Gree vs. OpenFeint?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

I was about to add OpenFeint support to our 5th app, but when I went to the OpenFeint website I was redirected to Gree.net. At first I thought someone had hijacked OpenFeint, but some quick searches verified that Gree recently bought OpenFeint .

However, I can no longer create my achievements and leaderboards using OpenFeint. Not only that, but they want me to migrate my existing OpenFeint data over to Gree.

Obviously until Corona supports Gree, there isn’t much I can do.

So my question is what is the plan and release date of a version of Corona that switches from the OpenFeint API to the Gree API? [import]uid: 16734 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 326768[/import]

#2

I second this, my achievements are still working with open feint but i do not know how much longer it will work and even if it works, there is no open feint anymore so we need gree to be implemented asap. We are on the eve of our first release and this issue needs to be resolved. [import]uid: 126161 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108657[/import]

#3

Ken, 3 Dreams,

This is a good question. As we understand it, the OF SDK and functionality will work for still a while longer, but it is hard to find any real answers to this on the OF/Gree website. We are looking into this and will try to find out the answer ,and also make a plan in case migration is needed of the SDK.

David [import]uid: 10668 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108699[/import]

#4

@DavidRangel,

Thanks for the quick response. The way I see it there are two issues:

  1. Will there be a forced migration? This is not something anyone knows except Gree, so there isn’t much you can do about it.

  2. How soon until Corona supports Gree? This is extremely important because we have no way of adding leader board and achievement support to new apps until Ansca implements Gree. Gree has removed the ability to create a new openfeint based app.

Thanks! [import]uid: 16734 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108702[/import]

#5

A follow up to this. I have now talked to someone in dev relations at Gree. Here is the situation:

  1. Any existing apps already on OpenFeint are fine until at least the end of the year. At that point they are going to decide whether to shut things down or continue supporting the sdk/service.

So if you already have OF in your Corona-based app, you are fine until the end of the year (at least).

  1. The Gree SDK is currently in “open beta”. They are encouraging people to sign up for it starting now. They will also have migration instructions up in the next week or two. But…

  2. To Ken’s point - any new apps cannot sign up for OF any more. They have to sign up for Gree.

So, where does this leave Corona developers?

  • If you already have OF in your published app, you are fine. We will let you know soon what migration may look like.
  • If you have a new app, you cannot sign up for OF anymore. And since we have not yet integrated Gree, you can’t use that either. In the meantime, we would recommend using Game Center.

We will evaluate Gree and decide if/when that will get implemented as soon as possible. Stay tuned. Thanks for bringing this up guys. It was a bit hard to get the info as they don’t have much on their site right now.

Let me know if you have any other questions…

David

[import]uid: 10668 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108750[/import]

#6

@David,

Thank you for the response; it’s good to know existing OpenFeint apps are good through the end of the year.

My concern is with Android based apps. In particular I support the Nook Color/Tablet and wanted my latest app to have the same feature set (leaderboards and achievements) as the other 3 apps I have already released for that platform.

So using Game Center isn’t an option, which makes it important to get Gree support in Corona for anyone targeting Android based devices.

I would have sent this direct to you, but other people are probably wondering the same thing and can benefit from the answer. [import]uid: 16734 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108751[/import]

#7

@Ken I’m right there with you on that one. Open Feint was a great addition that made this sdk even better. Since android apps do not have game center then we need something to cover the amazon/nook/ and android markets and i would hope that Gree would fit that bill

That is great news about open feint being around till the end of the year. But open feint was much more than just a leaderboard/achievement system it was a community, a easy way to cross promote games, and a great source of replayability, and the best part was its ease of use and not having to maintain a backend. [import]uid: 126161 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108760[/import]

#8

This totally Kills me. I was just getting ready to publish a game that used leaderboards with in the next week or so for android. Good thing I already have an open feint account. Still now my users come 2013 will possibly lose their scores. I hope gree makes the transition super easy for ansca and everyone for that matter. [import]uid: 39088 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108789[/import]

#9

@Method,

The fact that you have an open feint account only helps you if you have already set up the leaderboards and achievements for your game. If you are getting ready to release a new game and are about to (but haven’t yet) set up the leaderboars/achievements then you are out of luck. Gree won’t let you do add/edit/etc any openfeint data. They will support it until the end of the year, but support just means they won’t turn it off; it doesn’t mean you can keep adding data using open feint. [import]uid: 16734 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108791[/import]

#10

Method Mobile
[update] I tried on device. Ken your right. I am really crying now?
Is the only other way to do global scores, by server? [import]uid: 39088 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108818[/import]

#11

@ Method,
I ended up creating my own leaderboard system with mysql and php, and i was using open feint for achievements. Thats because open feint could not support the amount of leaderboards i needed. So there are other options out there. [import]uid: 126161 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108822[/import]

#12

Good news. You can still log in and change your openfeint data.

It is sort of hidden on the Gree website, but if you go to the link below it will take you to the open feint section.

I was able to add Achievement data to my app.

https://api.openfeint.com/dd/login?only_master=true [import]uid: 16734 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108841[/import]

#13

@Ken: great find! thanks for the link [import]uid: 126161 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108849[/import]

#14

It does work for sure. I see my new leaderboards through device. In my panicking rush I had put a space at the end of my product secret string, which caused openfeint to go into a continuous loading loop. This happened when I was trying to access openfeint leaderboards through device, My bad.

Ye be warned though.

Taken from Grees site. It seems we only have a couple months to publish openfeint enabled games.

“Developers take note: all subsequent platform releases will be for GREE Platform. As a result, our final OpenFeint SDKs are 2.12.8 for iOS and 1.10.2 for Android. Developers wishing to launch OpenFeint enabled games must do so prior to 7/23/12.”

It would be nice if they still supported the old open feint sdks while rolling out gree and after its rolled out.

@ 3 Dreams what kind of time did it take you to roll out your own leaderboards system? What kind of bandwidth does it use? I would imagine if you had tons of players accessing and writing to a server at home it my become cumbersome on your internet connection.

If it doesn’t take to much time implement and I could still browse the internet. I would totally be down. Ive never coded in mysql or php before so I would have to evaluate the time it would take to implement, versus the time I had left on my subscription. Then again if ansca doesn’t implement something before 7-23-12 I will have to roll my own leaderboard system anyways.

How did you go about doing that? I think I have an idea. Any good links on setting up a leaderboard system so I may bookmark for future use?

Ken thanks for spotting this and bringing it to the community’s attention. [import]uid: 39088 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108857[/import]

#15

@Method: I knew nothing about mysql and php when i coded my leaderboards. The current system i have set up has a login, new user creation, 620 separate leaderboards, and all the error handling one could ask for. All going to a mysql server i’m renting that can handle the bandwidth.

As for how much bandwidth, that is tbd since our game is currently being reviewed by apple so we have not had a full release yet, though we did have a beta test with no problems.

The reason i decided to do my own leaderboards was because open feint said u could have 1-1000 but its an error it was suppose to be 1-100 so i had to make my own.

Lastly robmiracle got me started with his tutorial. It shows you how to read information from a mysql server and display it on an app with php scripts on the server side. I just did the research on how to add and change info. It took me 4 full days to get a test app working and another day to recode everything and fully implement everything into our game and add the 620 leaderboards. I would be happy to help you on the forum or you can email me at Ryan[at]3dreamsgaming[dot]com if you have any questions.

Rob’s Tutorial:
http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2012/04/16/tutorial-how-make-your-app-talk-web-service-or-how-setup-web-service-your-app-talk#comment-105167 [import]uid: 126161 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108864[/import]

#16

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to point out you can sign up for the Game Minion service http://gameminion.com , we provide leaderboards, achievements and more for multiplatforms.

We are 100% Rest based solution, so you can start using it straight away, we’ve also started a Corona lib to get you going faster https://github.com/GameMinion/GM-Corona-SDK .

Check us out, its free to develop on.

-M [import]uid: 144378 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108914[/import]

#17

@ 3 dreams that doesnt sound to bad at all. I’m definately interested. How much does it run to rent your server? Thanks for the link too bookmarked also when I decide to make the leap if I have any trouble I will get incontact with you for sure.

@ game-minion It all sounds good if I was making decent money off android but as of right now I make about 30 cents a day from adds and about 7 dollars a month from purchases. If I ever hit a good monthly income that can offset the price of your service I might be down;)
Thanks guys [import]uid: 39088 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 108974[/import]

#18

Any news regarding this?
When can we expect a decision regarding the Gree integration?
Thanks! [import]uid: 150930 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 110633[/import]

#19

@Method Mobile, the best thing about what we are offering is that we have a Pay As You Go plan, you only incur a cost if you are seeing traction which should result in more revenue. [import]uid: 144378 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 110655[/import]

#20

Too it is interesting to eat news or not? [import]uid: 127791 topic_id: 26768 reply_id: 110670[/import]