Google annuncia Play Games Services: multiplayer, classifiche, trofei e salvataggi nella cloud per tutti gli Android e non solo!

Non possiamo definirlo una sopresa, ma questo non ha reso il suo avvento meno gradito, e da oggi il gaming su Android è passato davvero al prossimo livello: quello sulla nuvola.

• Cloud Save: i salvataggi dei giochi sono ora nella cloud, il che significa che possiamo iniziare una partita su smartphone, interromperla, e poi riprenderla su tablet esattamente da dove l'avevamo lasciata
• Trofei e leaderboards: grazie alla profonda integrazione con Google+ potremo invitare le nostre cerchie a partecipare ad una sessione in multiplayer direttamente all'interno dell'app, e consultare poi i nostri risultati in classifiche sia a livello globale, che limitate al nostro gruppo di amici

Tra i primi giochi che sono già stati aggiornati per trarre vantaggio di queste nuove funzionalità segnaliamo: World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitz, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2, e Osmos, ma ovviamente altri arriveranno in futuro.

La mossa però che nessuno aveva visto arrivare è quella del cross-platform: l'SKD per Google Play game services sarà infatti disponibile non solo per Android, ma anche attraverso un SDK nativo per i giochi su iPhone e iPad. Gli sviluppatori interessati troveranno maggiori informazioni sul sito di google developers, mentre dopo lo stacco vi lasciamo il comunicato stampa ufficiale.

Introducing Google Play game services (May 15th, 2013)

We love to talk about games at Google. Especially the old ones, like Pac-man, Pitfall and Frogger. Since those classics, games have changed a lot. They’ve moved from that clunky box in your living room to the screen that you carry with you in your pocket wherever you go. They’re mobile, they’re social, and they’re an important part of Google Play.

Today, we’re launching Google Play game services, a core part of building a gaming platform for the next generation of games. These services help you make your games more social, with achievements, leaderboards, and multiplayer, as well as more powerful, storing game saves and settings in the cloud. They are available on Android, and many on iOS or any other connected device. By building on Google’s strengths in mobile and cloud services, you can focus on what you’re good at as game developers: creating great gaming experiences for your users.

With game services, you can incorporate:

Achievements that increase engagement and promote different styles of play.
Social and public leaderboards that seamlessly use Google+ circles to track high scores across friends and across the world.
Cloud saves that provide a simple and streamlined storage API to store game saves and settings. Now players never have to replay Level 1 again.
Real-time multiplayer for easy addition of cooperative or competitive game play on Android devices. Using G+ Circles a game can have up to 4 simultaneous friends or auto-matched players in a game session together with support for additional players coming soon.

Several great Android games are already using these new game services, including World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitz, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2, and Osmos.

Google Play game services are available today through an SDK for Android, and a native iOS SDK for IPhone and iPad games. Web and other platform developers will also find corresponding REST APIs, with libraries for JavaScript, Java, Python, Go, Dart, PHP, and more.

We’re excited to see what games will do with these new services and experiences, and this is only the beginning. Wait until you get to the boss battle… er.. Check out our developer site to get started: https://developers.google.com/games/

Greg Hartrell, Lead Product Manager