We’re committed to the success of the developer community, and we’ve been proactively working with third-party development tool vendors to ensure that their developers can take advantage of the monetization opportunities and global user base on the Windows platforms. The latest of these shops is Marmalade, which just released the final version of Marmalade 7, their cross-platform C++ SDK that includes support for Windows Phone 8, ending the beta phase.
Hundreds of Marmalade developers have already taken advantage of the opportunity to develop for the Windows Phone Store, and to participate in Marmalade’s special offer*, with rewards for porting your app to the Windows Phone Store. The Marmalade offer closes on December 31, 2013, so don’t miss your chance to participate.
While some developers are still polishing their apps, many have published already. Some of these developers have shared their porting experience with us, and we’re featuring a few of their cool games here.
MOONLIGHT RUNNER BY EYAD KHADER
Moonlight Runner is a two-dimensional run-and-jump game with a sleek design. Developer Eyad Khader’s main goal with this, his first title, was to learn about his target market and his customers’ experiences with the game. He succeeded in getting Moonlight Runner featured in many markets on the Windows Phone Store while working on an even bigger project. His customer feedback was positive and encouraging, and he said porting from Android to Windows Phone was simple: he didn’t have to include any special code to target Windows Phone 8 although he did take extra care in setting up his memory usage so the app would run on 512-MB devices.
THE ROYAL QUEST BY AHMED AL-SHEBLI
The Royal Quest is an action RPG (role playing game) set in a large world with a huge number of interactive elements, that let users fight against their toughest ‘enemies’. Developer Ahmed Al-Shebli spent four years developing apps for iOS, Android, and Symbian, and now he adds Windows Phone to his repertoire of platforms. He has found Windows Phone “easy and enjoyable to use compared to other platforms.” He is seeking feedback from Windows Phone users and is looking forward to the next phase of the game, which he hopes will boost downloads by a huge margin.
POPPIN CASINO BY INFINITE MONKEY GAMING, JEFFREY DUNN
Poppin Casino is a fast-paced matching game with an endless gameplay mode. Jeffrey Dunn started using Marmalade to develop games in 2012, which allowed him to easily publish Poppin Casino to all Marmalade-supported platforms. He believes that his apps’ presence on Windows Phone is a great opportunity, and Marmalade made porting the game easy. He was very pleased with the result. “Gameplay is smooth, and the graphics look fantastic”; he is particularly pleased with how the tile for the game looks when it’s pinned to Start screen.
HAPPY SPACE NINJA RUNNER BY KAMIL NOWICKI
In Happy Space Ninja Runner users become ninjas who jump and fly over obstacles, and collect coins to unlock new skills, such as higher jumping and anti-gravity abilities, coin magneto, start boost, a shield, and ninja speed. Developer Kamil Nowicki ported his game after first publishing it on Google Play, Samsung Apps, and BlackBerry World. The Marmalade SDK made the process quick and easy, so he decided to give Windows Phone a try and is glad he did: downloads have increased, and he’s excited to see more customers.
Tubes is a fun and challenging puzzle game with more than 100 levels. Users find a path through tubes that change color and size. The developer youngfreemind chose to use Marmalade because he was fluent in C and liked Marmalade’s cross-platform capabilities. For him, game building is still a hobby. He initially published his game in July on Android, and after a round of user feedback and revisions, he added more levels and in-app purchase options, such as the ability to buy hints. Shortly thereafter, he published to the BlackBerry, Apple, and Windows Phone stores. “Porting the code to support Windows Phone was easy since the only code that needed to be changed was that which would support in-app purchases.”
Many more Marmalade developers are seizing the chance to develop for Windows Phone 8, and to conclude, I can’t resist the opportunity to share a few more games made with Marmalade:
![clip_image002[9]](http://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/11/clip_5F00_image0029_5F00_thumb_5F00_2CB53761.png "clip_image002[9]") |
![clip_image004[9]](http://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/11/clip_5F00_image0049_5F00_thumb_5F00_1E794F22.png "clip_image004[9]") |
![clip_image006[9]](http://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/11/clip_5F00_image0069_5F00_thumb_5F00_305873A0.png "clip_image006[9]") |
![clip_image008[9]](http://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/11/clip_5F00_image0089_5F00_thumb_5F00_5009DE19.png "clip_image008[9]") |
Microsoft is pleased to welcome all Marmalade developers to Windows Phone, and we thank you for investing your time to explore these new opportunities to reach millions of users in the Windows ecosystem. So don’t miss your chance to participate in the Marmalade offer, again it closes on December 31, 2013.
JC Cimetiere – @jccim
* Terms and Conditions apply. Visit www.madewithmarmalade.com/wp8 for the details of the Marmalade offer.