A-to-Z Android & iOS Porting of an Award-Winning Game
BAFTA
award
Story
83/100
score
on Metacritic (iOS)
4.1/5
rating
on Google Play
/ Testimonials /
Players love the story, visuals, and feel on mobile
Android Authority
Hella good
Life is Strange on Android keeps the best elements of Square Enix’s superb game intact
Challenger’s Gaming Domain
Spectacular
Looks spectacular on a phone screen, and despite limited screen estate, the detail shows in everything
SpazioGames
85/100
A very good porting, with new social elements perfect for the perfect platform
Google Play Store
Stunned
When I saw this in the Google Play Store I was stunned. The graphics are beautiful. Gameplay was very smooth
Android Authority
Hella good
Life is Strange on Android keeps the best elements of Square Enix’s superb game intact
Challenger’s Gaming Domain
Spectacular
Looks spectacular on a phone screen, and despite limited screen estate, the detail shows in everything
SpazioGames
85/100
A very good porting, with new social elements perfect for the perfect platform
Google Play Store
Stunned
When I saw this in the Google Play Store I was stunned. The graphics are beautiful. Gameplay was very smooth
/ Project overview /
Pingle & Square Enix
About the game
Life Is Strange is an acclaimed episodic narrative adventure developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix (originally on console/PC, 2015). In the game, Max Caulfield, a photography student, discovers she can rewind time and makes decisions that impact how the story unfolds.
Client
Square Enix
Solution
Porting
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Platforms
Release
PC/Console
Jan 30, 2015
iOS Episodes 1–3
Dec 14, 2017
iOS Episodes 4–5
Mar 29, 2018
Android Full release
Jul 18, 2018
Partnership timeline
Month-Month, 2017
About Pingle & Square Enix partnership
We took on the full mobile porting scope:
migrating the game from Unreal Engine 3 to 4
rebuilding touch-first control systems and UI
optimizing visuals for mobile
delivering exclusive features like Photo Mode
All without losing the game’s emotional, cinematic feel.
“With Life Is Strange, we had no room for error. We had to make sure the mobile version carried the same atmosphere and emotional weight as the original.”
Yuriy Denisyuk
Head of Production Department at Pingle Studio
/ The Challenge /
Bring a BAFTA-winning story to mobile, with no room for error
By the time we joined this project in 2017, Life Is Strange was already a cultural phenomenon. Winner of the 2016 BAFTA Games Award for Story, it built a fiercely loyal fanbase — the kind that celebrates every detail with loads of fanart and fanfiction, but won’t forgive a single misstep.
The mobile version had to carry on the game’s narrative weight, hand-drawn-like visuals, and emotional atmosphere. To get there, we faced two major tasks:
Migrate the game from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4, including assets, mechanics, and logic
Adapt the game from PC/PS3 to iOS and Android, with new controls, optimized UI, and mobile-ready visuals
In short: we had to technically reinvent the game while protecting the soul of one of gaming’s most acclaimed stories. Too poetic? Maybe. But that’s Life Is Strange.
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/ Phase 1 /
UE3 → UE4 migration, completed on schedule
The first key step in porting Life Is Strange to mobile was migrating from UE3 to UE4. The migration ran in parallel with tight release windows (6 months for Android and 18 for iOS ) and made hitting them harder. For that, we built custom tools and rewrote code by hand:
1
Developed a custom toolset to transfer maps, textures, logic, levels, and localization
2
Manually rewrote Unreal Script logic into UE4’s C++ and Blueprints
3
Cleaned legacy console/PC code and added mobile-specific support
4
Optimized assets and audio pipelines for smaller, mobile-friendly builds
Result: the game was fully rebuilt in UE4 and ready for mobile without delays or budget overruns.
/ Phase 2 /
Visual fidelity preserved on iOS & Android
Square Enix set a high bar: the mobile version needed to match the PS3/Xbox 360 look and feel. Our engineers modified UE4 to keep the game’s painterly textures, cinematic lighting, and atmospheric effects:
1
Modified UE4’s source code to replicate Life Is Strange’s custom rendering system
2
Rebuilt materials, lighting, VFX, and post-processing for mobile performance
3
Implemented advanced shading models (Blinn, Microfacet, Subsurface Scattering) on iOS/Android
4
Applied ASTC compression (iOS/Metal RHI) and ETC2 compression (Android/ES 3.1) to preserve high-res textures without bloating file sizes
As a result, the mobile UE4 version kept the unique visual style of the source game and looked “spectacular on a phone screen” (as players noted 😉).
/ Phase 3 /
Mobile-exclusive features & UX
Instead of a barebones port, the mobile version came with new features and a player-first experience. Controls were rebuilt for touch, the UI redesigned for smaller screens, and a new Photo Mode added to make Life Is Strange feel even more engaging on mobile:
1
Designed touchscreen controls from scratch, including a new “Tap-to-Move” system
2
Rebuilt the entire UI for smaller screens and variable aspect ratios
3
Implemented Photo Mode: camera control, outfit swaps, filters, native saves, and social sharing to Facebook/Twitter
4
Added controller support on Android for console-like play
/ The results /
Life Is Strange goes mobile in 6 (Android) and 18 (iOS) months, protecting franchise value
Before
After
UE3 engine build for PC/PS3/Xbox 360 only
Fully migrated to UE4 and optimized for iOS & Android
Console-only controls and UI
Mobile-first UX: Tap-to-Move, redesigned UI, controller support
Oversized, non-standard textures
Optimized ASTC (iOS) and ETC2 (Android) compression with high-res fidelity preserved
Risk of reputational backlash
Protected franchise prestige and expanded fanbase
/ The team /
Cast
Team peak size: 30+ specialists
UE developers
/ Cases /
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