Build once, deploy for many different devices, in other words, cross-platform development. That’s one thing that most developers would want to strive for especially when there are huge but disparate markets such as iOS and Android devices. Berlin-based Infernum is one of the latest game studios to jump onto the cross-platform bandwagon with its upcoming online-shooter, Brick Force.

Built using Unity 3D, this comic-style online game will be playble directly in the browser thanks to the Unity 3D engine and is a co-production from the Korean developer EXE Games and Infernum. The sandbox mode, in which players use simple building blocks to construct complex environments, can be played on social networks and mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

Today’s in-game trailer shows a range of various game modes. Features such as the classics “Capture the Flag“, “Deathmatch“ or the “Defusion“ mode in which bombs are planted, defused, and defended bring explosive entertainment into the user-generated maps.

“Brick-Force will provide gamers with a varied and comprehensive game experience across multiple platforms such as PCs, tablets and smart-phones,” says Andreas Weidenhaupt, CEO/Founder, Infernum. “We are building a strong community ahead of the closed beta launch – and we can´t wait for the beta to start and to see the first maps of the fans.”

Brick-Force goes live in Spring, but fans can register for closed beta access at the official website www.brick-force.com to build, share and play.

Originally developed for the PC, Youda Survivor, an engaging time-management game is now available for FREE for Android devices and the Kindle Fire. In Youda Survivor, players take on the role of Youda, who has been washed up on the seacoast of the mysterious island.

In order to survive, you’ll need to win over the hearts of the native tribe by proving that you are the one person that can save them from cunning pirates. Players can obtain mystical tribal items with magical powers, learn rituals to control the weather and use special machines to advance in their quest. Powerful potions can be boiled to make you stronger and score levels as fast as possible to win gold medals.

The game is available on the Android Market (click here) and Amazon Appstore (click here)

Android game developers around the world seeking wider distribution and exposure for their games have two weeks remaining to enter their games in the “Get Discovered” Android development contest sponsored by Best Buy and Hooked Media Group.  The contest provides developers a unique chance to win both wide scale distribution through Best Buy’s App Discovery Center and seed funding from Trinity Ventures, a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

The winner will also receive an online advertisement package from VentureBeat, one of the industry’s most widely-read blogs. Interested? Full details about the “Get Discovered” contest are available at http://www.hookedmediagroup.com/contest

“With hundreds of thousands of apps currently in the Android Marketplace, it can be difficult for game developers to break through the clutter and have their games seen by the public,” said Prita Uppal, CEO of Hooked Media Group.  “The ‘Get Discovered’ contest provides a tremendous opportunity for developers to raise exposure through Best Buy’s App Discovery Center and have their games played by new audiences.”

Get Discovered! Contest Details

The Get Discovered! competition is open to all game developers, who will first submit their games by integrating with Hooked Media’s new discovery platform at http://www.hookedmediagroup.com/contest.  During the first phase of the competition the platform will track metrics including user rating, play-time and installations based on recommendations. The metrics will be used to determine the finalists.

The judges will analyze finalists that graduate from the online competition.  The contest will feature two tracks – one for companies that have secured Series A financing and one for companies still seeking Series A financing. Judging the final competition will be Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product, Google+; Gus Tai, General Partner at Trinity Ventures; Dean Takahashi, lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat; and Margita Labhard, Director of Digital Business Models at Best Buy.

Every game entered into the contest will use Hooked Media Groups’ SDK and be integrated into the recently launched Hooked App, which is available for free in the Android Marketplace. The app is a game recommendation and discovery platform that uses a proprietary algorithm to learn a users’ gaming preferences, game play statistics and social mapping to provide them with personalized game recommendations and advanced search features.

The more games a user ranks, the more customized the recommendations will become, thus providing the users with introductions to games that they may have never been exposed to, including those from smaller developers whose games may have not received significant exposure. Consumers can find the Hooked app in the Android Marketplace or at http://bit.ly/nrkqE0

Contest finalists will receive distribution from Best Buy, increased game downloads and plays, as well as recognition among top leaders in the game industry. Developers can submit their games between until January 24th, 2012.

The Finals Event

The competition culminates in an event in March, 2012 hosted at Dolores Labs, an incubator space in the Mission district of San Francisco. The developers will be given the chance to pitch their games to the audience and judges. There will be a live evaluation of each game by the panelists of judges.

The event provides developers with a tremendous opportunity to meet, interact and network with some of the most influential names and companies in game and app development.  In addition, the event will be attended by respected VC firms, investors and advisors, providing finalist with another opportunity to help grow their companies and produce the best games possible.

GAMEVIL(R), a leading mobile games publisher and developer announced Chalk n’ Talk, developed by AwesomePiece, is now available for free on the Android Market.  Chalk n’ Talk brings players all over the world together in a real-time online social drawing and word-guessing game. Players will race against the clock to sketch and guess a given word, while earning points that can be spent on customizing brushes and canvases or sending them as gifts to friends.

Artwork that users are especially fond of can be submitted to the world gallery to be rated for accolades. By connecting to GAMEVIL Live from the game, players can grow their network of friends to enjoy the experience together, and automated matchmaking presents an endless roster of random and new challengers.

“Chalk n’ Talk combines mobile, social and real-time aspects into a unique drawing and word game experience” said Kyu Lee of Head of GAMEVIL USA. “We’re excited to connect friends and families from around the world in a social game that they can play together whenever and wherever they want.”

Chalk n’ Talk is available for free from the Android Market, or at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.apgames.gm2011

If you have yet to check out Panic Block II (review here), you should do so as it’s one of the funnest game we’ve played so early into 2012. Today for our Indie Game Developer Interview segment, we have Yewguan Soo, the developer behind Panic Block II as he answers Nine Over Ten 9/10′s questions regarding game development:

Nine Over Ten 9/10: Tell us more about yourselves and how you started developing mobile games?

Yewguan Soo: I used to be a hardcore gamer since my mum bought me a Super Nintendo 20 years ago. Since then, I always wanted to work the in gaming industry, though never have any luck. Until when I bought the iPhone during year 2010, and that time seems to be a great opportunity. After few months hard work, the first game: Panic Block, was developed.

9/10: What was the idea behind Panic Block II?

YGS: Panic Block was inspired by a classic game I used to enjoy playing called: Lose Your Marbles. It was a challenging puzzle game, but unfortunately it is no longer support in latest windows OS. Although there are a lots of match-3 game in the AppStore, yet I haven’t found one which is similar to its game play. Panic Block II is the upgrade version from the initial release (Panic Block) with additional features and game mode.

9/10: How has the response been to Panic Block II on the iTunes App Store?

YGS: The response is good at this moment, though most player may found it too challenging.

9/10: Could you share with us a little on what you’ll be working on next?

YGS: I am currently working on a Tower Defense game, still in the sketch-up stage.

9/10: How did you market Panic Block II?

YGS: Well, this would be the weakest point in Panic Block II. Currently, I am spreading the news through the social media,  some developer forums, and sending request for game review.

9/10: Any words for aspiring game developers out there?

YGS: Don’t simply do it because you think your will make a fortune from the game development. Do it only because you are passion in creating game and you love to see others enjoying your game.

Awesome indie dev (and also CAPS LOCK aficionado) MADFINGER Games has announced the first details on SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE, the new multiplayer game following the SHADOWGUN series which will debut in the first quarter of 2012 exclusively for NVIDIA Tegra 3-powered devices.

With SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE, Madfinger is expanding the multiplayer entertainment potential of smartphones, iOS devices and tablets. SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE will support Android mobile devices powered by the NVIDIA Tegra mobile processor, and will be featured on NVIDIA’s Tegra Zone app, where consumers can find optimized games for Tegra-powered super phones and tablets.

SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE allows players to challenge up to seven friends to multiplayer battles in four different fantastic environments. They can choose one of eight different characters and several game modes, deathmatch or team deathmatch, that divides players into two groups of mutants and bounty hunters. Players can connect online via Wi-Fi to battle friends anywhere.

The professional console-quality graphics and easy-to-use controls of the original SHADOWGUN game are all intact. In addition, SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE brings new control elements such as sprint and roll, wider arsenal to be upgradable and character’s ranking, that unlocks new elements during playing. For an even better gaming experience, SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE will also support game pads and voice chat.

I’m not sure how to categorise Zombie Wars for the iPad, but one thing is certain, it’s one darn cool app. Basically it allows users to insert their images into a digital comic book which features the users as the main characters in a zombie outbreak story. Showcasing the impressive power and innovative features behind PortableYou™, a new platform for creating 3D customizable avatars from 2D facial photos, Zombie Wars is the first product for consumers that utilizes Image Metrics’ technology to produce and share personalized content.

In Zombie Wars, users can cast themselves and friends in a witty tale of medical science gone awry, as one of three characters – the evil Dr. Reinhart, journalist Adrian Cooper, or a criminal turned zombie. By uploading or snapping a picture with the iPad 2′s front-facing camera and using the PortableYou processing system, Zombie Wars transforms regular photos into stylized images of user’s faces consistent with the comic artwork.

In a special “casting” section, users can create customized, cover art posters of their characters and share them via Facebook, Twitter and email from within the app.

“Zombie Wars is our first consumer application, a great story that also gives users the ability to create and share a fun experience that takes advantage of our avatar creation software,” said Robert Gehorsam, CEO of Image Metrics. “Combining PortableYou’s rich feature set and ease-of-use with the iPad’s functionality, Zombie Wars also shows off a publishing engine that gives users  — and other content creators — the ability to create their own customized content with minimal effort or technical expertise.”

PortableYou is a groundbreaking platform for developers as well as for online and mobile entertainment, social network and communications companies. PortableYou provides end-users with the ability to instantly generate customizable 3D avatars from facial photos. Using PortableYou, Zombie Wars takes a single image of the user’s face, then utilizes server processing in conjunction with the Unity3D engine to render the image, wrapping it around an adaptive 3D wireframe that molds to fit the context-appropriate position in the comic.

To develop the story for Zombie Wars, Image Metrics turned to the creative team of writer Jon Price (“Magus”), artist Wayne Nichols (“STAR WARS: The Force Unleashed”), colorist Charlie Kirchoff (“Doctor Who”) and designer Kurt Bieg of Simple Machine.  The result is an entertaining tour de force that fuses the iPad’s media and social capabilities with Image Metrics technology.

Check out the app right over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-wars/id491149222?mt=8

One lazy way to spend the evening would be to grab a drink and watch people throw darts on a board on ESPN. The sport is actually quite intense (and popular), with competitors taking turns to outdo each other and it’s no wonder that some pubs actually have dart throwing contests as well.

So, if you are fan of darts, you’ll be happy to know that in conjunction with BDO’s (short for British Darts Organization) World Professional Championship, mobile phone game developer Appshen is offering you a chance to download their hugely popular darts game, Professional Darts Championship, for free.

How do you go about getting a copy of this iOS game for free? Simply follow their Twitter feed (here) or get onto their Facebook page (here) and they have a total of 50 promo codes up for grabs from those two social media channels. If you can’t get a free copy of the game, don’t fret as Appshen have once again reduced the price of the game until the end of the tournament; Professional Darts Championship available for just 69p (USD 0.99) throughout the tournament.

You can check out the game over here on the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/professional-darts-championship/id452672467?ls=1&mt=8

Don’t you love price cuts? I know I do. Indie developer Bulkypix has announced its January special offers which sees price reductions across 11 iOS games, including some recent titles including current Nine Over Ten 9/1o favourite Terra Noctis (check out the review here), Save the Furries, Funny Hell and Burn It All. The complete list is as follows:

• Burn It All
• Terra Noctis
• Save the Furries
• Funny Hell
• RPM : Gymkhana Racing
• Grave Defense HD
• Hysteria Project 2
• Gobliins 2
• Gobliins
• Aqua Panic DX
• Tiny Token Empires

What are you waiting for, check out Bulkypix’s developer page on the iTunes App Store to get your hands on these games now: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bulkypix/id304521749

If you are a mobile games developer, one platform that would be a no-brainer to enter these days would be Android. Just this week, mobile analytics firm Flurry announced in a report that combined iOS and Android new app downloads from December 25-31 topped 1.2 billion. This holiday season number is crazy and yup, if you are not developing for Android, you are just shooting yourself in the foot.

One developer that has reaped the rewards for going Android is Disney Mobile and they’ve been nice to share some figures from the same holiday season period which they have experienced some significant growth. Disney Mobile’s Holiday iOS installs increased 40% this holiday season, compared to the same period last year.

This was the first holiday season for Android as a viable mobile gaming platform, for the first time making up a significant portion of Disney Mobile’s overall downloads. Swampy (Disney Mobile’s original character for Where’s My Water) continued his hit streak on both iOS and Android, illustrating how great character, story and gameplay is the winning combination for consumers.  For the week of December 25-31, the app was downloaded more than 6 million times across both iOS and Android.