims to reach over 6 million mobile and desktop gamers, with 56 thousand Flash games.

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Mobile development forums

iOS Forums iPhone Dev Forums Not the most active forum out there, but still has plenty of posts and resources that are worth a look. Apple Developer Forums The official Apple developer forums. You need to be on the Apple Developer Program to access.

Hackintosh Forums As the name suggests this forum focuses more on hacking/jailbreaking iOS devices, rather than game development. But still has useful info.
MacRumours Forum iOS dev sub forum for the popular Apple news blog MacRumours. Fairly active. iPhone Dev Sub Reddit iPhone dev subreddit on Reddit. Not exactly a forum, but a great place to keep up with iOS dev news. iDevGames Forums Comprehensive iOS developer forum covering graphics, game design and everything else. Corona Forums The official forum for discussion of iOS development framework Corona. Great resource and very active. TouchArcade Dev forums iOS development forum dedicated solely to games. Great place to discuss game design and the business aspect of indie development.
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Mobile development forums

Android Forums Anddev Big forum covering all aspects of Android development. Some great tutorials can be found here. Google Groups Android Devs The Google Groups for Android development. Great place if you need quick answers. Very active, but not so much for beginners.

Android Dev Sub-Reddit The SubReddit for Android developers. More a source of news and information than a discussion forum. But worth checking out.
Android StackOverflow Android developer questions on StackOverflow. Great place to explore if youre a beginner and brimming with questions.

Phandroid Forums Developer forums for website Phandroid. Features a handy folder dedicated to beginners.

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Mobile development forums

Cross Platform Forums Stack Overflow Indispensable resource for programmers that lets you ask questions and find answers to everything from Android to HTML development. Lots of mobile game content here. You just need to search for the relevant tag. XDA Developers Very big community of Windows Phone and Android developers and enthusiasts. Not specifically aimed at game devs, but still useful. GameDev Mobile Forums The mobile forums for popular site GameDev.net. Not very active. App Dev Room Application development forum covering Android and iPhone. Not very active.

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Your Next Step

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Feedback, questions?

You can also find information about: the best mobile ad networks to generate revenues from mobile games how to market and promote mobile games information about the mobile games market

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