Publishers Need Reward Videos

app_sauce

I just completed a game and downloads are hard to come by so I decided to contact some publishers. Several said it is a strong concept but they need rewarded videos or they can't publish the app. To me rewarded videos is a must. Chartboost claims that added their api is as simple as copying and pasting a few lines of code. Several other video ad platforms say the same thing about added their code. Granted I know it would be more difficult to plugin to GameSalad. I think gs has to bite the bullet and not only add Chartboost Rewarded Videos but add a way to add other api's to our projects. This is a must even before several other features. I know load times are on everyone's mind. But at least we have the option to do a single scene game which most games on the appstore do anyway. I know gamesalad has said in the past that Chartboost Reward Videos are coming but I haven't heard them say that in a long time. Does anyone know the status of this feature? If chartboosts rewarded videos aren't possible for some technical reason maybe another video ad network would work better. Or perhaps a ad mediation system like mopub - which mediates several ad networks.

Hopscotch

@bktennis12 , I fully agree with the necessity for rewarded videos.

However, "Chartboost claims that added their api is as simple as copying and pasting a few lines of code." is an extreme exaggeration when it comes to rewarded videos. This goes for the other ad networks as well.

The difficulty with rewarded video is that your app needs feedback from the ad platform:

a) is a video available
b) if so, did the user watch it to the end

This is not trivial, especially in software as GS which needs to stay independent from specific implementations.

There is a simple solution though, if GS would send a custom ID (as Chartboost and others cater for) along with the video request, then we could use back-end systems like ours (see signature) to provide this feedback to the app and know if the ad was completed, interrupted or none available at the time.

( glances over at @BlackCloakGS )

app_sauce

@Hopscotch said:
bktennis12 , I fully agree with the necessity for rewarded videos.

However, "Chartboost claims that added their api is as simple as copying and pasting a few lines of code." is an extreme exaggeration when it comes to rewarded videos. This goes for the other ad networks as well.

Sure, I understand that the callbacks cause this to not be as simple as copy and paste. But, https://answers.chartboost.com/hc/en-us/articles/201220275-Chartboost-Video
here is the link on how to code Rewarded video ads for iOS. There are 5 to 6 small blocks of code(depending on how much control you want) which are very simple to understand. I think it would be in Chartboost and gs interest to figure this out. Other simpler engines have launched with multiple video ad networks.

jigglybean

This is something we've been after for ages It was voted up in the requested threads but still no news. If GS managed to add this function, it would be a serious game changer not only for Gamesalad, as a trump card to hold up against other 'drag drop' tools but for us as developers.

PLEASE......give us an update GS!

MentalDonkeyGames

Would a be really nice feature indeed!

The GS team has been unusually quiet for a while... I wonder what they´re up to...

robertkdale

Yeah. This is why I am now learning to use Xcode and swift 2.0 because as great as Game Salad is it does have some shortcomings. In sum if you want features like reward videos then you need to learn how to code.

app_sauce

@robertkdale said:
Yeah. This is why I am now learning to use Xcode and swift 2.0 because as great as Game Salad is it does have some shortcomings. In sum if you want features like reward videos then you need to learn how to code.

While this is the case now, I am hopeful that gs soon has rewarded videos.

Hopscotch

@robertkdale said:
if you want features like reward videos then you need to learn how to code.

Not quite, all GS has to do is give us is one custom attribute.

With this custom attribute, anyone with their own server could get the feedback whether the ad was watched or interrupted.

The simplest way would be for GS to handle this for us in game, however, the big development houses do not implement it in this way either. They also use a backend server, because it opens up a host of other possibilities and benefits.

GS probably has something in the pipeline for the future,

but for the interim, I feel this is so important right now, that I will offer this backend service for free to the community, if GS will incorporate this attribute. You have my number @BlackCloakGS .

app_sauce

I was looking into ad mediation companies. Ad mediation companies like Heyzap offer a host of different ad options(including video). If gs supported an api like Heyzap would would we have access to reward videos? Also, @Hopscotch doesn't gs already contact Chartboosts servers when they call for interstitials? Also, doesn't a similar process happen when connecting with Apple, Android, and Amazon with iaps.

Hopscotch

@bktennis12, we have access to rewarded videos NOW, just set it up in Chartboost.

BUT(T), we do not get feedback about what happened, and this is essential for rewarded videos. You need to know if the user actually watched the ad to the end to fairly unlock his/her REWARD.

In most cases you would generate a unique ID and send it along with the ad request, Chartboost then sends this ID together with a confirmation/status to a server. After your app gets control back after the video ended or was cancelled, you would then query this ID and status from the app to identify what happened and act accordingly.

Or GS polls for this confirmation in game and sets a callback for us.