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Wooga's HTML5 project Pocket Island goes open source

Looking to drive standard forward

Wooga's HTML5 project Pocket Island goes open source
Social gaming specialist Wooga has announced its making HTML5 release Pocket Island open source in order to encourage and inspire the development community.

The game, which originally launched on Facebook's mobile app platform as Magic Land Island, is now freely available to all, with the firm looking to power HTML5 development forward by allowing others to make the most of the game's APIs.

Helping HTML5

Indeed, while Wooga isn't waving the white flag in regards to HTML5, the company admits there's a big gap between the performance of native releases on smartphones and web-based games that utilise the standard.

Since launch in October, 1.3 million people have played Pocket Island. That compares to the more than 18 million downloads iOS release Diamond Dash has amassed.



Comparing the two titles further, Wooga claims 5 percent of users come back to play HTML5 release Pocket Island the following day.
Diamond Dash, it's stated, boasts a 50 percent day to day retention rate.

Time will tell

Wooga's move comes weeks after Glu CEO Niccolo de Masi claimed it'll be five or ten years before HTML5 is a viable platform for developers working on big mobile releases.

"With some of the most talented software engineers in the industry working on the project here at Wooga, we're confident that the community will find lots to learn within Pocket Island and use our experience to progress the technology even further," said co-founder and CTO Philipp Moeser of the move.

"HTML5 certainly has the potential to be a complete game changer, but the technology isn't there yet."
Pocket Island has also been launched on the App Store so – in Wooga's words - "curious engineers can experience the game's most recent iteration" before taking on the code behind the HTML5 version.

Developers are also encouraged to post their code on Pocket Island's official GitHub page.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.