Which Leaderboard to use?

Games
#1

I am thinking of adding a leaderboard to my trivia game, but I’m really not sure what the best route is.  All I basically need is a daily/weekly/monthly leaderboard.  I don’t know if using Game Center, FB, or Google Play services is a bit overkill for my need?  Maybe I’m better off just creating my own and hosting it on my server?

Pro’s of using big name system (Google play, Game Center, etc):

???

Cons:

Overkill?  More difficult to implement

User has to log in (maybe many users don’t like this?)

Any advice would be great

#2

Although we haven’t done any leaderboard stuff for quite a while, I can’t imagine rolling your own system would be less effort than using what already exists.

Also, even though GPGS can be used on iOS I don’t believe Corona currently supports that, so really you are left with using GC for iOS and GPGS for Android, which at least answers that decision.

There’s also this for cross-platform stuff, I used it briefly around a year ago and remember it being very easy to set up - https://www.leaderboards.io/

#3

I think creating one for my needs would be pretty simple. Basically just need a SQL database on my server, and the app just writes a few values to it (name, score, date/time, device ID). Then to view leaderboard the app just pulls the info.

I guess my main question is what value is added to your app by using GC/GPGS leaderboards? Do you somehow get more exposure? Again one of my main concerns is that my users may not want to sign in and divulge their info (albeit only email) in my app.

#4

If you’re going to go through any trouble at all, you’re better off using the mechanism supplied by your target platform.  As long as it supplies the features you need of course.  

I’m not sure if if this is true of Google, but but using the target platform’s achievements/leaderboard system gives you a leg up on equivalent competition on Apple and Amazon.

i.e. If you have a similar game to another game on iTunes and your game uses Apple’s Game Center and the other game doesn’t or uses its own custom system, you’ve got a leg up on the other game for placement.

Also, I think you are seriously underestimating the effort, cost, and time of maintaining your own system.  In fact, why pay for anything when you get it for free (and maintained by someone else)?

#5

Although we haven’t done any leaderboard stuff for quite a while, I can’t imagine rolling your own system would be less effort than using what already exists.

Also, even though GPGS can be used on iOS I don’t believe Corona currently supports that, so really you are left with using GC for iOS and GPGS for Android, which at least answers that decision.

There’s also this for cross-platform stuff, I used it briefly around a year ago and remember it being very easy to set up - https://www.leaderboards.io/

#6

I think creating one for my needs would be pretty simple. Basically just need a SQL database on my server, and the app just writes a few values to it (name, score, date/time, device ID). Then to view leaderboard the app just pulls the info.

I guess my main question is what value is added to your app by using GC/GPGS leaderboards? Do you somehow get more exposure? Again one of my main concerns is that my users may not want to sign in and divulge their info (albeit only email) in my app.

#7

If you’re going to go through any trouble at all, you’re better off using the mechanism supplied by your target platform.  As long as it supplies the features you need of course.  

I’m not sure if if this is true of Google, but but using the target platform’s achievements/leaderboard system gives you a leg up on equivalent competition on Apple and Amazon.

i.e. If you have a similar game to another game on iTunes and your game uses Apple’s Game Center and the other game doesn’t or uses its own custom system, you’ve got a leg up on the other game for placement.

Also, I think you are seriously underestimating the effort, cost, and time of maintaining your own system.  In fact, why pay for anything when you get it for free (and maintained by someone else)?