Leaderboards

[BazookaJoeZone]

Hi everyone,

Is anyone aware of an API we can use that supports leaderboards? I know there's openfeint (not sure if it's defunct now judging by their website), and there's Swarm. Swarm looks pretty good, but they want you to add the READ_PHONE_STATE permission, which I'd rather not do.

Also, for those using Swarm - does the user have to sign up for an account before they appear on leaderboards, or can they just randomly have an ID generated instead? Also, it doesn't look like I can query Swarm for the position of a user ID on a leaderboard (they just show the top N slots, but I can't get an index for a player (realize this is harder)).

Thanks

[Silverwolf]

Swarm was the only one I could actually get working and I just know of three (Swarm, Scoreloop, GREE which used to be called openfeint).

Swarm has a Guest account you can use so no requirement to signup, although I would think most would want to if using it. You can also use your facebook account. To be honest I think it is fine in this respect for the vast majority of players.

Swarm cross promotes games (as do the others).

I found the website and web configuration easier on Swarm.

Swarm seems so far with my tests to be very quick when entering and exiting their screens. By the speed of it I get the feel (like LIBGDX) that it's been written by people who really know what they are doing.

The support team on Swarm seem nice and friendly and I get the feel they are real developers rather than customer relations people.

So I know it sounds like I am a fanboy for Swarm but it is the only one that gave me any joy after trying it and I hope they do a version for IOS soon.

You could also do your own leaderboard if leaderboard is all you want and it is not that hard and not too time consuming if you know php and mysql. Papi games do that for example. I almost did that, but I wanted the social aspect and the cross promotion so decided on a third party leaderboard was better in the end.

[BazookaJoeZone]

Thanks for all the info - have any of your users asked about the READ_PHONE_STATE permission? It would be cool if that was optional if you're not going to have any in-app sales through Swarm. Yeah based on what I've looked at with the competitors, swarm definitely seems like the best option.

[Silverwolf]

My game is not released yet.

Also I am having a bit of an issue with it now which I will post on another thread.

[Silverwolf]

I solved the problem I was having with Swarm
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5806&p=27745#p27745

About the phonestate permission, I too wish it would run without it as I am just using the leaderboards. However some of their games have really a lot of downloads, so perhaps it's not much of an issue to most ?

[Silverwolf]

I know PHP and mysql well and there does seem on the net some explanation on how to use Android to directly access php without having to start a web page and hence neatly update and read from a database. From that point it is not hard to display the leaderboards. You would not get all the social, messaging and virtual store stuff that the 3rd party SDK's offer but perhaps some people do just want only a leaderboard with no more permissions than Internet access.

I will look into this and if successful I will put my coding for it up on my website.

Would anyone else like to share how they access MySQL through PHP from Android ?

[Silverwolf]

I did find this viewtopic.php?t=2153&f=11#p27795

Will try it out.

[damo]

If you were going to go the DIY route then I'd probably recommend using JSON to send and receive data ( using PHP/MySql on your server backend then JSON encoding it ). I'm sure there's a few JSON classes out there you could use for android easy enough

[Silverwolf]

Yes JSON is a decent and useful, it also sounds like Jason which is my name

I probably not going the DIY route myself now as I got Swarm operating how I want now.

[NebulaBytes]

As for READ_PHONE_STATE permission in swarm, i've somewhere that in future they plan to make it optional. Does anyone know is it true or only some gossip?