Appstem Develops Demo Game for OUYA Developers
The Challenge:
When OUYA developed a revolutionary idea for a gaming console, they wanted a simple, yet highly engaging reference game for their developer community.
OUYA, a $99 game console, was created in 2012 by Julie Uhrman, a video game industry veteran who saw an opportunity to reignite TV as a gaming platform. To get the funds she needed to make her affordable, free-to-play gaming console a reality, Julie and her team of developers and advisors brought OUYA to Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative projects, hoping to raise $950,000 in a month. She reached her goal in the first 8 hours and went on to raise nearly 8 million more.
OUYA needed a partner that could develop a game to demonstrate how the OUYA API’s work. Specifically, OUYA wanted the game to highlight their Software Developer Kit (SDK), which they call their OUYA Developer Kit (ODK). The game needed to demonstrate three specific API’s: consumables, entitlements and subscription. They asked a handful of potential vendors to present a gaming concept that would be quick to develop, but highlighted everything they wanted. Appstem recommended a 3D racing game, which OUYA selected.
The Solution:
Appstem immediately began work with OUYA’s platform team to develop the 3D game demonstrating key OUYA developer tools and services, on top of the Android platform. They also worked to fine-tune the initial deliverable and integrate new services as they were tested and made available. With direction from OUYA, Appstem worked on developing games that would ultimately demonstrate:
• The OUYA In-App Payment opportunities being offered, including: • Consumable products (e.g. coins, widgets, berries,
mushrooms, etc.) • Entitlement (Non-Consumable) products (e.g. full game
license, additional levels, etc.)
Client Profile:
OUYA is a new kind of game console for the TV that upends the console market: by bringing the openness of mobile and Internet platforms to console games for the first time.
• Subscriptions • How to interact with the track pad • How to use the analog sticks and other analog inputs on the OUYA controller • How to enumerate all four controllers, for a multiplayer game • Video resolution capability querying, and changing the content or output resolution • Secure storage of previous IAP receipts, for reuse the next time the app is run • How to download additional data files (related to IAP purchases) from a developer’s server • Best practices for how to render high frame rate games (30fps+ animation) at 720p and/or 1080p.
The Result:
In 6 short weeks, Appstem delivered the first build; a 3D racing game that also worked on 3D TV’s. The game allowed up to 4 players to race at once on a spilt screen with a basic physics engine with gravity, friction, damping, force, acceleration, velocity, mass, and more, built from scratch, using no external libraries or engines. With a quick idea and even quicker development, Appstem delivered OUYA’s demo game in record time. Although the release date for the game is not set, OUYA will likely release it in their next ODK, and possibly their app store. OUYA anticipates the game will go over extremely well with developers, helping them learn how to create games for the OUYA console faster.
If you still have questions, please contact our mobile app development team in San Francisco.
