Author Archives: Leticia Lago

Google Play helps indie games go further faster

Indie game developers are known for creating some of the most innovative titles to land on Google Play. It’s this creativity that captures the imagination of the more than 2.5 billion people using our platform each month.

At Google Play, it is our mission to help indie game developers reach their full potential, wherever they are in their journey.

This year, the Indie Games programs are back once again to help talented indie developers design, launch and grow high-quality games and reach new players. Find out more about how the 2022Indie Games Accelerator & Festival helps developers to go further faster.

Supercharge your growth with mentorship & live masterclasses

If you’re an indie developer who is early in your journey — either close to launching a new game or have recently launched a title — this high-impact program is designed for you.

With the help of our network of gaming experts, the Indie Game Accelerator provides education and mentorship for ambitious developers to help you build, launch and grow successfully.

Selected game studios will be invited to take part in the 10-week acceleration program starting inSeptember 2022 as the Accelerator Class of 2022.

This is a highly-tailored program for small game developers spanning 78 eligible countries, that includes a series of online masterclasses, talks and game development workshops. You’ll also get the chance to meet and connect with other developers from around the world who are looking to take their games to the next level.

Celebrating the top indie games in Europe, Japan & South Korea

If you're a passionate indie game developer and you have recently launched a high-quality game, enter your game to be showcased at the Indie Games Festival by Google Play.

Once again, we are hosting three international competitions in search of the most promising games from Japan, South Korea, and selected European countries, to celebrate the Top 20 indie games in each region.

The festival jury will consist of both gaming experts and Googlers, who are charged with finding creative indie games that are ready for the spotlight. As a finalist you will be able to join the Festival showcase and get your game discovered by top industry experts and players worldwide.

You can now enter your game to one of the Festival contests: Europe, Japan & South Korea.

For more updates and announcements about the Indie Games programs follow @GooglePlayBiz.

The Indie Game Festival announces its nine winners

The talent of independent and small game developers shines this year at Google Play’s Indie Games Festival,a celebration of the creativity of game developers. We received hundreds of submissions for the three competitions in Europe, Japan and South Korea. This year’s winning games have something for everyone, from a food-themed puzzle game with cats to a Mars Survival Project. Join us in congratulating the developers and trying out their games!

Europe

Indie Games Festival winners - Europe

Cookies Must Die by Rebel Twins, Poland: This husband and wife duo knocked it out of the park with this fun, frenzied and humorous game. It has lovely animations and engaging mechanics that will entertain whether you want to play for five minutes or five hours. 

inbento by Afterburn, Poland: Eating lunch at the office inspired the concept for this family-friendly game, which is available in 17 languages. Preparing a bento lunch is serious business, and these adorable cats are here to teach you the ropes with charming yet challenging puzzles. 

The White Door by Rusty Lake, Netherlands: The latest game from this two-man team is inspired by a real-life story. They impressed the jury with this  unique comic strip point-and-click adventure, set in the world of the phenomenal Cube Escape and Rusty Lake series.

Japan

Indie Games Festival winners - Japan

GIGAFALL by Shiki Game Studio: Great game for lovers of b-bit graphics and retro style where you can control the satellite lasers that orbit the Earth and destroy meteorites,

METBOY!  by REBUILD GAMES: This action game has a retro style with a catchy soundtrack for those who miss old game consoles.

Wasurenaide, otona ni natte mo by GAGEX Co.,Ltd: This cinematic adventure game in Minecraft style follows a boy who is looking for his father.

Korea

Indie Games Festival winners - Korea

Heroes Restaurant by Team Tapas: If you ever dreamed of running a restaurant and fighting with a big squid at the same time, then this game is  for you. It’s an interesting mix of catchy RPG mechanics and anime style art.

Magic Survival by LEME: A casual game where you can survive by defeating spirits in a 21st century magical civilization.

Project Mars by Moontm: An unusual game for those who aspire to colonize Mars, become a part of the space expedition and help to make the red planet a place where people can live. 

Check out the remaining Top 10 for Europe, Japan and South Korea. Winning developers receive prize packages designed to help them grow their business on Android and Google Play. Prizes include promotions on the Google Play Store, consultations with members of the Google Play team, Google hardware, and extra promotion campaigns.

Creating stargazing apps and the perfect loaf

Editor’s note: Maurizio Leo is a software engineer-turned baker, and co-founder and developer of SkyView, a stargazing app that uses your camera to identify objects in the sky. As a part of our I Make Apps series, we talk to him about developing his app, as well as his baking side hustle. 

1. Tell us about SkyView. How is it useful to people? 

SkyView is an augmented reality app we created to educate and inspire others to explore the universe no matter their location, night and day. There's a magical and exciting universe out there to explore, and SkyView's aim has always been to make exploring the sky as effortless and approachable as possible. Just point your device up to the sky and discover a new star, find a new planet, or spot the International Space Station streaking across the sky.

2. How did you get into baking?  

I grew up in an Italian household that always emphasized food made by hand. And while I went into computer science because of my curiosity surrounding computers and software, I think cooking and baking has always been a big part of my life. About ten years ago, when I was given a book on baking sourdough as a gift, I was immediately taken by the marriage of craft and science needed to bake a loaf of bread. The precision behind baking bread spoke to me, and the science behind fermentation piqued my logical side. After creating my first sourdough starter from scratch and baking my first loaf, I became obsessed.

3. How do you juggle baking and making apps in your daily life as a developer?

Working from my home office on our app SkyView allows me time between writing lines of code to hop into the kitchen and weigh, mix, or shape a batch of bread dough. It gives me an opportunity to relax my mind for a few moments or perhaps explore a possible solution, much like taking a walk would offer. Sometimes some of my best code breakthroughs were achieved when I was in the kitchen with my hands covered in flour and water! In the end, being an app developer who works at home has allowed me to simultaneously work on software I'm passionate about and explore my dedication to the craft of baking bread.

4. What are the similarities and differences between baking bread and making apps? 

At first glance, writing apps and baking sourdough bread seem a world apart—but they have more in common than one might initially think. Both pursuits benefit from a sound plan, precision, adjustment to changing inputs, and iterative improvement. Software certainly is a more analytical and tactical pursuit, while working with something tangible like bread dough satisfies more of my artistic side. For me, these two offer a delicate balance, where software lets me build imaginative structures and baking bread fulfills my desire to slow down and work with my hands. With naturally leavened bread, time is the best ingredient.

5. What has been your experience creating apps on Android & distributing them through Google Play?

We've been working with Android since the beginning (that's over ten years!), and it has always provided us with the right set of tools to help bring our ideas to reality. With modern language constructs, good editing, debugging and reporting tools, and a thoughtful testing framework, we've been able to update and release SkyView with more functionality to delight our users. And, Google Play allows us to quickly deploy our app, reaching millions of people, and keep with our mission to get as many excited about space as we are.

Source: Android