I would like to add a global leaderboard for my games score.
Would you recommend Game Center or OpenFeint for implementing this?
What is needed to setup a global leaderboard? Is the server hosted by the service?
Thanks
Use both networks if you can!
I know many users, who prefer one of them and hate the other.
As far as I know has Openfeint built in GameCenter integration.
Giving the user the chance to use both gives you the best of both worlds.
Game Center definitely.
It's officially supported by Apple so it's really well integrated into the sdk and there's no guarantee Apple will not prohibit all third-party game networks at some point in the future.
The servers are hosted by the service (for Game Center at least)
One important difference between the two is that OpenFeint has Android support. That is something to consider if you are multiplatform.
Related
I have been looking around trying to figure out how crossy road developers and beat sports developers have made their remote controller "add-on." First I thought Multipeer-connectivity, but after trying to test it on the Apple TV realized the framework was not support, why? Makes no sense to me, but anyways. So my question is, does anyone know what cross road developers did?
Thanks in advance.
If you only need to create a software-based game controller, you don't really need peer-to-peer. I've used NSNetService and made my framework available as open source: https://github.com/robreuss/VirtualGameController
Core Bluetooth would also work but will not give you the same performance as WiFi (NSNetService).
I've made an iOS game that works over both Bluetooth and bonjour. It works great both ways, but I'd really like it if players could play with eachother with any Internet connection, be it edge, 3G, or different wi-fi addresses.
The catch: I don't have the resources or knowledge to set up dedicated servers or anything like that. It seems that surely GameKit has something in it that will let me do this, but despite spending dozens of hours over the last week figuring out how to use it, I've found nothing.
So, does anyone have ideas for solutions? My game is just one on one, if that makes it any easier.
Why don't go through the Game Center with GameKit?
Apple provides all the infrastructure to play all around the world via their servers (in 3G or Wifi). With the Game Center you can play up to 4 players (so in your case there is no problem), it's free, you don't have to manage any server, there is a mechanism of invitation between friends, and many more.
The logic of your game stay in the client side, so it'll be same design as your actual game (expect for the API I think).
You can find all information on the official documentation here.
If you want, there is a very tuto on the ray wenderlich's blog (but it uses the cocos2d framework instead of the CocoaTouch).
Yep, try GameCenter with GKMatch - works really well if game doesnt need to send tons of data. If you make additional layer between your app and GKMatch and GKSession, you can use both transparently (so your game supports local AND global multiplayer). Tested, it works
I have seen some great libraries to implement VoIP on iOS but they all apply for making calls to actual numbers. All I need is communication between users of my app. Siphon seems like a great option but you have to configure it with a service which allows you to make calls. All I need is communication between my users, maybe there is a better way to do this.
Any advice is appreciated!
It's not entirely clear what you're asking, but,
all of what you describe is built in to Game Kit which is part of iOS.
You can use "Game Kit" for any sort of networking. (It does not have to be a game.) And person-to-person voice chat is completely built in. It's two or three lines of code.
Hope it helps!
I'm curious if anyone knows of any frameworks that enable asynchronous multiplayer gaming in iOS?
I know GameKit/Game Center eases synchronous (realtime) multiplayer gaming - I'm thinking of something more like Words With Friends. There would obviously need to be a server-side element that I'd have to provide, to store game state and send "your turn" notifications - just wondering if anyone's already invented some of this wheel or not.
I am not sure I interpret your question correctly. OpenFeint is not suitable to your needs, I suppose?
If not, you might consider checking out www.smartfoxserver.com (a multiplayer server, very scalable, allows you to program server-side extensions in a number of languages).
I would look into SmartFoxPro if openfeint is not for you. It can store games in MySql for you, and send notifications and such.
I have a Flash game that I'd like to port over to the iPhone but I don't have the time nor the patience to do it myself, I also have a limited budget.
Can anyone recommend a place to put out a tender for an iPhone developer to port my game?
You could wait for the beta of Flash CS 5, and use that to compile your Flash straight to iPhone....
If your game has an existing community and content around it, try to partner with an experienced iPhone developer. They would port the game, you would provide the content and the community, and the revenue gets split. I am in the middle of this process with my online game (http://robozzle.com).
Alternatively, you could try to contract the job to a developer you found on a site like http://elance.com/ or http://rentacoder.com/. But, iPhone games aren't quick to develop, so you'll be looking to spend a considerable amount of money that way.
I would recommend trying one of the many freelancer sites out there such as http://www.ifreelance.com/
They tend to be able to hook you up with relatively low cost developers. A google search for 'freelance software' will give you numerous good results.
You can post job offers right here on SO: http://jobs.stackoverflow.com/
Furthermore, you could take a look at http://www.mobileorchard.com (free)
You might want to try Game Salad, a game construction kit. It looks similar to Flash game creation.