GameCenter end-user question?

[samurle]

I'm new to GameCenter and I have an important question about setting it up.

If a game supports GameCenter, how do most games present GameCenter to the user?

Is GameCenter functionality mostly hidden? For example, the player is authenicated,
scores and achievements are submitted without the user's knowledge.

Or is GameCenter functionality exposed to the user? The user is given options
to control what is submitted, achieved, reset scores, or even given the ability
to turn GameCenter off?

Thanks.

[mer10]

Originally Posted by samurle

I'm new to GameCenter and I have an important question about setting it up.

If a game supports GameCenter, how do most games present GameCenter to the user?

Is GameCenter functionality mostly hidden? For example, the player is authenicated,
scores and achievements are submitted without the user's knowledge.

Or is GameCenter functionality exposed to the user? The user is given options
to control what is submitted, achieved, reset scores, or even given the ability
to turn GameCenter off?

Thanks.

Pretty much all end user control with GameCenter is nil..
Usually an app will see if a user is authenticated, and then automatically submit scores and achievements during specific times. They also automatically submit achievements and scores earned while the user was signed out of the game center. Obviously they can sign out, but the next time they go back into the app everything is usually synced.

If you're looking to integrate an app with GameCenter with scores and achievements, make sure you read Apple's documentation on it. I also highly recommend using iOS 5.0 as well (GC achievement notification requires it). Don't bother with letting the user control GameCenter features like resetting scores, when to submit,etc.. it will just make things messy and take up your time.

[samurle]

Originally Posted by mer10

Pretty much all end user control with GameCenter is nil..
Usually an app will see if a user is authenticated, and then automatically submit scores and achievements during specific times. They also automatically submit achievements and scores earned while the user was signed out of the game center. Obviously they can sign out, but the next time they go back into the app everything is usually synced.

If you're looking to integrate an app with GameCenter with scores and achievements, make sure you read Apple's documentation on it. I also highly recommend using iOS 5.0 as well (GC achievement notification requires it). Don't bother with letting the user control GameCenter features like resetting scores, when to submit,etc.. it will just make things messy and take up your time.

Thanks. I tried out a couple of popular games that show the GameCenter icon on the AppStore,
but I couldn't find a darn thing about GameCenter while playing the game.

Is there an Apple API example that shows how to do "GC achievement notifications" ?

I looked at GKTapper and GKTank, and they don't use them. They haven't been updated in
over 2 years.

[mer10]

Originally Posted by samurle

Thanks. I tried out a couple of popular games that show the GameCenter icon on the AppStore,
but I couldn't find a darn thing about GameCenter while playing the game.

Is there an Apple API example that shows how to do "GC achievement notifications" ?

I looked at GKTapper and GKTank, and they don't use them. They haven't been updated in
over 2 years.

Sorry it's actually called GKAchievement. Before you submit the achievement with [achievement reportAchievementWithCompletionHandler:^(NSError *error), you need to implement this very difficult and complex piece of code to get an official Apple GameCenter achievement banner prompted on your screen.

achievement.showsCompletionBanner=YES;

I love iOS 5.0