Snapchat introduces Snap Games and Snap Originals programs
Snap Inc. just held its Snap Partner Summit and announced a dizzying array of new features that are coming to the platform.
Let's first start with Snap Games. Snap Games are mobile games that you can play within the Snapchat app. These are multiplayer games that you can play with your friends and you can text or voice chat while playing.
The feature is launching with six titles, Bitmoji Party, Tiny Royale (Zynga), Snake Squad (Game Closure), C.A.T.S. Drift Race (ZeptoLab), Zombie Rescue Squad (PikPok), and Alphabet Hustle (Spry Fox).
The other new feature is Snap Originals. These are original shows made by Snapchat for Snapchat. All shows will play fullscreen in portrait mode, just like Stories. The genres span documentaries, comedies, teen dramas, and more. Snapchat has announced ten new shows, with more coming in later.
Next there's improvements to Lenses. Lenses, as you may be aware, are AR effects that really popularized Snapchat. Snapchat is now taking them to the next level. You can now scan things, such as objects and look them up on Amazon, music that can be looked up on Shazam, math problems on Photomath, and also landmarks. The new Lens Studio feature lets you create and share lenses with other Snapchat users. Snapchat has also partnered with artists around the world to create special lenses for popular landmarks.
Lastly, Snapchat also announced improvements to Snap Kit, the development tools that allows developers to implement Snapchat functionality within their apps. Now with Story Kit, you can integrate Snapchat Stories within your app. Apps like Tinder, Houseparty and AdventureAide are the first to do this.
Other features like Bitmoji Kit lets you implement Bitmoji in other apps, Creative Kit that lets you share from other apps to Snapchat, and finally, Ad Kit lets you monetize your app using Snapchat's ad platform.
Most of these features are available today, with others such as Snap Originals over the next few months.