Android games

When talking about the most popular gaming platforms in the world, Android is one of them. Google Play offers hundreds of thousands of games, ranging from casual and hyper-casual entertainment to arcade and strategy titles. The gaming world on Android is actively developing, but skills and knowledge of technology are necessary to create even the simplest 2D game. And the more complex the project, the more skills you need.

The foundation of any mobile game is the game engine. Unity has been the most popular among Android developers for a decade now. It is used by both large studios and indie developers, and its geographical reach is truly worldwide. Why Unity? It’s easy to use, cross-platform, and supports both 2D and 3D graphics. Its simplicity makes it suitable even for those just starting as developers.

Unreal Engine from Epic Games, however, is a more than worthy competitor to Unity. It is usually used for 3D projects and projects with rich graphics. This engine is used not only by large companies such as Tencent and Gameloft, but also by various developers of mobile shooters. It is a powerful tool, but to utilize it effectively, you need in-depth knowledge of C++. It is also essential to understand the game’s architecture, which can make using this engine somewhat difficult for beginners.

There are also less common engines that are more user-friendly. For example, Godot is an open-source engine that is perfect for indie developers. It does not require any special system resources and performs best in 2D. It uses GDScript for writing, which is similar to Python, so the entry threshold is significantly lower. This engine is actively used in India, China, and Vietnam, which is not surprising given its Asian roots.

Similar engines are used in the creation of gambling games for mobile platforms. For example, the currently popular crash game Lucky Jet is based on HTML5 + JavaScript technologies, making it easy to run on any Android device. However, this game is not available in official app stores so it can be downloaded from third-party resources, such as on this site. Adaptation is not complex — the interface automatically adjusts to any screen size.

But it’s not just the engine — the development environment is also essential. Android Studio is used for games that will run on Android devices. Both Unity and Unreal Engine integrate easily with this development environment. Visual Studio or VS Code is also often used for scripting.

Google’s cloud solution, Firebase, deserves a special mention. It provides a database and analytics, as well as push notifications, authorization, and A/B testing. Such a tool cannot be called additional — it is already standard for mobile developers. Firebase helps you understand player behavior, from where they spend their money to which levels they find difficult to pass.

Most Android games are monetized through advertising. To do this, Google AdMob, Unity Ads, IronSource, AppLovin, Chartboost, or other tools from advertising networks are integrated into the project. Advertising setup is a separate layer of work — you need to consider several factors, including frequency of impressions and revenue, depending on the platform. It is essential not to make mistakes during integration, as this can result in a loss of up to 80% of potential revenue.

A career as an Android game developer certainly takes time. However, you can enter this niche even without a relevant education. It only takes a few months of intensive training to put together your first game. Your first games will be simple, but it is still important to publish them. This will give you real experience of the entire process, and understanding this in practice is much more important than watching a couple of tutorial videos. Additionally, games need to be published because a portfolio is a crucial part of the development process. Even two to three full-fledged projects are enough to secure the opportunity to join an interesting team.

Game development is a constant practice and analysis of competitors; this is the only way to “get your feet wet.”