Tizen is an open source embedded OS based on the Linux kernel designed to be used in a variety of devices, the most relevant to game developers are Smart TVs and mobile phones. It came to life out of a home grown OS project at Samsung called Bada. To date the majority of devices that run Tizen are from Samsung including the Z1 and Z3 smart phones, Gear 2 smart watch and the JU6500 4K smart TV, although other manufacturers are part of the committee. Basically you can think of Tizen as Samsung’s hedge against Android should something go wrong with that platform.
So… why does this matter to you as game developers? Well Tizen just announced a contest with some pretty simple rules and $9million in prizes. Basically over a 9 month period, the top 100 apps in the Tizen app store will get $10,000. So if you manage to have a top 100 app for the entire duration of the contest, you will make a cool $90,000 on top of any other revenue you make from app sales. While the Tizen app store may not be the biggest in the world, a $10,000 monthly incentive is sure to draw developer interest.
Details of the contest:
HOW TO
PARTICIPATE
- 1.Develop a Tizen application or game using TIZEN SDK & Tools (http://developer.tizen.org) The target devices should be Samsung Z1, Samsung Z2, Samsung Z3 and further smart phones launch in the 2017.
- 2.You need to join the Tizen Store seller office
(http://seller.tizenstore.com) first and follow the instructions on the website to register your applications.- 3.Visit the incentive program website, which will be opened on the early of January 2017, and register your app with its basic information.
TIMELINE
- Participation Registration Period
- Early of Jan, 2017 – Oct 31, 2017 (GMT)
- Program Duration
- Feb 1, 2017 at 00:00 – Oct 31, 2017 at 23:59(GMT)
INCENTIVE
REWARDS
- Prize
- $10,000 for top 100 apps every month(The reward can be provided at once per a app)
- Judging Criteria
- Every month, the 100 eligible applications that have
been downloaded the most times on Tizen Store.(Detailed rules will be released in January 2017)
Tizen support is available in several game engines including Unity, Cocos2d-x, GameSalad, OpenFL and GameMaker.