Gameloft
always strives to be among the first developers to publish games on the latest
portable hardware in order to provide gamers with heart-pounding experiences on
the go. That’s why Gameloft knew ChromeOS was the right home for
Asphalt 8:
Airborne
, the latest entry in its mobile racing series.
Gameloft was familiar with developing games for different devices, but
translating the Asphalt experience to the Chromebook’s unique
touchscreen/keyboard hybrid controls, which could be swapped at any time, seemed
challenging. However, the process turned out to be as painless as it was
rewarding.
What they did
Taking advantage of the Chromebook’s seamless controls and overall power,
Gameloft identified several opportunities to improve the experience for
Chromebook gamers. Gameloft was able to run Android application packages at even
higher performance levels than native apps, allowing it to maintain the series’
breathtaking graphics and breakneck speeds on ChromeOS. Gameloft also added in
keyboard controls that were activated when the game detected users were playing
on a Chromebook.
Since the Chromebook treats its physical keyboard like an external keyboard on
an Android phone,
Asphalt 8: Airborne
was able to support Chromebook
keyboard controls using APIs from the Android SDK Platform. That meant Gameloft
only had to dedicate a few days of development time to completely integrate the
new control schemes to the game, resulting in a better end-user experience with
keyboard controls. Overall, the stability of the ChromeOS made for a smooth
implementation process, with no major development problems along the way.
Gameloft also teamed with Google to offer a free pack of in-app items with the
purchase of any Chromebook. Upon initial device setup, users redeemed codes for
exclusive cars, turbo boosts, and credits that appeared the next time they opened
the app.
Results
Upon completing the work necessary to deliver a quality experience to their
Chromebook users,
Asphalt 8: Airborne
saw a 6× increase in daily
app users and a nearly 9× boost in revenue for the ChromeOS app.
The combination of strong results and short turnaround time inspired Gameloft to
bring the next entry in the series,
Asphalt 9: Legends
, to Chromebook as
well. It has since become standard practice for Gameloft to support ChromeOS
across all of its projects.
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