GameSnacks brings quick, casual games to any device

Look around on the bus, in line at a coffee shop, or even at the doctor’s office. You’ll likely see people playing games on their phones—and they’re a few of the two billion people around the world who are doing it. Unfortunately, many games (especially web games) don’t load well on low memory devices and 2G or 3G networks that hundreds of millions of people rely on.

Today, we’re announcing GameSnacks to help address this problem. Part of Area 120, Google’s lab for experimental projects, our goal is to make HTML5 games more accessible for phones on any network in the world. GameSnacks games are fast, easy to play, and available on any device that lets you connect to the internet. 

Additionally, people in Indonesia can soon access GameSnacks games though Gojek, a leading super app in southeast Asia. Let’s explore how GameSnacks works for users and developers.

Web games are slow for many people

Take a look at how a typical web game loads on a 1 GB RAM phone on a 3G network, which is what hundreds of millions of people around the world use: 

Over half of mobile site visitors leave a page if it takes too long to load, but this game took 12 seconds. 

GameSnacks games are easy to play and fast loading

Fortunately for many users, GameSnacks games can load within a few seconds in network conditions slower than 1 Mbps, which tens of millions of people worldwide experience. For instance, Tower, a popular GameSnacks game, is quickly ready to play on the same 1 GB RAM device connected to 3G from earlier:

Our Area 120 team works with developers to achieve fast performance by reducing the size of the initially-loaded HTML page, compressing additional assets such as scripts, images, and sounds, and waiting to load them until necessary.

Next, let’s look at the design of the games. GameSnacks games are simple, fun and ideal for casual gamers. Games only last for a few minutes, and have straightforward rules that can be learned without instructions. GameSnacks games are accessible on any web-capable device. Each game supports touch, keyboard, and mouse controls and can be played on Android, iOS, and desktop devices.

GameSnacks games will be in Gojek

We’ve also partnered with Gojek to bring GameSnacks games into the Gojek ecosystem through GoGames. Gojek is a leading technology platform in Southeast Asia focused on removing life’s daily frictions. Through this partnership, we’ll deliver more accessible gaming experiences to Southeast Asian users, starting in Indonesia.

Our team is always looking to add more high quality games to the GameSnacks game catalog. If you’re an HTML5 game developer interested in building fast-loading games for people around the world, please contact us. 

Additionally, if you develop an app that could embed GameSnacks games, please reach out. GameSnacks games can help entertain your users and increase the likelihood that they come back to your app. The presentation of the games can also be customized to feel native to your app.