The battle lines drawn up between mobile OSes make the prospect of any official means for cross-platform play most likely impossible.

That hasn't stopped inventive outsiders from having a crack at deploying their own solutions, however.

The latest firm to try its hand is US developer Digital Harmony Games, with the social studio lifting the lid on its cross-platform technology development engine Harmony Tech.

Harmonious solution

The engine, soon to debut in beta form and being used in the developer's own Dragons vs Unicorns game, facilitates cross platform play between smartphones, tablets and web browsers.

 

Interestingly, it offers an alternative to the current turn-based systems employed by most social platforms – a model the studio itself compares to sending and receiving a text message.

"The game industry today offers plenty of high quality development engines to choose from but unfortunately, there is no technology that enables real-time, multiplayer capabilities across all smartphone, tablet, and browser platforms," said CEO Jeff Lujan.

"An iPhone user can only play in real time with another iPhone user, but we don’t feel that is true social connectivity.

"Digital Harmony's patent-pending Harmony Tech paired with our cross-platform designed games, is set to revolutionise the social games space while adding value to, not only games, but all industries that utilise mobile, browser, and tablet devices."

The beta itself will roll out later in 2011, with developers able to sign up via the Digital Harmony website.



[source: Digital Harmony Games]