GameCenter all day long 
// red. [import]uid: 7143 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17746[/import]
I forgot yesterday about one point against GameCenter: it requires iOS 4. I don’t think that is an enormous problem, but it’s a factor to keep in mind. [import]uid: 12108 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17760[/import]
@jhocking according to apple 90% of users have iOS4 and more than 50% have the latest. [import]uid: 22837 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17761[/import]
cool that’s good to know, got a source? [import]uid: 12108 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17815[/import]
gamecenter for my $10 and my next $10 and my next $10 and my
well you get the idea [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17832[/import]
I have been looking at both OpenFeint and GameCenter quite extinsively. They both have ups and downs.
I love the fact that GameCenter is part of apple but it seems that they are having multiple disputes with Facebook as they are not allowing them to check your friends list from GameCenter. I am sure it has something to do with the whole Ping thing.
When it comes to multiplayer I believe as of now OpenFeint might be a better solution especially considering android expansion in the market which I believe it will be huge this year considering it’s just starting to spread here in Europe.
So I would say OpenFeint full features please. This allows crossplatform multiplayer. GameCenter might become the #1 iOS multiplayer platform but it will never be on Android or Windows Mobile or BlueBerry.
There is a third option. I currently setup my own server for my leaderboards because of the limitations that both OpenFeint and possibly GameCenter have. Ansca could have their own servers providing the same service for our apps. This would be a non branded server that we would pay a fee for. Say $100 per year or whatever the cost might be. This platform would then support, leaderboards, multiplayer, challenges and all the fun stuff that we would want and it would inherently work on any platform Ansca would go to.
I vote for option 3. [import]uid: 8192 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17937[/import]
@jhocking source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/102523/20110119/ios-android-google-apple-iphone-ipad-mac-froyo-gingerbread-eclair-honeycomb-icecream-android-2-1-and.htm#
and the interesting part:
Last week, David Lieb, CEO of Bump Technologies said in a Quora post that 89.73 percent of iOS users are using some form of iOS4, with 52.89 percent of them already upgraded to iOS 4.2.1. [import]uid: 22837 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 17940[/import]
Game Centre for me. iOS apps mak money and I think that speaks for itself. the ease of integration of all of the apple API’s is foremost for us here.
Cheers
Chris [import]uid: 9457 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18064[/import]
Openfeint, as it is the only possible multiplatform solution atm. Unless you guys want to let the Corona Android part die. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18067[/import]
We really need both, at least to some degree. There are compelling reasons for an iOS app to support both OpenFeint and GameCenter. OF offers other promotional benefits and ideally I would integrate both into my games for maximum promotional opportunities.
See: http://www.openfeint.com/developers/ios/game_center [import]uid: 23590 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18217[/import]
@amigoni Just out of curiousity what limitations are you encountering with OF and GC that would make it worthwhile to set up your own implementation?
I for one hate when a game does that and immediately lose interest (even if I know it’s pretty much the same). I’m not setting up a profile for every single game out there. The ones that ask you for your name everytime you finish playing are the worst offenders and get deleted almost on sight by me. [import]uid: 10835 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18323[/import]
Well I haven’t tried much with GameCenter but with OpenFeint I haven’t figured out a way to get JSON file the way I want it. There is a platform they use that I am exploring that might be able to suffice.
The reason I want to get the scores in JSON is that you can use the numbers and not only display them as you want them but also manipulate them and use them in your game. This is very useful for me.
The other main thing is Facebook integration. Johnbeebe posted a code on how to use it. I think that’s key as I found only a small amount of my friends are on OpenFeint while I have hundreds of friends on Facebook. GameCenter doesn’t integrate with facebook, but I can do that in my own Server and I am sure Corona could do that to.
There are other things that I will describe once I submit my game. Overall, I think OpenFeint is a great platform, just a little slow through their interface.
About the name and all. I don’t currently ask for that. People can either put a name or not. I recognize people by their device ID. I don’t care for people setting up a profile it’s more like the name you used to put in when you do a highscore in an arcade. I don’t think most people mind that.
Ideally, I would integrate all systems and have them all going. This way I can get the name from OpenFeint and use my server for what I need it. [import]uid: 8192 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18331[/import]
The facebook stuff seems like a good reason to bother with it.
I hope you have a way for saving names (which shouldn’t be hard to implement at all, you need to save like 1 string), because sure I didn’t mind typing my initials everytime 20 years ago in the arcades, in machines everyone else was using, but I sure as hell don’t put up with that on my phone in 2011. Expectations change and all that. [import]uid: 10835 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18334[/import]
The trick is to ask for it when you want to submit the score and you are all happy and proud. Not at the beginning when you are rushing to want to play. [import]uid: 8192 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18337[/import]
GameCenter [import]uid: 1581 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18830[/import]
ditto on the gamecenter [import]uid: 10484 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 18850[/import]
Surely one of the BIG points of Corona is Cross Platform ability!!!
Why would you concentrate on a system that is definitely NOT cross platform??
Android is not going away. It is growing fast and maturing in all manner of ways, including the customers that buy the devices.
Whatever system you implement should support the cross platform ethos at a minimum.
I guess that means roll your own as suggested above OR Openfeint. End users wont care how you did it, just that you did it. This may not apply to hard core iOS forum users. Reality is, most people & hence most customers are NOT hard core. [import]uid: 28534 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 19618[/import]
Considering that Gamecenter does not link to Facebook. Openfeint is more likely to have your friends on it. But even better the code that Johnbeebe posted to link to your friends via your server, is sure to get the most amount of friends.
I think, that Ansca could provide a great service having a server to support our leaderboards. Of course not branded, at least to the user, definately branded to us.
We would get great facebook integration and automatically the most amount of friends possible in a game, through facebook and if they implement it a good address book integration. Ansca would get another selling point for Corona. Plus it could add and remove features as liked. [import]uid: 8192 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 19697[/import]
@BenM CrossPlatform ability is nice to have, but not really a big deal yet. As long as Android continues to make significantly less money for developers than iOS (is anyone here making ANY money on Android?) it will remain the red headed step child of OSes. This could of course change in the future (PSP2 perhaps) and I’m sure Ansca would adapt.
Native implementation of the scoring system native to the OS where the money is at the moment should be at the top of the list.
There are lots of features that are needed that don’t have an Android equivalent yet. See the recently implemented IAPs.
Cauals trust Apple and stuff that’s “official” so they are much more likely to use Game Center (while remaining suspicious of OF).
@amigoni I feel that’s a terrible idea as it would take significant resources from Ansca (and away from much needed features) for very little return. Most people would still prefer Game Center no doubt.
[import]uid: 10835 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 19733[/import]
@IgnacioIturra… Disagree totally here… Cross platform is a big deal. It would be silly to think otherwise.
Having a development system like Corona which claims to be cross platform capable and then handicapping it with things that are absolutely NOT cross platform is just plain silly. You would be better off just dropping the false pretense of it being cross platform to begin with.
As it stands now there is much that Corona needs to implement to even meet the claims of cross platform. This work should be right up there in the list. If it is not a major priority, then drop Android altogether so that developers that are choosing to support this path of development can look elsewhere for tools and not waste their time with Corona.
Let me just say, that at this stage I don’t have a major buy in either way. I am evaluating to see if Corona could be used for some of our development. We currently do develop natively on both platforms… This of course means we can add any feature at any time. If we are to commit to Corona, even for a test, we are totally at the mercy of ANSCA for feature set and it is a massive investment in time and money in staff. We can’t expand features by writing new native libraries for things that are missing and use them in Corona and we can’t bug fix ANSCA code. Please correct me if I’m wrong here. It is certainly possible that I am, as I am still evaluating, but that has been my take.
As far as casuals trusting apple… If there was a multiplay ability in your game and your game was good enough to capture and audience, then the audience will trust you to have implemented multiplay for them. Openfeint website claims to have over 50 million registered Android and iOS users… Does not sound like people have a problem with registering or trusting OF to me. Who knows what hard core forums are saying… They do not make up the majority of users. They simply don’t.
If you said to an Android customer: “You can now play your friends who have an iPhone”
or
If you said to an iPhone customer: “You can now play your friends who have an Android phone”
They would both say… Cool. [import]uid: 28534 topic_id: 5213 reply_id: 19809[/import]