1. What is Cocos2d-x?

Cocos2d-x is an open source, cross-platform game development framework that supports creating 2D and 3D games. It provides rich features such as graphics rendering, GUI, sound, networking, physics, user input etc., and is widely used in game development and building interactive applications. Its core is written in C++ and supports development in C++, Lua or JavaScript. Cocos2d-x deploys to iOS, Android, HTML5, Windows and Mac platforms with a focus on mobile platforms.

COCOS2D-X is a game development platform with: powerful yet lightweight game tools, super easy to use APIs, visual tools, open source foundation and enthusiastic community. Cocos2d-x is a complete suite of tools for developing cross-platform games. Starting from quick prototyping to high quality polished games.

2. How is COCOS2D-X better for building 2D game development?

One interesting thing about game development is that there is a range of game engines dominating the gaming industry. Therefore, choosing any game engine completely depends on your requirements. Now, if your game development needs want 2D games, Android platform with C++ language then Cocos2d game engine is a suitable choice for you with interesting UI tools.

So the benefits of programming games on Cocos2Dx is that Cocos2D-x allows development for various mobile technologies including iOS and Android.

You can easily compile out games by programming on C++ platforms for iOS, Android, Mac, although you may also prefer using the JavaScript or Lua languages.

The best reason to use Cocos2D-x is that it is open source. This refers to the fact that you can customize your game engine based on your preferences and changes.

You don't need to port anything, you can directly build your Android game as the Cocos2Dx game engine is cross-platform compatible.

Cocos2D provides seamless 2D support, so programming feels very much like working with a great library solution.

Cocos2d-X comes from the popular iOS & Mac game engine Cocos2d iPhone, written in Objective C.

Since Cocos2dX is an almost exact port of iPhone Cocos2d written in C++, it maintains the same APIs. So if you feel comfortable with iPhone Cocos2d (often called just "Cocos2d") and you know some C++, you'll feel right at home using Cocos2dX.

3. Who uses COCOS2D-X?

Cocos2d-X targets game developers who want to create cross-platform games.

Specifically, Cocos2dx targets developers who want to use an open source game engine. There is a thriving community of Cocos2dx developers helping each other succeed through forums and online websites like Stack Overflow.

The high costs and limitations of closed source engines like Unity and Corona are reasons why many developers opt for open source.

Another important reason to use an open source game engine is that you can modify anything if needed.

4. Popular games using COCOS2D-X

The list has been built considering download counts, ranking counts and ratings. Aniday has also reviewed prominent SDKs being used in these top games. Aniday presents the following list:

• Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff - This is a freemium video game for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.1 based on the American animated sitcom Family Guy. It allows users to create and run their own version of Quahog by using familiar characters and buildings. It has an original story formed by the show's writers in which Quahog has been destroyed and it makes you bring it back to its former glory.

• Flow Free is a puzzle game developed by Big Duck Games and released for iOS on June 7, 2012. The game is played on a grid where the player must connect differently colored circles to fill each square. Color paths are formed by dragging from one circle to another without crossing other lines, thus the challenge is to find a route for each color knowing only the start and end points.

• Diamond Dash gives players 60 seconds to match colorful gemstones, release special boosts and compete with friends. Weekly tournaments allow players to compete for highest scores and rewards the top 3 players with one of the coveted gold, silver or bronze medals.

• Line Cookie Run is a side-scrolling game with the main character being Brave Cookie, a character that looks like the Gingerbread Man. Like many other runners, the player runs in one direction to collect coins and power-ups while avoiding obstacles.

• Dragon City is a social network game from social game developer Social Point released to play on Facebook and iOS. The game targets mid-core players, allowing them to raise their own dragons and create a Dragon City on floating islands. In December 2012, The Next Web ran an article announcing that Dragon City had ranked number 2 among the top 25 Facebook games of that year.

• Geometry Dash Lite is a rhythm-based running game currently with 20 levels, with each stage having unique background music. While players are not required to complete one level to progress to the next, most will see increasing difficulty. Other features existing in the latest versions are an editor for custom levels, pack downloads, user-created levels, secret coins and many more game modes and icons.

• Piano Tiles is a game where the objective of the player is to tap the black tiles as they appear from the top of the screen while avoiding white ones. When each black tile is hit, it plays a piano sound. Chaining them quickly forms famous works like Für Elise and Ode to Joy. If the player taps a white tile, they lose the game and are signaled with a cut sound note.

5. Some requirements that Aniday gathered from employers while posting this role

COCOS2D-X DEVELOPER is a difficult position to hire as the number of centers as well as schools teaching about them are very few in Vietnam, for that reason Aniday is the trusted place for Monkey Junior (an English learning software for children through game playing) for recruitment:

Monkey Junior's requirements for this position are as follows:

• Have 2+ years of experience working with Cocos2d-x;
• Proficient in C++ language
• Proficient use of XCode (macOS) or Visual Studio (Windows);
• Preference for candidates with demo products, familiarity with Cocos Studio tool;
• Skills in searching resources, reading comprehension of English.