[Developers] Google Play Games update brings Leaderboard Tamper Protection, updated Unity Plugin and C++ SDK

Google Play Games is Google’s attempt to compete with Apple’s Gamecenter. To make its product better, the developers over at Google have updated the service to bring in a few changes for developers this time around before signing off for the holidays.

So far, the Google Play Games leaderboards have been gamed so badly, they’re useless more often than not. The only time they make any sense is if you’re checking with your friends, and even then, it makes little sense if your friends too cheated their way to the top. Google has tried to rectify this to some extent by adding Leaderboard Tamper Protection. New leaderboards will have this enabled by default, and current leaderboards can have it too, by enabling it manually.

The company has also updated the Play Games Publishing API, allowing you to automate various things like achievement and leaderboard listings. Even better, if you need to publish your game in multiple languages, you can now do so using translation data from spreadsheets, CSVs, or a Content Management System (CMS) and automatically apply those translations to your achievements.

To read more on the update, hit up the Android Developers Blog.