The series of car racing games has more than 6 million downloads

Jun 18, 2014 03:01 GMT  ·  By

Developer Ratrod Studio has just announced that it has brought its highly acclaimed Drift Mania series of games to Windows Phone 8.1 platform. Although the new operating system has yet to be officially released, there are lots of early adopters who have decided to install the Developer Preview.

They will be pleased to know that all Drift Mania games are now compatible with their devices, even if they have upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview.

The Canadian studio represented by Pat Toulouse was kind enough to share some thoughts with Microsoft’s Windows blog on the reason why bringing the series of car racing games to Windows Phone 8.1 devices was a good decision and why other developers should follow his example.

According to Toulouse, the reason that he was able to bring his games to Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows in such a short time was the help that Unity offered to indie developers.

“Unity succeeds because it listens to indie developers and supports us with great resources and platform partnerships. Being able to publish to multiple platforms helps us to maximize our revenue and our reach. In a few years, apps will all have to be multi-platform, and with Unity, we’ve gotten a head start as a cross-platform development studio,” said Toulouse.

He also confirmed that while it could take up to one year for a new game to be released on Windows Phone, he only spent a few days porting the games to Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1

“When Unity and Microsoft partnered, it was exciting to see the Windows and Windows Phone stores open to us. Overnight, we were able to reach millions of Windows customers worldwide. Our first Unity title to hit the Windows Phone Store was Drift Mania Championship 2,” added Toulouse.

The Canadian developer is also pretty excited with the new features included in Windows Phone 8.1, which offers more development possibilities.

For example, Toulouse confirmed that the studio would use the word flow keyboard to offer users more flexibility. He can now link the Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 apps so that players can purchase the game on one platform and use it on all their other devices.

In-app purchases from one platform to another will also be sharable. The fact that users will be able to auto-update their games is another plus for Windows Phone 8.1, as well as the Live Tile improvements, which will allow players to preview their game progress in their phone and get notified of upcoming in-game events.

“I encourage developers to create partnerships. I have extensive experience in advert gaming, so I try to tie our titles in with big brands. They help promote our games, and in return, our games help promote their brands and products. It’s a win-win, and we stand out from the other apps by being more authentic,” concluded Toulouse.