I forgot about libgdx! It's a great framework and probably would have been perfect for the OP's use case. I'll add another clause to my list at the top. EDIT:

I forgot about libgdx! It's a great framework and probably would have been perfect for the OP's use case. I'll add another clause to my list at the top. EDIT: Nevermind, can't edit my root comment now so I'll just put it here: Cross platform mobile games when you don't want to deal with C++, you don't need a full-blown engine + editor, and you're comfortable using lower-level APIs to get stuff done: libgdx I view libgdx kind of the same as XNA, if anyone remembers that framework. It gives you the cross-platform abstractions you need (file system, audio, input, graphics) and even goes a little further by wrapping some popular 2D and 3D physics engines. Since it's Java, you can use it from your favorite language that runs on the JVM (looks like you can use Clojure, Scala, Kotlin, even python). I've personally used it for a small game, and although I never finished it, developing with libgdx was a pleasant experience. You can develop it on desktop so you don't always have to deploy to a phone, and when you're ready it's easy to get it on a device.