PapayaMobile is making it simple for developers to add location-based features to their Android mobile games.
The Beijing-based company, which makes a social game platform for Android developers, has updated its software development kit to enable the addition of location features. It adds functions that resemble the check-in games on Foursquare, giving players the ability to earn medals and badges or directly challenge their friends in location-based competitions. With location added to the SDK, developers can simply include PapayaMobile’s service on their own apps, rather than build up their own database of locations for user check-ins.
Si Shen, chief executive of PapayaMobile, said that the location feature on the company’s own games has been so popular that it decided to make it broadly available.
PapayaMobile started as an app maker. It has since created a platform that can be used to add social features such as sharing, leaderboards or challenges to games, in the hopes that those will make users more likely to tell friends about the app. The company competes with such rivals as Aurora Feint and Scoreloop.
Shen recently announced PapayaMobile’s Android App of the Day, which promotes quality Android games to the company’s audience of 4 million Android users.
Shen, a former mobile product manager for Google in China, started PapayaMobile in 2008 with Wenjie Qian. The company has 30 employees and raised $4 million in funding from DCM.
Getting content noticed is a challenge for everyone making apps. We’ll cover the topic at DiscoveryBeat 2010. Startups and big companies alike are encouraged to submit their discovery tactics to our Needle in the Haystack competition. Early bird discounts are available until September 22. Sponsors can contact us at sponsors@venturebeat.com. To buy tickets, click here.