8 Free Open Source Game Engines For Android Game Development

Want to make 3D games for mobile platforms? These should help! 

Game engines give developers the tools required to pull the several elements of a game together into one unit. With mobile gaming picking up, more developers are paying attention to Android and iOS platforms. So, keeping that in mind, here are eight free gaming engines that you can use for your next game! 1. Alien3D: This is an OpenGL ES-based game engine for the Android operating system that is available for free. Language: Java Platforms: Android Price: Free License: Apache License 2.0 (Open Source) 2. AllBinary Platform: This is another OpenGL ES-based game engine that can be used for Android games. The ZeptoRacer 3D game was developed on this. Language: Java Platforms: Android HTML5 Price: Free License: AllBinary Open License Version 1 (Open Source) 3. AndEngine: This free 2D OpenGL-based game engine was used to design games like Spaceman Bob, Man vs Mosquito, Xelorians, Save the Earth and many others. Language: Java 2D games Platforms: Android Price: Free License: Apache license (Open Source) 4. Android Box2d: This rigid 2D body physics engine has been written in C++ and is an open source engine available for free. Language: Java Platforms: Android Price: Free License: GNU GPL v2 (Open Source) 5. Android GL Engine: This engine, coded in Java, can be used in order to develop 2D games for Google’s Android operating system. Language: Java Platforms: Android Price: Free License: GNU Lesser General Public License (Open Source) 6. App Game Kit: This game engine allows you to code once and then run your game on multiple platforms. It has been used for games like App-In-Ball Pinball Simulator for Android and Big Guys for iPhone. Language: C++ Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Price: Free Trial License: Proprietary 7. Ardor3D: Using this engine, you can run your games on computer platforms as well. These include Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris. The engine supports both Java and OpenGL. Language: Java Platforms: Android Price: Free License: libpng/zlib license (Open Source) 8. BatteryTech Engine: This engine can again be used for a variety of mobile platforms like Android, iOS and others. It provides direct access to several XCode and Android projects and uses many open standards. You can use it for both 2D and 3D games. Language: C++ Platforms: iPhone, Android Price: Free License: Proprietary

Shivam Kotwalia, CodeKill

Screenlogger - A keylogger app for Android and iOS Smartphones

Are you using a pattern lock for your Smartphone to remain untouched from cyber criminals? But you are not aware that even your swipe gestures can be analyzed by hackers.

Neal Hindocha, a security adviser for the technology company Trustwave, has developed a prototype malware for the Smartphones that works the same as a keylogger software for desktop.

The malware dubbed as ‘Screenlogging’, is capable of monitoring finger swipes on the screen of your smart devices in combination with taking screenshots to know exactly how the user is interacting with their phone or tablet, reported by Forbes.

The concept used by him is the same that of Keyloggers, a critical type of malware for cyber criminals, which records the input typed into the keyboard and can easily detect passwords for email, social media and of online bank accounts. In the same way the ‘Screenlogger’ take care of the inputs taped and swiped on the screen. It logs the X and Y coordinates where the user has touched the screen, so a hacker would know what the user is doing and on which application.

Hindocha says, “If you’re monitoring all touch events and the phone hasn’t been touched for at least one hour, then you get a minimum of four touch events, you can assume that is a PIN code being entered.”

He also added that “The more interesting thing is, if you get a screenshot and then overlay the touch events, you’re looking at a screenshot of what the user is seeing, combined with dots, sequentially, where the user is touching the screen.”

But the demonstration of Hindocha works only with the administrative privileges of the device i.e. On the jailbroken iOS and the rooted Android devices only. In order to install the malware, the device should be connected to a computer via USB cable. But this limitation don't mean to relax, because there are many similar vectors available to infect the device.

It would be estimated that the malicious version of the Proof-of-Concept app created by Hindocha, which is capable of tracking taps and swipes of the users’ Smartphone, a malicious hacker might be able to steal PINs, account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information easily.

Hindocha is planning to demonstrate his ‘Screenlogging’ malware at the upcoming RSA Security conference next month.

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Shivam Kotwalia, CodeKill