LayaBox ( Souyou Network Technology Beijing Co., Ltd.), also named ''Laya'', is a Chinese-developed

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...

framework which includes an HTML5 game engine named LayaAir which targets mobile and web platforms,LayaBox official website
/ref> as well as online publishing and

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other s ...

services. First announced on the Global Mobile Game Confederation in March 2015, it offers a feature set for developing multi-platform games. Currently a hundred games officially use Laya engine solutions. The ''LayaPublish'' module is available to publish games made with it to various platforms.

History

Founded in 2014 by Xie ChengHong, LayaBox was at the start mainly focused on high-performance transcompiling

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...

game coded in ActionScript 3.0 to

HTML5 HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...

WebGL WebGL (Short for Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. WebGL is fully integrated with other web standards, allowing GPU-accelera ...

. It has since been extended to offer more tools and features for the developers with full support for commercialization. During the International Game Developers Conference held in November 2015, Xie ChengHong announced a new 3D engine is currently being developed. 30 June 2016, LayaAir 1.0 is published on official website, with 3D and VR support features.

Name and mascot

The name "''Layabox''" was inspired from Laya village, nestled at the foot of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. Logo's company, a shape of front primate face, referred to

Yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''

scalp The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the human face at the front, and by the neck at the sides and back. Structure The scalp is usually described as having five layers, which can conveniently be remembered as a mnemonic: * S: The ski ...

or fur. Another reason would be a Chinese play on words between ape (猿) and coders (程序员), which have the same pronunciation and writing in

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: «''yuán''».

Technology and features

The "Layabox Product Family" is a components suite solution designed to implement web/mobile game publishing, translating contents, profit monetization,

3rd party 3rd Party was an American three-member dance-pop group that released one album in 1997. They are best known for their ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charting dance hits "Can U Feel It" and "Love Is Alive". Background Lead singer Maria Christensen was ...

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

and

online distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other so ...

LayaFlash

LayaFlash is

source-to-source compiler A source-to-source translator, source-to-source compiler (S2S compiler), transcompiler, or transpiler is a type of translator that takes the source code of a program written in a programming language as its input and produces an equivalent sou ...

that runs as a back end to the

LLVM LLVM is a set of compiler and toolchain technologies that can be used to develop a front end for any programming language and a back end for any instruction set architecture. LLVM is designed around a language-independent intermediate repre ...

compiler, making it the most suitable for ActionScript 3.0 programmers to release on

platform. It is also fully compatible with Flash IDE such as FlashBuilder, FDT, FlashDevelop or LayaAir IDE.

LayaAir

LayaAir is a dedicated open-source

for games and multimedia routines modules. It can be integrated from different

ECMAScript ECMAScript (; ES) is a JavaScript standard intended to ensure the interoperability of web pages across different browsers. It is standardized by Ecma International in the documenECMA-262 ECMAScript is commonly used for client-side scripting o ...

standard language ( ActionScript 3.0,

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...

and

TypeScript TypeScript is a free and open source programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft. It is a strict syntactical superset of JavaScript and adds optional static typing to the language. It is designed for the development of large app ...

). LayaAir engine use his own 3D data format file. To handle importation of

asset In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can ...

s data from

3D graphics software 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

, LayaBox provide a tools converter from FBX files. Also,

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...

plugin is available to convert "GameObject" into LayaModel files (*.lm). The last core libraries released support: * UI library primitives with the most common

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

elements in game scene. (both Canvas and

mode support) * 2D skeletal animation by interpolation with timeline, GPU skinning for 3D. * 2D/3D

particle system A particle system is a technique in game physics, motion graphics, and computer graphics that uses many minute sprites, 3D models, or other graphic objects to simulate certain kinds of "fuzzy" phenomena, which are otherwise very hard to repr ...

. * VR view mode. * Audio libraries and sound controller. ( wrap

OpenAL OpenAL (Open Audio Library) is a cross-platform audio application programming interface (API). It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three-dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those ...

for mobile and

HTML5 Audio HTML5 Audio is a subject of the HTML5 specification, incorporating audio input, playback, and synthesis, as well as speech to text, in the browser. <audio> element The element represents a sound, or an audio stream. It is commonly use ...

for web browser) * Composite, blend and basic filters operation Canvas/sprite. * Various

Event-driven programming In computer programming, event-driven programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events such as user actions (mouse clicks, key presses), sensor outputs, or message passing from other programs or thr ...

with event Bubbling and Capturing. * Compatibility with some additional frameworks:

Starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus '' Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...

, MornUI

LayaPlayer

Written in C and

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

, LayaPlayer (

codename A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...

d Conch) is a runtime accelerator for Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

to execute

games with low

memory footprint Memory footprint refers to the amount of main memory that a program uses or references while running. The word footprint generally refers to the extent of physical dimensions that an object occupies, giving a sense of its size. In computing, the ...

, low CPU consumption, logic render with dual core running, GPU acceleration, video memory intelligent management and extremely optimized rendering flow with high FPS result. Supports Canvas,

and DOM-type engine. HTML5 web-based applications, released with ''LayaPlayer'', run on

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

at near-native speeds. It is possible to call native library function from HTML5 code.

LayaPublish

Related to publication services, LayaPublish helps channels mainstream companies to acquire

internet traffic Internet traffic is the flow of data within the entire Internet, or in certain network links of its constituent networks. Common traffic measurements are total volume, in units of multiples of the byte, or as transmission rates in bytes per cert ...

. Available in rich web application form, it gives also an opportunity for developers to spread their game visibility in wide portal

LayaStore

LayaStore is an embedded program which can run directly into native applications, it gives access to a full list of HTML5 APP games from ''LayaBox'' store. Introduced as a lightweight (20 Kb) add-on component to head into a monetization for developers. They can generate revenue on either a microtransaction or numbers of mobile installation basis service.

LayaOpen

LayaOpen is a platform exchange offers

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

management and leaderboard statistics activities for developers and channels distributors. Both can get product information and feedback on User data , Social sharing / analytics and

monthly active users Active users is a measurement metric that is commonly used to measure the level of engagement for a particular product or object, by quantifying the number of active interactions from visitors within a relevant range of time (daily, weekly and m ...

Distribution

Developers Account lets users connect all of their game product across all distribution channels platform. Mobile marketing technology is the main target audiences. ;''2015'' * Tencent QQ Browser - QQ空间玩吧 * Tencent Qzone - QQ浏览器 *

Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the l ...

Browser - 百度浏览器 *

Cheetah Mobile Cheetah Mobile Inc () is a Chinese mobile Internet company headquartered in Beijing. , it has more than 634 million monthly active users. History Formation Chen Rui ( :zh:陳睿 current CEO of Bilibili) founded Cheetah Mobile. The company ...

Browser - 猎豹浏览器 * Sina Weibo - 新浪微博 *

China Telecom China Telecom Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese telecommunications company. It is one of the red chip listed companies of state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. Its H shares have been traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 15 Nove ...

- 中国电信

Reception

Games using the Laya solutions

;''2015'' * Go Your Majesty 《上吧主公》 * Hunter Blade 2 《猎刃2》 * Sword master《傲剑》(b
aojian趣游
* Westward Journey Online 《醉西游》(MMORPG b
4399游戏
* Dragon Shout 《龙吟三国》(2.5D RPG b
KINGNET
* TiānTiān LièRén《天天猎人》 (by Hagoot)Layabox独代《天天猎人》《三国志乱挂》
, Hagoot Games * SānGuó Zhì Luàn Guà 《三国志乱挂》(by Hagoot) * Three Kingdoms: Hong 《轰三国》 * The Heroes Conquest 《英雄争霸》 * Gate of Warfare《战争之门》 * The Magic Card Fantacy 《魔卡幻想》 * Cute Three Kingdoms 《萌挂三国》 * The Three Kingdoms: Take the Tower 《夺塔三国》 * I Love My Family《我爱我家》 * Bear on Way《熊来啦》 * Journey to the West Rush《西游快跑》 * Hey Vixen! 《哟狐狸精》 * Mini Hunters 《迷你猎人》

Awards and recognition

*2015 Industry Contribution Award HTML5 game (2015年HTML5游戏产业贡献奖) *Best promising engine H5 prize (Layabox荣膺“2015年度最佳引擎奖”)

References

External links

Official website

Github LayaAir Wiki guide
{{Video game engines, state=autocollapse Rich web applications Video game development software Video game engines 2014 establishments in China Video game companies of China