GDC 2018 is right around the corner, and we’re excited to be back with a week full of brand new content! Let us know if you'll be going to GDC and you'll get free swag when you check in to the Amazon Developer Day on Monday, March 19^th.

Were you able to attend Amazon’s Pre-Conference Developer Day at GDC 2014? Video recordings of all the sessions are now available online, so it’s not too late to learn how Amazon can help you build, engage, monetize and distribute your game.

Cross-Platform Services by Amazon Support You All the Way

Amazon hosted a day of pre-conference sessions at GDC 2014.  Amazon experts demonstrated how AWS and Amazon’s mobile services can simplify every stage of game development including: building the backend, expanding to additional platforms, and scaling to handle more players.  The day also featured customer case studies that revealed best practices around: game architecture, game design, cloud technologies, and monetization strategies.

The sessions videos and supporting slides are shared on our GDC 2014 page.  The sessions posted include:

• AWS Architecture — Nate Wiger, Principal Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services: Mobile, AAA, and MMO game companies alike are leveraging AWS to build cost-effective, scalable online games.  Learn how game studios are using AWS services such as Elastic Beanstalk, DynamoDB, Amazon S3, CloudFront, and ElastiCache to build online games that can scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000 users, while paying only for what they use.  Finally, Nate shares some thoughts about the future of cloud gaming based on worldwide trends.
• Game Analytics — Nate Wiger, Principal Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services:  Free to play is now the standard for mobile and social games.  But succeeding in free-to-play is not easy:  You need in-depth data analytics to gain insight into your players so you can monetize your game.  Learn how to leverage new features of AWS services such as Elastic MapReduce, Amazon S3, Kinesis, and Redshift to build an end-to-end analytics pipeline.  Plus, Nate shows you how to easily integrate analytics with other AWS services in your game.
• Engaging Your Audience with Mobile Push Notifications — Jon Turow, Senior Product Manager, Amazon Web Services & Mike Pesce, Senior Manager, Amazon: Mobile push notifications are a fast and universal way to engage and retain players.  Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) provides one simple API for fast, reliable, scalable, inexpensive push notifications to Apple, Google, and FireOS devices.  In this session Jon and Mike cover how to use Amazon SNS to publish cross-platform notifications and then, architectures and techniques for utilizing game data to send the right message, to the right player, at the right time.
• Amazon AppStream – New Gaming Experiences Using the Cloud for Game Streaming — Collin Davis, GM of Amazon AppStream, Amazon: In this session you’ll see how AppStream, Amazon’s low latency application:  streaming service, can help you create new compelling gaming experiences across many platforms.  Collin details how one team used the flexible platform to remove device constraints and enable new gameplay experiences.  You’ll see a tablet demo that exhibits a massive scale and streams from AWS to the tablet to create one single “hybrid” game that goes beyond what you could do on a tablet alone.
• What's Working in In-App Monetization — Mike Hines, Developer Evangelist, Amazon: In this session we share data and tips that Amazon has gathered from the top 50 revenue-generating apps that use IAP. Then we look at some innovative mobile ad ideas and explore the re-discovered future of in-app monetization…e-commerce. 
• A/B Testing with Air Patriots — Paul Cutsinger, Developer Evangelist, Amazon & Russell Carroll, Senior Producer, Amazon: A/B Testing is about using data to challenge assumptions and test new ideas, often leading to increased engagement and monetization.  In addition to showing you the latest cross-platform testing services at your disposal, we discuss the "happy accident" that the Air Patriots team made. It was unexpected and led to an increase in both retention and monetization.
• Large Scale HTML5 Games on Desktop, Mobile & Tablets with KANO/APPS — Jesse Freeman, Developer Evangelist, Amazon & KANO/APPS: Join us as we explore the current and potential future landscape of HTML5 games with our guest speakers from KANO/APPS, makers of Mob Wars: La Cosa Nostra, Zombie Slayer and more. We discuss how they transformed the iconic Flash game Free Rider into a thriving online HTML5 destination. We also demonstrate how Amazon enables publishing these kinds of HTML5 games to the Kindle Fire.

Learn More

For more information about developing cross-platform games with Amazon, working with the services discussed in the videos, and expanding to additional devices such as Kindle Fire and Fire TV, visit our developer website and the AWS gaming page.

To register for a free developer account, click here.

-peter (@peterdotgames)

While at GDC last week, I was able to speak to over 300 developers. It’s exciting to see all the ideas and the passion that fuels them - I love being around people that are so creative and productive. Often our conversations would turn to how to take their great idea and turn it into a great business. We’d talk about how to expand their distribution channels, best practices for monetization, opportunities for promotion and, most importantly, how to continuously improve the experience of their game.

Most of the people I spoke to understood the basic premise of AB Testing — to provide more than one experience and see which performs the best. For example, it’s common in advertising to deploy several ads with different messaging or art work to a small number of customers and then expand to more with the one that performs the best. It’s similar in a game, where you could test several experiences like the difficulty of a level, the impact of ad placement, or the effectiveness of your viral mechanic, etc.

Still, most of the developers I spoke to were surprised and excited by the following 4 aspects of Amazon’s AB Testing service:

1. FREE. Anyone with a (free) developer account can use the free AB Testing service for an unlimited number of tests.
2. Cross Platform. iOS, Android and, Kindle Fire are all supported. You can use AB Testing in any or all of these platforms.
3. Deploy Instantly. Part of the power of AB Testing is that your producers, level designers, analysts (the non-coders) can instantly deploy the winning experience to all players without a re-submit to any app store.
4. Multiple goals. It’s easy to imagine testing which ad placement results in the best click-through. But, how does it impact 3 day retention or level completion or time to first purchase? Amazon’s AB Testing can help you measure an experiment against multiple goals.

You can give it a try right now. It’s available from the developer portal at https://developer.amazon.com/public/apis/manage/ab-testing.

Amazon returns to GDC in 2014, offering technical and business-related sessions on building and monetizing apps, fast-track app publication into the Amazon Appstore, and partner showcases.

Learn about cross platform services: from AWS to Analytics

It’s no secret that the most profitable games are the ones that keep their players engaged—usually through a combination of great content and the best use of technology.  On Tuesday, March 18, Amazon is sponsoring a day of eight sessions at GDC, on topics like game architecture, design, technology, and monetization strategies.  You will gain insights whether building a backend, expanding to additional platforms, scaling to handle more players, or exploring new revenue streams. Anyone with an Expo pass can attend, so plan to join us today!

Amazon Appstore Blast: Get your app published in as fast as two hours

In addition, Android developers who have Expo passes will be able to submit an app to the Amazon Appstore for Android and have it reviewed for potential publication in as fast as two hours. Bring your APK file to the Amazon Appstore Blast, side load it for testing and submit the app for expedited publishing.  Amazon evangelists and testers will be on hand to help check compatibility and answer any questions. (Usually no changes are necessary—75% of apps we’ve tested just work.) Come to meeting room 2546 in the North Hall to publish your app and reach millions of new customers.

Hear from successful Amazon partners

Amazon partners will also be present at GDC to show off exciting new projects and advanced features related to Amazon devices and services. Dolby Laboratories will showcase the Dolby Audio API, which helps developers create truly immersive game experiences with enhanced Dolby sound.  Marmalade, the cross-platform SDK and game development ecosystem, will highlight their new platform support for Amazon GameCircle on booth 2510, which makes it fast and easy to incorporate Achievements, Leaderboards and Whispersync for Games into your Marmalade-based game.  In addition, Amazon staff will be on hand in the Marmalade booth to answer questions about Amazon’s developer services.  Amazon’s framework partner GameSalad will also be attending GDC.  Creator of a rapid development platform, GameSalad recently debuted drag-and-drop integration with Amazon GameCircle and our In-App Purchasing API.

Session schedule

10:00 - 10:30 am Introduction
10:30 - 11:30 am AWS Architecture
11:45 - 12:45 pm Game Analytics
12:45 - 1:45 pm Engaging Your Audience with Mobile Push Notifications (w/lunch)
1:45 - 2:30 pm Amazon AppStream - New Gaming Experiences Using the Clouds for Game Streaming
2:30 - 3:30 pm What's Working in In-App Monetization
3:30 - 4:30 pm A/B Testing with Air Patriots
4:45 - 5:45 Large Scale HTML5 Games on Desktop, Mobile & Tablets with KANO/APPS

Register now to attend the Amazon Developer Day at GDC 2014 and come meet the Amazon team.

If you’re attending GDC later this month, you’re probably in the midst of planning. If you’re attending SXSW this weekend, you’re probably already booked. Regardless of which conference you’re attending (or if you’re lucky enough to be attending both like us), we hope that we’ll get to meet you! Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@AmazonAppDev) to ensure you get the latest info and updates from us on-site.

SXSW

At SXSW, we’ll have Amazon marketing and technical representatives at the Amazon booth (#1417) in the SXSW Trade Show. Stop by and let’s talk apps—and pick up some cool swag while you’re there. We’ll also have John Densmore (from The Doors) and Guy Kawasaki on-site for author signings (courtesy of our friends at Kindle Direct Publishing), and a series of interviews with developers who are distributing their apps on Kindle Fire. We know SXSW can be busy, but we hope you can make it to see us—hey, there’s always the SXSW Block Party!

We’re also hosting a panel discussion about self-publishing:

Democratization of Publishing: Survive and Thrive
Sunday, March 10th - 5pm to 6pm CST

Speakers:

Aaron Rubenson - Director, Amazon Appstore for Android
Libby Johnson McKee – Director, Kindle Direct Publishing, North America
John Densmore – former drummer and founding member of The Doors
Steve Carpenter – author and creator of the TV series “Grimm”

The publishing industry is evolving as authors, indie app and game creators, and musicians are empowered to self-publish and distribute real-time, on-demand content to millions of potential customers. There are more opportunities than ever to get content in front of the right audiences, but discovery continues to be a challenge as the distribution channels fragment. Hear from industry leaders on what the future might hold, and tips for getting the right eyeballs on your content.

GDC

We’ll be at the expo at GDC—ready to meet with game developers! We’ll also have our road warrior marketing and technical representatives on-site ready to talk mobile gaming, and maybe some surprises too! We’ll also be bringing back the Code Challenge. We’ll be tweeting out challenges during the conference, and if you complete them, we’ll give you some awesome prizes!

If you’re curious to learn more about the Amazon Appstore, Kindle Fire, or just monetizing your mobile games, we’re holding a session:

Making Money with Mobile Gaming: Best Practices from Amazon
Thursday, March 28^th – 10am to 11am PST

Speaker: Chirag Mehta, Manager, Developer Relations, Amazon

Have an idea for the next big gaming app? If so, you may be wondering how to monetize it. As the company behind Kindle Fire, Amazon is in a position to have a 10,000 foot view of mobile game monetization trajectories and trends. Amazon will share information on game design and monetization approaches they see successful across their store, with the hope that these insights will help developers regardless of platform. For existing Amazon developers and those interested in learning more about Kindle Fire, Amazon will also share tips on optimizing mobile games for Amazon.

We’re on the road again—this time, we’re heading to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress before heading south to Austin to attend SXSW. We’d like to give you a heads up about our sessions and other conference activities. If you’re going to be attending these conferences as well, we hope we will see you there!

Mobile World Congress

Making Money with Mobile Apps: Best Practices from Amazon on App Monetization
Wednesday, February 27^th - 1:45pm to 2:30pm CET
Speaker: Aaron Rubenson, Director, Amazon Appstore for Android

App Planet, a mini-conference within Mobile World Congress, is a place where mobile app developers can gain knowledge and network with other developers. Aaron Rubenson will be speaking about monetization trends in mobile apps and games and information about new services available to mobile app developers.

South by Southwest (SXSW)

We will be at Austin Convention Center during the SXSW Trade Show from March 10^th through March 13^th. Stop by our booth and learn more about distributing your mobile apps and games through Amazon, meet with our marketing and technical representatives, and get information about running your apps in the cloud from our friends at Amazon Web Services. We hope to see you there!

In addition, we’re hosting a session during SXSW Interactive: 

Democratization of Publishing: Survive and Thrive
Sunday, March 10^th - 5pm to 6pm CST
Speakers:
Aaron Rubenson - Director, Amazon Appstore for Android
Libby Johnson McKee – Director, Kindle Direct Publishing, North America
Colleen Hoover – New York Times best-selling author of Slammed and Hopeless
John Densmore – former drummer and founding member of The Doors

The publishing industry is evolving as authors, indie appand game creators, and musicians are empowered to self-publish and distribute real-time, on-demand content to millions of potential customers. There are more opportunities than ever to get content in front of the right audiences, but discovery continues to be a challenge as the distribution channels fragment. Hear from industry leaders on what the future might hold, and tips for getting the right eyeballs on your content.