Game Developer Best Practices

The following best practices have enabled developers worldwide to build great, successful games for Google Play.

1. Optimize for great ratings

• Beta test to ensure your games are ready and poised for great ratings.

• Optimize graphics, frame rates, and responsiveness with the Hardware Scaler and OpenGL ES.

• Be sure your APK is small, then provide game content through over-the-air downloads.

2. Build buzz

• Build a community with social media, communities to get and keep users talking.

• Promote your games with official Google Play badges and links to your products on Google Play.

• If you ship on multiple platforms, doing so at the same time can maximize your marketing impact.

3. Get Visibility

• First impressions count: highlight the game's best features in screenshots, videos, and description.

• Integrate Google Play Game Services, so your game is displayed in the Google Play Games App.

1. Keep users coming back

• Achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer, and cloud save help engage users and bring them back.

• Hold tournaments and offer promotions, then announce them through notifications.

• Sign in users early, then automatically. Before their first sign-in, save progress locally.

2. Give users a reason to invest their money

• A majority of the top grossing games use in-app purchases. Use them to unlock content and allow players to enhance their game play.

• Google Play In-app Billing makes purchasing easy with several forms of payment.

• Provide content updates regularly to give users limited edition items to win or purchase.

3. Earn players’ love

• Measure your campaigns to see what’s driving quality users to install your games.

• Analyze in-game use to steer content updates and prolong the life of your games.

• Respond to reviews and get valuable feedback from the community you’ve built.

• After you've launched in your market of strength, expand into other markets strategically and localize your apps as you go.

• Provide content updates on a regular basis to keep users engaged.

• Building educational games? See the Education Guidelines.