The top 50 developers of 2011: 40 to 31

Considering the thousands of publishers and developers who have released mobile games during 2010, the task of picking out the relatively small number of 50 as being 'top' may seem to be a Sisyphean exercise.

Yet, that process provides a wealth of useful information, while the rigor of directly comparing companies forces us to think about what we mean by the term 'top developers'.

In terms of the this ranking, we used metrics such as sales performance, critical acclaim of releases, innovation in terms of business approach, and the number and range of titles released during 2010.

The full list - produced in conjunction with mobile cross platform SDK and infrastructure company Scoreloop - will be revealed daily in the Top 50 Developers of 2011 section.

40. Godzilab
Down 9 places

French start up Godzilab charmed the App Store with its arty puzzling debut iBlast Moki in 2009, but while that game gained plenty of fans, it was less successful commercially. The developer's second game, StarDunk, seemed likely to follow a similar trajectory. Yet once the online multiplayer basketball-in-space title went freemium, with players spending cash to get special balls or remove the ads, downloads shot past the two million mark. And demonstrating it could do more than just iOS, the studio ported iBlast Moki to Windows Phone 7, while iPad fans got the opportunity of an HD version too.

39. NaturalMotion Games
New entry

Originally something of a side project from its eponymous parent company, which makes character animation middleware, NaturalMotion Games kickstarted its operations with the 2009 release of the Ideaworks-developed Backbreaker for iPhone. The game has since gone on to sell over three million units: something that proved to be fundamental to the company's formation. Ideaworks also worked on the 2010 Backbreaker sequel, while the Oxford-based studio experienced its own App Store debut with intensive physics release Jenga. The establishment of a new London studio promises substantial expansion in 2011, while ice hockey game Icebreaker is due soon.

38. HandyGames
New entry

German publisher HandyGames built its reputation as a funnel for quality Java games, especially its Townsmen series, but during 2010, it became a proper smartphone developer, mixing up genre titles with quality releases, and gaining an enthusiasm for freemium in the process. Indeed, it really took to the free ad-funded model with its Mexican-themed tower defence game Guns'n'Glory gaining two million downloads across iOS, Android and Ovi, while the company did over five million downloads on the reinvigorated Ovi Store. In 2011, its target is an ambitious 100 million downloads of its catalog over all mobile platforms.

37. Bolt Creative
Down 34 places

There's no doubt Pocket God was one of 2009's key games, and while two-man developer Bolt Creative continued to constantly update it during 2010, gaining more sales and a listing on Apple's top selling iPhone game chart, the stresses of building out a wider business were evident too. Yet it's to the company's credit it overcame, releasing the all-new iPad version of the game Pocket God: Journey To Uranus in December, rolled Pocket God onto Facebook, as well as working with ngmoco on the Android release, which was released during the year. Comic books were just another media outlet.

36. Neon Play
New entry

It's now part of legend that UK studio Neon Play was the developer of Paper Glider, which just happened to be the ten billionth app to be downloaded from the Apple App Store. Yet, more significant for the start up were the figures that within seven months of foundation, its games had been downloaded over seven million times, of which four titles had been downloaded over a million times each. It was also first to kick off the World Cup meme of football games with Flick Football title, while its work for hire projects extended to official apps for UK comedians Al Murray, Dom Joly and Armstrong & Miller.

35. Matt Rix
New entry

One-man developers can still make a big impact on the App Store as demonstrated by Canadian developer Matt Rix. His colour puzzle game Trainyard is a beautiful example of clean design and compelling gameplay, but much more than making a game, the ability to solve puzzles multiple ways, combined with the opportunity for gamers to upload their solutions to a central website, has generated a community that's super-charged engagement and sales. To-date, the Lite version of Trainyard (which contains its own set of 60 unique puzzles) has been downloaded almost four million times, while over one million user solutions have been uploaded.

34. Gameprom
New entry

Previously building its reputation with three iPhone pinball games - Wild West Pinball, The Deep Pinball and Jungle Style Pinball - Russian developer Gameprom leapt onto iPad with Pinball HD, bringing together those games in one release. The result was very successful, with Pinball HD one of the few games to be listed in Apple's top grossing iPad chart for 2010. Of course, pricing was an issue, with the at-launch $2.99 title spending some time at 99c before stabilising at $1.99. It's remained in the iPad top 100 top grossing games throughout however, underlining the appeal of pinball and the quality of the experience.

33. Spacetime Studios
New entry

Launched with the iPad, and then rolled out onto iPhone (and eventually Android), Texas developer Spacetime Studios' mobile MMOG Pocket Legends was formed from the team's previous experience at PC online specialist NCsoft. Labelled the first 3D persistent online game for iOS, Pocket Legends finished the year with one million iOS downloads and 125,000 on Android, demonstrating the hardcore nature of a certain segment of the mobile audience. Aside from the game, Spacetime's other achievement was building the technology that enables the game work over wi-fi, Edge and 3G networks. In that context, its Spacetime Engine equips it for future adventures.

32. Gamerizon
New entry

Canadian studio Gamerizon might not yet be a well known iOS developer, but its first four Chop Chop games have been downloaded over one million times each, while the series total (free and paid), is now over nine million in less than 10 months. In many respects its winning formula is simple: casual one-finger gameplay, consistent and appealing graphics, and a 99c price point for both iPhone and iPad. But it's the ability to maintain momentum while building up a community that marks Gamerizon out. Indeed, its ambition is to have 20 games released and 40 million downloads by the end of 2011.

31. Lima Sky
Down 21 places

The issue of what you do next when you've developed one of the most popular iPhone games ever is one that an increasing number of developers are having to deal with. Thanks to Doodle Jump, Lima Sky is the originator of that particular issue. For most of 2010, the two brother team continued to do what they do best: supporting their fans by updating their game with additional levels, themes and items. For the record, the total update count is now up to 28, and that's one of the reasons it's the all-time top paid iPhone app on the US App Store.

You can see the full Top 50 Developers of 2011 list as it's revealed here.