Niantic Lab’s mobile game ‘Pokémon Go’ is quickly gaining popularity – here is some of the software that went into its creation.
The recent release of Niantic Lab’s mobile game ‘Pokémon Go’ has generated quite the buzz. The game not only captures the attention of nostalgic millennials looking to ‘catch them all’, but also new generations that were born too early or too late to be part of the original Pokémon frenzy by offering futuristic, augmented-reality capabilities.
The tools that created Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go is built on Google App Engine‘s platform as a service (PaaS) which provides the game with a mobile backend.
Google Cloud Datastore
Niantic Labs stores and indexes Pokémon Go’s data from the game using Google Cloud Datastore‘s NoSQL database management software.
Libgdx
The game tool software product Libgdx is utilized as the app’s framework, and uses Java, C++, and C# as the programming languages.
Unity
Pokémon Go also uses the game engine software product Unity to help create the massive multiplayer online game (MMO) world that builds off real-world maps.
Google Analytics
To measure and gain insights on how Pokémon Go is performing with its users, Niantic uses the digital analytics software product Google Analytics.
Docker
Niantic uses Docker to maintain and monitor the reliability of their servers and server releases, and overall container management software concerns.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is another container management software that Niantic uses to maintain the reliability of the Pokemon GO servers.
Additional platforms that helped build Pokémon Go
Other cutting-edge technologies went into the making of Pokémon Go as well. Niantic Lab’s was able to utilize new augmented reality features that allow players to see Pokémon in the wild via the camera on their smartphones. Additionally the game uses GPS features on iPhone and Android devices by mapping and following player movement in real time, allowing players to stumble on different types of Pokémon in different places. While these technologies are not yet broadly used across the mobile game industry, the successful release of Pokémon Go will help these technologies evolve into the mainstream.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2016 and was updated in July 2017 to include Docker and Kubernetes, which were previously not included.
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by Devin Pickell
by Sagar Joshi
