Problems w/ Installing Multiple Variations of the Same Test Game on my iPad

kevinwynns

I'm doing some game play testing on my Android phone and iPad, and i want multiple versions installed on my devices at once (so i can easily and quickly compare slight variations), but I'm having trouble. When i first tried to install a 2nd test version of my game onto my android phone (without deleting the 1st test version), i got an error saying "Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_ALREADY_EXISTS]"

i thought i was creating a separate, independent version of the game each time i published with PUBLISH AS NEW (not UPDATE) to the GS website, but my phone still acted like all the games being generated were exactly the same and wanted to replace each previously installed version with the next (instead of installing them as separate, independent games).

i tried changing many different publishing details and after lots of trial and error, i was able to get multiple versions of the game on my android device by changing the Android Package Name for each variation. (not sure if this is the way im supposed to do it or if that was a workaround.)

now i'm having trouble doing the same thing for my iOS iPad. when i UPDATE, change the Nickname, Display Name, or Version, then my iPad still thinks they're all the same exact file and wants to replace each old one with the next new one... and when i try to PUBLISH AS NEW (instead of UPDATE) or change the Bundle Identifier during the publishing process, im told the Provisioning Profile cant be found. so again i cant get multiple versions of the game on my iPad. like with the android device, is there something i can do on the iPad to get multiple game files onto it?

The_Gamesalad_Guru

It has to do with your app ID in the publishing portal. Each app needs a different app ID.

kevinwynns

First of all, thanks for your input Lost_Oasis_Games. I'm a newbie and have had 2 or 3 questions right out of the gate that I've posted in the forums, and you've responded to each one. I genuinely appreciate that!

To recap, I'm just trying to play test slight game variations on my iPad (i.e. how a runner game plays with a forward velocity of 700 vs. 500). So in order to have both of these games on my iPad at once, I have to go to the Apple Developer website (Developer: Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles: Identifiers) and Register a brand new iOS App ID every time I want to tweak a little detail like this?

And then I also have to go through the whole Provisioning Profiles process again?

Unlike with Android, it sounds like this isn't going to be as simple as just changing the Bundle Identifier under GS's iOS Universal App Settings... but is all of this really the "easiest"/only way to get multiple games on my iPad?

tmann

This used to be very simple and basically allowed all your development to be done using one provisioning profile.

I'm not signed up with apple anymore and things may have changed somewhat since I was, and.... I gave my Mac a chocolatemilk bath last week so this will be a bit vague

You should be able to create a Provisioning Profile with a Wildcard App ID like com.mydomain.allmyapptesting.*

Then you simply give your apps bundle IDs like com.mydomain.allmyapptesting.app1 com.mydomain.allmyapptesting.app2 com.mydomain.allmyapptesting.app3 etc.

I used to run multiple copies of the GS Viewer and now with Xcode 7 and never even have to visit the developer portal.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

For iOS just use the team ID when you sign. It is the ID with the * at the end. This is called the wildcard ID and can accept any com.domain.appname you put in with just that one profile. So if you choose that all you need to do is change the com.domain.appname in the gamesalad publishing system. For android you can do the same using the same keystore.

kevinwynns

Ok, thanks. Do I need to create brand new Ad Hoc and App Store Distribution Profiles, as shown in the GS iOS Provisioning Profiles instructions?

http://help.gamesalad.com/gamesalad-cookbook/publishing/3-apple-publishing/3-provisioning-profiles/

Or can I simply use the same Distribution Profiles I've already created and then just setup a new Development Profile for the Wildcard App ID?

The_Gamesalad_Guru

The wild card is auto created for you. Just be sure you setup your account info in Xcode preferences.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

kevinwynns

The Wildcard is auto created after I specifically do what?... After creating a new Wildcard App ID and Development Provisioning Profile for it? The only Provisioning Profile I currently have is for the one Explicit App ID I created when first setting up my iOS developer account (it's listed as "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.Game.Version"... but there's no asterisk version that was auto generated from that previous setup). The Wildcard isn't auto generated from that, right? Because I'm not seeing anything like that...

kevinwynns

Ok, so here's what i had to do to be able to install multiple test game projects on my iPad—

1). Create a new Wildcard App ID
2). Create and install a new Ad Hoc Distribution Provisioning Profile that paired up with the Wildcard App ID

so now, when i'm publishing a new game with a slight variation, all i have to do is change the last part of my Bundle Identifier (i.e. the asterisk part of the Wildcard App ID).

thanks everyone for your help!

The_Gamesalad_Guru

The bare one is always auto created. It's a team Id solely based on your main certs. Hmmm I have always had mine. Maybe Apple changed things. Glad you got it sorted.