GameCircle SDK being retired on September 4th 2018

Corona Marketplace Amazon GameCircle
#1

I got an email a few weeks ago about Amazon no longer allowing game submissions with Amazon GameCircle, starting on September 4th, 2018.  

Here is the FAQ:

 https://developer.amazon.com/docs/gamecircle/faq-gamecircle.html

Does this mean we can no longer have Amazon apps with leaderboards?  What would be the replacement??  I am not understanding this news as it is not clear as to how a developer is supposed to go forward from here.  Plus I haven’t noticed any discussion in the Corona forums about this.

#2

Interesting… I did not receive this email notification (yet), and I have several Game Circle enabled apps.

The web page really does not explain why this is occurring, or what the alternatives will be (if any), but it appears any game that already has GC enabled will be supported, including future updates.

#3

Yeah, game updates will still have GameCircle support but new apps cannot be submitted with GC. ;( I got the email on July 31st. Check your junk mail folder maybe.

#4

I poked around and didn’t find an answer for myself. In these emails did they suggest a replacement?

Rob

#5

This is the email I got on July 31:

#6

Sounds like they don’t have a direct replacement. Their GameOn service has leaderboards, but it seems more oriented towards tournaments than just regular leaderboards. I didn’t see much in the way of Achievements. It seems to be REST API based, so there isn’t much of a need for an SDK based plugin, a pure Lua plugin could work and would be cross-platform. I think the biggest challenge is that Amazon charges for GameOn.

Because updates can still be submitted, there isn’t much of a reason for us to do anything with the GameCircle plugin. If you’re looking for replacements, you can consider GameSparks, PlayFab or if you just need leaderboards, consider Dreamlo.

Rob

#7

Interesting… I did not receive this email notification (yet), and I have several Game Circle enabled apps.

The web page really does not explain why this is occurring, or what the alternatives will be (if any), but it appears any game that already has GC enabled will be supported, including future updates.

#8

Yeah, game updates will still have GameCircle support but new apps cannot be submitted with GC. ;( I got the email on July 31st. Check your junk mail folder maybe.

#9

I poked around and didn’t find an answer for myself. In these emails did they suggest a replacement?

Rob

#10

This is the email I got on July 31:

#11

Sounds like they don’t have a direct replacement. Their GameOn service has leaderboards, but it seems more oriented towards tournaments than just regular leaderboards. I didn’t see much in the way of Achievements. It seems to be REST API based, so there isn’t much of a need for an SDK based plugin, a pure Lua plugin could work and would be cross-platform. I think the biggest challenge is that Amazon charges for GameOn.

Because updates can still be submitted, there isn’t much of a reason for us to do anything with the GameCircle plugin. If you’re looking for replacements, you can consider GameSparks, PlayFab or if you just need leaderboards, consider Dreamlo.

Rob