PopCap admits Android struggle

Casual gaming king PopCap is renowned for releasing its games on a wide variety of platforms, and prides itself on the fact that it tailors each game to a target platform's features and capabilities. While normally a smooth process, senior game designer David Bishop admits that developing for devices running Google's Android operating system has often been a struggle.

While praising the improvements Apple has made to its iOS SDK over time, the wide availability of Android poses unique challenges to developers. "Though Android is one of three strategic mobile markets for PopCap, it's been a challenge because of the breadth and variance of devices," he explains.

However, Bishop admits: "Light is at the end of the tunnel." Indeed, PopCap has just released Plants Vs Zombies and Chuzzle for Android, and has partnered with Amazon, with its games exclusive on the retailer's Android download store for two weeks. Peggle is set to follow.

Bishop spoke to us as part of a feature, PopCap On Porting, in which he explains the firm's approach to cross-platform development - and his thoughts on developers who use virtual D-pads in iPhone games.