I'm glad IGN's GameSpy cross-platform, multiplayer API is being put to good use, in fact it's being put to use in more than 600 upcoming games across more than 1,200 developers, including the highly anticipated, big-budget AAA shooter Hawken.
Drew Curby, Senior Director, Sales & Marketing, GameSpy Technology commented in the press release, saying...
“GameSpy Open is enabling online features that help connect indie titles like Skullgirls, Warm Gun, and Hawken, along with massively popular mobile games like Gun Bros stand out in a competitive gaming landscape dominated by multi-million dollar projects,” .... “Developers of all sizes are accessing our freely available technology to produce innovative online features.”
The middleware community is really picking it up to make more advanced forms of game development easier and easier for small and large development studios alike to get their projects off the ground. Just recently Speech Graphics announced a tool suite to help cut down on manual lip synching and mouth animations for 3D character voiceovers, and Mixamo is continually updating their set of animation tools offering game developers an easy route to animate high quality characters on the fly, and there's also the new xaitment plug-in for Unity which offers designers a low-cost set of AI tools to quickly and efficiently get AI routines implemented into a game. In other words, it's a good time to be a game developer.
Additional games making use of the GameSpy API includes Skullgirls, Warm Gun, Gun Bros., and more. Zach Lehman, Executive Producer at Emotional Robots commented about using the GameSpy tech in the iOS shooter Warm Gun, saying...
“Making a robust online experience is absolutely essential for the Emotional Robots team and for Warm Gun,”. “Warm Gun is a full game experience with Unreal Engine-powered visuals, great artwork and most importantly, an intense multiplayer experience with multiple character classes, maps and game types. GameSpy Technology helps us to put together a complete package , with robust data tracking, social network integration and multiplayer. With their commitment to delivering a combination of tools and services, it’s little wonder they received the Front Line Award for Networking.”
The toolset for the PS Vita will be available soon beginning this April, you can can learn more about the GameSpy API and how to use the tools to implement matchmaking, leaderboards and more by paying a visit to the Official Website.
