Recently, Volterock released a second part of the Vocal Hazard Pack. It contains many high quality original vocals such as screams and shouts and can prove very useful to gamedevs. A the license? CC-BY!.

Visit the official website for more information: http://www.volterock.com/

The download links were posted on Reddit, you can join the discussion there.

If you like learning by example, here's a list of lists of open source games for Android.

F-Droid - a very large list of open source Android apps and games. They also have their own app that simplifies installation of FOSS (free and open source software). List of games is here.
Wikipedia - you can find everything on Wikipedia. 
Another smaller list of games
A blog entry with 15 open source games

Don't forget to check the licensing of the source codes before you start using them ;)

Unity is probably the most popular game engine for mobiles right now. There are a lot of books and online tutorials on this topic, so what does this one offer? Unity Android Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide will give you exactly what the title promises - beginner's guide. And it does it well.

This book should be the first one you read before you start developing games for mobiles. It will tell you all the general information about mobile games starting from the platforms available, how to assemble a team followed by description of each part of modern games such as graphics, music, sounds, user interface and it ends with the most important part - how to design games to be fun.

The book will also tell you how to monetize your mobile game and it describes different business models. It has as a basic the introduction to mobile market and gamers demographics.

If you are developing Android games in AndEngine and you already have some experience under your belt, this book can help you master your skill and create even better games. Thanks to the book's publisher Packt, I got my hands on three free e-books and one of the copies including the MagneTank source code can be yours. If you are interested, read on!

As I said, the cookbook would serve you better if you have already tried making a game in AndEngine. It can be used by beginners, too. However it expects you to grasp the basic concepts quickly without much explaining. On the other hand the book is packed with extremely useful recipes and patterns that you should be using in your games.

Christmas. It's an economic phenomenon more than anything else now. A bookstore near my home used to make about 10 times more money during December than it did any other month. The owner said that it's the only reason he keeps the store. 

The game industry is definitely influenced by Christmas as well. Just think how many people are going to find a new Android phone under the Christmas tree.

And here we are. Game developers who can make a use of it. As I have announced on Facebook, Google+ and both AndEngine and Libgdx forums, I was offering a Christmas promotion for all games that feature at least something Christmasy to see the Christmas effect. It even included a free 125x125 button ad on this page.

But nobody wanted to use this promo so I had to update my own game for Christmas. Mr. Dandelion is actually ideal for this, because it has flatlined. The installs and uninstalls are the same. Let's see how Christmas in Google Play Store change it.

Stay tuned for the results and Merry Christmas to you all from Mr. Dandelion!

A new addition to the family of dirt bike games was just released by nazgee. And it's awesome.

If you've thought that this genre has nothing more to offer, let this game prove you wrong. The simulation is not just very realistic but a lot of innovations were added to this game.

The game consists of 30 levels and some of them feel more like a puzzle game than just a riding one. The obstacles are well placed and sometimes you will have a difficulty getting over them. Read carefully the hints on screen!

Controls are standard, two pedals working as gas and break depending on the direction you are moving. The graphics are quite nice and the motorbike models look good too. But the strongest side of this game is definitely the gameplay.



The levels alternate between day and night. As you progress through them, more tricks are required to advance. And more and more special features are added. The physics simulation in this game is really used to a maximum. For example there are levels, where you have to ride a cart or a loose log! Reminds me of Yo Dawg meme...



Some levels also require to upgrade the bike. Dirt Rided Mayhem offers several types of bikes and plenty of upgrades including engines and tires.

And when you finish the level, either successfuly or with a crash the game takes a nice picture of you, that you can share with your friends. Here's me after a very bad crash! :)




The game is completely free, but if you'll feel like you want to advance faster or buy another bike right away, it offers you an in-app purchase of the game currency.

Conclusion

Dirt Rider Mayhem is the best dirt bike game I've played. It might not have the best visuals, but the gameplay will captivate you. There's plenty of levels offering hours of fun and another batch is coming soon. It's definitely a good choice for the fans of the genre and anyone else who wants a good game.

Get it on Google Play!

Kana Karate from Aztecbyte is an educational game for people who want to learn English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, Italian vocabulary and especially the Japanese writing system. The system itself is complicated - there is Hiragana and Katakana (together called Kana) and Kanji. Learning it is all about drill. There's plenty of apps that can help you learn it, but I can say that this one is definitely the most fun!

I've participated in Game Jam organized by Game Developement at Stack Exchange.

A game jam is a gathering of game developers for the purpose of planning, designing, and creating one or more games within a short span of time, usually ranging between 24 to 48 hours. Game developers are generally made up of programmers, game designers, artists, and others in game development-related fields. (Wikipedia)

The great thing about Game Jam is that it forces you to think and code quickly. The requirement was to make a game playable in browser. I was thinking of using libgdx, but ended up using Phaser, a Javascript/Typescript framework. It was a great learning experience.

I call the game TCOB1. Theme was "There can only be one" (sic) and the genre of my game ended up being "endless" space racing where players are eliminated by asteroids. The last player in the game wins.

It took me about 8 hours to finish the first prototype and another 8 hours to complete the game. Phaser development is really fast. My next step will be to get better in Javascript and make the game more portable - I want it to be playable in Android stock browser and mobile Chrome.

You can play the game in your browser. Instructions are on the page itself. Source code is available if you want to take a look. The Javascript code is not so nice - but not that bad considering I started learning Javascript on Friday night and submitted the game on Sunday night!

Simple screenshot from the game

My first app (as in "not a game") that will be soon published to the Google Play Store. A simple tool to toggle auto-rotate screen and in case the screen is locked, shake to rotate the screen to desired orientation.

I created the app to learn more about programming for Android. My intention was to learn about the accelerometer, notofications and background services and this is an app that combines all three.


It's still in beta test phase but if you want, you can help testing it.