Get time from Internet

Nabbo (ReflectiveByte)

I am working on a game which triggers events based on time.. Is there any method to get time from internet and avoid time based triggers and cheats.

MentalDonkeyGames

I thikn AppFormative has a service for that. @Hopscotch can confirm if i'm right.

Braydon_SFX

Absolutely! AppFormative has time based rewards and triggers, amoung other things. I did a GS meetup in January that used the server time for daily rewards. You may want to watch that to help you get started.

Hopscotch

Thank you for the shout-out @MentalDonkeyGames and @Braydon_SFX !

As mentioned, we do. See link in signature to the web page.

viking

Wow! That's cool @Hopscotch Can I also use AppFormative for storing player lives data online like in Candy Crush Saga?

Like this:

If player loses a life, send message to server. After 10 minutes the server sends a message back to the player that a new life is available and then an extra life is added in the game.

This works now?

Nabbo (ReflectiveByte)

thx every1 for support I will have a look on this!! BTW one more question.. how u ppl get the signature? Do u manually paste it when every u type or I can update it some where on the forum??

MentalDonkeyGames

@Nabbo (ReflectiveByte) said:
thx every1 for support I will have a look on this!! BTW one more question.. how u ppl get the signature? Do u manually paste it when every u type or I can update it some where on the forum??

http://forums.gamesalad.com/profile/signature

Nabbo (ReflectiveByte)

Wow I see my signature!! thx @MentalDonkeyGames u rock...

Hopscotch

@viking, push notifications? No, but in-game yes.

We have various methods of in-game messaging, offline timers, calculated consumable and server times.

Also check out the great videos from

@Armelline : http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/comment/564070

and

@Braydon_SFX at the meetup : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxK0vo3jNHU

discussing possible implementations.

Also, feel free to contact us regarding special requirements.

viking

Thanks @Hopscotch. I looked at the two videos and that was super-helpful. I was able to hook up the server side clock as I want to regenerate lives using server time, but I have a couple of questions:

1. In the tutorial that @Braydon_SFX made there was a connect to the AppFormative server at the beginning of launch of the game, which works beautifully in my game. However, it is very likely that the player will lose connection with the server during the gameplay session. Does it make sense to run the connect logic every minute or so to make sure that the player is indeed connected to the server? Perhaps even indicate to the player in the lives menu that he/she is online or offline. Otherwise the player will not generate new lives even if the device is back online again during a play session since the login to AppFormative only happens on app launch.

2. I can't figure out how to use Braydon's tutorial for lives since I need there to be a limit to how many lives the game regenerates. The coin example got me 50% there, but for some reason I always end up with more than 5 lives when I reopen the app after a while has passed. Is there a tutorial somewhere that shows how AppFormative can be used for regenerating lives?

3. I am very impressed with the many possibilities that AppFormative opens up and I would like to use it for a particular purpose (In addition to lives). In my game, you have to unlock the next level based on earning a certain number of points. My concern is that the number of points needed to advance on any given level can bee too high (players are frustrated and stop playing) or too low (players breeze through the game). Is it possible to set it up in my game so that I can change the points needed to advance on any level in the game from the server side? For example: Change Level 22 points needed to advance from 10,000 to 9,000... And then the Level 22 points needed table cell value changes to 9K.

Hope this makes sense

Hopscotch

@viking almost missed your questions

Glad you like the features of APPFormative!

To your queries:

1. You can query the server as often as you need, ultimately it is your decision of how much strain you want to place on your players battery life. Repeated requests shorter than every minute are probably to be avoided.

2. If you have a cap on the number of lives, then you have two options: a) keep track of the spill-over after each request from the server and factor that in with the calculation. b) use calculated consumables from APPFormative, where you tell us the settings (starting value, frequency, cap, etc.) and you just get the actual lives from the server. For option b) you need to contact us, but option a) is preferred and flexible enough to do what you need.

3. You can use Custom Triggers for this. Devise a string with all the keys and values which you can read out in your app. You can then adjust these values at any time on the server side, instantly updating all your users. (Again, we also have more advanced custom options.)

Please PM me if you would like more details.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@viking
I can't figure out how to use Braydon's tutorial for lives since I need there to be a limit to how many lives the game regenerates. The coin example got me 50% there, but for some reason I always end up with more than 5 lives when I reopen the app after a while has passed. Is there a tutorial somewhere that shows how AppFormative can be used for regenerating lives?

This should be handled in your logic. You can cap the amount in your logic.