Iphone – What iPhone APIs are available for internet-based matchmaking games

iphone

I have a pretty basic challenge-based iPhone game, and I wanted to know what my options are for player discovery & matchmaking. I may end up rolling my own server, but if I don't have to, even better.

So far, I've found OpenFeint and Scoreloop, but I don't really care about the social part or discovering other games, I just want a simple system with matchmaking, win/loss, and global rankings. CocosLive has the global ranking part, but not the matchmaking.

Also just found RakNet.

Thanks.

Best Answer

Check out the Google App Engine for a free to cheap alternative to setting up your own server. It also has the added benefit of being Google, which to me spells reliability.

I expect that RakNet and similar companies will want a bunch of money for this solution - one of their clients is Sony Online Entertainment which to me spells money.

Also as you search around for solutions I would focus more on searching for open source code to put on your Google App Engine rather than a service. Online services require bandwith, which costs money. Information is free.

Good luck!

Related Solutions

Ios – Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL Scheme for iPhone apps, like YouTube and Maps

I think the least intrusive way of doing this is as follows:

Check if the user-agent is that of an iPhone/iPod Touch
Check for an appInstalled cookie
If the cookie exists and is set to true, set window.location to your-uri:// (or do the redirect server side)
If the cookie doesn't exist, open a "Did you know Your Site Name has an iPhone application?" modal with a "Yep, I've already got it", "Nope, but I'd love to try it", and "Leave me alone" button.
1. The "Yep" button sets the cookie to true and redirects to your-uri://
2. The "Nope" button redirects to "http://itunes.com/apps/yourappname" which will open the App Store on the device
3. The "Leave me alone" button sets the cookie to false and closes the modal

The other option I've played with but found a little clunky was to do the following in Javascript:

setTimeout(function() {
  window.location = "http://itunes.com/apps/yourappname";
}, 25);

// If "custom-uri://" is registered the app will launch immediately and your
// timer won't fire. If it's not set, you'll get an ugly "Cannot Open Page"
// dialogue prior to the App Store application launching
window.location = "custom-uri://";

Iphone – What size should apple-touch-icon.png be for iPad and iPhone

Updated list December 2019, iOS13 One icon for iOS 180x180 px and one for android 192x192 px (declared in site.webmanifest).

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
<link rel="manifest" href="/site.webmanifest">

#### site.webmanifest
{
    "name": "",
    "short_name": "",
    "icons": [
        {
            "src": "/android-chrome-192x192.png",
            "sizes": "192x192",
            "type": "image/png"
        }
    ],
    "display": "standalone"
}

Deprecated list October 2017, iOS11

List for iPhone and iPad with and without retina

<!-- iPhone(first generation or 2G), iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="57x57" href="touch-icon-iphone.png">
<!-- iPad and iPad mini @1x -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="76x76" href="touch-icon-ipad.png">
<!-- iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 7s, iPhone8 -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="120x120" href="touch-icon-iphone-retina.png">
<!-- iPad and iPad mini @2x -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="touch-icon-ipad-retina.png">
<!-- iPad Pro -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="167x167" href="touch-icon-ipad-pro.png">
<!-- iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6 Plus -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="touch-icon-iphone-6-plus.png">
<!-- Android Devices High Resolution -->
<link rel="icon" sizes="192x192" href="icon-hd.png">
<!-- Android Devices Normal Resolution -->
<link rel="icon" sizes="128x128" href="icon.png">

Update Oct 2017 iOS 11: iOS 11 checked, iPhone X and iPhone 8 introduced

Update Nov 2016 iOS 10: New iOS version iPhone 7 and iPhone 7plus introduced, they have the same display resolution, dpi, etc as iPhone 6s and iPhone 7plus, until now no changes found respecting the update 2015

Update Mid 2016 Android: Add Android Devices to the list as the apple-touch links are marked as deprecated by Google and will be not supported anytime for their devices

<!-- Android Devices High Resolution -->
<link rel="icon" sizes="192x192" href="icon-hd.png">
<!-- Android Devices High Resolution -->
<link rel="icon" sizes="128x128" href="icon.png">

Update 2015 iOS 9: For iOS 9 and iPad pro

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="167x167" href="touch-icon-ipad-pro.png">

The new iPhones (6s and 6s Plus) are using the same sizes as the iPhone(6 and 6 Plus), the new iPad pro uses an image of size 167x167 px, the other resolutions are still the same.

Update 2014 iOS 8:

For iOS 8 and iPhone 6 plus

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="touch-icon-iphone-6-plus.png">

Iphone 6 uses the same 120 x 120 px image as iphone 4 and 5 the rest is the same as for iOS 7

Update 2013 iOS7:

For iOS 7 the recommended resolutions changed:

for iPhone Retina from 114 x 114 px to 120 x 120 px
for iPad Retina from 144 x 144 px to 152 x 152 px

The other resolution are still the same

57 x 57 px default
76 x 76 px for iPads without retina

Source: https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/icons-and-images/app-icon/

Best Answer

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Ios – Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL Scheme for iPhone apps, like YouTube and Maps

Iphone – What size should apple-touch-icon.png be for iPad and iPhone

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