Peter Relan’s open source, open data alternative to OpenFeint, OpenKit, announced today that the cloud-based platform & service will let developers create social interactions across all the major social graphs in use on mobile platforms. OpenKit plans to let developers add social invites and score sharing across platforms so that users can send “smart invites” that detect the receiver’s device and present the right app store app in the invite. OpenKit, which currently has over 1,500 developers testing the service in beta, will add numerous other cross-platform social features before June.

“With open source and open data, our mission is to remove any friction for developers using our service,” said Relan, who sponsored OpenFeint and now OpenKit. “We are doubling down on this theme of removing friction: With iOS and Android equally prevalent amongst users, they need to be able to interact socially with each other regardless of what device they use. Developers will also come out ahead because there will be frictionless sharing and inviting which will lead to more downloads for their games and apps.”

[a]list spoke exclusively with Relan about this new feature and its importance to game developers. “There’s a lot of rumors that Google will soon announce a game platform,” said Relan. “It should be reasonable to assume they will announce one next week at Google I/O.” This is a natural competitive move to Apple’s Game Center, which connects gamers on iOS. It’s a useful way for developers to cross-promote games, but it only works on iOS. Google’s been taking more of an interest in games lately, hiring veteran Noah Falstein as Chief Game Designer.

The gaming platforms get tied to the credential system. “Apple is not going to support Google+ IDs on their game platform,” Relan pointed out. The user Ids are siloed, and gamers can’t connect across platforms. Relan’s OpenKit is an open source platform that will allow users to share scores and achievements between Android and iOS game networks like Game Center, or any other social network that is supported.

The key point is that if games support this API, developers will be able to maintain the virality of their games across multiple social networks and platforms. Gamers don’t know what platforms their friends have,but right now you can’t really spread a game virally unless you know that. It would be useful if, inside a mobile game on your phone, you can invite friends regardless of their platform.

You could create social leaderboards based on a group of your friends, whether or not they all use the same platform. For most people, their connection to their friends is far more important than whether or not they use the same phone. For that matter, gamers usually are more connected to a particular game than they are to a particular technology.

Developers can support OpenKit without in any way reducing support for Game Center or any other user network. The “holy grail” for Relan is to be able to see a group of your freind’s scores on a game regardless of whether they connected through Twitter or Facebook or Game Center. “It truly removes friction from multiplatform, multiscreen games, which we all know is the future,” said Relan. “We do not want to see mobile go the way of consoles with their walled gardens.”