Just found out these old newspaper clips from 1918 that has picture of iPhone8 allegedly confiscated from a man from the "future". Is time travel really possible? 😉
These time-traveling paradoxes make my head spin. In the present, Professor G. Scott Gigawatt is looking for assistants to send him back to year 1960 :D
Seriously though, the game has all kinds of nice features rarely seen on GS games like push notifications, Single Sign-On, Apple Pay and asynchronous multiplayer mode. Enabling those made this a really interesting project.
Thanks @bob loblaw and @Armelline Can't take credit from the match-3 game logic, it's from an old GS template.
Made some changes to it and integrated it with Skillz's Cordova SDK (https://developers.skillz.com) which gives all those nice features: asynchronous multiplayer mode, push notifications, single sign-on, virtual currency to play with and most importantly in the future an ability to play with real money. I have never been a fan of ads and IAP as a monetization model and this alternative gives me a model that makes sense to me. Please give the game a try and comment what you think about the game and its monetization model, imagining that you would be playing this with real money. Would you be hooked? I believe this could be a really good way for us GS game developers to monetize our games.
Still having some problems though: Game looks and works nicely on iPhone 8 and iPhone 11
But for instance on iPhoneX and iPhone 11 max pro when using letterbox text alignment is off. (That "Love Saves" stamp is actually text). It's off on the portal and on the red atom in the playing field even though it's just display text with 0,0 position and relative to the actor.
I hope @adent42 can help me with those text align problems.
If anyone starts to make games with html5/Cordova/Skillz SDK I am happy to share any tips and tricks I have learned with this project. Skillz's documentation is quite straightforward though. Don't try to do the Android version, I spent a week on that, it will not work since Skillz's Android Cordova support will be deprecated in the future and it actually already is deprecated even though documentation says otherwise.
You should use Stretch for iPhone X, and take a look at my templates and tutorials. Apple will usually reject letterboxed games, I'm surprised you got it submitted with it letterboxing on iPhone X!
Thanks @Armelline I tried stretch for the game but hit a wall there. I made stretch version from great template from @Two.Ehttps://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1519690128 (this game is also Skillz enabled and it has a great fireworks effect from @jamie_c ). It also has the same text align problem though when using iPhoneX :/
Thanks @solnika Exact instructions, phew that depends a lot on each game, but outline is quite simple: You have to publish a html5 version of the your GS game, then install Cordova (https://cordova.apache.org/) , create a developer account at https://developers.skillz.com/ and download and install their Cordova SDK (they have really good documentation how to do this). You have all the control on your own game. At certain points you have to launch their app and call their SDK (this is also well documented). This thread https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/97845/integrating-gamesalad-htlm5-export/p1 from @adriangomez is a gold mine how to work with GS and Cordova. On this thread you can find also some of the problems I faced with this and solutions to them. With these you should be good to go.
Business model is 50/50 split with Skillz from each cash game that is played in your game. This 50/50 split is from 20% that is charged from the pot. For instance if game is for $1 meaning winner takes $1, both players pay $0.60. Which makes $1.20 , this $0.20 is split 50/50 with you and Skillz. If the price is $10, $2 is split, $100 --> $20 and so on.
@muusi i have that template. if i get a chance over the next few days i’ll see if i can tinker with it to make it work on stretch, and get back to you.
btw, your published version looks like it displays right on iphone 7.
I also have a game with Skillz. I love the retention rate that the app produces.
There are some 2d game engine that only export to HMTL and then use Cordova for "native" apps. With the changes that GameSalad did to HTML export (to provide the integration Legends of Learning), it makes GameSalad able to do anything any other 2d engine can do.
Really cool to see how far you are going with it all @muusi
I haven't had any time to work with GameSalad these last few months but really liking the integration topics going on. Look forward to diving in myself at some stage.
Hope this (and Ninja vs Monster) are doing well for you!
Thanks @Two.E Both FusionX Tournaments and Ninja vs Mega Monster are still waiting for real money games to be opened by Skillz. Each game needs to have at least 100 daily active users for a week and certain key performance indicators need be met before this happens. Getting that 100 daily active users is huge task in itself (at least it is for me working alone and not being very skilled in marketing). Ninja vs Mega Monster which was made first was getting there but unfortunately I didn't know that iPhoneX had this text align issue so it was rejected. Bummer! I hope I can get it fixed soon and I can start marketing it again.
One thing that is good to know is that Skillz's algorithm will categorize players according to their skills and match same level players. So it is not enough to have just 10 daily players for your asynchronous multiplayer game since they might all be in different skill levels and so they might not find anyone to play with. This will quite fast make the game boring for the players. That 100 daily players is definitely needed to keep momentum in the multiplayer game so that there are enough opponents for different skill levels.
So it's not all just sunshine and roses, but despite all the obstacles and challenges I think it is quite exiting possibility for us all.
@muusi The text alignment just needs adjusting according to the added screen space probably. It really shouldn't have been changed by using letterbox, though. If you want to add me to skype I'm happy to take a quick look at the best way to universalise with you.
I'm already doing stretch with the Ninja vs Mega Monster and the actors are in right place with correct offset. Also in the letterbox with FusionX Tournaments the actors are in the right places. The problem is that the display text done from the actor is off. Display text shouldn't need the offset correction since it is relative to the actor's position. I think this is the same problem we had before with HTML5 text alignment and there is some bug left when using HTML5 with Cordova.
Comments
are you about to announce your new match 3 game?
This looks like the mini time portal mentioned in the article.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fusionx-tournaments/id1525566623
These time-traveling paradoxes make my head spin. In the present, Professor G. Scott Gigawatt is looking for assistants to send him back to year 1960 :D
Seriously though, the game has all kinds of nice features rarely seen on GS games like push notifications, Single Sign-On, Apple Pay and asynchronous multiplayer mode. Enabling those made this a really interesting project.
you’ve done well to integrate power ups, some nice graphics and those above features into it.
Hope you're going to make some tutorials for those extra features :D
Congrats on the game, match-3s are not the easiest in GS and this looks great!
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
Thanks @bob loblaw and @Armelline Can't take credit from the match-3 game logic, it's from an old GS template.
Made some changes to it and integrated it with Skillz's Cordova SDK (https://developers.skillz.com) which gives all those nice features: asynchronous multiplayer mode, push notifications, single sign-on, virtual currency to play with and most importantly in the future an ability to play with real money. I have never been a fan of ads and IAP as a monetization model and this alternative gives me a model that makes sense to me. Please give the game a try and comment what you think about the game and its monetization model, imagining that you would be playing this with real money. Would you be hooked? I believe this could be a really good way for us GS game developers to monetize our games.
Still having some problems though: Game looks and works nicely on iPhone 8 and iPhone 11
But for instance on iPhoneX and iPhone 11 max pro when using letterbox text alignment is off. (That "Love Saves" stamp is actually text). It's off on the portal and on the red atom in the playing field even though it's just display text with 0,0 position and relative to the actor.
I hope @adent42 can help me with those text align problems.
If anyone starts to make games with html5/Cordova/Skillz SDK I am happy to share any tips and tricks I have learned with this project. Skillz's documentation is quite straightforward though. Don't try to do the Android version, I spent a week on that, it will not work since Skillz's Android Cordova support will be deprecated in the future and it actually already is deprecated even though documentation says otherwise.
You should use Stretch for iPhone X, and take a look at my templates and tutorials. Apple will usually reject letterboxed games, I'm surprised you got it submitted with it letterboxing on iPhone X!
Will take a look at Skillz!
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
Congrats!
This is really interesting, any chance you can elaborate on how the all integration exactly works?
What kind of control do you have on the game?
Also how is the business model work with skills? you get a share when someone deposit?
If no one deposit you don't earn a thing?
Great work, really smooth on my iPhone 8+
p.s
They announce today that they are going public
Thanks @Armelline I tried stretch for the game but hit a wall there. I made stretch version from great template from @Two.E https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1519690128 (this game is also Skillz enabled and it has a great fireworks effect from @jamie_c ). It also has the same text align problem though when using iPhoneX :/
Thanks @solnika Exact instructions, phew that depends a lot on each game, but outline is quite simple: You have to publish a html5 version of the your GS game, then install Cordova (https://cordova.apache.org/) , create a developer account at https://developers.skillz.com/ and download and install their Cordova SDK (they have really good documentation how to do this). You have all the control on your own game. At certain points you have to launch their app and call their SDK (this is also well documented). This thread https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/97845/integrating-gamesalad-htlm5-export/p1 from @adriangomez is a gold mine how to work with GS and Cordova. On this thread you can find also some of the problems I faced with this and solutions to them. With these you should be good to go.
Business model is 50/50 split with Skillz from each cash game that is played in your game. This 50/50 split is from 20% that is charged from the pot. For instance if game is for $1 meaning winner takes $1, both players pay $0.60. Which makes $1.20 , this $0.20 is split 50/50 with you and Skillz. If the price is $10, $2 is split, $100 --> $20 and so on.
@muusi i have that template. if i get a chance over the next few days i’ll see if i can tinker with it to make it work on stretch, and get back to you.
btw, your published version looks like it displays right on iphone 7.
I also have a game with Skillz. I love the retention rate that the app produces.
There are some 2d game engine that only export to HMTL and then use Cordova for "native" apps. With the changes that GameSalad did to HTML export (to provide the integration Legends of Learning), it makes GameSalad able to do anything any other 2d engine can do.
@muusi I will load your game. Looks good and I can help you with the screen issue if you like.
@muusi Thank you for the answer.
I didn't play much with the html5 version, I wonder is it possible also to combine IAP and Ads with an html5 game?
Really cool to see how far you are going with it all @muusi
I haven't had any time to work with GameSalad these last few months but really liking the integration topics going on. Look forward to diving in myself at some stage.
Hope this (and Ninja vs Monster) are doing well for you!
GSLearn.com | Templates | Free Demos | Udemy Course
Thanks @Two.E Both FusionX Tournaments and Ninja vs Mega Monster are still waiting for real money games to be opened by Skillz. Each game needs to have at least 100 daily active users for a week and certain key performance indicators need be met before this happens. Getting that 100 daily active users is huge task in itself (at least it is for me working alone and not being very skilled in marketing). Ninja vs Mega Monster which was made first was getting there but unfortunately I didn't know that iPhoneX had this text align issue so it was rejected. Bummer! I hope I can get it fixed soon and I can start marketing it again.
One thing that is good to know is that Skillz's algorithm will categorize players according to their skills and match same level players. So it is not enough to have just 10 daily players for your asynchronous multiplayer game since they might all be in different skill levels and so they might not find anyone to play with. This will quite fast make the game boring for the players. That 100 daily players is definitely needed to keep momentum in the multiplayer game so that there are enough opponents for different skill levels.
So it's not all just sunshine and roses, but despite all the obstacles and challenges I think it is quite exiting possibility for us all.
Never give up, never surrender! :D
@muusi The text alignment just needs adjusting according to the added screen space probably. It really shouldn't have been changed by using letterbox, though. If you want to add me to skype I'm happy to take a quick look at the best way to universalise with you.
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
I'm already doing stretch with the Ninja vs Mega Monster and the actors are in right place with correct offset. Also in the letterbox with FusionX Tournaments the actors are in the right places. The problem is that the display text done from the actor is off. Display text shouldn't need the offset correction since it is relative to the actor's position. I think this is the same problem we had before with HTML5 text alignment and there is some bug left when using HTML5 with Cordova.
You might wonder what I mean by this being a great opportunity for us all. Take a look at these numbers https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/02/competitive-mobile-game-maker-skillz-will-do-a-quick-ipo-at-3-5-billion-valuation/
i.e. this years revenue target being over 555 million dollars! And then take a look at the list of games https://games.skillz.com/
I could name 20 games on top of my head made by you guys that could easily be on that list.