After Pokemon Go hit the game market, the new genre of games came into existence and altered the traditional perception about games in general. Pokemon Go made millions of game enthusiasts to leave their premise and roam around from place to place to catch some peculiar fantasy animal on their mobile screen. The game became unbelievably popular and inspired a trend of mobile game development that involves built-in GPS, real-time locations and objectives to thrill legions of game lovers all over the world.

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After the gigantic success of Pokemon Go, many other game developers have introduced mobile games that rely on Augmented Reality to create a palpable experience for users. If you are intrigued to learn more about such exciting GPS location-based games,

here is the list of 15 best spectacular games you will love to try in 2018:

1. Ingress – Android/iOS

Ingress was born long before Pokemon Go spread its magic all over. This game is based on the Augmented Reality technology, compels you to escape your house and travel a great number of portals to finish the quest successfully. The game gives exhilarating experience especially when played with your friends and neighbours. The game interacts with your smartphone’s GPS system to track locations. Gamers can rely on in-built map to find hidden energy sources and also keep the track of progress made by other players. More you gain control over portals, more real world points you collect, which can lead your faction to be a winner.

The sci-fi theme of Ingress seems to more superior than Pokemon Go, and more robust and social. It has also earned the interest of wide global community over years.

2. Pokemon Go – Android/iOS

Developed by Niantic, Pokemon Go no doubt is the most beloved game for world’s zealous game players. It has quickly reached the acme in the world of outdoor dynamic games. Its popularity has changed the conventional functioning of mobile game development. Ever since it went public, the game created whirlwind of interest among the audience. The idea of hunting for an imaginary creature (Pokemon) through chasing real world places and nearly erasing the boundary between the tangible and intangible really appealed to today’s spirited gamers.

Pokemon Go has reached the record breaking downloads that touched close to 700 million. This is splendid success no less than a wonder. The historic success of the game encouraged new such game ideas for creative developers.

3. Zombies, Run! – Android/iOS

This is a thrilling mission based game that captures player’s attention through its addictive theme where a player plays a hero and runs away from hostile zombies. All missions have a narrated story that you will have fun with. In the game, zombies come chasing you. So you will need to show enough strength and run with a fastest pace possible to escape them. While you enjoy the story, the game will allow you to decide on the favourite background music from the given options. Zombies, Run keeps you free from focusing exclusively on the game moves and lets you do whatever you like while playing it. You can take a walk or job along the beach, or stroll in the park or potter about your house.

4. Geocaching – Android/iOS

We all have once loved treasure games when we were young school kids, and we did enjoy finding treasure. Geocaching brings the same time back in your life if you are still very interested to relive those moments. It is one of the best examples of location-based GPS mobile game development. You can have best treasure hunting experience if you have Geocaching on your smartphone. In this game, you can track and discover geocaches scattered at many places across the globe. With friends, this game intensifies and offers exciting adventures that you may fall in love with.

The best part is, you can send messages to your fellow players for hints about treasure locations. For members who really want to take their experience to next advanced level and gain higher access, Geocaching provides premium membership at a fixed price per month.

5. CodeRunner – iOS

CodeRunner is partially a game of intelligence as it explores the theme of account hacking and intrusive surveillances. The game manipulates the fact that we live in a digital world where our online operations often leave behind telltale breadcrumbs for government agencies, marketers and duplicitous to abuse. This is the ultimate theme for CodeRunner – espionage, hacking and surveillance.

CodeRunner treats you as a government agent and gives you a mission to spy on hostile agents using real locations. You can also interact with other players and know some part of their play. Like many other games, CodeRunner gives new concept to mobile game development. It gets even more interesting with involvement of more players in your area. You can live your personal spy fantasy with this excellent game.

6. Turf Wars – Android/iOS

Turf Wars as the name suggests has got surprising war-like elements and is a unique multi-player game. Here players can take absolute control over the real-world places in the game and even protect it from enemy mobsters (who are, actually, other players). Of course, we can’t take such actions in real life, which is exactly what this game offers you. Turf Wars leaves you with power to defend your territory from rival players, making your play even more addictive, exciting and fun. Inside the game, you can increase your calibre and defend your turf by using many different weapons and upgrades. Other players may have to pay for their protection and safety of their turf.

You can grow your empire and obtain massive leverage against law enforcement. In addition, you are entitled to sharing messages with your friends and enemies about game strategy. Turf Wars can appeal most to those who love to indulge in the game of power and ambition to build their personal empire.

7. Landlord – iOS

Landlord is surely a terrific game for entrepreneurial minds who want to be a powerful real estate mogul with skills, luck and intelligence. Players will receive substantial in-game cash that they can invest to buy some portion of landmarks, local buildings and businesses. In this online business game, after buying a bunch of properties, you can make players pay fixed rent when they check in at the location from Facebook or Foursquare. Players can expand their business value and be a giant tycoon by trading or upgrading their properties with amenities like WI-Fi, Karaoke or VIP clubs, etc.

Landlord definitely takes mobile game development to a great level. Here you can even earn referral points from players, and gradually, using your luck and cunning, you can be a superior tycoon in the game. Additionally, the game offers in-app s to get some more game currency using real money.

8. Resources – Android

This is another economic simulation game where you will explore your surroundings to find good resources and use them to manufacture new sellable products. In this multiplayer GPS mobile game development, you will scan your surroundings in the real world. Upon finding some useful resources (like mineral deposits), you can extract and process those minerals into products, encash on it, earn and ultimately upgrade your operations. You have a potential competition, though. Other players can attack, sabotage and even seize your land and build their mine in your area. You have a defence mechanism, too. You can hire workers to boost your power and vandalize other players’ mines.

Resources might be a product of brilliant GPS mobile game development, but it is somewhat complex. Hence, it may not interest children and therefore works better for grown-ups. Also, the resource community actively brings new updates now and then.

9. Parallel Kingdom – Android/iOS

Parallel Kingdom is another majestic game that is made exciting with dungeons and castles that are scattered across the medieval land. It uses the real world map as provided by Google Maps. It stimulates players with 40 riveting levels, dungeons, classes, leader boards, events and chat rooms and many more amazing features. Of course, you can choose to play the game indoors, but venturing outside the house results into real-world experience of adventure.

As you explore the nearby locations, you will encounter many enemy players vying with you in the game. The Augmented Reality game is around for quite some time. Therefore, players will not be disappointed in it.

10. SpecTrek – Android

SpecTrek is a mindblowing augmented reality game that makes you hunt for ghost. In the game, you will chase imaginary story ghosts as if it is the real world adventure. Think about Winchester brothers in Supernatural while playing the game. Ghosts are added in pre-defined locations on Google map. Users can also define their search radius and can play it in various sessions like 15 minutes, 3 hours or 8 hours. SpecTrek is a popular GPS location centric game that players (even kids) can play with their friends.

You just need to see to location and catch the ghost hiding there. You can track your progress, speed, distance travelled and even calories burned. Despite the fact that mobile game development experts are not regular in adding new updates to the game, SpecTrek makes chasing ghosts fun in real world.

11. Recoil

With the launch of the new gameplay ‘Recoil’, Sky Rocket is turning a new category of competitive gameplay. While using this game, the player can turn any outdoor location to multi-player battlefield using the GPS enabled features. As its digitally enhanced, the GPS enabled technology used in this game allows almost 16 players at a time to involve in the battle field of the recoil world. With features like real-time weaponry kickback, 3D positional audio and AR based game play methods this gaming experience turns out to be more explosive where reality has truly caught up to the imagination of the players.

So, definitely, this game is reinvigorating the gaming methods and makes users come out of the couch and interact with players in the real world

12. GPS Tycoon

This is a location-based game for Android users which work on the real world map of your neighbour. Once you register for the game, Google Map will be open and it divides the location into 4 grids. Once your grid is fixed, you can start buying lands. The land you own gets money which the player can reinvest in buying new lands. As it is GPS enables, to buy a land you need to be in that exact location and to keep winning you need to buy lands in wherever location you travel.

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Another interesting feature of this game is that you have a leaderboard and you get to check the status of other players globally and according can target on buying more land and thus strive to reach the top score.

13.  The Great Land Grab

If you are planning a road trip, then this would be one of the best interactive GPS enabled game that can top your game list. While traveling, you can claim lands and further will have to fight against the oppositions. The character called Ol’Henry will be your guide in the game who will help you navigate and come across the claim jumpers.

On the whole, this game is very user-friendly and can be played without any beforehand user experience. And the biggest wow factor related to this game is that it works on the real-time GPS location which will help you stake your claim.

14. Color Planet

This is a massive multi-player online GPS-based game. The main aim of playing the game is to collect resources from the scattered places on Earth and the worker needs to collect them and send them back to their planet in-order to save it. With the help of the crystal resources, you can either increase or change your capability or the worker’s capability from the base. As you send most of the resources back home, you start earning points on the leaderboard.

15. DominAnt

As the name indicates, this is a multi-player ant-controlling game that uses real-time location using GPS settings. Within the game, there are many species of ants who compete each other to get over the ground control. Once you start playing, you are one among them that will help them spread and dominate. The player needs to find colonies, expand them to breed, defend against enemies and other animals. When the colony that you have created becomes big, you can also start attacking other colonies.

Indulge in the best GPS-based game

The above is the quite a comprehensive list of some of the magnificent GPS location-based mobile games you can try this year on your device. Each game offers unique quality and features for players to enjoy, and is different in its architecture, adventure level and the way it interacts. The best part is, these games are authentic and improves your lifestyle and fitness by forcing you to step out of your doors. As the methods of mobile game development grow and Augmented reality integration advances, we can hope to receive more new updates, challenges and themes in upcoming games. For now, these group games are enough to make your time big with your friends.

It is common knowledge that testing is required for every phase of a mobile game development process, be it for design or for coding. Similarly, testing is an unavoidable step after mobile game localization. It should be remembered that translation and localization are related, but they are not one and the same thing. Check out the most common video game misconceptions in localization testing.

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1. A localization tester re-writes the entire game: The most important thing that mobile game development companies notice in the tested games are whether the brand names and anything related to the company’s intellectual properties are misspelled or not. As a matter of fact, the possibility of finding an entirely re-written game from the market is very rare.

One reason that this is not practical is the infinite number of alterations made to the original script given, by the time you reach the deadline. Apart from that, most game owners won’t be so sure about the terminology guidelines initially.

So, translation testers would naturally be required to put more effort in finding contradictions to company’s identity from the text rather than using conjunctions and prepositions of the language correctly. This does not mean that translation of other components are not important, but the priority rests with the aforementioned ones.

2. A localization tester can shorten anything at will: Translators often face this issue where you need to place a relatively longer sentence inside a severely finite space. We all know that overflowing and overlapping texts are gross to look at. It will destroy the beauty of a well designed game.

It is a popular misconception that a localization tester is allowed to shorten a string of text at will. Testers need to get through a long and tiresome procedure, if they want to get even a single line of text changed. Yet, most often they are not allowed to shorten them just like that. The only option that seems to be available in most of the cases will be to abbreviate those long text strings, which would make an otherwise stunning UI, ruined.

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3. A localization tester knows everything about censoring for particular markets: Every country has different rules regulating the circulation of contents, for example the usage of curse words or the extent of vulgarity or gore shown. In a country like Italy, there are specific rules to prevent the use of blasphemies, Vatican being very near. In some countries, there is a culture wise difference in the permissibilities, though they might not be legally enforced.

Something that is legally lawful to be sold in one country could be found offensive and spread against the law in other countries. Also, the openness of the contents that users of different age groups can be exposed to is well defined by the legal systems in all countries.

Many publishers and mobile game development companies think that it is entirely a tester’s job to know everything about the permissibilities and prohibitions prevalent in the countries of the targeted markets. It is important to understand that a tester is not a law person after all and needs to be properly directed about any such requirements.

4. A localization tester knows their native language better than the translators: It is mandatory that tester’s need expertise and good knowledge in using the local language, preferably greater than translators, but this is not definitely the case a lot of times. If testers have lesser competence and language skills than the translators, they will find it difficult to comprehend what the translator meant, while trying to edit the script.

Mobile game development is a job that needs a passionate heart towards what you do. The developer goes through the same excitement as the game player. You rejoice at every small accomplishment that your game character makes. But before all that comes, there is one thing that you need before anything else- A good “idea” for game development.

“How could you be resourceful when you need to come up with some groundbreaking mobile game development ideas?” As a mobile game developer this is one crucial question that contributes a large share in shaping your destiny.

Dream a lot

If you are a game developer, you should dream a lot. We all had our dreams and fascinations as a child. Our favorite heroes and imaginary friends were alive in our little minds. We flew in clouds and we jumped into chocolate pools. And our favorite holiday spot became Disney Land.

Most of us are still fascinated about our childhood heroes. We day dream putting ourselves in their shoes and we ourselves become the heroes in our dreams – the one man army and the last hope of earth. We solve mysteries and we join the fights.

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Adventures with mesozoic creatures, alien life forms, monsters, mechanical men and robots makes our daydreams highly imaginative. But as adults, we more easily realize that they are just our imagination. Games have the power to bring the improbable and intangible into reality.

With mobile game evolution, early developers began experimenting with queer story lines. They gave an element of surrealism, and allowed the impossibilities to happen that kept the player’s interest level high.

Mobile games became the right platform to create new worlds and new systems. As a game developer, you should look around the world and observe things happening around you more attentively to generate cool ideas. With a lot of focus and practice, this will become one of your instinct.

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One of the greatest inspirations for mobile game development comes from the stories that we have read and the movies that we have watched.

Remember the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? And the evergreen children’s novel Alice in Wonderland? All are great sources to think about new ideas. From Aladdin to Batman, games are created based on world famous fictional characters.

Growing up, we shifted our interests more towards Sci-Fi, horror and similar categories. We loved to watch Terminator, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Yet, as adults, we also loved to read and watch the Harry Potter series.

Inspiration can be sought out from all potential fields like movies, stories, cartoons, and even poems. For e.g., The Rape of the Lock, a mock-heroic poem by Alexander Pope, provides a possible theme which includes a kingdom, palaces, elaborate rituals, a boat journey, a mission, and supernatural characters like fairies.

Although you can’t take characters and themes as such from others intellectual property just like that, a little bit of inspiration from them could do wonders. All original ideas trails from good old ones, as Wilson Mizner said, “Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.”

Games from games

Game ideas can come from other games as well. It is so obvious that when you play a game, you wish for a hundred new features to be included or you think that an alternate story line might make the game more interesting. Critically looking at other games can automatically brainstorm new and creative ideas.

Playing games have other advantages too. For e.g, you can know what things make a game interesting, up to where you should continue providing a particular feature or resource and where you should halt, how difficult should a level be etc. All these insights can allow you to adjust your game complexities and architecture accordingly.

Lastly, there is something that should be remembered always. Ideas have this strange nature – You are immediately struck by one waking up from a dream and by the time you finish your coffee, it vanishes from your memory.

A great tip- Do not forget to jot it down as soon as you get one!

It was in the early 90’s that a video game managed to put its first step on a mobile device platform for the first time. Later that decade, Nokia’s Snake became the most successful mobile phone game in the planet. Still, the mobile game industry continues on its ride towards progressive development.

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A quick look into the essentials of a mobile game

Mobile video games range from simple puzzles to the more complex multi-player games or from 2D to 3D games. Games can simply be entertainment games or it can be of some value-oriented nature, like that in educational and advertorial games.

Features of a good mobile game includes easy control and navigation, better loading speeds, attractive GUI, new features, interesting story, ease of understanding, the rules involved and the most important thing – the ” fun factor” etc.

Why should you take up mobile game development as your career or start a mobile game development company yourself?

Times have changed, and so have our career preferences and opportunities. Traditional jobs are being lost one by one, in the influx of newer job categories created by the age of mechanization and technology. As the job market changes, we must imbibe the fact that the new world has made way for huge and exciting modifications in the job titles that we hold. Mobile game developing is a career choice that is being widely adopted by the youth, nowadays.

Wide Scope

Studies have shown that on an average, a mobile phone gamer spends at least 2 hours playing games on a daily basis. Just like any other entertainment, playing is a part of the human instincts — it is in our DNA. Game developers help fulfill these natural cravings by generating entertaining and fun-filled games for us. As the saying goes,” necessity is the mother of invention”; game creation will remain as an occupation always. Thus, for a mobile game development company everyone ranging from children to adults; men and women are their prospective customers.

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Bright Future

Another merit of being a mobile game developer is that if you are talented enough, you can cultivate higher hopes. There is always more room for improvement career-wise and it is not the same routine tasks that you would have to deal with all year. The developing of structured games is not really easy as the popular misconception- creating the rules, design, idea etc. that are gathered together to create that surreal experience is a really demanding task. Game developers at Minecraft and Candy Crush all started small. With more than 7 billion of mobile devices and counting in the world, the need for mobile games will keep on growing.

So far, formal games education is not quite common in most countries. The industry has grown so fast that it’s hard to keep up with the rising demands. There are a lot of overseas opportunities for a mobile game development company. Likewise, in many mobile game developer recruitments, even senior positions are filled by people from overseas in many countries.

Current scenario

By the end of the year 2015, EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research) reports that the global market for mobile gaming will be worth $25 billion. The industry is currently topped by US, Japan and China. 56 percent of the market is ruled by countries of the Asia Pacific with around 50 percent of the mobile gamers being concentrated there. This means that the growth potential for the industry will be really huge in the coming years.

Investing in mobile game development is a wise choice as it can bring in decent rewards. With new mobile markets to conquer, the future looks bright for your mobile game development company.