PapayaMobile has released the SDK and Game Engine for its Android-based social gaming platform in the world’s second largest Android market, China.

The company recently clocked up its 8 millionth user, and says it is expecting strong growth in China next year.To celebrate these milestones with the developer community, PapayaMobile is holding a Global Game Developer Contest to encourage developers to leverage this user base for their own games.

Developers who leverage Papaya’s game engine for the contest will have access to a one-stop solution for game creation, user acquisition and effective monetization. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000; a flight for one member of the team to GDC (Game Developers’ Conference) San Francisco 2011; an internship in Beijing for six months, all expenses covered; and free promotion on the Papaya app homepage and Android App of the Day for one week, equating to 3m impressions per day.

The runner up will receive exactlt the same, but with a cash prize of $8,000, while third place gets the same but with a cash prize of $5,000. 4th – 10th place get an internship in Beijing for six months, all expenses covered, and free promotion on the Papaya app homepage and Android App of the Day for three days.
The contest is ooen for entries now, and the deadline for submissions is 16 February, 2011. Games ranked in the Top 10 will be notified on 22 February, 2011, while those ranked in the Top 3 will be announced at GDC San Francisco 2011 on 28 February 28, 2011.

Entries can be submitted via the competition website. The game language must be English or Chinese, and games submitted need to comply with Papaya Game Engine terms and services. All game submissions need to be able to run on Android 1.5 or above. Game creators are free to distribute the games through any other channels at any time.