Tips To Design The Best UI For Mobile Apps

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

What glitters is not gold. But in case of mobile app design, the look speaks a lot to the eyes of beholders. Although design style and aesthetics are not everything, having a visually delightful and appealing UI is as important as the main substance and helps drive conversion. Combine the eye-catching look with amazing features and you have the recipe for delivering incredible user experience.

It is important, however, to understand the target market so that you can implement best UI design practices for your mobile app to enhance users’ interest and credibility. Based on our experience and research, we have put together a few essential tips to help you create highly engaging UI for your mobile app.

1. Users-centric approach

You must first prioritize user requirements and accommodate current market trends to create a wave for your mobile app. Gather all the details of target demographics using power analytics. based on the data, you can discern what they always needed and obstacles they face. You must think beyond the basic stats and discover the actual users of your app. The better design practice is to start with an MVP and watch users as they interact with it and encourage them to share their views. This will not only help you tune your app to their needs, but will help you make right decisions and minimize frequency of design iterations.

2. Technical details of design

a) Round cornered controls

There is no thumb rule of just sticking to rectangle pixels for UI elements. You can alternatively opt for roundish edges for the corners of buttons or other controls. Having pointy corners is an old custom in the world of mobile app interface. Round-shaped cornered action buttons and controls subdue the intensity of the interface and make it softer, more appealing and comfy for users.

b) Contrast for view

You don’t want to make it a painful experience for users as they navigate inside your application. The app content should be easy on eyes and effortlessly legible. To avoid awkward effects, it is good to include high-contrast colour schemes that create fine, clear content-friendly design. You can even go beyond system default colours and experiment with different variations.

 c) Size-optimized graphics

In order to optimize the available resources, developers often reduce their efforts by keeping one size for many devices. This approach can turn abysmal nemesis to your app’s overall appeal. To make it spectacular, make unique graphics to suit each target device screen. Device-specific graphics tend to load in time and results in stunning user experience.

d) Picture format suitability

The chosen picture format in app graphic may become inimical to the loading speed of the page. The size is often blamed, but the real fault is inappropriate format. The Android-compatible media formats include PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, etc. While PNG suits lossless images, JPEG is a good choice for editing. Each format has its own qualities and designer should know which goes where.

3. Finger-compatible interface

Make sure your app’s UI is finger-friendly. Mobile developers sometimes skip the consideration of keeping finger-compatible buttons with space enough to enable convenient typing for users. You must understand that human fingers are thick and may cause trouble while selecting options with a tap of fingertip. If app buttons are tiny or are placed too close, users will feel frustrated and may quit your app. Hence, your UI design strategy should emphasize optimizing the interface for finger-based interaction.

4. Smooth transitions

Trying variations in colours is a tricky job for mobile app designers. When the user is navigating, they should experience pleasant transition between the screens or and experience comfort while changing UI control states in the application. The approach of this sort maintains consistency and smoothness while switching from one state to another. Use eye-friendly animations and suitable colour combinations. This way, users will feel connected while making transitions. Also, with a change in button control colours, users can confirm their action after clicking on it.

5. Maintaining Simplicity

Simplicity of design helps ensure new users can onboard easily and start using the app without groping for detailed guide or tutorials. This does not necessarily mean adopting minimalist design style. The simple UI allows users to execute the action and reach their goals in minimal steps. Certain variations in colours, buttons, spacing pattern, fonts and navigation path are all critical factors that go into making easy-to-understand interface, enticing more traffic to your mobile app.

6. Back button and Fonts

Back button is meant to shepherd users back to the previous page consistently. Being an app designer, you can either leverage the native OS back button (the default choice on the device) or develop a back button at the top-left corner of UI as often seen in iOS apps. This approach helps you incorporate users’ impulsive tendencies for quick navigation.

As for fonts, it is wise to stay away from using anomalous or bizarre fonts that often drive users away. Such practice discourages the real motive of UX and drains users. Instead, include fonts that are both spectacular and readable. Keep the font size optimized (usually 12pt and above) to both screen as well as users’ viewing experience.

7. Emphasis on clutter-free interaction

If you have powerful data analytics to monitor user journey through your app, you can effectively judge what features are most welcome by 80% of users. The task becomes easy especially when your mobile app is the direct extension of an online website. This fundamental is based on 80-20 principle that defines the 20% of app frequently explored by 80% of users. Apply this 80-20 rule so that you can easily identify the features that are redundant from users’ perspective and retain those that are compelling to ensure clutter-free interaction.

8. Relatable icons

In the last 5 years, there has been a tremendous advancement in the way mobile app UI icons are presented to users. A whole new range of icons have risen to enable more comfort and luxury to users who are always curious to try something novel, unique and relatable. Hence, UI designers looking to score better should develop relatable icons that create intuitive appeal and effortless user experience.

9. High resolution

Modern smartphones usually offer in-built support for high resolution that creates impressive picture view and enhances user’s interactive experience with interface. If you wish to acquire and engage more users, make sure your interface design is perfect for high resolution images and shows vivid picture quality to the audience. You can opt for images with 264 ppi or better to bring out stunning interface and amplify the clarity especially if the target devices have large screens.

10. Effortless error notifications

A phenomenal mobile app UI is the one that minimizes user’s side of efforts while identifying the errors. In the event that the error strikes, the UI design must reduce users’ guesswork and clearly notify them of what went wrong while performing an action. Users will be delighted to have clear guidance about how to rectify faults and things gone wrong while interacting with the app interface.

Conclusion

To build an attractive UI for mobile app to user’s tastes, mobile app designers must delve into the target market and scoop up the essentials. The second important aspect of brilliant app architecture is following the guidelines for user-friendly, business-specific interface.

To ensure massive usability, your product should be easy on eyes and create positive appeal on minds. Hopefully this post will help you develop deeper insight and excellence required to construct an outstanding user interface for a competitive mobile app.

8 Best Artificial Intelligence Apps For iOS and Android

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

Smartphone apps are a part and parcel of everyone’s daily lives. Be it a simple calculator app or a complicated audio mixing app, there is an app for every use.

AI has managed to penetrate into the iOS app development and android app development industry.

Every iOS app development company is looking for something more innovative and new to bring to the market.

So far, there have been some amazing AI-powered app releases for both the Android as well as the IOS smartphone segment.

Though using AI may seem a little daunting at first, but the possibilities are endless, and the large range of solutions offered by the technology is growing by the day.

In this article, we have included 8 of the best Artificial Intelligence apps of this year.

1. Fyle

Ever felt the need that business requires an expense system which is automated? With Fyle you can do just that. If you ask any major iOS app development company, they consider Fyle as one of the best AI apps in the market, Fyle helps an employee track, scan, and upload company expense related documents.

It is a smart app which automatically extracts the important information from the documents uploaded. The basic principle behind this app’s working is called as intelligent expense management.

It is a great business utility app which uses the best of Artificial Intelligence technology to increase your company’s overall productivity.

2. Acquisio

Ever heard of digital technology powered by machine learning technology? Acquisio is an AI-powered app which uses certain predictive algorithms to successfully bring about and augment bids.

It churns out expressions such as unimaginable and self-improving to prospective clients and hence manages to achieve results beyond human capabilities.

It allows us to enjoy the best of the digital ad world and hence, is a great way to sell stuff much faster and easier.

It is available for download on both the Apple App store and Android’s Play Store.

3. Answer Rocket

Answer Rocket is another AI-powered app which performs an operation called “data discovery which is search based”. All you have to do is ask the app a question in simple English and it will return you an answer which is filled with reports and charts related to the question posed to it.

The use of artificial intelligence in this app allows it to turn normal human language into a much business intelligence detailed answer. In simple terms, it does the job of a simple business analyst.

This app is available for download on both play store as well as on the App Store.

8 Best Artificial Intelligence Apps For iOS and Android-ad banner

4. ELSA

The abbreviation for ELSA is English Smart Speech Assistant. This is a unique and first of its kind application which helps in improving the pronunciation of its users.

All you have to do is input the word, and you can know the pronunciation of it, which helps you learn easily. It is free of cost and is available in the Play store and App Store as well.

5. Apptus

Apptus is an AI-powered mobile application which is able to achieve e-commerce optimization by the integration of certain key platforms.

This app is able to enhance the afore-mentioned platforms with the help of streamlined searches, merchandising and finally, providing seamless site navigation.

The main value gained out of this app is enhanced operational efficiency which is not only a daunting task but gets even tougher when teams are tax leaned.

This amazing AI app is available for both iOS and Android-powered smart devices.

6. Polyword

Polyword is a unique app which is used to recognize objects around us. It is a great way to entertain yourself when you’re bored by identifying objects around you.

That’s not all, it’s also able to translate the object identified into 30 different languages. This app is able to support translation in real time as well.

All you have to do is face your phone camera towards the object and also specify the target language in which you want the object to be interpreted in.

This AI-powered app has been lauded by major IOS app development companies and is available for download on the IOS and the Android platform as well.

7. Clara

The first entry on our list is called Clara. It is nothing but an AI-powered app which helps in scheduling, providing conformations as well as provide follow-ups with prospective clients.

It is a great business utility app which can even help you reserve a conference room if required. With the help of this app, you can integrate with calendars to schedule appointments depending on the availability of your time.

You can also interact with the participants in case there is a change of schedule. It is a great utility app which has made strides in the business world. It is available for download on both iOS and Android-powered devices.

8. Google Assistant

It’s always best to save the best for the last. The Google Assistant is nothing short of an AI revelation. With the help of this app, you can easily use your very own smart assistant powered by voice control.

By simply pressing down on your home button or by just saying “OK Google”, you can activate this app on your phone. You can send texts, listen to music, set appointments and reminders, make calls, and write texts, etc.

without even pressing a button. You can now open apps, search for images online, schedule your favorite Netflix movie, etc. all with just one app.

8 Best Artificial Intelligence Apps For iOS and Android- ad banner

This unique app is available on both Android and iOS powered devices.

Conclusion

The above-listed apps certainly represent the best of AI technology in use today. The latest updates to the Google Assistant app were an indicator of the marvels of this technology.

It’s only going to get better with time as all of the major iOS app development companies have made it a point to include Machine learning and Artificial intelligence as part of their iOS app development projects.

2018 promises to be an interesting year for Apps as some of the major iOS app development companies have made huge upgrades to their existing apps. The sky’s the limit and only time will tell how further Artificial Intelligence technology is going to develop.

Top 8 Apps For Latest Updates of FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

It is time for soccer mania to grip the whole world, as the quadrennial FIFA World Cup is about to kick off in Russia literally. For fans around the world, nothing can be more thrilling and exciting than watching their favourite stars in the play. Yes, we are officially in the planet of the apps and we use apps to follow our most loved game.

Follow the most critical moments of the game without missing a single signature move of your favourite stars –that keeps you in the game, even if you are not near a television screen.

For those of you who may not be fortunate enough to be up and awake to watch the games, here are seven of the top apps that you can consider to have on your phones to catch the action.

1) Official FIFA App:

Obviously, this could be your first choice, because of the official tag. This app comes with a load of features with a classic image gallery that will reproduce the action in breathtaking images.

Available for both Android and iOS platforms, the app lists out all details exhaustively, including the team composition, the match schedule, a professional minute by minute update of all the action and one of the best video libraries that will enthrall you.

Download : Android, iOS

2) One football App:

If you are looking for a lightweight version, an app that is easy to navigate and offers you the information that you need, then Onefootball is a good option. Available for both Android and iOS platforms the app allows you to pick the team you love to watch and follow them all the way through their FIFA world cup journey.

With crisp updates about fixtures and scores, the recap section will undoubtedly keep you abreast of all the action that unfolds in Russia.

Download : Android, iOS

3) Goal Live Score:

If you are the nerdy type and would like to follow the game through figures and scores, then Goal Live Score would be the most suitable app for you. As with most of the apps that are developed for football crazy fans, this app is available in both Android and iOS versions.

It keeps you updated with the happenings on the field in real time. The only catch is that you get to see the scores on the app and no other action or feeds as offered by other apps. However, it serves its purpose efficiently and is a lightweight app.

Download : Android, iOS

4) Goal Fantasy Football:

This is one app which is intended to meet the needs of soccer fans who like to have a slice of the action. Made available for soccer lovers in both Android and iOS versions, this app permits users to get their own team and try their hand at a fantasy session of soccer with their own pick of team members. This is an exciting way to take your interests forward and be more involved in the game rather than being a spectator. Get the adrenaline to rush as you get your own team into play in the mini-leagues.

5) Stats Zone App:

Another app that is targeted more at the nerdy soccer lovers, it offers exciting tidbits of information and vital statistics. Football has a lot to do with statistics, and the game would never be entertaining without the knowledge of knowing how goals were scored by a team or by your favorite star. The manner in which maneuvers resulted in successful goals will be of interest not just to a nerd but also to individuals who are looking at taking to the sport. The only downside to this app is that it only works with iOS.

Download : iOS

6) BBC Sport App:

Can BBC be far behind where football is involved? Yes, this app available for Android as well as iOS is from the reputed British broadcaster. True to their inimitable style, the app is packed with loads of information about the game with a lot of interesting background information that adds to the spice of soccer. The analysis is in-depth and will throw great insights into each game and will keep you riveted to your seat. Moreover, unlike most of the other apps on this list, you get the benefit of podcasts with this app.

Download : Android, iOS

7) Sony LIV App:

If you would love to get streaming videos of the action in Russia, then this is the app for you. It supports Android and iOS devices and offers users the options of going in for a paid subscription or a free service. The difference between both the options are ads and deferred streaming of the games. With the paid subscription, you will not get to see ads and you can watch the action live. With the free download, you will get to see the action deferred by five minutes with ads playing out in between to support the free streaming.

Download : Android, iOS

8) ESPN App:

ESPN being one of the biggest American sport media has made their mark on the digital space with their app that provides users with constant coverage of all major sports, including football. As its the FIFA world cup time, ESPN app has a dedicated section where you can view the games updates, get the schedules of upcoming games and even read articles from ESPN writers about the game.

Download : Android, iOS

Closing Thoughts:

The four year wait is nearly over as the world cup is just around the corner s. As media and entertainment industry is grown so much at the touch of smartphone screen, all major mobile companies and platforms have come up with apps for their customers. According to a recent Google survey, 30% of sports fans now rely on live streaming on their smart phones or tablets. As the upcoming 31 days starting from June 14th 2018 will be dominated by football with the FIFA World Cup 2018 kicking off, take your right pick from the apps listed above and download to catch all the actions in real-time.

Top Certifications For Mobile App Developers in 2018

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

Smartphone usage is surging from 1 billion to nearly 2 billion this year and may cross 2.5 billion by the end of the year. Communication and mobile apps are two fundamental drivers for a booming boost in smartphone sales. Mobile apps have replaced computers, offering great convenience and interactive platforms at the tip of fingers.

India has a strong smartphone market for developing innovative mobile apps. There are ample incredible opportunities for today’s mobile app developers. However, professional career of developers gets elevated with proper certification and relevant skills. Certification enhances credibility of your resume and helps earn trust from mobile development companies.

In this blog you will realize the importance of getting certified for your skills and learn top mobile development certifications available in 2018.

Need For Certifications

Not all mobile app developers get success from creating a superhit app in the first go. Those who seek a professional career will join top companies to work as a developer. Employers also filter their candidates through a strict selection process that often involve criteria around extensive experience, portfolio, skills and industry-wide knowledge.

In order to make impression in interviews, candidates can flaunt their bachelor degree in Computer Science supported with valid certifications.

Although not all job descriptions expect mobile app development certifications, having a certification definitely adds spotlight in your resume or qualifies you for promotion. Certification also helps Mobile app developers increase their chance of getting higher average salaries.

Android Certified Application Developer

Android and iOS are two dominant smartphone OS with Android possessing more than 80% market share. This suggests that demand for Android apps is burgeoning, and certified Android developers have a brighter chance to meet great opportunities in their long-term job careers.

Android Certified Application developer is the most sought-after certification as Tom’s IT Pro study on different job boards reveals. Advanced training and certification for Android developers is provided by ATC (Advanced Training Consultants). This certification is of beginning level meant for those who want to leart to design and build Android apps.

This is probably the best pick among certifications for Android mobile app developers. Candidates must pass its core Android Application Development examination that consists of 45 MCQs to be completed in 90 minutes. To earn certification, the minimum score is 70%. Candidates can prepare using Android application development course and self-study guides are also available.

The exam tests the knowledge and experience across variety of topics related to Android app development. The certified developer is able to:

  • Conceive and build a fully-fledged Android app
  • Use different plugins and tools to test and debug an Android app
  • Understand Android app lifecycle and major components
  • Use Android persistent storage and background processing techniques

MCSD: Windows Store Apps

If you want to build a high-quality app for Windows OS, a developer certified with MCSD Window Store Apps could be your best resort. In order to acquire this certification, developers have two programming languages: C# or HTML 5. Usually, companies don’t consider much what language developers prefer to build Windows apps.

Developers who secure MCSD: Windows Store Apps HTML 5 certification gain the following skillset:

  • Write HTML 5 apps using JavaScript and CSS3
  • Create a Windows Store app using JavaScript and HTML5
  • Develop advanced Windows Store Apps using JavaScript and HTML5

Developers who have the MCSD: Windows Store Apps using C# certifications can perform the following:

  • Write program and code using C#
  • Build a Windows Store app in C#
  • Developer advanced Windows Store apps using C#

Oracle Java ME Mobile Application Developer

If you aspire to be an established Java developer and are seeking a solid career in mobile app development, Oracle Java ME Mobile Application Developer is the considerable certification. It was formerly known as the Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer. You can create mobile apps using Java after completing the exam.

To appear for the exam, developers fulfil the prerequisite which is to achieve any of the following certifications:

  • Oracle Certified Professional (OCP)
  • Java Programmer (SE5 or SE6)
  • Sun certified programmer (SCJP)

Developers must clear the exam of Java (ME) Mobile Edition 1 Mobile Application Developer Certified Professional 1Z0-869. The certification exam consists of 68 MCQs and the timeframe is 158 minutes. The minimum score required to clear the exam is 58%.

For preparation, you can take reference from Java ME: Develop Applications for Mobile Phones. Apart from this, the certification also requires you to have strong hands-on practice or on-the-job experience in the topics covered in exam.

App Security Certifications

Businesses emphasize on mobile app developers that comply with highest app data security standards since many times users share their financial data and personal information.

App users’ data is constantly at risk of getting hacked, and any data-specific vulnerability can damage the business reputation. This is why certain companies prefer to hire developers who are certified in mobile app security.

One security-focused certification to consider is CompTIA Mobility+ that evaluates the skills and knowledge about network administration, app security and mobile engineering. Candidates should know about the topics like troubleshooting, Bluetooth, network structure, Wi-Fi and other security-related technologies.

The Certified Professional – Mobility (CCP-M) from Citrix is another recommendable certification in App security. It tests candidates’ knowhow in IT compliance & security, application and device management.

Associate Android Developer

Google provides official training and certification as Associate Android Developer program in order to create a cavalcade of well-groomed, polished and competent Android developers. Along with this certifications, Google also offers Mobile Web Specialist, Google Certified Professional in Cloud architect and Certified Professional – Data Engineers.

The Google Associate Android Developer certification mainly stands for specialization in many aspects of Android apps including:

  • Designing and debugging
  • Storage solutions design
  • Building applications for interfaces outside the core Android application

The exam tests performance of candidates and their ability to understand the working concepts of UI and UX and create standard and custom layouts using XML and Java code.

Google also offers new programmers as well as seasoned developers a few free informative courses through Udacity to train candidates before appearing for the exam.

Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder

Salesforce has mastered CRM solutions and provides solid support to its customers with various solutions in domains like sales, service, analytics and productivity and IoT. Looking at Salesforce market impression, its Salesforce certification program is no doubt considerably created with care for developers in mind.

Salesforce app builder has gained sensational response across many online ob boards. the primary reason is that it trains professionals who are engaged in designing, building and deploying custom apps for Salesforce platform. Candidates need to pass a single exam for certification that covers quite contemporary topics like:

  • Data management and modelling
  • User interfaces
  • Business logic
  • Use cases for custom app features
  • Security
  • Design reports
  • Custom dashboards

At the completion of the certification, developers will be able to create social features and customize applications to be used on mobile devices and deploy them. Candidates for App Builders must also pass maintenance module exams to gain deeper insight into product release cycle.

SAP Certified Development Associate – SMP Hybrid and Native Mobile Application Developer

Offered and maintained by Enterprise Mobility, Germany, SAP Certified Development Associate is prepared for developers who deal with SAP/Sybase products. This certification tests intermediate-level knowledge of developers.

Individuals through the exam possess a strong foundational knowledge of Hybrid and Native application development on SAP mobile platform 2.3. The prerequisite before earning this certification is to have several years of on-the-job experience.

The exam structure consists of 80 MCQs to be completed in 3 hours, and it majorly explores nine technical areas. Minimum passing score is 65%.

As far as support goes, Enterprise Mobility offers Learning Hub that gives access to:

  • Helpful subject-specific training material & resources
  • Dedicated Learning Rooms
  • Virtual Learning Spaces for effective guidance

The subscribers have a lot to gain from SAP certification Learning Hub, including relevant practical knowledge and training about Hybrid and Native Mobile app development delivered virtually by SAP instructors.

Conclusion

Discovering a talented mobile app developer is a challenging task, but a sharp-eyed research and conscious lookout for certified developers can set you close to the right deserving candidates. Individuals with Industry knowledge and practical hands-on experience matter a great deal if you are seeking the great, and not just the good. Hiring a team of mobile app developers with any of the above certifications will give you a competitive advantage and confidence that your projects are handled by the industry veterans.

iOS App Development Trends To Follow in 2018

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

It is an interesting piece of trivia to note that the globally renowned Apple has marketed over 130 million iPhones globally in 2017. This whopping figure speaks volumes of the rising popularity of iPhone lovers from across the globe. Hence, it comes as a wise move for all the iOS app developers to be in the know of the latest trends that they can expect to emerge by the end of 2018. You as a part of an iOS app development company can look into the below-described trend-setting elements that are poised to create ripples in iOS app development through the promising and state-of-the-art iOS apps.

1. AR and VR – The Promising Buzzwords in the iOS Space

As a well-established iOS app developer, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality seem to be the order of the day. A host of cool AR apps are currently exciting the visual senses of iPhone lovers with the introduction of iOS 11 and its version. Opening up a plethora of opportunities in the sphere of VR and AR, Apple products have been the talk of the town with their AR Kit.

Powered by an Augmented Reality viewer, the latest versions of Apple phones support VR capabilities, allowing you to step into any simulative environment with utmost ease. You can either use your phone or a VR headset to enjoy the real-life experience of a dreamy world that you always wanted to be a part of.

2. Internet of Things

The launch of Apple’s iOS 11 in 2017 opened up newer avenues for IoT and this trend is expected to continue way into 2018 as well. Addressing the much-needed security issues concerning the connectivity of IoT devices to smart phones, iPhones have steadily become the future-ready devices. Given the prominence of security-centric systems in our day-to-day transactions, the day is not far when iOS app development will unleash the potential of connected solutions that have become a part and parcel of our normal day routines. It is hence the need of the hour for iOS app developers to stay abreast with this trend that will smooth-en a number of rough edges concerning IoT system security.

3. The Popularity of Cloud-Based Technologies

When your apps are integrated with cloud-based technologies, you will be added to new flavors . Given the fact that cloud-based apps on iPhones demand less of storage space, you will be in a favorable position to improve the storage of your smart phone without draining your internal memory. This naturally comes as a blessing to smart phone users who will bank upon Cloud-centric technologies to install and use apps. iPhone lovers in 2018 can make the most of free Cloud Storage apps that are available on Apple iCloud which stores backed up your pictures and photos for 1 month.

4. The Innovative Features of iOS Apps Meant For Enterprises

As per statistics, more than 50% of American companies were expected to invest in over 10 dedicated applications by the start of 2018. This trend opens up umpteen doors to iOS app developers who need to grab every opportunity that comes their way. The rising popularity of Enterprise app development will unleash the potential of iOS app development companies to pull up their socks.

By 2018, iOS app developers are expected to lend a helping hand to an enterprise to take control over CRM functions, incorporating the guidelines of Agile management. You can also expect managers of enterprises to employ decision-driven enterprise apps that will seamlessly manage a plethora of tasks and processes. Data analytics is the tool with which these managers will be able to show up substantial results stemming obtained by keying in real-time intelligent data points.

5. The Multi-Disciplinary Scope for iOS App Developers

In view of the numerous benefits associated with iOS app development, iOS app developers will be in a favorable spot to make the most of the principles driving Big Data, Enterprise App Development and IoT. This multi-disciplinary scope for iOS app developers bring into effect a host of innovative features that will attract users in more ways than you can imagine.

6. The Unwritten Promise of Security

All the bigwigs in the technological sphere, including Apple, have been striving hard to secure their mobile data from security threats. In view of this pressing concern that impacts the performance of global companies, Apple stepped in to offer an application development platform that is in sync with the latest data security requirements. The year 2018 will hence see the implementation of innovative and cutting-edge data encryption practices. This trend will hence make iOS app developers to make security the core element of their mobile applications.

7. GPS-Centric Services Will Rule The Roost

It will be an overstatement to quote that you haven’t heard about the innovative AR technology teamed with GPS that drove the popularity of the Pokémon Go game. iOS app developers have, through this game perfectly blended the features of AR and GPS, creating room for many more innovations to emerge. By 2018, you will witness laudable results that will surface in the form of navigational functionalities and location tracking features that make mobile handsets the omnipotent devices to help companies operating in automation and retail spheres to make the most of GPS-powered iPhone applications.

8. Swift 3.0 Ranks The Undisputed and Indigenous Programming Language of Apple

It was in December 2015 that Apple launched its proprietary Swift open source to the technology specialists. Since then, there was no looking back for Swift which came up with an updated version named Swift 3.0 in 2016. The ease with which iOS app developers can employ this programming language makes it possible to churn out apps meant for iOS, watchOS and tvOS. This can be regarded as a significant step towards the use of an advanced programming language in developing iPhone apps

9. The Positives in Favor of Mobile Transactions and Payments

E-commerce portals have steadily the replaced the mundane brick and mortar stores with an air of convenience and easy payment terms. Bidding adieu to the conventional card and cash payments, mobile payments have gained popularity as the safest and fastest means for successful transactions. Apple which has come up with Apple Pay as its efficient mobile payment gateway is poised to attract the attention of all the iPhone lovers in the year 2018 as well.

10. A Perfect Remedy for Lazy Load Pages

Many a times, websites experience high bouncing rates on account of pages which take longer to load. Keeping the visitor waiting for a page to load for a second more is enough to mar your online reputation. In an attempt to steer clear of all such lazy load pages, iOS app developers have come up with a viable and unique technique which enables images to load only when they are to be viewed.

This feature is expected to make a mark in 2018 also, allowing users to enjoy the thrill of websites loading swiftly. Taking a cue from this web-based feature, iOS app developers are working extensively to blend this technology into the existing apps. This inclusion will thus serve as a performance booster to smartphone users who can enjoy better browsing experiences on their iPhones.

Closing Thoughts

With an immense potential to unlock the future of ios apps, the above situations will become trend-setters for the ensuing 2018. These highly-impactful trends will eventually pave the way for a better tomorrow for all the ardent lovers of iPhones to further simplify their lives in more ways than you can imagine. On the flipside, these technological advancements will also fuel the profitability of an ios app development company which relies on the technical expertise of its ios app development team. This team of professionals will hence become the heart and soul of every iOS app that you download and install from Apple’s iStore.

12 Best Personal Assistant AI Apps For Android 2018 [Infographic]

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

With the era of mobile app development and taking into account the growth of opportunities technology is to provide, every individual aspires to save time as much as they can. Whether its for communication with family or friends, for personal or professional life, gadgets have become a primary part of life.

To provide users with more features and options, most of the platforms are now bringing up personal assistant apps. And as Android has flourished to one of the top rated mobile platform with highest number of users, there are a number of AI apps that can perform creative functions to the simplest tasks.

As more things are coming up, let’s wait and see what’s more to come in the future with technology as everyone loves to work smart!

After doing research on this, we have compiled the top 12 personal assistant AI aap for Android this year in this info graphic.

personal assistant ai apps info

Everything You Need To Know About the All New iOS 12

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

Apple has unveiled an all new iOS 12 at Apple’s annual developer conference at San Francisco. iOS 12 is the latest version of the operating system for iPhone and iPad. The announcement revealed all new features for users. The most attractive of them are related to device performance and speed, notifications, privacy standards and emojis.

With the introduction of the latest iOS 12, every model from 5S will be getting performance boost. This means, users can happily upgrade their older devices OS to iOS 12 to avail latest features. The bug fixes for the problems reported by iPhone and iPad users for previous iOS version are fixed in this iOS 12 version.

The main focus of iOS 12 is not cosmetic look so much as improving the user experience through brilliant software upgrade splashed with unprecedented surprises.

To satiate your curiosity, here is everything you ought to know about the latest iOS 12.

What Devices Does it Support?

iOS 12 will be easily available for devices that currently run on iOS 11 at present. Apple users who are using any iPhone model from 5S or newer, or an iPad from iPad mini 2 and iPad Air 2, or sixth generation iPod touch can expect iOS 12 features on their respective device.

Compelling Features of the all New Clever iOS 12:

1) Speed

Apple promised to boost the speed of iPhone devices with iOS 12. Since this new version is optimized for better performance standard, users will experience noticeable speed improvements for smartphones starting from iPhone 5S in 2013.

Due to this new upgrade, apps on Apple devices will launch 40% faster, which is twice as fast as before.

Apart from the app launches, the camera is also optimized for speed and should load about 70% faster from lock screen.

The keyboard is also expected to appear 50% faster and Share Sheet is displayed 2x times faster, too. iOS 12 also allows multitasking with lots of apps.

Thanks to Apple’s promise to improve performance all over iOS, everything you do with your device will receive speed you’ve never seen before.

2) Notifications

Notifications that appear on iOS lock screen often bog users down, consuming a lot of their time while handling each of them. Apple has addressed this issue and liberated users from tackling overloaded lock screen.

Apple has enabled Grouped Notifications for iOS 12 users so that they don’t have to waste their time swiping away multiple push messages from the same app one by one.

As a result, notifications can be grouped together or delivered without interrupting users with a sound or vibration and shown in the notification centre instead of lock screen.

3) Addiction Controlling Features

Like Google, Apple is also making active efforts to wean users off their digital addiction. For people who can’t resist their iPhone devices, the new tool ScreenTime is here to assist. The feature is set to generate weekly Activity Reports that suggest the app usage occurred for the week.

It contains the details about the how frequently you receive notification or interact with the device during the day. It enables to set up App Limits that work as restrictive timers for specific apps.

4) Parental Controls

One of the main parental controls in iOS 12 is addiction control as described above which monitors and limits children’s apps usage on their iPhones. Parents can stay updated of their child’s activity on their iOS devices and set App Limit for them.

In case a child wants to increase the device usage time, the parents can decide whether or not to approve the request.

Downtime is another feature that helps parents set up when notifications shouldn’t be displayed on their kid’s phone and block access to certain apps.

5) Conference FaceTime

FaceTime allows users having iOS 12 on their iPhone and iPad to perform video and audio calls with as many as 32 users simultaneously. Call participants can have soundless notification without any ring and tap it to instigate conversation. FaceTime also enables you to add text effect to your photos and videos.

Apple’s FaceTime also comes with end-to-end encryption to make your conversation private and exclusive. FaceTime messages are integrated into conversation and can be operated by users.

6) More Animated Expressions with ‘Animoji’

To unleash the world of creative expressions and lively messages, Apple has introduced Memoji using which users can create custom Animoji. With Animoji, iOS 12 users can express their personality, mood and more.

You have a range of Animoji including ghost, Koala, tiger, etc. You can also record 30 second clips of Animoji. Moreover, Memoji will recognize your expressions using Tongue and Wink to make suitable animoji.

iOS 12 also has new built-in camera effects and third-party sticker packs to allow users to enhance their pictures.

7) Privacy and Security

Apple has increased the level of privacy control and security of user data in iOS 12 update. It has Safari to put a stop to Facebook’s ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ buttons, and also prevents other intrusive widgets and ads from tracking and infiltrating the device without permission.

There is a ‘Do Not Disturb’ during Bedtime feature created to and hide notification prompts until the next morning so that users can unwind in the evenings without worrying.

The new updated USB time out feature which is available in Beta iOS 11.4.1 will help protect user data from hackers or at the time your device is confiscated by law enforcement. The feature will limit activities via the Lightning port after an hour of inactivity. With USB timeout, hackers will not be able to unlock the phone and access user data by connecting them to a system or a hacking box.

8) Photos

Probably to emulate Google photo app, iOS 12 offers its own built-in Photos app in the new “For You” tab. The app will also surprisingly suggest sharing group photos from events with the people present in them.

Additionally, Apple has also improved searching photos within the app with personalized suggestions to locate photos based on recent events, places and people.

9) Siri Shortcuts

Seemingly competing with Alexa and Google Assistant apps, Apple’s Siri is now improved with a new feature called Siri Shortcuts. It allows users to utter a set of specific custom commands to perform a certain action like opening an app or making a call. Siri Shortcuts is one of the most phenomenal updates for iOS 12 that fits close to a popular automation system IFTTT.

10) Google Maps on Apple’s Car Play

Car Play, Apple’s in-car connectivity system has been limited to Apple Maps for navigation purpose. With iOS 12, Apple has gone generous to support the third-party navigation apps like Google Maps to enhance user delight.

11) Automatic two-factor pass code copying

For users making online transactions, two-factor or one-time password (OTP) might be a tedious, nagging data-security process. But iOS 12 removes the need to switch to Messages to copy and paste the code into respective app or website. Instead, two-factor code appears with an AutoFill option as soon as the text message with OTP pops on your device, and you can simply paste it in the field.

Additional Features:

  • The voice memos has been updated and made simpler so that you can now access it via iCloud and use the voice memos across multiple device
  • In case of students there is an add on feature which allows them to add their student ID card to the Wallet so as they can use it at various places like libraries, school or college functions etc.
  • iOS 12 has launched a new file format know as the Universal Scene Description which can be used by 3D developers to created animations that specially needs to work on mobile devices.
  • Apple news now has a browser feature which makes it easier for user to search for more interesting and related contents
  • People dealing with share market and related businesses, they have a good news as the Stock app is revamped and now they can get updated stock charts, quotes, contextual reports etc directly from the Google News

When is it Available to Users?

While the developer version of iOS 12 is already available, the first public beta version of the OS is available now for download. If you are an iPhone SE user or above, then you can download the version from the Apple’s Official Public Beta Website.

To download the beta version, first you need to become a member of Apple’s Beta Software Program and after that you will have to enroll the device to start using the program. But we recommend you to not rely on such beta versions as it can cause errors or bug issues to your device. Based on the announcement, the final full version is expected to be released in September most probably for everyone.

Conclusion:

Introducing iOS 12, Apple has stimulated immense interest of iOS users and has instigated a ripple of excitement in the market. The rare features of the novel iOS 12 described above will definitely capture a lot of attention and is likely to open doors of fresh opportunities for iPhone app developers. The final version is to hit the market in September as Apple has signified. Until then, users can take a test-ride of its magnetic features in awe.

11 Blockchain Applications That Are Shaping Your Future

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

Conventional systems and processes of existing social and business economies are riddled with a lot of challenges including cumbersome operations, inaccurate results and sluggish standards.

To avoid errors and control the process, they constantly need intermediaries, causing increase in stress and costs. Blockchain Technology is economical, honest, simplified and more effective solution especially for financial services.

You might have heard of digital currencies like Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency. Blockchain is another innovation that ensures digital transactions are acceptably conducted and maintained.

There are more applications of Blockchain than monetary transactions, and more are being developed. So what exactly is Blockchain and how it will be applied to different industries? Here is the entire gist:

What is Blockchain Technology?



The blockchain is a promising distributed ledger technology that works hand-in-hand with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It creates organized, safe and transparent financial layers between business network and customers, establishing a unique method of transferring and recording huge data.

The data is kept auditable, decentralized and transparent to ensure organizations using the technology remain democratic, efficient, secure and decentralized.

Though Blockchain is still having work-in-progress appearance, it is expected by global tech community and market experts that it may disrupt numerous industries in the next 5 years.

Let’s take a glance at top 11 Block chain applications likely to shape your future business.

1. Insurance Claims Processing

 

Insurance Claims Processing

 

For insurance companies, claim processing can be a tedious and tiring business that may frustrate the investigator teams since it involves assessment of fraudulent claims, complicated data discovery, fragmented sources, past policy records and much more.

Moreover, manual processing can encourage the room for error. The block chain alleviates traditional workloads and establishes a solid system for transparent processes devoid of risks.

It has encryption qualities that allow insurance firms to claim the ownership of the assets being insured.

2. Honest Trade Processes

Traditional nature of trading and managing assets will require working parties to take certain risks and bear more expenses. This gets more risky when it comes to cross-border transactions and deals.

Because brokers and settlement managers involved in the process keep their own records, inefficiencies and inaccuracies are likely to arise.

The block chain ledger technology uses encryption for records and minimizes errors, simplifying the trade and asset management and eliminating the redundant intermediaries.

3. Blockchain-Powered Cloud Storage

Blockchain-Powered Cloud Storage

Blockchain is likely to disrupt cloud storage in coming years. Since cloud storage services at present are centralized, users are compelled to trust their storage provider who controls their online assets.

Blockchain can tweak the way data is stored and make it all decentralized. Currently, Storj is beta-testing cloud storage that leverages the power of Blockchain to lighten their dependency and enhance security.

With Blockchain, users are allowed to even rent out excessive storage capacity.

4. Cross-Border Payments

The mode of global payments is subject to error, risky and expensive. It is also quite time consuming; you may have to go days until the payment reaches you crossing the border.

Cross-Border Payments

The block chain has innovative solution to offer end-to-end remittance services. It has collaborated with remittance companies such as Abra, Align Commerce and Bitspark blockchain-powered payment services.

Santander has successfully integrated blockchain to a payment app to allow customers to make smooth and faster international payments 24 hours a day.

5. Identity Made Simple, Secure and Seamless

For the purpose of paid advertising, online companies share our identity details to advertisers.

The blockchain helps protect your identity by encrypting it and blocks this by creating a secure and protected data point free from spammers and schemers.

Since you can encrypt only less private information, you need to worry less about your digital security.

Blockchain also makes record-keeping seamless, solid and reliable by encrypting your birth and death details. You can track and manage information securely, which keeps you protected from frauds.

Blockchain gives you a digital form of ID that replaces a range of physical identifications like driver’s license, digital passwords, identity cards, keys, passports, social security ID.

6. Smart Contracts

Blockchain is prepared to generate smart contracts in form of obligatory programmable smart contracts presented in a digitized format.

The smart contract system powered by Blockchain technology relieves you from single central authority and avail legal contracts as variable statements that rely on Bitcoin network as a third party executor to release funds.

Effectively revolutionizing traditional lending system, even people with poor credits can invoke unconventional money lenders to receive loan and put their smart blockchain-encoded property as collateral.

They can extricate themselves from showing the history of credits and work or even processing documents manually.

7. Retail

As of today, your joy of shopping is directly attributed to the store or marketplace where products are hosted, which is more of a centralized retail system.

Blockchain-enabled decentralized retail utilities have unique approach and style as it connects buyers and sellers directly eliminating the need for keeping a host marketplace and their associated charges.

This dynamic system will gain from having smart contract systems in place and security of deals and trustworthy reputation.

8. Blockchain Internet-of-Things (IoT)

Using IoT technology, almost any material object can be controlled and treated as a part of Internet of Things when connected with internet or to similar network of objects.

Such interconnected objects or devices are likely to rule the world in future since according to Gartner analysis there will be over 26 billion IoT connected devices by 2020.

Blockchain-powered IoT devices can be automated securely to function independently and take actions based cognitive knowledge.

For instance, your coffee will be brewed by the machine at your suitable time and your oven will automatically cook Turkey for Thanksgiving.

This idea can be adopted by governments for building smart cities on a larger scale and improve our general living.

9. Secure & Sophisticated Healthcare

Your personal health information and updates can be encoded and stored on Blockchain system using a private digital key. You can keep it accessible to specified individuals.

Similarly, healthcare research can be conducted securely and confidential data can be stored on Blockchain.

Apart from this, surgery receipts could also be stored on blockchain and sent automatically to insurers for further claim approval process.

Blockchain ledger can help with supervising drugs, regulation compliance, healthcare supplies and lab test results, enabling secure personal healthcare management.

10. Blockchain Government

Electronic voting system can be manipulated by clever hackers and raise the questions of integrity and security. Blockchain ledger can prevent this incident and act as a barrier to such vulnerabilities with its encrypting capability.

With blockchain embedded in the voting system, individuals could confirm that their votes were successfully transmitted and counted and can nothing is tempered with during the process.

Blockchain Government

The blockchain approach for electoral voting maintains anonymity of voters through encryption while also saving money for government.

The real-time example of blockchain election process is Liberal Alliance, a political party in Denmark, who was the first to implement blockchain for voting in 2014 – which was the one of the greatest triumph for the technology.

11. Energy Management

Energy marker is going through a tremendous shift when it comes to decentralizing the management and distribution of energy. In a traditional setting, energy producers and users rely on public grid to buy or sell energy.

To transform the centralized energy market, blockchain-powered microgrids can be leveraged to implement peer-to-peer solution for trading energy.

LO3 Energy has developed a system in association with Siemens that allows trading of solar energy locally in peer-to-peer fashion, with its first 50 physical units already tested in Brooklyn.

The project has smart meters for tracking energy production and consumption and smart contracts for transactions.

TransactiveGrid is another start-up in this industry that uses Ethereum to allow customers to trade energy with each other.

Conclusion

For blockchain to work and function as a powerful solution, it is essential that there is a solid agreement from node-to-node network to comply with ethical standards.

Currently, many of these blockchain applications are still in developing phase and will be applied to society and economy experimentally in next couple of years.

The bottom line is that Blockchain is growing fierce and ferocious in its ability to transform businesses, establish fair trading systems, decentralize store and democratize social and economic system.

All You Need To Know About Google Flutter

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

Apparently, Android is one of the popular and preferred operating systems for people across the globe. Still, there are other big players in the market like iOS, and Android is nowhere near to becoming the only mobile operating system. So, if you want to reach a wider audience then you certainly have to make your mobile app available on other platforms as well.

Now, porting your Android mobile application to iOS takes a lot of time and resources. But what if you can reduce your mobile app development time by building a single application which can seamlessly run across platforms. How wonderful would that be, isn’t?

This is where Google Flutter comes into the picture. A user interface toolkit which claims to do the exact same thing, by providing you a way to build UIs for Android and iOS from just one codebase.

By the time you finish reading this post, you will know what Google Flutter is, its features, and how you can use it to your benefit.

The Core Features of Google Flutter

  • To start with, the earlier version of Flutter only supported Android platform and was known as the Sky. But its latest version will be of a great help to both Android and iOS mobile app developers.
  • The new version of Flutter has an impeccable feature and that is Hot Reload. Using this feature, mobile app developers can easily get an access to a comprehensive range of widgets along with working on the powerful user interface.
  • With the help of Flutter, the app developers will be able to integrate flutter into their mobile applications on WebView component as this will make it simpler for your users to see the web content within the app. In addition, navigating and stabilizing the application becomes much easier.
  • Google Flutter now include support for, formatting the images, the inline videos, etc. thus, making apps more fun and better than before.
  • With an added feature in Flutter, app developers can now localize their applications as well as use it for international purpose.
  • Google Flutter will now support the latest versions of Apple operating system ie., iOS 11 and iPhone X.

Why Should You use Google Flutter?

Unlike Android’s other versions which are based on Kotlin and Java, in order to use Google Flutter, you will have to learn Dart. Of course, the thought of learning a new programming language itself could be off-putting but there are some driving reasons for why you should give it a try.

Cross-Platform:

Google Flutter will help you in creating a single user interface to run on both iOS and Android by utilizing the same framework, libraries, and renderer. To make sure your app runs effortlessly on both the platforms, Flutter offers widgets designed according to Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS) specifications.

Hot Reload:

It is normal for app developers to work on the specific app’s code when the app is running on an Android-powered smart phone to test the changes as you make them. But it takes a really long time for the Android Studio to publish each and every change to the running mobile app. So to help you in being more effective and productive, the new “Hot reload” feature of Google Flutter can easily integrate the updated source code into the Dart Virtual Machine so that app developers can instantly see the changes.

Compatible With Other Programming Languages:

Without having to rewrite the complete current app, Google Flutter seamlessly integrates with Java on Android and Swift and Objective-C on iOS.

Makes The App Development Faster and Better

Since Google Flutter will now be supporting both Android and iOS, it will make the cross-platform mobile app development easier for app developers. Regardless of the platform you choose, you can now have an app that runs effortlessly on both operating systems.

The reason for considering it for developing native application platforms is because it allows you to customize widgets and design an engaging and rich native interface. Without having to use WebView, you can easily draw widgets using Flutter’s extremely rendering engine.

Eye-Catching User Interface

An eye-catching and attractive user interface has always been an important part of the mobile app development. Now, by using Flutter, you can certainly anticipate getting a natural and breathtaking design for your mobile applications. With Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS), developers can build highly responsive applications.

Accessible Native Features and SDKs

The Flutter makes the app development simpler and better via native codes, 3rd-party integrations, and platform APIs. In addition, you can get your hands on native features and SDKs on Android and iOS.

The Functional and Reactive Framework

In order to build creative UI designs, Flutter has an effective tool in the form of platform layouts. Not just that, app developers can also get extremely flexible APIs to use all their creativity to design in 2D and other animations. The functional and reactive framework lets app developers integrate their creativity and efficiency rightfully. Just like Java and Swift, the Dart programming language also offers benefits such as supporting a rich library.

Will Google Flutter Replace Java?

Google Flutter is very much native to iOS and Android, and its design language is just like Java. App developers cannot create the user interface based on templating language because there is none. It makes it extremely simpler to develop high-end applications.

But the intention of Google behind launching Flutter is certainly not to replace the current Android frameworks instead to make it much easier for app developers to build cross-platform, high-end mobile applications. The main purpose of the Google Flutter is to let app developers develop a platform that allows them to share minimum codebase between platforms.

Conclusion

Google has launched Flutter to make the app development process easier. So do the lives of app developers. The first and foremost purpose of this effective tool is to provide a native user interface look with native widgets and buttons.

Currently, this giant tech company is still working on an open-source mobile operating system, Fuchsia, which is written in Flutter. We will have to wait and watch whether it surpasses React native or not. Nonetheless, it can be said that Google has indeed launched a useful software development tool that will let developers create responsive and efficient user interfaces.

A Guide To Android Game Development

Posted on by Super Admin Testreveal

Introduction

Game development is not just a profession limited to building games for PCs, consoles and other programmable hardware. Today, digital world is equipped with advanced gadgets and evolved technology that offer great portability, flexibility and engaging experience. Android is quite a famous operating system for mobile and is also used as OS for TVs, wristwatches, PC’s, digital cameras and consoles. Android game development became prominent when it was successfully integrated into many hardware platforms and the mobile game industry realized the importance of opting for Android over Symbian or Java. The reasons for the growth and success of Android development services are:

  • Flexible and efficient software ecosystem
  • Interactive features
  • Intuitive and smooth user interface
  • Customizable look and feel
  • Developer-friendly characteristics of hardware platform
  • Power to create more design elements

Because of these pros, Android game developers are thriving exponentially and developers go beyond the limitations to explore the wide spectrum of innovations based on Android OS.

Moreover, mobile games in Google Play store now claims 90% of profits. From simple and intermediate games to exceptional Android game apps, Google Store is crawling with thousands of big titles, and the numbers ceaselessly increase. So why do most game developers increasingly choose Android OS over other alternatives?

This guide covers many areas of Android Game development and focus on everything an Android game developer should know. People with existing background in Android or willing to learn about Android games will be able to imbibe a lot from this guide.

Android Game Development

Features:

Some of the significant trademark features supported by Android platform are:

a) Familiarity of programming languages

Android app development consists of most common programming languages like Java and C++ which are widely recognized throughout the entire world. Since Android SDK and NDK are built using known languages most developers are familiar with, developing Android games look much easier and swift.

b) Direct manipulation

Android is perhaps better worshipped for its unique interface that offers direct manipulation. This supreme feature makes it possible to interact with users by means of objects of interest, dynamic real-time action and feedback. Users can perform real-time gestures using touch interface such as swiping, tapping, dragging and also multi-touch actions. These are of great essence when it comes to crafting user-friendly and highly interactive Android game apps.

c) Sublime support

Another attribute that makes Android development a popular domain is its ability to provide excellent support for multimedia operations. Using multimedia supports, Android developers can gain freedom to use multimedia objects inside the game to enhance gaming experience for users especially those with live and sharable elements.

d) Updates and services

Google has tendency to always serve customers innovative updates that do something amazing to users. After its version 2.2 called Froyo, Google has cultivated an integrated, closed-system service known as Google Play Services. It a unique API service provider that has emerged quite useful for Android game development.

e) Ease of Game-making

Android is fertile with a gamut of third-party tools which further help make the job for game developers easy and agile. Some the tools that are illustrious in the world of Android development services are:

Apart from this, configuration procedure for Android device hardware easier for Android developers to understand and implement the steps quickly. When it comes to running game applications, the device hardware configuration offers minimum standard and feels less conditional.

f) Interaction with Device environment

What makes Android games special is that you can design different controls of a game by using a range of sensors available in Android mobile devices or tablets. Furthermore, Android offers solid connectivity via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, GSM/CDMA/EDGE, IDEN and more. Due to such incredible support on various networks, game developers build a multiplayer game with uninterrupted gameplay.

g) Minimum-barrier ecosystem

Android ecosystem is generous in offering Android developers utmost liberty to explore the best features and tools to build sterling game design with vibrant characters and themes. Android relieves from the pressure of restrictive conditions for app distribution compared to other platforms.

h) Effortless submission/distribution process

The timeframe involved in the app submission process in the online Android market is leaner than other platforms because Android allows developers just one-time charges to submit the app. hence, developers can launch their apps effortlessly, engaging an enormous user base across the globe without spending huge. Another gem of Android app development is that developers can enjoy the incredible facility to distribute the app from their personal active channels or website, which eliminates the need to submit the app to Google app store and wait for approval and review.

i) User experience

Android games have a vibrant impression of providing a memorable user experience through incredible game controls and real-time interactions with gravity and GPS sensors based on the game theme, which is an added advantage. Due to dynamic gesture control and OpenGL enabled for better graphic visual quality, Android game apps deliver exceptional user experience. Android also supports Virtual Reality through Cardboard SDK to develop VR-based games.

Challenges:

Developing game apps using Android platform involves certain challenges such as:

a) Efficient use of available features

Utilizing the absolute power of Android’s available features in developing games would be the primary challenge for any Android app development services provider. Every game built on Android platform have to offer the best of features and engaging elements by seamlessly interacting device’s local functionality and environment.

b) Targeting the range of device configurations

Since Android hardware configurations have a wide range, games must be designed with the focus on targeting most of them to achieve maximum reach and touch the broad spectrum of users. Building games for specific hardware configurations like Tegra or Snapdragon, or for specific devices is common for Android games developers However, the challenge is that most smartphones, esp LTE handsets, don’t support Tegra and are migrating to Snapdragon, which provokes the questions of attaining consistent performance across various graphic processors.

c) Imagining a fascinating Story

When we are speaking about setting up a good story in mobile game development, we are referring to its story line ? or to the game’s dynamics in the absence of such story line. Creating a captivating story will always better when it comes to retaining users.

Believe it or not, creating Android games with a good and original story line is not easy. In fact, we could say “it’s all been done before” probably without failing to say the truth. There are hundreds of Android games that deal with war, fantasy, racing, etc.

d) Respecting User’s perspective

Another challenging part is making sure the game is simple, clear and user-friendly. This is not to say that the game has to be on basic or superficial level, but to say that it should feel and look intuitive and have easy-to-understand rules and levels even though it is strategic games you are building.

e) Design concepts and limitations

Without a proper, thoughtful design, an Android game does not really exist. A successful game design demands a lot of mature expertise about target devices including its interactive capability and support features. It is a challenge for designers and programmers alike to incorporate current trends and practices while crafting a spot-on structure of Android games along with common device-independent features.

Best Practices:

Building a user-oriented, highly engaging game with vibrant graphics and impeccable performance is as important as the idea of making it in the right way. It could be a real challenge for Android developers to enable the game design and components that not only look dazzling but also functions perfectly across most of Android devices. For this to happen, here are the best practices they can adopt:

a) The quality of concepts and creativity

Android game market is crammed with millions of games and more are introduced to Google Play store regularly. But not all of them deserve a chance to enjoy longest lifecycle on gamers’ device. Every Android developer must possess outstanding skills and creativity to leverage modern technology for building incredible games that can thrive on the competitive Android game development landscape.

b) Minimalist approach for User Interface

Long-form and prolonged UI could be a less pleasant design approach for today’s Android game development company and can repel impatient users. As opposed to hectic user interface, a modern and much typical practice should be a kind of interface that spends minimum time to take players to the core gameplay. Having minimalist and concise UI design ensures that the players will not have to pull more efforts to reach the real exciting part of Android games.

c) Supporting maximum devices & configurations

Many Android development services providers prefer to design games considering just one aspect: screen resolutions. However, this is not a good practice since Android comes with various configurations. Android developer should also filter target devices based on its configuration status.

d) Background activities

The subliminal part of game software continues to run in the background while the gamer is absorbed in the play. Such tasks known as asynchronous tasks are responsible for either fetching relevant information or processing large files. Asynchronous tasks also come into the picture when game is connected to internet, ensuring dynamic feedback without affecting the working of main thread.

Developers should utilize and harness  background service features in the Android games to ensure uninterrupted game sessions for users and maintain fruitful communication with users. This way, game makers receive information regarding user experience for further improvements and users get notified about latest updates.

e) Battery power consumption optimization

Since Android device hardware is running on limited power capacity and big part of battery is consumed by network connections, power saving is an essential requirement for gaming. Android games are admired for its power efficiency. By focusing on proper visuals and technical aspects of graphics, game developers can save a lot on power consumption. The good practice for optimizing battery power is to build game assets that do not trigger excessive processing in platform environment.

f) Ensuring uninterrupted gaming experience

Interruptions occurring during the ongoing game could tarnish the gaming experience. Handling those external or internal interruptions is a tricky mission for Android developers. In any case, the gamers must be able to remain engaged with the game without a friction or pause. In Android games, the game often restarts after a pause or the game activity is killed post the prolonged idle state. Such instances hurt the progress of users.

The best approach is to save progress frequently to prevent the data loss. Hence, it is developer’s job to identify the moment when data or progress is saved without diluting gaming experience. The best way to handle it is to control pause/resume of running threads to ensure the game loop remains consistent after interruption.

g) Providing better visual quality

Apart from configuring games for different device screen sizes, Android game development should also essentially focus on supporting multiple resolutions for enhanced gaming experience. The available standard Android devices follow are:

  • QVGA
  • WQVGA
  • HVGA
  • WVGA
  • SVGA
  • VGA

Graphics of Android game apps can be shaped using this standard in order to achieve highest possible visual quality on assorted Android devices.

h) Social networking and multiplayer trends

The modern game development practices should incorporate social components with custom profiles for gamers. Some real-time multiplayer games online also support the concept of more than one user having the same game stats and interactions. The trend is more pronounced in board games such as Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Chess, Monopoly and many more. Google Nearby of Google Play services offers multiplayer support and has launched a feature to enable close proximity among players on a single platform.

Introduction to Different Android Platforms

With HTC Dream, Android was first commercially launched in 2008. Being a Linux-based operating system, Android was used by immense number of Android developers ever since and became the most popular among other mobile operating systems. The major success of Android was attributed to its ability to offer smart new-generation technology that was unusual, user-friendly, light in weight and comparatively affordable.

Android device platforms have achieved greatest momentum which is clear from the record-breaking 76% of the digital market share in the first quarter of 2016. Since Android OS has sprawled from mobile to other hardware platforms (Tablets, Watches, Televisions, and consoles), games are not just restricted to PCs and consoles. Therefore, game developers need to understand different platforms and hardware in order to develop games

Here we are going to explore each platform insightfully, focusing on the Android game development aspect.

1) Android Mobiles

Introducing most competitive versions and updates over years, Android has brought glorious revolutions in its operating system and attained an unstoppable drive. Android has excelled in both software and hardware, leading the digital market with a significant margin.

More leverage, more polish

Having potential for constant, user-oriented innovations, Android devices are capable of giving rugged competition to its closest rival iPhone. This is why Android offers tremendous leverage to Android developers and game development companies.

Ever since Android 2.3 was released, Android reached the finest juncture. Many devices and cross-platform gaming engines support Android 2.3. From minimum initial specification of 32MB RAM, 32MB of disk space and 200 MHz processor, current Android devices specifications have drastically progressed to 1 GB RAM, 4 GB of disk space with 1 GHz processor.

Game portability

Ideally, it is important that the game built by Android developers should run consistently across multiple Android devices and configurations. However, a single game build can’t perform consistently across all devices. The game designed for Micromax Bolt A24 is likely to underperform on Samsung Galaxy S6 with poor quality. Hence, it is important to ensure game portability for all Android devices involved.

General Points to consider

Developers need to nurture decent knowledge of Android for game design and development. The following points will enhance your general awareness:

  • Android is an expansive, ever-growing market
  • Thousands of game apps are launched everyday on online stores
  • The design and development is getting intense and trickier.
  • Device configuration and price help determine the target audience
  • Targeting maximum devices is a great practice to deliver best gaming experience

Technical features & points to remember

Getting technical about Android game development system is quite important for modern developers. Here are certain features & points:

  • The variety of mobile display & resolutions
  • A wide range of Pixel density
  • A wide range of RAM capacity
  • Multi-touch Interface and full-screen experience
  • Sensor support for GPS location, compass, ambient light, accelerometer, etc
  • Different Types of processors, speeds and performance
  • Network connectivity strength
  • Instances of interruption
  • Battery life

Essential pros behind Android’s success

Due to its unrivalled profitability, Android devices sweep through the mobile gaming market, creating better opportunities compared to other mobile OS. Android platform is the primary choice for today’s developers for building Android games because of:

  • Incredibly vast user base
  • Constantly improving development ecosystem
  • Best advertising platform for advertisers
  • Liberal game publishing terms and conditions
  • Extremely intuitive and user-friendly UI
  • Ease of transactions on popular ecommerce stores
  • Ease of cross-promotion of games and apps

2) Android Tablets

Started as a device for experiencing an enhanced view of objects, Tablets have come a long way ever since its inception and became a daily lifestyle device for better digital gaming and entertainment experience. Through tablets, Android helped redefine an all-new category of user-oriented devices in the digital hardware market, evolving year after year. Here is what Android developers need to know about Android tablets.

Fact files of Android tablets

  • What differentiates Android tablets from Android mobile devices is its physical screen size and resolution.
  • Usually, Android tablets are bigger, slightly heavier and less compact than smartphones.
  • Android tablet has a lower PPI than a mobile and requires minimum specifications of 200 MHz processor, 32 MB RAM, and 32 MB disk space to work.
  • Due to good battery capacity, tablet-specific games need to be energy-efficient.
  • Latest android version 4 requires advanced ARM v7 though initial-stage tablets had low-grade hardware system with humble configurations.
  • Modern tablets are getting better and emulate smartphones as smartphone size is growing bigger and more enhanced.
  • Nowadays, tablets support most smartphone features, opening new doors for Android development services However, the use of tablet as a phone is gradually diminishing.

Tablet Evolution

Tablets have interestingly grown from the perception of tablet computer to smartphone equivalent with inclusion of smart features like camera, touchscreen display, speaker, microphone, GPS and native apps, reader-friendly interface and dedicated physical buttons.

Surprisingly enough, 2013 saw Android tablet sales growing to 62% which accounted for over 121 million devices globally. Amazon Kindle Fire devices sale touched 7 million as well. Owing to so much demand for Android tablets and Android game development, the configurations have also improved.

3) Android Televisions and STBs

Inspired by the emerging market of smart TVs, Android saw Television platforms as a next big thing especially after hitting great success with mobiles and tablets. Google made Television set an interactive experience and to make it more enhanced it launched additional accessories to go with Android televisions.

Breakthrough Names in Android televisions

  • Nexus Player was the first Android television launched for consumers on November 3, 2014.
  • Forge TV was announced by Razor in January 2015 and had impressive hardware specs.
  • Shield Android TV was announced by NVIDIA in March, 2015 and has everything that can overshadow 8th gen consoles. Its hardware is equipped with an NVIDIA-branded game controller.
  • Arcadyan Bouygtel TV is from a French Telecom company and was announced in June 2015. It comes with an integrated STB code-named as “Miami” based on Android TV.

4) Android Consoles

Console set is made of an adapter and a device dedicated to control the adapter which is connected to a TV set. Android game consoles thrive on two major benefits:

  • Cost-effective, economical operating system
  • Easy and simple integration with any mobile hardware platform

Points of consideration

Being exclusively dedicated to enhancing user’s gaming experience, Android consoles fulfil the objective quite satisfactorily. Above examples of different console specifications are enough to signify the improvements and advancements introduced over the years in Android game hardware.

Android developers should:

  • Target specific device for consoles
  • Portable games should be compatible with console quality
  • Focus on excellent game performance
  • Build games that engage wide user base

Being an Android developer, it is good to explore the entire range of modern-age gaming platforms instead of just opting for conventional ones like Tablets and mobiles. In this time of rapid changes, developers should update their technical expertise.

Game consoles at present

Recently, the gaming market is flooded with glorious game makers like Amazon, Google and other top names giving tough competition to supposedly dominant platforms for console games such as PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Wii U.

Leaders like Amazon and Google are all emerging successful in the Android game development arena, creating competitive console hardware to give gamers of all kinds an affordable way to play their favourite games with utmost comfort.

The future road for Android gaming consoles

Because of ongoing evolution in Android-based gaming console platforms, the future market for Android games are all set to perform well. Users are increasing and so is the number of games on Android platform.

It is evident that in near future, Android is likely to be the confident choice for the vast base of console players. Android will grow bigger in console game market, opening a new era of opportunities for Android developers who are ready to shift to Android consoles now.

5)Android Smart Watches

The wave of smart technology entered wristwatches as well, digitalizing the analog world of watches to make it smarter, interactive and purely computerized. The flexibility of open source Android platform offers gigantic opportunities and options for building sophisticated, user-friendly smartwatches.

Smartwatches for game development

The trend of playing games on Android watches started from its early days, which encouraged enhanced capabilities in Android game development domain. These tiny devices are no less advanced than computers with integrated features like internet connectivity, sensors, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, card slots, real-time notifications and GPS and much more.

Smartwatch replicates computer in many ways such as:

  • Collecting information from internal/external sensors
  • Retrieval of data from other devices or instruments
  • Displaying real-time push notifications or messages
  • Support for location-based alerts, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
  • Interactive control of data with other digital instruments

The latest in the Smartwatches

As the latest smartwatches have advanced, it offers more class features mentioned below:

  • Finding directions by voice from phone
  • Selection of a transport mode for journey
  • Tactile interaction to indicate turns
  • The use of smartwatch for controlling the smartphone
  • Better control and management of personal requests

Thus, users can travel without looking at their watch screen or phone. They can even have Android smartwatch control their phone.

Android wearable makers constantly upgrade their devices to integrate latest standards and technology trends in their hardware. Hence, while crafting Android games for smart watches, developers should consider specific configurations of the device.

We have realized that Android game development landscape has gone through great changes and boost when it comes to hardware and software upgrades. This turns the equation for the Android gaming market as well as application development methods.

Android Game Makers

The domain of Android game development is blooming with many development tools. You will require the right set of tools to make a successful Android game. There are plenty of popular game makers and engines, each with different capability to the other. From our industry-wide experience, we have composed a list of hand-picked tools to help you build your dream Android game.

Based on their calibre and complexity level, we have divided the list in 3 major categories where Expert level Android game makers are being the most illustrious engines equipped with maximum amount of power, Mid-Level makers are aimed for Android developers with intermediate experience whereas Entry level ones are for those who are beginners embarking on building their first ever mobile game.

To help your game development journey shine, here is the list of tools:

Entry Level Android Game Makers:

1. GiderosMobile

GiderosMobile is a highly customizable and productive game development engine that has recently been made open-source for Android developers. Great for entry-level game developers, it is based on C/C++ and OpenGL and has excellent power to make give your app the run speed of native apps.

It has enormous market of third-party plug-ins and the IDE offers everything you need to build outstanding game elements. Its forums exhibit quite a dynamic, thriving and cooperative community. GiderosMobile offers easy learning curve, speed in testing apps and reliable OOP support for leading platforms like iOS, Android and Windows.

The tool has created impressive games such as Miner Z and Galactic Blaster.

2. Fusion 2.5

Fusion 2.5 is an amazing scripting tool that would be the appropriate choice for building simple 2D games. It is especially helpful if you wish to create Android games with side scrolling shooters and point-and-click themes. It offers basic and developer version with a modular price plan for building Android or iOS games. Developer version is meant to give you more power with monetization features and in-app s.

It is available on Steam and provides luxury of visual programming, fast-and-easy learning curve. It comes with a free version. Additionally, you can pay only for what you want in the game though extra modules cost you more money.

Several successful Fusion 2.5 games include Dead of Day, Lost Jelly, and Megacity.

3. Engine001

Released in 2006, Engine001 was relaunched on Steam in 2015 and is packed with both graphical and text scripting tools. Graphical scripting works well for Android developers with limited or no coding experience whereas text scripting is best for those with some level of experience in coding. Typically supporting retro-type Android games, Engine001 can be used for Android, iOS and Windows and building 3D games as well.

It also offers free version. The best pros are its relatively affordable cost compared to other game makers on the list and its great environment for programming.

Its prominent real-time examples are The Soul Master 1 and Solitary.

4. GameSalad

Considered as quite an intuitive platform, it enriches Android game development experience with drag-and-drop interface. With GameSalad, developers are sure to learn different game creation concepts. Though it does not support full 3D feature and has limited graphics, it nonetheless supports major known platforms without a need for additional coding.

It is simple to use and has good prototyping. Its in-app testing tool facilitates incredible game testing, which is a boon to any Android development company since you can see the performance of your app across each platform. GameSalad also relishes reputation of developing games that make it to top 100 games in the App Store.

It has a free version, too. The top example of GameSalad is Volty.

5. Stencyl

Stencyl is a quite a suitable choice for beginners in game development since it is a cross-platform game engine that supports behaviour-based programming. It is packed with impressive visual tools including textures and sprite creators. To explore its various features (like drag-and-drop interface) and other tools, Stencyl offers Android developers a free web publishing version.

It has good pricing plans for publishing on Android. Stencyl has a “high level Lego block” style of development though it allows you to change the code for visuals. The downside is, it only supports tile-based 2D games and has little collaboration support and no offline documentation.

Some of the games built using Stencyl are Ghost Song and Mibibli’s Quest.

Mid-Level Android Game Makers

1. GameMaker Studio

Released in 1999, GameMaker Studio is one fantastic Android game development tool that has been featured in the Humble Bundle many a time. It uses the GML language and the library of pre-set events to create games and develop in-game actions. It affords an intuitive game development experience to users especially to those who have some knowledge in the domain.

Simple to use, GameMaker Studio also has a wide support community and has a free trial version. It supports Android 2.3 and onwards, and it clear from the level of complexity that it might not be a good choice for a complete novice.

The tool has created remarkable hits like Tiamat X, Hotline Miami, Default Dan, Spelunky, and Savant – Ascent.

2. GameBuilder Studio

GameBuilder Studio has multi-layered editor along with drag-and-drop interface. It has extensive assets store on its website and experienced developers can build games by adding custom code. The platform includes great support especially for Ouya Android console and has Spine Pro integrated to enable users to create modern 2D animated characters through procedural bone manipulation.

It has free version available for Android developers. However, its pricing plans are pretty relaxing with one-time payment though its multiplayer support has quite a high price.

3. Appypie

Appypie is a relatively new in the domain of game creation and aims to provide tools for non-coders to build Android game apps. Greatly flexible in its price plans, Appypie offers variety of options for aspiring and emerging developers. Like several game creators in the list, this one also provides drag-and-drop UI along with ready-made templates.

It contains out-of-the-box templates and is quite easy to use. It has its own marketplace so that developers can publish directly to it. However, job of publishing or submitting to App Store or Google Play is manual. Its free version has 24 hr trial. Its fresh arrival also means lesser user reviews.

4. Moai

It is quite a straightforward game maker that comes free and open-source. It has ability to create games for almost every platform available in the digital market. It is based on Lua and uses C++ for programming. It effectively works with Linux and Mac and Windows. Android developers are sure to find it easy to write games in clean code using Moai platform.

The main flexibility of Moai lies in instructing developers about how to do things. However, as a beginner, you may struggle getting on with game design without necessary coding. Also, documentation is not enough in Moai.

Best examples of Moai-made games are Freedom Falls, Invisible Inc., Lost in Paradise.

5. Corona

Created by Corona Labs, Corona is a famous Android game development tool. Extremely polished, it offers free version along with three price plans. The pro is that it comes with extensive API documentation. It supports cross-platform development for iOS, Android and Kindle. The games built using Corona impress with great visual appeal and simple monetization options.

Since it lacks visual scripting tool, Corona is suited for those with some level of exposure in game programming. Developers can easily get started with Lua on which the tool is based. Corona has strong community support and better emulators for testing with “right once, run anywhere” facility. However, it has limited plug-ins and certain add-ons are paid.

Corona game examples are Streetfood Tycoon, Gravity Maze.

Expert Level Android Game Makers

1. Unity 3D

Unity 3D is on the top of the business and offers full support for 3D game development. It is by far the most exquisite, sophisticated tool admired for the crème-de-la-crème of features. Along with its incredible development suite, it provides a great range of tools for monetization tools. Unity 3D is free as long as your game revenue does not cross $100,000 per year.

The platform is graced with massive community and support network and has been used to create the most singular titles in Android game apps. However, the expenses increase with extra features, add-ons and access to the source code.

Some of Unity 3D big hits are Monument Valley, N.O.V.A, ChronoBlade.

2. Unreal Engine 4

After Unity 3D, Unreal Engine 4 is an eminent name in the world of Android game development and a superhit tool as well. It has a highly sophisticated set of tools and offers a full 3D support. It gives you complete access to its C++ source code. It has a free version, and its pricing plan follows a royalty-based system in which the services remain free until certain limit of game revenues. Then it demands 5% of royalties.

However, you also have a choice of one-time payment. It equips users with visual scripting, reliable UI and has extremely active community along with ample resources, including tutorials videos and documentation. The downside is that it comes with few extensions and offers poor collaboration and workflows creation.

Unreal Engine 4 game examples are Shadow: Deadzone, Epic Citadel, and Wild Blood.

3. Marmalade

Marmalade has been acquired by GMO but its SDK is still available. It is considered to be a high-end cross-platform development solution and it is agile in developing Android games. Due to its low-level language, one can experience rapid pace while running the app. Moreover, its significant pro is the facility of “write once, run anywhere.” The engine has got great support for physics and building 3D games.

It requires no Mac for iOS code compilation and delivers brilliant performance for an Android development services provider. However, Marmalade is not for beginners since it requires extension making and involves good amount of coding in place of visual scripting.

Some of Marmalade games are Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled Blitz.

The Android Game Development Process

The quality of Android games is directly related to the game development practices, tools and innovative approach taken to create it. The development process has to be clean, modern and full of creative components. The entire cavalcade of designers, project managers, developers, thought leaders and testers must form a unique, synchronized structure that complies with best industry practices to ultimately give a shape to a stunning Android game app.

Usually, based on latest standards and general Android game development practices, the development process should cover the following segments with utmost precision:

1) Project Estimation

Project estimation is the first and foremost part from where the game development process actually commences. Based on the game specification sketch communicated and conceived by the client, the estimation is prepared by the Android development company. The estimate includes major and most influential components of games along with the general cost of their development. After estimate is approved by the client, the next phase to consider is Requirement Analysis.

2) Analysis

There are four significant slices of game analysis we need to penetrate before going further down the process line.

Requirements:

The head of project management analyzes different aspects of Android game and assesses its various features to be included. The person in charge studies precisely the client’s requirements and expectations and scours through the available resources needed to build specific components of Android games. Based on software requirements, the designer composes a script or a storyboard.

Resources:

Resource analysis determines the availability of staff, their skill level, potential, technical tools and software, testing hardware and other material required to fulfil the entire process. After the complete analysis of resources, they can be more accurate about estimating project size, development cost estimate and timeframe involved.

Scope:

Android game apps must have predefined scope with certain limits. The scope of game design is a technical subject that focuses on minimum required configuration, project-specific configuration, recommended features and target device configuration to build game with flawless performance.

Risks:

Risks analysis is quite mandatory for it helps developers find the solution as the time of problems and technical incidents. For instance, during the Android game development process, there might be the need to address the changes in technical requirements, game design or external outsourcing partners. It all depends on the expected game quality. While calculating the risks, the main project flow should not be affected.

3) Game Design Aspects

The game design phase entails the game essentials such as UI flow and game play mechanic development. This is where concept art also takes the shape. The Android development company put together the design documents like:

  • Architectural design structure
  • Database design
  • Class design
  • UI flow
  • Gameplay mechanics

Once prepared by the team, the game design documents along with UI flow and gameplay are eventually forwarded to the client for review and approval. The reviews and feedbacks from the client on game design are further considered by the project leader and team members during the successive meetings.

Concept Art design

At this stage, creative team of artists and designers gear up for creating different characters and core assets of the game and prepare concept art of the project in its raw, unpolished form. Android games designers prepare and send the concept art document along with 2D images of characters closely matching client’s requirements. The client then suggests desired changes in the concept art model, which, after the approval, leads to the Art development phase.

Art Development

Here different game elements and assets are mulled over and developed, which necessarily includes graphics, 2D and 3D models followed by the concept art. The art development has many segments such as modelling, texturing, unwrapping, animation, visual effects. For this, designers leverage software resources such as Blender, Maya, Adobe Photoshop, ZBrush or others to finish developing the game art.

4) The Core Game Development

The crucial phase of Android game development now takes off. Developers garner and use most suitable game engines and tools to bring the concept to reality. The game builds are often share with customers during the process to make sure feedback are implemented to adjust the look and feel of the game to user satisfaction. Developers work on code reviews, testing and bug fixing to refine the game. It is better to choose game engine that enables multiplatform support across iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Web, Consoles and TV.

5) Polishing Android games

The final polish speaks a lot about the Android games and their personality. Since polished game has better visibility, performance, and user experience, it is better to improve certain aspects of the game to ensure the best user experience. Android developers should dedicate time to polish the game elements before it is ready for release since it demands substantial amount of time and is important to retain maximum happy users. Under the directions of product manager, the whole team of designers, artists and developers come together to achieve target polish.

The three major areas for game polishing are:

Development polishing:

It goes deep into the technical and engineering aspects of the game development to enhance the playability of the game. The main parameters addressed in development polishing are memory optimization, code refinement, performance optimization and portability.

Art polishing:

The target area of art polishing is to ensure much better visual quality to users by polishing the game art. Game art can write the fate of the Android games especially for Android where varieties in device visual quality are ample. Art polishing mainly touches on UI, animation and graphics.

Design polishing:

Despite the fact that the design comes during the production phase, it is critical to polish the design post development to achieve improved quality in the final game app. It emphasizes user-specific areas such as the game flow, meta game improvement, UX design, game difficulty adjustment and game economy.

6) Quality Assurance & Testing

Android basically is the most diversified platform with numerous devices having varied screen sizes. This is why the QA testing team needs to test Android games precisely to optimize its performance across multiple devices. They must make sure all the game functionalities work smoothly on different environments. Testing is done using detailed testing plans and different combinations of use cases.

The game should be checked for its performance, gameplay consistency, device compatibility and user experience. Beta testing phase is also conducive to adjusting game difficulties and controls to the preferences of the target audience. For this the game is released to a preferred external user group.

7) Launch

This is the conclusive phase of Android game development. After implementing the client’s feedback for enhancing the game features and functionality, it is appreciable to think of user acceptance testing before it is finally released to the respective app stores marketplace. After the evaluation and approval from the client, it is time to publish the app in the Google Play store.

8) Maintenance and Support

Ideal game development process should extend beyond the launch of the game since the Android game needs to be updated from time to time. Developers must prepare for additional support and maintenance long after the game is launched to the market so that it can enhance the chance for client’s games to perform the best in the competitive domain.

To create a high-quality Android game, you will need to partner with a reliable and versatile Android development company who is committed to deliver all the latest technologies, industry-grade experience, updated knowledge and creativity and support needed to build your dream Android game.

Cost of Developing an Android Game App

If you are thinking of developing an Android game, you must know that the entire process from concept and planning to execution and to making your game live on Google Play is both overwhelming and painstaking. It requires a lot of specialized expertise to build perfect Android game apps with incredible user experience. However, a lot of game-constructing depends on the budget, which is a crucial factor in justifying the number of challenges and resources invested in the game.

Mainly, when it comes to Android game development, the developers calculate the cost with enormous focus on:

  • Desired features and UI flow
  • Project level and class
  • Gameplay mechanics
  • Technological resources
  • Expectations about User Experience
  • Allotted Timeline
  • Post-development involvement

In order to achieve the perfect balance between desired results and expected budget, the team of Android developers and the client must synchronize together on various game aspects including game idea, economy and availability of resources and time constraints.

A Glance at Major Cost Drivers

  • Concept:

The major part of the budget possibilities receives clarity when the game is in its conceptual stage. If you want to clone an existing Android game app or already have a tested model on paper, a good chunk of your investment will be saved and can be used for more significant activities later.

  • Story Development:

If you lack a powerful game story, characters, graphic vision, background music and UX perspective, the integration of all such essentials into Android games will cost you a bit more.

  • Level & Scale:

If the game you want to build has simple design and straight arcade structure, you will get more relaxed around cost constraints. Simple the design, more easy the UI would be, which further shrinks down the investment considerably. On the contrary, as the levels and contents of the game grow complex, your budget should be enough to accommodate changing requirements.

  • Outsourcing model:

Mid-level and high-level Android game apps with outstanding features and graphics require sharp skills and experience often found in outsourcing partners. In many cases, recruiting dedicated designers and developers for outsourcing the game creation helps optimize the Android game development.

1) Mini Game ($5k to $25k)

A simple mini game with basic features and theme is going to cost you around $5000 to $25000. Here the idea of small game consists of 2D appearance, simple visual style and graphics, plain characters and straightforward gameplay with single level like Flappy Bird.

If it is a clone or re-skin of existing Android games like Pac-Man, you can have it built in less than the mentioned price bracket. However, note that grand-scale expectations rarely go hand in hand with limited budget and may see you ending up with mediocre product.

2) Basic standard Game ($25k to $70k)

Basic games bracket includes a range of medium-budget adventure or Indie type games. If you are looking for paid games with great value for users, you will realize that you should be willing to invest justifiable amount of money for your game development project. When you approach an Android development company for estimate, the usual price estimate for basic game quote you will hear sits between $25k and $70k.

3) Medium Game ($70k to $100k)

The games with more depth of content and detailed mechanics fall in the category of medium scale games. Many independent games that have more layers of levels, exciting storyline and interesting characters join this price bucket. Due to its mature design and replayable material, such games successfully capture the wider audience. Temple Run, Angry Birds (early version) and Cut the Rope belong to this bracket.

4) Large complicated Game ($100k – $250k)

Android games of this calibre are hit titles of grand scale and demand great attention and investment. Often they are funded by publisher or investment partners especially when a small team of Android developers take on the ambitious game development project. In this category, it is most likely that the game has both free-to-play and premium versions requiring small transactions to support monetization within the app. Here the content complexity and gameplay go even larger and deeper.

5) Very High-Quality Game (Over $250k+)

This is where things go biggest and expectations touch the highest bar. Very large, high-end games will involve the streamlined job from veteran developers, large studios and intrepid publishers. The scope of this kind of Android game apps is quite enormous with rich graphics, powerful features and engaging gameplay. The cost of development may touch even 7 figures in some cases. Famous Titles like Clash of Clans and other paid hits like Infinity Blade 3 fits into this bracket.

Summary

Here you learned about various facets of Android game development cycle that can help developers make right decisions to achieve success. There is no doubt that Android dominates the global smartphone market with increasing number of users across all demographics contributing to the success of Android-based games. Such splendid influence of Android OS opens immense opportunities for Android developers to craft brilliant, high-quality games.

Making a good game with excellent graphics and design requires a lot of efforts and agility from today’s developers and designers. You surely need a perfect combination of a right publisher, experienced Android development company and target audience down the road.

At Redbytes, we understand the precise requirements and specifications of the client and have worked on wide range of games including arcade, puzzle, action, adventures, strategy, education, social, RPG, MMO and board games and more. If you have a game plan to discuss, you may contact us to build a solid game development strategy.

Exclusive Bonus: Download PDF