2 Pinoy-made multiplayer mobile games you should check out
Sharing fantastic video game worlds with other people is always exhilarating, which is why multiplayer gaming is so popular.
Filipino game developers are well aware of this; after all, games such as “Project Xandata,” “Garrison: Archangel,” and “Bayani: Kanino Ka Kakampi?” are already on their way to the PC.
Not to be outdone, mobile game developers are busying themselves creating similar experiences for iOS and Android devices. Take, for instance, the following two titles.

1. Wrecking Grounds
Cereal Box Creations’ “Wrecking Grounds” is an online multiplayer action game that asks one thing of players: defeat your opponents by picking stuff up and throwing it at them.
While it’s a simple enough goal, you can employ a range of tactics to secure victory; the game boasts a rich variety of items, from those that can be weaponized to those that grant you positive buffs. Matches take place in any of the many available (and upcoming) maps, and can consist of up to a whopping eight players.
But as intense “Wrecking Grounds” can be, it’s funny, too, thanks to the cute 3D graphics and wacky high jinks.
Cereal Box Creations’ programmer, Jhomy Joash Llaneza, grew up loving and wanting to create video games and when he finally had the opportunity to realize his dreams, he spent a year sharpening his game development skills on different platforms. Then he messaged his friend, Segi Tuazon, showed him the games he was working on, and asked if he could fund Llaneza.
"He agreed and we formed Cereal Box Creations.”
Their goal as developers, Llaneza says, is to share stories in their brain in the form of games. "We also want to show the beauty of Filipino culture to other nations by making games.”
Tuazon originally suggested throwing things at each other as “Wrecking Grounds’” main gameplay feature.
“We had a scenario in our head like if you’re having a bad day at work and you just want to throw stuff at your annoying officemate or your boss but you can’t really do that so you’ll just have to play the game,” said Llaneza.
The team felt it of utmost importance to go the legit route and avoid using pirated software. As they didn’t have the funds to purchase a Maya license, however, Llaneza had to resort to learning how to use Blender to create the game’s 3D assets.
Because it was also Llaneza’s first experience developing a multiplayer game, he encountered many challenges along the way:
“It took me months of reading Unet API, stack overflow and Unet tutorials to implement the gameplay with multiplayer. It was so hard to be stuck on a problem because I would feel helpless since I was the only one developing the game. It’s a good thing that people on the internet are very helpful on explaining things that I couldn’t understand.”
Eventually, Llaneza managed to surmount all obstacles – including setting aside his own ego:
“It was a challenge I embraced as it pushed me to be a better developer. I learned to accept help and guidance from anyone who was willing to extend their hand.”
Though “Wrecking Grounds” has already launched on the Google Play Store, Cereal Box Creations plans to continue improving it. In addition, the team is already considering following it up with a first-person shooter or a platformer.
Visit Cereal Box Creation’s official website for more information.

2. Pets Race
Kooapps’ “Pets Race” is an online multiplayer PvP racing game starring adorable critters. It’s like an exhilarating combination of a side-scrolling auto-runner and “Mario Kart,” complete with items you can use on yourself or against your opponents.
“Our main intent is to redefine the mobile racing game genre with ‘Pets Race,’” said Kooapps’ Samsara Pagaduan.
“Most of us in the team, if not all, love racing and grew up playing various racing games, especially ‘Mario Kart,’ and this is why we want to bring the same experience to mobile,” explained Pagaduan.
“Pets Race is emotionally inspired by ‘Mario Kart,’ but since we’re also animal lovers, we revolved the theme of the game around our love of pets,” she added.
“Pets Race” is not Kooapps’ first racing title. In the early App Store era of 2009- 2011, they released “Snail Race,” which reached #3 on App Store’s overall free apps. In 2012, they launched the 3D multiplayer “Zoo Kart,” which was closer to “Mario Kart” in gameplay.
“We made ‘Snail Race’ in a few weeks so we never thought ‘Pets Race’ would take us four years,” stated Pagaduan. “The initial art direction took eight months since we had hundreds of concepts.
"A year later, we had to redesign the entire game. On the development side, the initial single-player prototype took two weeks but a multiplayer prototype took six months and another three years to innovate/polish.”
Due to high latency and packet loss, synchronous gaming is more difficult on mobiles than on PCs or consoles. “To overcome this challenge, we spent years researching different multiplayer architectures,” Pagaduan said.
A lot of effort also went into level and item design:
“We purposely design our levels to have less verticality and easier paths so that most players are in the same screen and can focus more on interactions instead of jumping platforms. We believe the funniest moments are when you interact with other players via your items.”
“Pets Race” has already been nominated and featured in several international game awards and conferences. It became an Indie Prize Finalist and received a Best Family Game nomination at Casual Connect USA 2017. It got nominated in the 2nd International Mobile Gaming Awards Southeast Asia 2017. It was a Best Racing Game Finalist in the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2017 in the UK.
Kooapps will be one of the entrants for International Game Festival IGF 2018. They will also showcase “Pets Race” at Taipei Game Show 2018.
“We're very overwhelmed with all the nominations and recognitions that ‘Pets Race’ is getting,” admitted Pagaduan. “It’s rewarding to see that after the long journey in creating the game, people are enjoying it and we captured all the emotions and memorable moments we wanted to. It also makes us proud that Filipino talents are being recognized. We want to share it to our kababayans and let them know that the Philippines is making waves in the international game development industry.”
In addition to working on new games, Kooapps will continue to improve “Pets Race” by adding new features.
“Pets Race” is available for Android devices. An iOS version will eventually be released.
Visit Kooapps’ Facebook page for more information. — LA, GMA News