Playing the OUYA

Now that the technical stuff is out of the way, take a few minutes (or several) to play Canabalt and get a feel of how the OUYA performs. Despite being part of the console family, the OUYA varies from its siblings such as the PS3 and Xbox 360. The games are often smaller and less expensive than full triple-A titles because of the abundant indie presence. You'll notice a few features about Canabalt that are pretty typical among many OUYA games. These features are as follows:

• Arcade-oriented gameplay: This typically features simple mechanics that are easy to learn but offer a long progression of mastery

• Short game sessions/objectives: These objectives can be completed in less than five minutes but can also be continued if desired

• Score tracking/leaderboards: These allow players to see what they've accomplished and compare their score against others

Canabalt gameplay is shown in the following screenshot:

Many of the arcade games out for the OUYA are also available for iPhone or Android or have been ported from them. Canabalt HD is an improved version of the original game for iPhone, remade with 3D graphics for the OUYA. You'll be able to think about mobile development beyond the OUYA as well; the Unity engine has the ability to deploy any game to iOS and Android with minimal tweaks, so you can consider porting your OUYA game to mobile devices.