Ever since Google introduced Google Play Games as the backend platform for developers to incorporate awesome features into their games, like multiplayer and leaderboards for example, the gaming experience form the user perspective has been infinitely better. We’re seeing more and more games get released with Play Games services built in, and the updates to the Play Games API and tools for developers is a direct result of that, making it easier for developers to make better, and more awesome games that users will want to play and keep playing. Google has continued to add new features to the Google Play Games platform and it looks like they might be adding even more features in soon with Quests Alerts and Snapshots.
According to Android Police, Snapshots is a feature that will be built into Google Play Games that could relate somewhat to cloud saves statuses within games. If this is the case, than that would make developing the game to be played across multiple devices a whole lot easier, and ultimately a lot more enjoyable for the gamers. Cloud saves aren’t entirely unheard of in games on the Play Store, as I’m personally switching back and forth between playing Warhammer 40K: Carnage on both my Nexus 4 and an HTC One M8. This kind of feature is not very prominent in games though and would ultimately be a very welcomed tool to both the developer and the person playing their game. Square Enix is a developer who could play close attention here.
When it comes to Quest Alerts, the feature almost speaks for itself. Quests are something that are found throughout tons of the mobile games most of us play today. They’re immediately present in most or any games that have some kind of an RPG element, although they don’t all play out the same or feel the same, but they’re there. If Google is to be incorporating Quest Alerts into Google Play Games, users may get notifications for various things regarding to quests within a certain game like the level status of characters, as well as plenty of information about when quests may be available and when you have completed them or even the duration of quests. Helping developers expand on the use of quests within games is a great move. Both these features could only stand to give the gaming experience on Android a richer feel to it, so here’s to hoping it gets implemented soon. Perhaps we could hear about this at Google I/O?