Shaun, I looked at ScoreLoop, like most other services, it seems to be iphone only at this time. There is some sort of android social api that can be asked about.. have you looked into that? Does that provide scores, etc? Or is it just an android/java sdk that provides social aspects for games?
On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 8:15 AM, shaun <[email protected]> wrote: > We are considering the use of Scoreloop (http://www.scoreloop.com/) to > add a social component to our games and apps. Since we have no real > experience in that arena, I'll just leave this link as my > contribution. > > On Mar 16, 8:08 pm, Kevin Duffey <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey all, > > > > I am curious how the various groups of game developers, primarily mobile > > (android in this case) and cross-platform (android/iPhone/facebook) > handle > > storing high scores, achievements, and such as well as how multi player > is > > done. > > > > How does your game(s) access high scores, update the list, remove them if > > need be? The same would apply for achievements, and to a lesser degree, > > leader boards. > > > > Are you using a service out there that you pay for... if so how much does > it > > cost.. and do they provide some sort of java/objective-c SDK that you can > > just plug in to your code? > > > > How do you dispaly high scores, leader boards, achievements, etc in your > > game? Do you provide your own web site with the same info, perhaps jazzed > up > > a bit more or with more detail than your mobile game (due to limited > screen > > realestate for mobile devices)? Do you provide a link to a web site in > your > > game if they want to see things like high scores, achievements and leader > > boards? > > > > I would also like to know what sort of things are most important for your > > games. High scores are so yesterday, so to speak. The latest craze in > most > > games seems to be achievements and the ability to obtain extra items for > > your games, either by buying them, or earning them through achievements, > > etc. So what are some things you game developers would want to make use > of > > in your game to add more appeal to your game, to draw in players for > longer, > > especially long enough to pass the 48 hour refund time so that you can > > actually earn some money from your hard work. I look at games on Facebook > > like Farmville that are doing so well they are hiring more developers at > > good pay to work on it. I also look at games like World of Warcraft, > which I > > play and got sucked into for a while, due to getting to that next level > or > > getting that next awesome epic gear piece... those sorts of things seem > to > > be what draws in players to otherwise simple games. A number of mobile > games > > that seem to do very well often seem to be fairly simple games but offer > > that right mix of "I just got to get to that next...". I am curious what > > some of you developers have found work for games either those that you > > played, or are working on (or have written) that draw in players. This > leads > > to the next paragraph.. making a living on game development ultimately > > requires that your game does well and that people pay for it in some > manner > > and not refund it. Hence why I am trying to understand what it is that > those > > otherwise simple games seem to do that draw in the masses. > > > > Which brings about another topic.. how do games like Farmville make so > much > > money being free games, that they can have a company behind it? I can't > > believe ads on the stie alone make up for all their revenue. I've been > > considering looking at ads in the game as opposed to charging for it, and > > that seems like players might keep a game longer than if they pay for it > and > > then refund it within 48 hours if they don't absolutely love the game... > > although I am not entirely sure how much it annoys players to have a > small > > portion of the screen saved for ads as opposed to just buying it. > > > > Lastly, multi-player. I am curious how games work multi-player. The only > way > > I can think of is the client (game) has to update a server of some data, > a > > move, location of a sprite, etc, and at the same time has to poll the > server > > often enough to update the game screen to keep things working. The first > > part of this, the game side, seems easy enough.. at least to some > degree.. > > when your player makes a move, you send a server request to some server > with > > the data, be it their new location, a weapon they selected, etc. The > second > > part of this is the client polling the server often enough, fast enough, > to > > keep things smoothly on the screen of all players. So how have some of > you > > handled this and yet keep the game playing smooth as well? Probably more > > important is, the server side. Not necessarily the code bit of it, but > how > > do you handle if your game takes off and you get 10s of thousands of > players > > playing it... what sort of server side technology is used to handle that > > many requests, that fast, fast enough to allow all those game clients to > > provide a smooth game experience while keeping the multi-player working > > solid as well? > > > > Thank you. I look forward to learning more about how these things are > done > > in games. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<android-developers%[email protected]> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
