Happy GDC! Today we’re announcing that we will continue to strengthen our support for the global independent developer community by introducing more tools and middleware solutions for PS4.
SCE has entered into strategic partnerships to bring new native solutions from popular middleware vendors GameMaker:Studio and MonoGame to PS4, further expanding an already robust set of development tools. We’re also announcing that fully integrated solutions for Unity are now available for PS3 and PS Vita, with the highly anticipated early access version for PS4 coming in April 2014. Unity, GameMaker:Studio and MonoGame represent the most popular game development tools leveraged by universities and independent developers alike, and are used for both prototyping and full-scale game development.
Jointly developed by SCE and YoYo Games, a GameMaker:Studio-native solution for PS4 is now available free for all SCE-licensed developers, making it even easier for developers to bring their 2D games to the more than 6 million global PS4 owners. Developers of beloved games like Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine, Samurai Gunn by Teknopants, Risk of Rain by Hopoo Games, Home by Benjamin Rivers and Nuclear Throne by Vlambeer are now able to more efficiently convert their titles from PC to PS4 as of a result of GameMaker:Studio’s native export capabilities.
MonoGame makes up the C#-based open-sourced engine suite available for licensed developers, and was first used in the development of Matt Makes Games’ acclaimed Towerfall: Ascension for PS4. In the coming months, MonoGame will also help bring Mercenary Kings (Tribute Games) and Transistor (Supergiant Games) to PS4.
We’re also announcing the release of SCE’s powerful game development tool Authoring Tools Framework as a free, open source download from the popular GitHub hosting site. SCE’s ATF is widely used within SCE to develop PS3, PS4, PS Vita and PSP titles such as The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls.
Today’s newly announced middleware solutions will join ATF and SCE’s graphics-rendering engine PhyreEngine. SCE-sponsored development tools are available for all licensed developer partners.
SCE continues to set a high benchmark across the industry for working with developers worldwide to bring the world’s greatest and most innovative games to PlayStation platforms, including improved processes, flexible policies and extensive resource support. With more than 100 games in development for PS4 from independent developers and more than 1,000 licensed self-publishers, PS4 will continue to be the most appealing platform for both developers and gamers.
For more information about developing games for PlayStation platforms, the tools and middleware available and our support of the development community, please visit us.playstation.com/develop.
