Publish and share

Instant games and regular games on PlayDrop

What makes a PlayDrop game Instant: portrait play, guest access, at most 10 MiB of startup files and a two-second start, and how it differs from regular games.

Instant games are the short, portrait games of the Instant feed in the PlayDrop phone apps: players swipe and the next game is already playing. Every other game is a regular game, opened from its page, search or a link. Both are published the same way; Instant is a property of a version.

Instant or regular

	Instant	Regular
Where it plays	Instant feed, plus everywhere regular games play	Home, search, game page, links
Orientation	Portrait first	Any declared surface
Sign-in	Guests can play	Any `authMode`
Start	Playable within 2 seconds	No limit, but faster is better
Startup files	At most 10 MiB	No startup limit
Badge	Lightning badge	None

A game that misses the Instant bar is still published as a regular game.

Requirements

json

{
  "primarySurface": "MOBILE_PORTRAIT",
  "surfaceTargets": { "desktop": true, "mobileLandscape": false, "mobilePortrait": true },
  "authMode": "OPTIONAL",
  "instant": true,
  "prefetch": { "required": ["game.js", "atlas.png"], "optional": ["music.mp3", "levels/world-2.json"] }
}

primarySurface is MOBILE_PORTRAIT and the game supports portrait phones.
authMode is OPTIONAL or NONE, so guests can play.
The startup files are at most 10 MiB: the entry page plus prefetch.required, or every uploaded file when nothing is listed.
instant: true claims it.

The upload checks the size and the receipt's instant and instantReason report the result. After release, PlayDrop measures real starts in the apps: once a version has 20 starts from downloaded files and more than a quarter take 2 seconds or longer, it loses the badge. A new version can qualify again.

Start fast

Put later levels, music and extras in prefetch.optional and load them after ready().
Compile shaders and warm up before calling ready(), so the first frames do not stutter.
Show gameplay immediately: no title screen, no menu, no sign-in wall before the first move.
Make the first seconds explain themselves without text.
Record a portrait gameplay video for the listing; the feed uses it.

See loading, pause and audio for preloading and full screen and safe areas for portrait layout.