Google wants to bring HTML5 titles to low-end devices with GameSnacks

Google has announced a new HTML5 platform called GameSnacks that's designed to help devs bring quick, casual games to any device. 

Part of the company's Area 120 experimental project lab, GameSnacks promises to deliver HTML5 games that load quickly, even in slow network conditions on low-memory devices. 

Pointing to the fact that half of mobile site visitors leave a page if it takes over 3 seconds to load, Google claims that its GameSnacks title will load within a few seconds even in network conditions lower than 1 mbps. 

"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," explained the company on its blog.

"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."

To help ensure the platform is globally accessible, Google has partnered with leading Southeast Asian technology platform Gojek to bring GameSnacks games into the Gojek ecosystem through GoGames. Google hopes the partnership "will deliver more accessible gaming experiences" to users in the region, starting in Indonesia. 

The company has also issued a call to arms for HTML5 developers who think their project might be a good fit for the GameSnacks catalog. If that sounds like you, you should probably check out the GameSnacks website for more information.