Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3-4.
Apparatus, by Bithack
Besides the campaign mode with premade levels, there's also a sandbox environment where
you can let your creativity reign. Even better, your custom contraptions can be easily shared with
others. This aspect of
Apparatus
guarantees that even if a player has finished the game, there
are still tons of additional content to be explored.
Of course, you can also find all kinds of Tetris clones, match-3 games, and other standard
formulas on the market.
Action and Arcade Games
Action and arcade games usually unleash the full potential of the Android platform. Many of
them feature stunning 3D visuals, demonstrating what is possible on the current generation of
hardware. The genre has many subgenres, including racing games, shoot 'em ups, first- and
third-person shooters, and platformers. This segment of the Android Market has gained a lot of
traction over the past few years as big game studios have started to port their games to Android.
SHADOWGUN
(see Figure
3-5
), by MADFINGER Games, is a visually stunning third-person
shoot 'em up that shows off the computing power of recent Android phones and tablets. As
with many AAA games, it is available on both Android and iOS.
SHADOWGUN
leverages Unity,
a cross-platform game engine, and is one of the poster children for Unity's power on mobile
devices. Gameplay-wise, it is a dual-analog stick shooter, which even allows for taking cover
behind crates and other nice mechanics that usually aren't found in mobile action games.
