Google opens program for indie developers
The total number of active Android devices passed two billion and counting. This gives an opportunity for developers to reach nearly one-third of the world’s population. As the Android active user base grows, the number of installs is growing with it, with a staggering 82 billion apps installed in users’ devices over the last year. Developers build successful businesses on Google Play The number of developers with more than one million installs grew 35% in the last twelve months alone. Google is investing heavily to enable as many users as possible to pay for content on Play through: Credit/debit cards in 135 countries. Direct carrier billing with 140 carriers in 55 countries. Gift cards, which are retailed in 700,000 locations in 30 countries.And PayPal in 20 countries. There are more unique buyers
around the world Google continuously improves its platform capabilities to enable developers to reach more users around the world. The Play Store is now available on platforms like Daydream VR and Chromebooks, letting developers reach audience in new ways. The Building for Billions guidelines was also created to help developers tailor their apps for people in countries who are going online rapidly across a range of connections, data, plans, and devices. There are three tricks that can help developers get started Set up alpha/beta tests – Using the Play Console, you can beta test your app with specific groups or open your test to Play Store users.
Understand conversation analytics – Conver- sion Funnel Analytics in Developer Console makes it easy to understand how your game or app performs in the store and what areas need improvement.
Test your store listing – Store Listing Experiements provide real data on several aspects of your listing. It tests the most visible parts of your store listing to identify areas that make the most impact, allowing you to run an experiment for at least seven datas and enables you to make changes based on the results to confirm findings. Google Play Indies Programme Google Play is looking for the best and brightest indie game developers in Southeast Asia to be part of a mentoring programme. Through this programme, developers will be assigned to a Google Play mentor so they can receive direct feedback, learn in depth the tools that will help them launch successfully on Play, and get a chance to be featured in the Indie Corner collection on the Google Play store.
How to Join
Developers must submit their game at g.co/playseaindies to participate in the program with the following guidelines. - Games must have the indie spirit - Games must not be cloned or copied, and should exhibit great technical performance and stability.
- Games must utilize IAB, Player Analytics, and App Licensing, and must be launched on Google Play.