While the server side of things is of course out of your control, it does allow you control over what features are included in your app and how they are presented.
Scoreloop has an interesting edge. . . Aside from all the chatter -- I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison of the technologies! Scoreloop has an edge as they were first out of the gate with a business model that is being replicated by these other players. Keep your eyes on these guys!
On the other hand open sourcing the whole SDK adds some complexity to the game developer. IMHO there is a huge difference between having a simple useable public API and the complexity of internal state, UI and communications handling which will be exposed to all the developers if you make it open source. E.g. Scoreloop uses about 70 classes internally. While I am pretty happy about the design of the SDK, do I want to expose all of this to a game developer? Not really. Also there is some added security by only releasing binary code and not the source itself. I do understand though that this is only obfuscation and not a true level of security. Don't get me wrong, I love open source, but in this case I really think creating a usable, flexible API is much better than open sourcing the whole code. I rather prefer communicating with all developers to make the SDK as flexible as possible and let all of us focus on doing what we can do best. And make no mistake, creating a good game is the biggest challenge out there today. Scoreloop won't make a bad game any better nor does somebody else.
To speak to nikwest's point, open sourcing code doesn't make it less flexible or poorly designed. It's an example of our company philosophy of transparency and openness. In fact, it allows the code to be heavily scrutinized because any developer can see how it works and provide feedback. We spend a lot of time taking into consideration how our API is designed. And of course if a developer just wants to use our APIs they don't even have to dive in to our source code. @tavoss You can access OpenFeint from any game that has OpenFeint embedded in it. MyBrute and Radio Flare are two games that have it right now.
So I decided to try out and do a little side by side, run thru them all and see what i liked about them all, what I didn't. This is all from the end user experience, not that of the developer, so i wont be talking about payment models! So in alphabetical order... Openfeint: First of all, I couldn't find a game that was using the 2.0 shown on the website www.openfeint.com if someone knows of one, let me know and I'll redo this section. So I have to say straight off this is the least impressive of the three. All my experience is based upon were empty chat rooms and leader boards. Despite all this, they all work great, the connections times are quick and everything updates nicely with no problems. The main problem I have is the current lack of adding friends and challenges. Something I have heard will be remedied in future releases of 2.0 Another issue I have is the UI, its just boring to look at and doesnt hold interest. Again basoed on the screenies I've seen of 2.0 this also looks to have been remedied. Unfortunately, until 2.0 is implemented the other networks might have time to pull ahead. So I guess until 2.0 is released and I've had a chance to check it out, I'm going to be leaving openfeint alone. That said, what it does do, it does well. Its just missing a few key features. Plus+: My starting experience wasn't good. I had countless signup errors, but eventually, it just started working. I'm guessing their servers were having issues, but now everything seems to be working great. The user interface is easily negotiable and pleasant to look at, but could use a little color.. Its easy to find and add friends, the challenges work great, which is going to be great when they release livefire. I love the way you have two gamer icons, one for the public and one for friends, unfortunately as there is currently no way to say no to a friend request its kind of redundant . Like openfeint and scoreloop, it also features a lack of messages. Something I consider kind of important to social networking! Scoreloop: First off, LOVE the UI, its got color, its easy to negotiate and its fast. It has friends, it has challenges, and it has leaderboards. Unfortunately no messages still. It has a unique coin system where you can make bets on your challenges and score with them, something I like. Its RPG like profile system is also pretty cool! I think what kills it for me, are the games its implemented in, i got it with bugs landing, but i dont know of a single game that uses it that I'd actually play. Conclusion: So whats the verdict then. Despite its completeness, scoreloop I feel wont last unless some major games pick it up. While Plus+ has one guaranteed hit coming up that uses it, livefire. Openfeint, has some great titles, on it, like the ever popular Pocket God. But until some devs actually implement 2.0 into their games, it wont advance any. I think Plus+ and Openfeint 2.0 are going to be the two big ones, with Scoreloop, always running behind trying to be them (whether it was there first is despite the point). Plus+ is going to have a massive boost, when they implement it into past games and their future ones. So what needs to happen. First of all, all these networks needs to release dedicated apps. An openfeint dev told me today that they are currently planning to release one, something I hope both scoreloop and Plus+ decide to do to. All three also need to implement sending messages. They can be private or something like twitter, ANYTHING, but whats the point in friends, if you cant send messages. But what really needs to happen is all three need to join hands, and make the best one possible. I don't think competition, in these social networks is good. All it will do is split the community, you'll have buddies on one game but others in another, I want to keep all my friends in one place! And eventually someone will come along and make an app, that amalgamates all three, but they shouldn't have to. It should all be the same, just like xbox live. But if had to make my pick, in current state, it'd be Plus+. But who knows what the future holds Edit: I also want to say that I'm happy to see games introducing achievements! This type of competitions brings friends closer (or farther lol) and helps bragging rights. something that works great. Scoreloops coins is a good way of doing this, and Plus+ has a gamerscore feature thats going to be great. Openfeint 2.0 I've been told will have this, so I cant wait for that as well!!! Edit, So Jason Citron, creator of Openfeint was nice enough to IM me, and I got to have a good talk about the future of Openfeint. I have to say, I'm very excited about it reaching its maturity with a dedicated app and all its features. With its existing player base and the games supporting it, I think its going to a MAJOR contender, if not THE contender to the throne... who's the king right now? No one, the throne sits empty, the crown awaiting someone to wear it. I know I'm not a writer, so I apologize if this is somewhat incoherent at times, I try. The Social Networks issue something that has very quickly become close to my heart, I want all these networks to succeed, but a lot to needs to happen with them all for it to happen. If any devs want to talk to me about this, you an PM me or add me on AIM : jamiefluk. I'd love to discuss any ideas, plans, goals. Sorry for the novel lol
There are a multitude of games that have submitted with 2.0 and are awaiting release by Apple. Look for OpenFeint 2.0 in MyBrute, Stick Wars, and Radio Flare when they get updated.
Since everyone is waiting for OF2.0 games I wanted to let you know that we submitted a Radio Flare update that includes OpenFeint 2.0 yesterday.
AGON Online social platform Hi I'm one of the creators of AGON Online. AGON Online is a social gaming platform that is focused on the game rather than the platform itself. You can try AGON in the free Atoms (http://bit.ly/AAsmF) or the free Grolsch game (http://bit.ly/3uqlCk). AGON will soon be available in iHunt 3D, iHunt, Arcade Claw (John Moffett), Sheepstacker and many other new games. We will make a full announcement of games with AGON integration during next week. You can read about AGON here http://developer.agon-online.com and anyone can access the API here: http://devdb.agon-online.com/developer Advantages of using AGON are: Very scalable (Google App Engine backbone), Streaming scores, UI focused on the game, Geotagged highscores (http://developer.agon-online.com/2009/06/19/atoms-game-now-on-app-store/), Offline support, Single sign-on, Web integration and all of the standard things expected from a social gaming platform. Best regards, Morten Nielsen
Interesting to see this new one in action, though i must ask people to stop making new ones... enough to fill the market already :/
I must say that I agree with you about that, all though neither of these platforms were cooked up over night - I just think that a handful of companies made more or less the same decision 6-12 months ago. It will be interesting to see what happens to all of us in the next 6-12 months - we obviously hope that enough developers will chose AGON as their platform, but I'm sure the other companies have pretty much the same hope for their platform
Too Many Networks? To get it out of the way, I'm a mild to moderate social network user. I have face book, myspace, and twitter accounts that I check semi daily. I love the idea of an app centered social network. I just hate the idea of having 3 or 4 networks with 3 or 4 different gamer scores and friend lists. Imagine if while you were playing Xbox you had to look at a friends UbiSoft account, THQ account, and Bethesda account just to compare your games and achievements? All with different interfaces and different scoring systems. It would be as big a mess as the app store is becoming. You would be chocked to death with so many options and steps just to challenge a friend to beat your score on iDracula or to a game of Livefire. I know many developers will not like the idea of Apple mandating a standard app network but from an end user point of view this single network support would simplify this process greatly. These social networks are not dependent on people that are reading these forums and checking sites like touch arcade or slide to play. We will be happy just to be able to expand our casual social gaming. These networks need to attract the more casual app gamers and having 4 different networks with different friend lists to manage and 4 different challenge systems is a sure way to ensure these people do not become regular social gamers. I know that a standard system would limit some creative ideas from coming to fruition but it would also help to enforce quality standards and provide gamers some assurance that there is at least some standard must be met for a product to be published. I don't know anything about server language or programming but it would seem to me that it would be easier for developers work on a game if they are given a standard language or code rather than having a developer attempt to decide which code is going to be easiest to manipulate.
As the developer of StickWars, I'm throwing my vote to OpenFeint for the very reasons that the above poster mentioned. Pocket God is already using OpenFeint, and Chilingo (iDracula!) has signed up as well, and StickWars will hopefully bring millions more players to the network (though I'm sure there is a lot of overlap). These are the $0.99 causual games that are cheap to buy and will be tons of fun with all the new social features. OpenFeint is an open-source framework, so I'd have to say that in terms of integration, you can't get much more transparent than that.
wow, thats great. there are afew chillingo titles on OpenFeint. We should be able to see every app that uses OpenFeint when 2.0 is rolled out as there is the cross app promotions which i think will be great for business.
Well judging by the numbers it looks like Plus+ and Scoreloop are doing something right, despite the fact that OpenFeint has had Pocket God for months now...
