GameSnacks wants to bring fun, bite-sized, HTML5 games to new audiences on Google and partner sites and apps. As we grow the platform we’re open to a wide variety of genres and types of gameplay to fit the interests of our audiences. We have a strong emphasis on quality. All GameSnacks games must pass a comprehensive testing and approvals process that covers the technical features of games, content checks, and quality assurance.
Here are some high-level guidelines to help you understand what we’re looking for on the GameSnacks platform and determine if your games are a good fit.
Game characteristics
- GameSnacks is for small, high-performance H5 games implemented using standard web technologies (Javascript, Canvas, WebGL, etc.).
- Single-player, portrait-optimized or responsive games are currently the best fit for GameSnacks.
- Multiplayer games that require their own backends are not supported at this time.
- Games should be easy to understand and fun to play, but not necessarily easy to master.
- Games should be engaging and intuitive to play. They should enable regular progress / achievements and should not be too repetitive.
- Games should load in less than 5 seconds.
- Games should include in-game instructions (in English) and onboarding where appropriate. Otherwise, text should be minimized within the game.
- Players should not have to read text to advance through the game.
- When possible, use symbols and visual tutorials instead of text. For example: show a finger making an action instead of using text to describe the action.
- GameSnacks is open to a variety of genres and types of games.
Ads and monetization
- You must have all applicable rights to distribute and monetize your games including all of the content within them (e.g., music, brands, logos, product names, organizations, etc.).
- Games should offer a continuous, uninterrupted, experience of core gameplay with adequate opportunities to show interstitial and rewarded ads which must be configured using the GameSnacks Developer SDK.
- You must ensure your games provide enough opportunities to show ads, so that both you and GameSnacks distribution partners can generate sustainable revenue.
- Games that have too few opportunities for monetization may not be approved for distribution. However, this doesn’t mean that we’ll always show an ad. GameSnacks will carefully balance ad load, engagement, and player experience.
- To ensure that we can fairly disburse revenue to all of the stakeholders in the GameSnacks ecosystem, no other forms of promotion or monetization should be included in a GameSnacks game. This includes in-game payments, sponsorships and product placements, social media prompts, and links that take players to external games, sites or other content.
Technical considerations
- Your games should run well on a range of browsers including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox and platforms including iOS, Android (WebViews and Chrome Custom Tabs), and Windows.
- Games must load quickly, be frugal with bandwidth, and run well on a wide range of devices including lower-end devices that are common in developing markets.
- Games should be entirely self-contained and must not use any script or resource that is not included in the archive bundle uploaded to Google’s servers.
Additional guidelines and best practices
- For the complete technical requirements for GameSnacks, refer to the GameSnacks game design guidelines.
- For detailed content considerations for your games, review the GameSnacks content best practices.
Note: GameSnacks is still in development and only available to a limited number of early partners right now. If you're interested in learning about future availability or being considered for early access opportunities, please complete the GameSnacks interest form.