AirConsole: Creating Local Multiplayer Games Using Smartphones as Controllers (White Nights Moscow 2015)

1. White Nights - Moscow 15
Please switch on your phone!

2. / Who are we?
● Founded in 2015
● Based in Zurich
● Raised 1.35 million CHF
Francois: Senior Software Engineer
Rafael: Product Manager
+4 more fantastic people:
Andrin (CEO), Chin (Pixel Art), Martina & Alice (Game Devs)
White Nights - Moscow 15

3. / The next-gen online game console
● Your browser is the console, your smartphone is the gamepad.
● Everything is browser based. No additional hardware or apps are required.
● Easy to get started.
● Free to play.
White Nights - Moscow 15

4. / Let’s play
Visit www.airconsole.com and insert the code.
Please don’t press the home button.
White Nights - Moscow 15

5. / Pre-Launch
● First prototype: Feb 2015
● Team: Jun 2015
● Release date: 4th Sep 2015
● Launch with 6 titles
Goals:
● To collect excellent first impressions from players
● Stress tested infrastructure
● Game showcases
● API ready
White Nights - Moscow 15

6. / Launch
We had our launch checklist:
● Make sure the infrastructure is working and can scale
● Fix all last minute bugs
● Talk to the press (We did not have a press release or press kit)
● Share the link on social media
● Tell friends, etc…
And then we left for lunch...
White Nights - Moscow 15

7. ”Airconsole beat Apple to making
great multiplayer mobile games”
White Nights - Moscow 15

8. / Learning outcomes
What went well:
● Initial product design
● UX
What didn’t go so well:
● Complex controllers
● Small library size

9. AirConsole/Tech_Part
“A very good integration of cutting edge technologies”
White Nights - Moscow 15

10. / Tech-Stack overview
White Nights - Moscow 15

11. / Challenge
Encourage devs to create games, which run on
AirConsole.
… or when you have to become a one-dev-
army.
White Nights - Moscow 15

12. / What to expect?
● A simple API
● Show examples
● Have a complete and good documentation
● Easy testing in the frameworks context
● Support
● Focus on game development!
● Community
White Nights - Moscow 15

13. / JS API and Documentation
Documentation website = support net
http://developers.airconsole.com
Simple Javascript API
(< 12 methods)
White Nights - Moscow 15

14. / Support & More Plugins
More feedback:
● Better Documentation website
● less time spent for support
http://developers.airconsole.com
White Nights - Moscow 15

15. / Out of the box testing
www.airconsole.com/simulator/#debug:http://game-url
White Nights - Moscow 15

16. / We want you to focus on your game!
● Autoscaling infrastructure on different continents.
● Provide game servers (handle device connections)
● Tackle phone issues for you (keep alive, rotation,
display bugs, fullscreen)
● Provide open-source libraries to get you started:
○ buttons, controllers, leaderboard …
● Publish platform: Game store
White Nights - Moscow 15

17. / Technical Limitations
● Old smartphones
● Amount of buttons
● Limited performance for browser games
● Latency
White Nights - Moscow 15

18. / Questions?
@AirConsole | www.airconsole.com
White Nights - Moscow 15