SteamBirds comes out on top in indiePub's inaugural mobile games contest

Call it the games equivalent of The X Factor, the winners of the first indiePub mobile games competition have been announced, with Android dogfighter SteamBirds taking home the top trophy.

The contest, which was designed to showcase the lessor known stars of the mobile arena, charged developers with nominating their wares between July and November, with a cash prize of $25,000 and the possibility of a publishing deal acting as a particularly large carrot on a stick.

SteamBirds was accredited for its clean presentation, with indiePub praising developers Spryfox and Radial Games for the game's "well planned audio and strong replay value".

Games galore

In total, five games have been honoured by the competition, with SteamBirds' accolade backed up by a win in the art category for iOS release PLEXXR, top audio title Spark It Up on Android, iOS design star SKWER and Android release Hero Mages, which was named as the best game in the technical excellence category.

"Given the immense popularity of mobile games among consumers and developers alike, it was a natural step for indiePub to introduce a contest dedicated to this space," said Mark Seremet, CEO of indiePub's parent company Zoo Entertainment, which sponsored the event.

"The variety of submissions we received for iOS, Android and other platforms clearly point to strong developer enthusiasm for great mobile game experiences regardless of the smart phone customers prefer.

"We congratulate all of the contestants and winners of this year’s inaugural mobile games competition on the originality and creativity of their impressive submissions."

All five games can be played on indiePub's website, with full details of the winners available on Zoo Entertainment's website.