PapayaMobile is launching a set of tools today that will make it easier for developers to make Android games.
The Beijing-based company already makes a social game platform that developers can use to make their Android titles more social with features such as friend lists, leaderboards and multiplayer challenges. Now it is releasing the Papaya Game Engine for Android, a tool that lets developers create games with cool 3D graphics, said Si Shen, chief executive of PapayaMobile, in an interview. In doing so, the company is becoming a one-stop shopping solution for Android game developers.
PapayaMobile has created its own first 3D game with the engine, PapayaFish 3D, which serves as an example of what the engine can do. The company will also create 3D versions of its other games, which the company says have 4 million users, using the same engine. Shen says the engine eliminates the need for developers to learn the complexities of the Android applications programming interface or figure out the differences across various versions of Android.
She also says the games are written in the C programming language and run significantly faster than games based on Java programming engines. The company’s game platform also allows for the regular release and update of apps so that gamers don’t actually have to go through the trouble of downloading revised apps. PapayaMobile also recently announced its monetization platform so developers can use virtual currency and virtual goods to earn new revenue. And it also announced a location-based gaming platform.
PapayaMobile started as an app maker and now 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 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. More than 100 apps use PapayaMobile’s technology, Shen said. Rivals include Scoreloop, Ngmoco and Aurora Feint. A video of PapayaFish is below.
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