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Google is making it easier for more games to come to Chromecast

Google is making it easier for more games to come to Chromecast

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So long as they were built with Unity

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Google wants more mobile game developers to create versions of their apps for TVs, and today the company released a free tool for developers using the Unity game engine to do that without having to design separate software. The Google Cast Remote Display plugin, as it's called, will make the process of streaming a game from a mobile device to a TV easier via the company's inexpensive Chromecast device. This way, developers only have to configure the game for a larger screen and players should be able to "cast" it to the big screen the same way one would stream a Netflix show.

It makes sense for Google to cater to Unity developers. Unity is far and away the most widely used game design toolkit in the world due mostly to its ease of use for creating and running mobile games. But Google has a few words of advice on game design. For instance, developers should create TV experiences that don't require the user to look back and forth between screens too often, Google says. It also urges developers to think about how to smartly map control schemes — like letting a mobile device become a motion controller — so users can more comfortably play. The company released a set of design guidelines today to ensure developers take these rules into account and use the Remote Display plugin in a consistent manner.