GDC: Palm release games dev kit

Palm Inc has released a public beta of the Palm webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK), available from the Palm Developer Center.

The PDK works alongside the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK), letting studios use C and C++ along with the web technologies that power the SDK, and mix them in a single app.

The kit enables 3D graphics and gives developers who have built games for other platforms a method of bringing their titles to the webOS platform.

Studios can download the beta PDK to begin developing, but distribution of games built with the beta PDK will require functionality said to be in an upcoming Palm webOS update.

Palm has introduced several games built by leading developers with access to the PDK, including Assassin’s Creed – Altair’s Chronicles and Brain Challenge from Gameloft, Deer Hunter 3D and Guitar Hero 5 Mobile from Glu Mobile; Monopoly and Need for Speed Undercover from EA Mobile and eight titles in the X-Plane series from Laminar Research.

“The Palm webOS PDK is powerful and far-reaching, as evidenced by the number of titles we’ve been able to bring to the webOS platform in a very short time,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, Americas, Gameloft.