Building Games with Google Cast is Easy and Powerful

November 14, 2014


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By Nathan Camarillo, Chromecast Product Manager for Games

This week, we announced several Google Cast games that were built with the Google Cast SDK. With a Google Cast endpoint like a Chromecast or Android TV, developers can now use Google Cast to bring a whole new style of multi-screen social gaming experiences to the living room.
What makes a Google Cast game unique? It enables multi-screen gameplay between mobile devices and a television, and it transforms users’ mobile devices into amazing game controllers. Anyone with a compatible Android or iOS phone or tablet can join the game. There’s no hassle or expense with extra controllers or peripherals; your very own iPhone or Android phone simply works and everyone can join in.

The innovative part of creating a Google Cast game is all the ways you can use mobile devices to create a variety of controls with the television as a shared screen. The Accelerometer can be used for motion controls ranging from subtle, to dramatic, to rhythmic. No-Look Controls and virtual controllers can allow you to focus on the television as you compete against friends. Direct target manipulation through touch controls can create intense gameplay moments that temporarily focus on the mobile device and then return the focus to the television where all players can share and compare the results. You can even use the microphone or other input methods to create games for everyone in the home. Whether cooperative or competitive, Google Cast enables you to create fun moments for everyone using the devices they already have and know how to use.

Now it’s your turn! Go make something fun with the Google Cast Design Principles. The experiences you create using Google Cast will entertain gamers and inspire a whole community of developers embracing a new revolution in multi-screen gaming.