Indie developers looking to secure outside support for smartphone projects aren't short of options.

Following on from Gamevil's announcement that it is to invest $10 million in securing new titles from third parties, Halo developer Bungie has unveiled a new venture designed to bring games from indie studios to market.

The Bungie Aerospace partnership program will be pitched at mobile and social platforms, with Bungie selecting studios and handing them access to the development resources they need, including the Bungie.net platform.

Getting big with Bungie

"Bungie has always been passionate about making and playing great games, regardless of platform," said COO Pete Parsons.

"Bungie Aerospace will allow us to explore game creation in multiple formats with some amazingly talented teams.

"Now that we've returned to our roots as an independent studio, we are in a position to launch Bungie Aerospace to support, foster, and elevate like-minded, independent developers."

First steps

The first fruits of the new program will hit iOS and Android this sumer, in the form of Harebrained Schemes' Crimson.

The developer is headed up by Jordan Weisman, who was behind Halo 2's 'I Love Bees' marketing campaign, as well as the MechWarrior and Shadowrun universes.

Bungie Aerospaces comes on the back of an increased interest in mobile platforms from the studio, signified by the launch of its first iOS app – Bungie.net Mobile – and the reveal of its first game on the platform, a port of Marathon on iPad.

[source: Bungie]