I am adding game center to my application and I feel lost. First of all,, my app is nmot a game, but I want people to see thier friends "score". Will I have to classify the app as a game? I am working on adding my app to itunes connect but I dont quite get it. When I add it and select the distribution date, will I have to distribute it? What happens when that day is reached? Do I even need to do all this to use gamecenter in my beta version? How does the app know its connected to itunes connect? Sorrty if these are stupid questiopns, but I dont quite understand.
If your app uses Game Center, the most typical thing is that it was classified by you as a game. We don't know how, and especially who, will review your app, so it could pass the review process, though.
Let's see two things:
- if you need to show a leaderboard, but the app is not a game, you could create your own leaderboard, or use a third party leaderboard (eg Google's).
- different questions are those that you pose in the end of your multiple "question". I suggest you look for each one of those in the Internet. Shortly, the date of public release depends on app submission and approval. If the date for public release is 1/1/2011 and you send the app to Apple, when it is approved it will automatically be published. You shouldn't send beta versions to Apple. The Game Center features should be available in sandbox mode while developing (please look for those terms in the Internet).
Related
I need to create and App that will run in the background and will monitor the user's behavior in term of applications installed, opened and deleted.
i.e Application will save the information in the database that at what time user has installed/opened/deleted an application in iphone.
I wonder if its possible and Apple will allow this??
I tried to google on it but did not get anything, i know if its possible then it would be possible by multiasking only??
Can any one please help me on the same.
Brn
Not possible. Your app can only run when the user chooses to (except for a limited sub-set of tasks like VoIP, etc).
Your app can know nothing about other apps.
iOS apps are sandboxed. I wouldn't say impossible but certainly not allowed. You'd have to find a security hole to give you root access first. Oh, and notify us when you do ;).
Edit:
Maybe it wasn't clear in my post but I was at least half joking. Not sure why you want to do what you want to do. I can imagine the following scenarios:
1) Your company wants to monitor everything their users do on their phones. In that case I would either
a) lock them down and only allow app installation through a company portal (enterprise distribution is possible in iOS) OR
b) forget about iOS alltogether. Blackberry would probably be closer to what you want, although I don't really have experience with that platform. Also, its future is not sure.
2) You're trying to do something illegitimate. Because of iOS's locked down nature it won't be easy. See how few successful attacks there have been in the last years - and that's for a highly successful platform where an attack could be high paying both in terms of money and reputation.
I am not familiar with gaming application, So Now I want to start a simple kids game application which displays the score with limited time.
What are step to proceed. Do I need to register with game center, I don't know about this. Please give me any suggestions that would help to start game application.
Thnak you,
Madan Mohan.
First of all, you will need to register an iPhone developer program, you won't be able to test your code on a device without it. Alternatively, you could purchase a copy of Xcode and develop on a simulator until you are ready for actual device. In any case, you will need the $99 program for publishing.
Now, you will need to learn Objective C. Grab yourself a book and understand how views work before designing your game.
If you want your app to run on a device (or to publish to the app store), you will need an iOS developer account for $99. However, if you want to just test you device in the built in simulator on your computer, you can do it for free.
Next, figure out what kind of game you want to make. Plan what is going to happen, what views are necessary, design an interface, write some code. Thats the basic process.
You DO NOT need to regester with Game Center. Game Center provides some easy to use feature for your app, such as simple to implement online leaderboard. If you want to use them (you will need the $99 account, not the free account), set up Game Center. I don't want to write a tutorial here since thats off topic.
Game creation is just like any other app creation. I hope this helps. You said above in a comment you are familar with Objective-C so start programming the game as you would any other app.
knowing that the review process for apps seems to be rather rigid to some extend I would like to ask if there are any special requrements for an app that is targeted to work with certain Midi interfaces only. The particular reason I ask is that this app can not really be tested when not connected to such an interface. Thanks
There is no specific rule regarding this.
App Store Review Guidelines
To be on the safe side, describe this when submitting the app, there is a text field to add a message to the reviewers.
In the meanwhile I submitted my app and it got rejected in the first phase because I did not include a demo video. So after I created one and put it on YouTube, provided Apple with the link, everything went well.
So as a definite advice not to loose time until Apple comes back after a week or two to just tell you to provide a video - include it right from the beginning....
I'm building an iOS game that will have both singleplayer and multiplayer modes. I'm building the game in two different phases, one for singleplayer and then a second for multiplayer. The singleplayer phase is complete and it's completely shippable. I was thinking about submitting it to the iTunes store before I implement the multiplayer mode so if it gets rejected for any reason, I can fix those issues ahead of time. However, if it gets approved, I don't plan to release it until I finish the multiplayer mode and submit it as an update.
Is this a good/bad idea?
Do other people do this?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Its better you complete the application and then submit it, and app can get rejected for any unknown reason - So I would say just complete the application and submit it. If you know for sure that your app is going to get rejected - then you can submit the app in single player and set the release date to after one month or even a year and complete the multi player mode.
Just make your release date infinitely long. This way when it is approved, no one will see it. Then you can kill the app if you want after it is approved.
I finished building an app that allows beaming of photos, contacts and text clips over Wi-Fi
IPhone to IPhone and IPhone to desktop.
I want to decide on the feature set of the lite version of my IPhone app. I also want to come up with a pricing model. So the question is, which of these components should be free, and for which I should be charging for ?
For example, the lite version could have all features except the ability to interact with the desktop version - that is, it would work IPhone to IPhone, but not IPhone to desktop. The paid version would be able to beam to the desktop. In addition, the desktop version would be free, so you could share it with family and friends.
Alternatively, there would be a single free IPhone version and I would charge for the desktop app. The only thing here is that I would have to setup server side code for managing registration codes.
One reason to make your desktop app free and the iPhone app a paid product would be to take advantage of Apple's app store and their payment processing, hosting, etc. While I know 30% seems steep for what Apple provides, it is nice to have that part of the business be handled by someone else. For example, you will never have to deal with credit card processing or have to issue refunds - Apple does all that for you.
I like the mechanism that is more suited to viral distribution and giving people a good taste of all the features, before they are sort of convinced to go for the paid version. The marketing value of an app that can be freely tried out once one user recommends it to another, is invaluable. If someone recommends a product to me and I have to pay for it, then I probably would put off trying it till alter when I have learned more about it. However, if it is free, I can download and try it without feeling like I need to do more research prior. Once I like, and am hooked on it, then I will want locked functionality that I would have to pay to unlock.
I'd stay away from selling, payment processing, and reg code management, if your expertise is in coding - you'd make yourself more money writing more code than writing reg code management utilities...
Good luck.
I'm not sure charging for either is the best idea. If you keep both tools free, you get people trying (and liking) both apps. Viral distribution will ensure a decent user base. Once people use both tools, they're more likely to pay for the next part, which is the connector software.
I like your idea of three parts: a free iPhone app (Let people share photos on their iPhone), free PC app (There are hundreds of photo viewing apps, free... Don't try to charge for them, that way lies pain) and paid connection between 'em.
That way:
You get people using your iPhone app virally (To share with each other's phones & try out the application)
You get people using your PC app virally (Because the cost to try is nearly null)
The connection can be sold through Apple's iStore, so you don't need to do the money handling side
You could even make the connection component a subscription, but as an end user I hate that idea unless I get some additional functionality from it being a subscription (Like free hosting).