New game programming language 'Monkey' simplifies cross-platform development.

Blitz Research has released its latest games programming language 'Monkey' which reduces rework when writing games for multiple platforms, while still providing a flexible high-level language and access to each platform's native SDKs.

Games written in Monkey can be translated to run on iPhone, iPad, Android, Flash, HTML 5, Microsoft's XNA (for Xbox 360, PC or Windows Phone 7) or OpenGL (for Mac and Windows via GLFW) platforms.

Developers can translate Monkey games to each target's own SDK with a single click and upload their games to multiple online markets and app stores, potentially multiplying sales and vastly reducing the cost of development.

The free version of Monkey lets anyone create non-commercial HTML5 apps without charge. The commercial version includes a 2D games module, support for all platforms and costs $120 US from Monkey.

"Creating games on multiple platforms requires lots of grunt work and arcane knowledge that you have to relearn for every single platform. It's boring and hard work and gets in the way of what's important - the creative process of making a truly fun game. Monkey takes all that hassle away while still giving you a flexible language with high-level features," says Blitz Research's CTO Mark Sibly.

Developers need only install the SDK for each desired target, after which Monkey takes care of compiling, building and running. The Monkey language itself is a high level programming language, with an emphasis on readability, object-oriented features and a streamlined command set that is consistent across all the destination platforms.

Monkey is the latest in a long line of game programming tools from cult games language maker Blitz Research.