Building games as an indie or AAA studio is serious business and unless you treat it as such you’ll have trouble finding success. We’ve entered a golden age of creativity and experimentation. Today, anyone with an idea can build a game and publish it to a global audience. How does the gifted amateur become a pro game developer, and from there, a games industry success story? Hint: it requires more than just programming or artistic talent. I'll look at the single most-important skill you can develop, and show by example what happens if you neglect it. I'll also offer practical insights on choosing a game genre, development environment, and target hardware as well as how to monetize your game. When thinking about the success of your game, you need to have a strategy that encompasses all three stages of a game’s lifespan: Pre-production, active development stage as well as the post launch stage. My talks usually focus on monetization, marketing and best practices for creating apps and games on mobile platforms.

Join me as I discuss how to approach game development as a business—even if business isn’t your "thing". I am no stranger to starting a business, with three friends, I bootstrapped my first indie game studio to create casual games in the late 90s, then started another to deliver episodic educational games to kids online. That company was eventually acquired and I moved onto develop games for the nascent mobile market.

Join me on June 30^th to learn how to go From a One-Person Shop to Indie Dev to AAA. At the end of this webinar you will learn:

• How to develop a game and turn it into a viable business.
• How to choose a game genre and development environment.
• How to choose the right target hardware for your game as well as how to monetize your game

Reserve Your Spot Today

Want to learn more? Register today to learn how to scale game visuals across different resolutions

Register for 7:00am PDT (2:00pm GMT) on Thursday, June 30, 2016

Register for 1:00pm PDT (8:00pm GMT) on Thursday, June 30, 2016

The Amazon Mobile Ad Network (AMAN) is offering a limited time opportunity to double your worldwide August iOS ad earnings. Simply send the first ad request from qualifying new iOS apps* starting June 13^th, 2016. Earnings on qualifying banner and interstitial impressions* served on iOS devices in all supported markets (US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan) will be doubled up to $10,000 per developer. If your qualifying iOS apps generate $10,000 in global ad earnings in August, AMAN will match your earning with an additional $10,000 in promotional earnings so you receive $20,000.

Why Use the Amazon Mobile Ad Network (AMAN)?

AMAN serves unique high-quality ads from Amazon and brand advertisers on iOS, Android, and Fire OS phones and tablets. See how these developers increased their ad earnings with AMAN. 

Get Started with the iOS Offer

1. Create a free account and obtain an Application Key
2. Integrate the Amazon Mobile Ad Network iOS SDK into your app.
3. Send the first ad request on or after June 13, 2016.
4. See your iOS earnings doubled on the Mobile Ads Performance Reports!

* Existing apps already sending ad requests do not qualify. Apps that integrate the Amazon Mobile Ad Network SDK for the first time are eligible for the offer. Developers working with an Amazon Mobile Ad Network Account Manager do not qualify.

Click here to learn more. Share this post using hashtag #AMAN.

As a next step towards providing a transparent app validation process, the Amazon Appstore team launched a new feature that shares the details of device testing steps in a visual manner on Amazon developer portal. The recorded testing session makes it easier for you to understand the test scenarios and issues that may have prevented your app from being approved and published. Using this feature, you can play the recorded testing session of your apps, which clearly annotates testing actions and highlights any issues that were encountered by the Amazon testing team. In addition to recorded testing session, we’re also providing artefacts such as test events, logcat, and CPU utilization. These artefacts make it easier for you to understand and trace any issues Appstore testing team uncover, creating a more seamless publishing experience.

Previously, the ‘review status’ tab on developer portal provided only a set of screenshots with issue descriptions and logs. There was no way for developers to see how their apps were tested, what was tested, and what actions were performed on various screens, such as, tap, double tap, fling, press menu, etc. Now developers can conveniently hover on each actions and the annotation will lead them through a detailed issue description and logs.

Where and How Can You See This Feature?

Login to the Developer Portal and select the app that you submitted to the Amazon Appstore. You will find the testing report of this app under “Review Status” tab. The top message tells you whether you app went live or was it blocked due to some policy compliance or functionality failure. If your app passed successfully without any issue, then you won’t see any testing details. If the app didn’t pass, you will see the detailed issue description and test recording which helps you in tracing the issue. The affected section will be highlighted in Red. Sections highlighted as Yellow describe comments from the Amazon testing team that have been flagged for your review. To understand why your app failed testing, click on the “Test Recording” tab, which contains all the screens and annotated actions performed. To quickly reach the affected screen, go to the thumbnail marked with a red flag.  The right panel will show the screenshot and the left panel describes the related test events. You can also refer to logcat or download it for further analysis. These artefacts will help you reproducing the specific issue, resolve it and resubmit your app or game to the Amazon Appstore.

We expect to make ongoing improvements to the publishing experience on Appstore and encourage you to send us your feedback in the forum here.           

We are happy to announce our transition to a new developer forum platform! We hope that this new platform will not only be a more accessible discussion experience for you, but will also allow us to provide better assistance to our developer community.

The forums can be found at forums.developer.amazon.com. You can choose from a variety of spaces including Alexa, General Android, Amazon Underground, Merch by Amazon, and Chinese and Japanese language support. In each space we have built a knowledge base of frequently asked questions and have a team of global moderators available to help you out. We invite you to ask questions, contribute answers, follow threads, and join our growing developer community online for support, sharing, and feedback.

For our veteran forum users - Don’t worry! Everything related to your past accounts has been automatically migrated to the new forum such as your username and post history. New users will be able to make new accounts and get involved in the discussion right away.

Although aesthetically different to our previous forum platform, you can still post questions and add comments or answers. Our new platform also provides the following additional benefits:

Have you been thinking about creating a t-shirt with the Merch by Amazon program? In case you hadn’t heard, Merch by Amazon is Amazon’s new print-on-demand t-shirt service where you get to design a t-shirt and collect royalties from the sales on your very own Amazon.com page. (learn more here).

I know several developers who, after waiting for months to get their Merch by Amazon account, still haven’t made a shirt yet. Hey. There’s no shame in this; it took me a while too. The thing is, we’re developers, not t-shirt designers. It’s okay if we need a bit of guidance to get started. So let me share what I’ve learned from the pretty-smart marketing folks on the Merch team!

So What T-Shirt Should You Make?

If you have been thinking about it, but are stuck on what shirt or shirts to make, think about making shirts that can increase player engagement or satisfy your fans desire to recognize important achievements.

With Advertise Your App, you can promote your app to millions of users on Fire Tablet Wakescreens and mobile placements on the Amazon Mobile Ad Network. Getting started is easy; you can create an Advertise Your App campaign in less than 90 seconds, and launch a campaign with as little as $100. And the best part? You only pay when a user clicks on your ads.

Advertise Your App offers you the ability to drive app installs across banners, interstitials and on Fire Tablet Wakescreens. We are excited to announce that you can now bid by ad format. Set the same or separate cost-per-click bids by ad format. Advertise Your App offers two ad formats: Full screens (interstitials and Fire Tablet Wakescreens) and banners.

Here’s how it works: Login to the Developer Portal. While setting up a new Advertise Your App campaign, you can choose to let us auto generate your ads for you or you can upload your own custom banner and interstitial ad creative. Once you have launched your campaign, visit the campaign reporting dashboard to view conversions associated with your Advertise Your App campaign.

Did you know that some developers make more money in Amazon Underground than on any other Android platform? Gerard Piqué’s Final Kick saw over 1500% more revenue in Amazon Underground and Goat Simulator made more money on Amazon Underground in December than on any other Android Platform?

In most app store models, developers are paid a revenue share based on the initial purchase of the app or the in-app purchases. With Amazon Underground’s monetization approach, Amazon pays you for every minute a customer uses your Amazon Underground app, and customers pay nothing meaning that Amazon pays developers based on the amount of time your app is used. With Amazon Underground, you can turn 100% of your Android users into revenue generating customers. You get paid starting from the very first minute your Amazon Underground app is used, and you will continue to be paid for every minute of use by every customer in exchange for you waiving your normal download or in-app fees.  With Amazon Underground, you can focus less on monetizing and more on creating great user experiences.

Join us on April 29^th to learn how to Generate Revenue from 100% of Your Android Users with Amazon Underground. At the end of this webinar you will know:

• What is Amazon Underground?
• Who is eligible?
• How to submit your app to Amazon Underground
• How developers are doing in Amazon Underground

Reserve Your Spot Today

Register today and learn how you can monetize 100% of your Android users with Amazon Underground. I will tell you everything you need to know about Amazon Underground, how to get started, and how developers are increasing their revenue and downloads with Amazon Underground.

Register for 7:00am PDT (2:00pm GMT) on Friday, April 29, 2016

Register for 1:00pm PDT (8:00pm GMT) on Friday, April 29, 2016

It's Easy to Get Started

If you want to submit your own app or game for Amazon Underground, simply follow these three easy steps:

1. Prepare Your App – Learn how to get your app ready.
2. Register for Free – Sign up for your Amazon developer account.
3. Submit Your App – Opt in to Amazon Underground during the submission process.

- Peter

Calling All UK Developers!

We hear from many developers that getting apps discovered by customers is an important part of launch. Because of this feedback, we’re kicking off a new initiative to feature more UK developers on Amazon Appstore UK. To have your app considered, simply submit before June 10, 2016. We will review and select a number of newly published apps (submitted between April 20^th and June 10^th 2016) to be featured as part of an Appstore UK billboard. There will also be opportunities for stand out apps and games to be highlighted in additional placements on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon Fire tablets, and Amazon Appstore on Android devices.

What Do You Need to Do?

1. Register for a free Developer Account if you have not done so already
2. Submit your new apps before June 10, 2016
3. Complete THIS FORM  by June 10, 2016

Don't forget, we have an APK testing tool on our developer portal where you can find out in 90 seconds if your app is compatible. And from the apps testing so far, we see that 85% of Android apps just work without changes on Amazon devices.

How Will the Apps Be Selected?

For the featured placement on our UK Appstore, the Amazon team will review and select apps to be featured. (Disclaimer: submitted apps which are rejected during the Appstore review process will not qualify as entries. We will only consider apps that are newly published or approved for publishing. Only new apps submitted from April 20^th  to June 10^th 2016 will be considered). Once all apps have been reviewed, we will announce the selected developers via email.

We look forward to see your new apps on Amazon Appstore!

Amazon Cloud Drive launched its developer platform a year and a half ago, and more recently the Android and iOS SDKs. Since then the Cloud Drive API has enabled companies to connect with new customers by providing them with instant access to data and functionality they would have otherwise needed to build.

By leveraging the Amazon Cloud Drive developer tools, companies can focus on building new customer experiences and differentiated product offerings without the hassle of setup or the need to maintain their own storage back end. This gives the Amazon developer community a way to add Amazon Cloud Drive’s unlimited storage to their apps so their customers can save, view and manage their files from anywhere. Photography and productivity apps are popular third-party developer integrations, allowing customers to do anything from editing their photos and documents to backing up all their files. More recently, financial technology companies are using Amazon Cloud Drive to store and sync receipts, which improves convenience for customers looking to manage their personal finances.

We are proud to partner with VisionMobile for the 11th edition Developer Economics survey made by developers, for developers. This survey—Developer Tools Benchmarking—focuses on developer tools and is a great opportunity for you to tell us what what’s fantastic or frustrating about the tools you’re using, what you're building, why, and where you go to find out how. This survey is open to everyone involved in software development, across mobile, IoT, desktop, cloud, gaming, augmented/virtual reality, machine learning, and more!

VisionMobile are the analysts of the developer economy. Their research has been helping the world understand developers, and developers understand the world for the past 6 years. Their mission is to predict how software will change our world - using data.

Why Should You Take This Survey?

As a developer, your opinion is important to help us understand how we can serve you better. Whether you are looking to share your thoughts with the dev community, find out something new, contribute to the leading developer research or even win a prize, this is the survey for you. The survey features questions on topics like programming languages, platforms, app categories, tool categories, revenue models, IoT verticals - and, of course - tools! It’s a survey made by developers, for developers - so the questions are very relevant!

FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué for a live Twitch broadcast on Monday, April 18 – 9 AM PDT, 6 PM CET.  During the live broadcast, Gerard Piqué will showcase his app Final Kick, which is available through the Amazon Underground program. 

Spanish Footballer Gerard Piqué founded Kerad Games in 2012 and went on to create and distribute popular football games. In December 2015, Gerard Piqué launched Final Kick in Amazon Underground making the game 100% free for Amazon Underground customers. Final Kick is a freemium game where customers pay for in-app purchases on all other platforms, but those in-app purchase are 100% free on Amazon Underground.

The Amazon Appstore has always persevered to make apps more discoverable and to get you more downloads. To align with this goal we’ve introduced a change that will help customers see the most relevant reviews; reviews that reflect your hard work in app updates and improvements.

Customer Reviews Are Now More Contextual

Today, we are happy to announce our newly enhanced Ratings and Reviews system. Going forward, customer ratings and reviews will be more app-specific, taking into consideration the device type and app version, which ensures that customers see the most accurate rating for your app.

Previously, customers who read reviews on their tablets or other devices saw reviews sorted by helpfulness; reviews that received the most votes. Now these top votes reviews for past versions will no longer surface above latest version reviews. Instead, customers will more easily see reviews for the actual version they are downloading. This means reviews that mention past bugs will rank lower than reviews for the latest version of your app. This new sorting process will be visible on Kindle Fire tablets and  for Android Apps first. We expect to launch it on Amazon.com, FireTV and in the Developer Portal shortly thereafter.

You spoke and we listened. We are excited to announce the launch of the Amazon Mobile Ad Network (AMAN) Adapter for MoPub. If you use MoPub to manage your ad monetization, it is now easier to add the Amazon Mobile Ad Network (AMAN) to your portfolio. This is a custom adapter that is solely supported by Amazon. Please contact Amazon for any questions.

Increase Ad Monetization Using Mediation

A great way to increase your ad earning is to partner with multiple ad networks. Ad mediation services such as MoPub help you request ads from networks that provide the highest eCPM (earning per thousand impressions) to maximize your earning, and the new adaptor builds compatibility between the AMAN SDK and the MoPub SDK. AMAN serves displaying ads to iOS and Android apps in the US, EU and Japan. See how these developers increased their ad earning using AMAN.

Last week at GDC there were a bunch of announcements from Unity but one we are very excited to share is a commitment from Unity for better support for publishing to Fire OS. Over the past year Unity has been adding lots of features to their platform as they continue their commitment to quality and innovation. That being said, it’s never been a better time to make Unity games for Fire OS and Amazon Appstore. To help get you started, here are some of the best blog posts we’ve published about using Unity from the past few months:

Now is the perfect time for Android developers to get into the growing streaming device segment with their existing Android app or game. Android developers will find that developing for Amazon Fire TV is familiar, and optimizing their apps for the new controllers and TV display will not require learning a new language or new frameworks. Join Amazon’s Mario Viviani, Technology Evangelist, to learn how to bring your Android apps and games to the living room with Amazon Fire TV. For developers, Amazon Fire TV can help you increase your customer base by putting your app in the living room, in front of people who enjoy entertainment and may not have seen your apps before.

Join us on March 31^st to learn how to go From Mobile to TV—Creating a Native Android Media Streaming App for Amazon Fire TV. During this webinar, we will:

• Dive into the Leanback Android support library.
• Help you understand how to take advantage of the big screen while using UI patterns for app navigation through the remote.
• Teach you how to run your first TV app on Amazon Fire TV.

If you’ve considered building a TV app or are interested in learning how, reserve your spot today!

 For 7:00am PST (3:00pm BST) on Thursday, March 31, 2016

For 1:00pm PST (9:00pm BST) on Thursday, March 31, 2016

I look forward to seeing you attend the webinar!

- Mario