Android Binary RC 2022-04-13: IronSource Upgrade, Pollfish, Google Play Rate App,
adent42
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To get these benefits use "Build RC". It doesn't matter which version of GameSalad Creator you publish with as long as it's a version 1.25.x.
For people used to the old RC thread, I will be repeating features that are not present in the regular "Generate" build, so you know in total what you are getting with this RC. New fixes since the last RC will be in bold.
Android
Changes
- Ad Network Updates:
- IronSrc 7.2.0 (and matching updates for mediated networks)
- Liftoff, Superawesome added.
- Improved init to avoid sending data before GDRP consent
- Admob 20.5.0
- Chartboost 4.3.8
- Does not apply to not Kindle or FireTV
- IronSrc 7.2.0 (and matching updates for mediated networks)
- Allow enable multiple Full Screen Ad providers to allow for Pollfish + another provider.
- Google Play Rate App
- GameAnalytics
- Pollfish
Fixes
- Fix the speed issue on Pixel 4 and other phones that run over 60fps. We're going to lock GameSalad apps to run at a max of 60fps. Since I don't have a Pixel 4 yet, I can't test it, but we'll try to get one and test it before the RC becomes a stable build.
Notes
Build RC now builds an AAB, because that's what Google needs and if you need an APK, you can use command line tools to extract one.
A lot going on, so we're gonna break it up into multiple post.
Tweet Sheet Supercharged!
Some features require new behaviors. In order to get new features out to you more quickly, we sometimes “overload” the Tweet Sheet Action in order to allow you to use it to trigger these new behaviors. This lets you use new features without waiting for us to build new Behavior UIs or waiting for a new version of creator.
The “Message” field of the Tweet Sheet Action will be used to indicate the new behavior you want to trigger.
The “Image” field will be used to let you send arguments / configuration to these behaviors.
The new behaviors include:
Behavior Usage
gs:requestIDFA - On iOS, show dialog to request permission to enable cross-app tracking through the IDFA.
gs:rateApp - Shows the app store’s “rate my app” dialog.
gs:trackEvent - Used to track analytics events. See more below.
gs:showRewardedAd - Used to pause game and show a Rewarded Ad. See more below.
gs:showInterstitialAd - Used to pause game and show an Interstitial Ad. See more below.|
You’ll learn details about how some of these work below.
Google Play Rate App
To display the Google Play Store “Rate My App” GUI you can now use a custom TweetSheet behavior as follows:
Multiple Network w/ Default
What used to happen:
- Multiple ad networks could be enabled.
- At app startup, a network was chosen at random and used for the rest of the app's runtime.
Originally, we intended to add our own mediation layer that would let you adjust the mix of ad networks.
Since the inclusion of IronSrc, it no longer made sense to enable multiple ad networks (you might as well use IronSrc) or build our own mediation layer.
With the inclusion of Pollfish, we needed to allow creators to use a traditional ad network by default and Pollfish at the same time.
What happens now:
- Multiple ad networks can be enabled.
- A “Default” ad network can be selected when using more than one network
- Ad behaviors will use the set default ad network.
- Specially formatted calls using the TweetSheet behavior can trigger ads for a specific network.
- This also means you can trigger full screen without changing scenes.
We do not suggest enabling both IronSrc and Admob or Chartboost (unless you disable that network on the IronSrc side). We have not tested this and are unsure what will happen.
To use the TweetSheet behavior to show an ad use one of the following in the Message field:
- gs:showRewardedAd
- gs:showInterstitialAd
and then put the name of the ad network in all lowercase in the Image field:
- pollfish
- admob
- chartboost
- ironsrc
For example, this would show a reward ad from admob:
Pollfish
https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/98629/pollfish-rewarded-polls/
GameAnalytics
https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/98630/gameanalytics/
Comments
Hi Team,
I tried today to use the new BuildRC for the Android version and always get this error:
"Something went wrong building your app. Please check your settings, make sure your icon and default loading images are png files and try again. If the problem persists contact us and reference publish request [b854bf06-3a0d-4bf9-a991-cbeb6faa2032]."
I've nothing changed, so I don't know what to do?
Yes the same for me when try to generate android apps.
i used all possible buttons to generate build: RC, AAB and Build
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Thanks @adent42 this is great!,
when can we expect all this good in ios ?
Should be fixed now. Sorry about that. It was a bug that comes up when there's no Analytics providers configured.
@zarzir we're going to be working on it this week, then a similar round of testing, so hopefully before the end of the month.
Oops, spoke too soon. One last thing to fix. Now it should be good.
This solves big part of my loading wheel problem, thanks!
"This also means you can trigger full screen without changing scenes"
also thanks for the fix for the speed issue.
Tweet Sheet Supercharged!
awesome
MASSIVE update right here! We can get PUBLISHERS to notice us after this update!
All these guys needed was analytics and the ability to add different ad networks..and now we've got those tools.
Here is a good List of Top Hyper Casual Publishers ( A to Z )
GameSalad Templates and Custom Development at the Official Marketplace: http://gshelper.com
hello, I've been smashing my head against a wall trying to figure out why my app wouldn't sign. It was because i used the buildRC and am still using my apk. Google has allowed apps that are using apks before the aab rule came into effect to not be required to use aabs. I understand for future apps I will have to sit down and learn how to configure these but I would like to know if you plan to keep the apk build for those of us who have apps that are not required to use aabs. at least until gamesalad releases a comprehensive guide to signing aab files. If one exists already i apologize. I don't keep up here as much as i should. thanks in advance.
Hi @NoobDev You can extract .APK directly From .AAB; and You can use @Armelline Command line tool; is really simple.
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ok if I use the buildRC and it generates an aab can I extract the apk without signing the aab first? If not then I might as well figure out how to sign the aab and use that. I tried searching for this command line tool you mentioned but couldn’t find it.
Yes, when you extract the .APK from AAB you signed it in the same time; you need bundletool-all-1.8.0.jar and your keystore.
use this applescript for Mac by @Armelline : https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0fuXZy6G5gEovGNx2M30PrFlQ#Generate_APK
Here is a very crude Applescript app that will ask you for the bundle tool location, AAB location, bundle name, Keystore location, Keystore password, then output an APKS and APK with the same filename as the AAB in the same folder as the AAB.
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If you are comfortable running python here's another tool that could be helpful in working with AABs:
https://githubhot.com/index.php/repo/andrejvujic/bundletool-ui
(I haven't tried it yet, but it came up in a quick google).
Update 04-20-2022
Updated engine to only attempt to fix fps on phones with Android 11 / API 30.
When first released the RC was set the check for API 29 / Android 10.
We missed this in testing because we have an Android 7 device and an Android 11 device.
We also made a mistake an overwrote the "Stable" build with the RC. This has been corrected.
If you've released games since 2022-04-13 build with either stable or RC, we suggest regenerating and re-releasing.
Hi @adent42 any updates on this?
No update as of yet, we had another project come up, but should be on this soon.
oh too bad for me, I was counting on the end of the month :(
On a different topic @adent42 , after this latest update do we still need to provide AdMob App ID for ironsource to work?
Also for pollfish on the publish page, what is "Release Mode"?
So the answer is yes for the admob part, can't say about pollfish as I didn't mange to get it to work.
I Didn't mange to make the "RATE" to work as well, I tried to put "gs:" before the msg like in the example but it didn't work either, is it even needed?
Also FYI @adent42 I didn't mange to build using the RC , I get a msg saying to check icon and loading wheel file to make sure they are png,
which they are and I can build using AAB build with them . Maybe its the reason for all my problems as the frame rate is not fixed for me as well ?
@zarzir the issue with publishing with RC has been fixed for you. It's was the fact that you didn't have Analytics enabled (we forgot to check that test case). I fixed the issue and your app successfully published as an RC.
@zarzir Release Mode basically turns on "Real" ads. You start off with "Release Mode" unchecked so you can test your game to ensure the polls are showing up (as they will always show up with a test poll with Release Mode off).
When you are ready to test with live polls or to submit to the app store, check Release Mode and republish. Submit the version with Release Mode checked.
@zarzir yes, you do need to put the gs: in front. that's what we use to figure out that we're dealing with a special Tweet Sheet message.
HI @adent42 Thanks for the quick fix, I want to point out that I did try to publish with Analytics enabled and I also put the Analytics keys nevertheless I hope it will work now.
About the release mode, that's what I thought just FYI it didn't save me the status after I check the box (keep getting back to uncheck).
and as for the tweet sheet, got it thanks, for the requestIDFA it wasn't needed so I got confused.
Thanks
Hi @adent42 another question please, is the msg field when calling gs:rateApp should stay empty?
If so, what should happen on testing when the app is not yet live on the store? I get nothing and I don't know if it's working or not.
@zarzir nothing will happen if you are not yet on the store. Also, please DM me your publishing link
Thanks @adent42 , I just sent you a DM
Hey @adent42 sorry but I think I have a new bug :(
occasionally I get a black or a white screen after exit from an ad (both Reward/Interstitial) I'm using ironsource.
I'm calling the ad from the pause scene using the tweet sheet and I think it's something to do with the banner ads, as I did a little test without banners at all and that was ok for me.
I don't have the banner behavior on my pause scene so I'm not sure if it's suppose to show there but I did tried to call the ads from the main scene and it also happened.
On the same subject banner ads set to all devices doesn't adjust to the right size.
I sent you a DM with a link to my test project if you can take a look, thanks as always
I think it's something to do with the banner ads, as I did a little test without banners at all and that was ok for me.
I take it back, it also happens when I block the banner from the pause scene...
Sorry, I want to take back the taken back.
It seems to be related to getting back to a scene with an active banner, pause or regular.
Hi @adent42 , regarding the white screen after exit from an ad, I mange to get a workaround.
but now I'm facing a bigger problem that may or may not have something to do with that...
The rewards ad playing again after clicking on the x to close the ad, it's stuck in a loop and the only way out is closing the app.
I'm calling the ad from the pause scene with the tweet sheet inside a rule, Inside the rule I also change a self attribute to +1 to make sure it will only run once, that doesn't solve it (it also happens when you call it from the main scene) .
This problem only exists with live rewards ads, test ads work fine and Static ads work fine with the same rule.
On another subject, the gs:rateApp is not working for me (tried also to put it in the msg and without).
Please take a look at those issues, thanks