Following Apple’s confirmation that its social gaming service Game Center will launch next week, mobile game multiplayer tech-maker Aurora Feint has announced the upcoming release of PlayTime, a new infrastructure enabling real-time multiplayer with voice chat across iOS and Android devices.
Set to launch later this year as part of OpenFeint 3.0, PlayTime will be available in both "Casual" and "Core" packages. PlayTime for Casual Games will support leaderboards and achievements, an embedded VoIP client for group voice chat and a matchmaking system for starting sessions, among other features. The Core package will provide “a robust architecture for 16 player server authoritative multiplayer games, with group voice chat for team coordination, as well as a skill based lobby and matchmaking system”.
“The most successful games have one thing in common: they bring people together. Whether a simple board game or a stunning 3D console game, games are always better when shared with family or friends,” said Jason Citron, CEO of Aurora Feint. “Traditionally, multiplayer technology has been accessible only to top tier developers. It’s just too complicated and time consuming. So we invented PlayTime, which literally takes one day to integrate into a casual game.”