Four Android Developers to Check Out From Mobile World Congress

We stopped by Android's impressive booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week to check out up-and-coming developers on Google's up-and-coming platform. 2011 is set to be a watershed year for the Android ecosystem. Gartner estimates that slightly over 70 million Android devices have been shipped so far while outgoing Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said this week that there are more than 350,000 device activations a day. He added that the number of applications on the platform has tripled to 150,000 in nine months. Here are a few on the gaming side we thought were of interest: HyperDevBox -- This Tokyo gaming studio has one of the most expensive applications in the Marketplace -- Spectral Souls -- which sells for 1200 Japanese yen, or about $14.34. It's a tactical RPG with a retro feel. They've done about 5,000 downloads in the month since the game launched, which suggests roughly $50,000 in revenue so far after the platform's cut. SilverTree Media -- This longtime browser-based game developer actually only has offerings for the forthcoming wave of Android tablets, with plum deals to come pre-installed on a few devices. It's bringing a beautifully-designed physics game called Cordy to Android later this year. In the app, you control a robot whose head is a TV. The controls look slick with buttons on both the left- and right-hand rails of the screen that you can hold and press to get Corby to run and jump about through a maze. Madfinger Games -- This teeny Czech gaming studio has made a huge name for itself with its visually stunning Samurai line of games. The game's aesthetic, which is inspired by Japanese manga, has helped it get 1 million downloads for free app Samurai Dojo and about 100,000 downloads for Samurai II: Vengeance on iOS. The original title was developed in about five months with four people. Trendy Entertainment -- The Gainesville, Florida based developer is another top RPG maker with Dungeon Defenders. The company is seeing about a three-to-one download ratio between iOS and Android after launching the game on Google's platform in late December. While Android is growing, unfortunately Trendy is seeing a huge piracy problem. The company estimates that about 60 percent of its Android usage is from pirated copies. It also has to charge more for Android copies since it has to pay for server costs because the game's file size is larger than Android Marketplace's limits.

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Four Android Developers to Check Out From Mobile World Congress

Kim-Mai Cutler

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Kim-Mai Cutler