FaceBook Multiplayer Like Words With Friends or Draw Something Possible?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hello Everyone!

I am yet to develop a multiplayer/web based game and I have started my very first. My goal is for users to be able to play this turn based games with friends on Facebook.

Here are my questions:

  1. Does Corona allow for such a thing like Words With Friends or Draw Something?
  2. Would I go directly through Facebook, and they would handle the sending events to each other, or would it work in a way that Facebook connects each device with an ID and I use a service like PubNub to send the data after the IDs are given?
  3. How hard would you say it is going to be for someone who has barely any web programming experience (1-10)?
  4. Does Corona support multiplayer through GameCenter or OpenFeint? Or only achievements and leader boards?

From what I understand after reading the APIs, Corona only allows you to post a status or photo.

Thank You!
Matt [import]uid: 50842 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 324075[/import]

#2

1) Does Corona allow for such a thing like Words With Friends or Draw Something?

I’m not familiar with Draw Something, but Words with Friends is certainly doable. Looking at screen shots for Draw something, it would be possible as long as you don’t need flood fills. You can certainly draw lines of different widths and colors following someone’s finger touch with Corona SDK.

2) Would I go directly through Facebook, and they would handle the sending events to each other, or would it work in a way that Facebook connects each device with an ID and I use a service like PubNub to send the data after the IDs are given?

Having not played them I’m not sure I have a good answer for this, but I think it may be a combination of the two.

3) How hard would you say it is going to be for someone who has barely any web programming experience (1-10)?

10 being hardest and no experience, probably in the 6-7 range.

4) Does Corona support multiplayer through GameCenter or OpenFeint? Or only achievements and leader boards?

Leaderboards/Achievements/Friends mangagement only at this time (that I’m aware of) [import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 97127[/import]

#3

Thanks Rob!

What I mean by similar to Draw Something, I mean (just like with Words With Friends) how they send their opponent data through Facebook [import]uid: 50842 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 97132[/import]

#4

Yes, that should be doable. Corona supports the type of networking needed to use the Facebook Graph API, so you should be in good shape.

[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 97140[/import]

#5

The game data itself isn’t sent through Facebook I don’t think - the Facebook API is just used to get a list of the user’s facebook friends, their photos, and whether or not they have the game installed in order to populate a list of potential opponents.

The actual game I would think is transmitted to a central server, where a database of players and games in progress is held, and the game connects to the server to receive the opponent’s move/action.

Pubnub is an alternative but doesn’t give you a central database to store game information, you would have to store it on the user’s devices…which means you’d probably have to have a different userID for each device the player uses - unlike Draw Something where you can resume a game started on a different device. [import]uid: 93133 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 97146[/import]

#6

That’s true, but these games can get away with a web based PHP/MySQL storage/retrieval system with pretty much any webhost and you wouldn’t need a dedicated socket based server.
[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 97149[/import]

#7

wow, that’s extremely interesting.
I’m thinking I have a few options then:

  1. Use Pubnub and have you not be able to play the same game in between two devices
  2. Create a web server that saves everyone’s games data in a file and then the file is read by each device and searched with an algorithm to find the data for your game
  3. If you have two devices both signed in with the same Facebook use Pubnub to sync those games and then use Pubnub to play with your opponent

Again, I really do not have any experience with web/server development, so could someone explain to me the pros and cons of each of the options I explained above? [import]uid: 50842 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 97152[/import]

#8

Apologies for bumping this so late in the day, but if anybody knowledgable in this area would consider doing a rough tutorial on utilising FB ala Draw Something, then I’m sure it would be really appreciated - I’m sure I’m not the only one ion this boat.

[import]uid: 33275 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 111311[/import]

#9

Apologies for bumping this so late in the day, but if anybody knowledgable in this area would consider doing a rough tutorial on utilising FB ala Draw Something, then I’m sure it would be really appreciated - I’m sure I’m not the only one ion this boat.

[import]uid: 33275 topic_id: 24075 reply_id: 111312[/import]