Over the past 10 years, the use of Smartphones has increased exponentially. As the years are passing, the technology behind manufacturing these smartphones is getting innovative. Smartphones are becoming more capable of performing a variety of tasks, from something as simple as calculating numbers to instant messaging or apps to call a taxi or delivering food. Did you know that according to a research conducted by the RescueTime, an average person spends almost 3 hours a day on their smartphones? Also, 90 percent of that time is spent using the Mobile Apps.
Due to the increasing number of smartphone users, the field of Mobile App and Game Development took over the software development market by storm. Every day, developers put hundreds of Mobile Apps online. Right now, there are tens and hundreds of online App Stores with millions of Apps available online for everyone to download and perform all kinds of tasks on their smartphones with ease.
Scope of Game and App Development/Why Game and App Development Is Important:
More people are accessing internet through their phones. If you are interested in the field of Mobile App Development, now is the best time to act on it. In the past few years, the Mobile App Development has become a booming industry, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. With the impact of Mobile App Development on different industries, it soon became clear that it is an essential part of business success. The concept of Mobile App Development has gained momentum due to its huge demand in domestic and international markets. Mobile Games also cover a big part of the Online App Stores throughout major platforms like Android, Windows and iOS. The scope of Game Design and Game Development is now bigger than ever. The field is everlasting and full of opportunities with many platforms and latest technologies to work with. As a freelancer or company employee, Game Development teaches business sense and with hard work and dedication, can turn your simple job into a rewarding career. As an independent developer, it gives you the opportunity to work within the space of your own creativity and goals.
Unity 3D, A Game Development Engine: There are multiple development engines available in the market for developing Mobile Apps and Games. Among these, Unity 3D stands out the most as it is most widely used Game engine among many developers and software companies. So, what is Unity 3D? Developed by Unity Technologies, it is a powerful cross-platform game engine with a user-friendly development environment. Being a cross-platform engine, it can be used to develop applications and games
for mobile, desktop, web and consoles. The name ‘Unity’ itself reflects the purpose of the game engine as it unites all the aspects of game development in one place. It’s easy enough to be used by a newbie, and advanced enough for the expert. It gives the users the ability to create game applications in both 2D and 3D. It is also a great tool for developing virtual and augmented reality games. The engine is used by industries outside the video games as well, like filming, architecture, engineering and construction. Unity 3D has been used to develop almost half of the mobile games present on the market.
Why Unity 3D?
Despite having a large variety of game engines available on the market, what makes Unity 3D so popular? Well, it turns out that Unity 3D offer you a long list of benefits for choosing it as your application development platform. Let’s take a look at some of the major ones:
- It is FREE: Unity 3D is free to download for any individual, regardless of their income. It is totally fine if you make money with it as well. It is also free to use for companies as long as their annual turnover is less than $100,000. Companies that have higher turnover will need to purchase Unity Pro.
- Unity Asset Store: One of the advantages of using Unity 3D as your game engine is its Unity Asset Store. It has many plug-ins and assets available for game development. There are both free and paid tools available that you can find in the Unity Asset Store via searching. Once you find the right tool for your project, you can instantly download and implement it.
- Cross-Platform Development: As mentioned, Unity 3D doesn’t limit you to using a single platform for developing your game application. This is probably one of the biggest advantages of using Unity. As of now, the games you make can be rendered to be used over 27 platforms like mobile, console, desktop, VR, AR etc. That’s how diverse and powerful it is.
- Cost Efficiency: The cost for developing application in Unity Platform is much lesser as compared to its other competitors. For new developers, the free version has enough features to get their feet wet, build games and even publish them. There is however, a pro version available as well with more features and tools. But considering the set of features and tools at your disposal with the Pro version, the cost is actually very reasonable. You can also upgrade from Free to Pro version anytime without any changes to your applications.
- The Play Mode! The Unity Play Mode is the most exciting feature of Unity Engine. Just press ‘Play’ and you are inside your game where you can play and preview the game. It makes it easier for the developer to test the game and debug the issues.
Although these are the most prominent advantages of Unity 3D, there is a long list of advantages where these came from. Due to these advantages, we highly encourage you to use Unity 3Das your game development engine on both beginners and advanced level.
Microsoft Windows Store:
Once you are finished developing your Mobile Game Application, how will you put in on the internet for the end-users? What’s the process to publish to windows store and how long does it take? There is a variety of Online App Stores available where you can publish, promote and advertise your application. Microsoft Store (formerly known as ‘Windows Store’) is one of the growing Online App stores available for Windows Desktop and Mobile. The Microsoft Store is a cross-platform for applications as with Windows 10, Microsoft merged all other distribution platforms for mobile, XBOX, Desktop into a single online App Store and re branded it as Microsoft Store.
Why Choose Microsoft Store as your publishing platform:
The Microsoft Corporation is constantly working on making the Microsoft Store more secure, user-friendly and beneficial for both the developers and the users. As Microsoft re branded their Windows store into a Multi-purpose Microsoft store, it is aiming to rebuilding the online platform as the core of any windows software experience, so most of what the users need would be available on the store. Some evident benefits of using Microsoft Store are:
- Easy Publishing Process: The submission and publishing process of Microsoft Store publish involves easy and flexible number of steps that are designed to help you succeed online. Once your app has been published, you can easily publish an updated version by creating another submission.
- Flexible Monetization Options: App monetization is a means of making money from your application without charging users for it. They offer multiple monetization options like Ads, In-app purchases, flexible pricing and more.
- Promoting your Apps: Once your application is published online, Microsoft Store offers many options that help promote your application and grow your customer base like, Ad campaigns, promo codes, sale pricing, Microsoft badges etc.
- Multi-Platform usage: As mentioned, Microsoft is rebuilding to make the Microsoft Storea core for any Windows Software. This means, your game applications will be available for the customers on mobile, desktop and console platforms.
Microsoft and Unity 3D:
In June 2013, Unity announced that they will offer free platform support for Windows Store. This collaboration means that it is even easier for developers to develop and bring games and applications to all Microsoft Platforms (Desktop Windows, Windows Phone, XBOX).
The continued collaboration between Unity and Microsoft has made Microsoft’s gaming platforms accessible to nearly 2 million developers in the Unity Community.
With Unity 3Das your engine for Game Development and Microsoft Store as your publishing platform, now is the most opportune time to motivate yourself and start developing Mobile Application and Games. What are your thoughts about the future of Game Development? Leave us a comment to let us know!
- Easy Publishing Process: The submission and publishing process of Microsoft Store publish involves easy and flexible number of steps that are designed to help you succeed online. Once your app has been published, you can easily publish an updated version by creating another submission.
- Flexible Monetization Options: App monetization is a means of making money from your application without charging users for it. They offer multiple monetization options like Ads, In-app purchases, flexible pricing and more.
- Promoting your Apps: Once your application is published online, Microsoft Store offers many options that help promote your application and grow your customer base like, Ad campaigns, promo codes, sale pricing, Microsoft badges etc.