ETA on Games Save / High Score

Jel

Hi does anyone know roughly when to expect game save and high score to be implemented into GS? Are we talking Days / Weeks / Months / Years ?

jonmulcahy

while I'd love to know myself, I have a feeling the answer is "when it's done"

Jel

Well I guess we'll just have to keep our figures crossed it comes sooner rather than later.

PPenguin

I just work on games under the assumption that nothing else will be added to GS in the near future..
So when it happens, i'm pleasantly surprised, but I don't really need to change much in my existing projects, because they were originally designed with the previous GS version's limitations in mind.

Jel

I agree to some extent but it really restricts developing a game. If you look at most games that are addictive and keep you going back to they all have some kind of save / high score associated with them.

PPenguin

well the high score thing could be solved easily by just changing the URL pro behavior into an expression editor.

That way, you can pass attributes into the URL, and have the webpage on the server side interpret it into a high score chart.

jonmulcahy

It does restrict some game design, I've got 1 game on hold until you can save, and in my two other games, I've got a whole list of stuff I can't enable. Achievements, Time Trials, High Scores. minimal stuff compared to the gameplay, but in my opinion that's what keeps people coming back and recommending games.

I really can't complain, my two games have done pretty well, but I think once saving is enabled, I'll really be able to take them to the next level.

JamesBoucher

Saving is a must, but do not confuse saving with posting to a high score sever. I would rather have posting to high score server with the ability to retrieve scores (and rank) back to the app from the server.

This give you the ability to post scores by name, country and device. This gives you four ways to display high scores by name, device, country and all time.

scitunes

To me seeing that you beat some dude in japan at a game is less of a big deal compared to taking forever to complete level one, then you die in level two and you have to beat level one all over again just to have another try at level two. I have noticed that some people just offer all the levels from the start which is as good a work around as there is, but it would definitely be nice from a players stand point if their hard work was stored so they can keep moving forward through the game instead of repeating the entire game each time.

Just my opinion.

JamesBoucher

scitunes,

You are correct about saving levels, but that's not the same as a high score server. A high score server would be for those types of games that don't allow you to start from a saved level to continue. What would be the point of saving someone's score on a high score server if they played the level ten times to beat it. I can see saving this score locally on the device, but not on a high score server.

Both would be nice (saving & high score server), but I would prefer the high score sever, because I could use it to solve both issues.

scitunes

I see what you're saying, now.

micah

The problem with just being able to submit stuff to a high scores server is that a lot of iPod Touch users play games when they don't have internet access. Most games have local high scores, which should always work, and global high scores, which either work when you're connected to the internet or always work (submitting your high scores once you open the game while connected to the internet).

I'm interested in making really good quality games, and I don't like the idea of leaving out a very necessary feature just because my tool doesn't let me do it. I already bought a GS license, but I'm going to wait until there's the ability to save before actually using it for any iPhone games. I sure hope that happens before my year license is up . Until then I'll do it the harder way, in Objective-C with cocos2d.

beaudoin_n

Newbie alert

So if i gather correctly once the dev is finished with Gamesalad there is no way to just open up Xcode and add the functions missing... or you all prefer sticking with the interface to limit the programming experience ?

I too am interested in keeping high scores on my upcoming games/apps
And it is true that unlocking achievements add a lot of replayability to the game.