How to use Facebook Instant Games - Basics

I played a game on facebook.. an instant game called Ludo Club... and this is what i observed...

1) It loads instantly at first but then full game loads for a few seconds... (now how do i manage doing that with C3 events?)

2) then it was a multiplayer game so it connects me to online players (should i simply use multiplayer object connecting to scirra sever or do something else?)

3 PS - i need to know do i absolutely need to spend on apple store license to do instant games? (i read it somewhere that i need to)

1) to answer the instant loading, that is relative to the Construct splash screen, or the loading bar that appears before the game starts, so you might want to leave loading bar and progress shown as splash screen so you get the initial assets loaded by default, like sounds/images etc(also make sure you don't load everything there but in the custom loading screen).

once that is done, you can make a custom loading screen by creating a new layout and load your assets there being it by calling them from urls from a server or from the /files/ folder in the project.

2) the multiplayer part yes is related to the plugin you are using for construct, the usernames and login by facebook and fetching data from user profile you need a specific privilege that isn't given anymore i think by default to facebook developers so you might need to ask permission from facebook through the existing convoluted technical process (which is very well documented, but it's talking in SDK terms and that is where a lot of people get lost, me included).

3) yes, all instantgames on facebook need a apple team id aka apple developer license, otherwise your app won't be reviewed (is the last step before being able to press submit to review).

the review process once you complete all the little details on it step by step the last one is the apple license, once you have that you can submit to review, for app to be live on the facebook instantgames platform, the game meanwhile (review) if set to public is available to be played for everybody on facebook that has a link to it (desktop only usually).

after your app gets approved you then can submit it for review on advertising, there was a forum post i did followed by a tutorial about setting it up for ads and review i think, but not sure how much will still match the current process, as it was made back 6-7 months when instant-games plugin was still new to the C3 stable version, but in proportion of 90% should still work, maybe some places where the features are in facebook interface are changed but they should server the same functionalities, with the similar names.

as for helping setting it up, i could try make a tutorial updated but it will take me a while.

Edited: meanwhile i found the forum topic part that i was talking about, i do remember i did a tutorial for it but i can't remember what was the name FB instant Games -Adverts

If you manage to process the first bit you can test your app how it loads and all before submitting, so sending for review is not a must to test your app on FIG.

One followup question though.... about the 2nd answer, it seems you are talking about difficulty in gaining profile data, but if i only need username, friends list/scores and leaderboards.... is it easy to make a multiplayer facebook instant game with C3 right now?

yea, im a bit confused about the privileges myself also, initially for facebook default permission where like 6 then there where 5 then they became 3 and now they are only 2

and those are

the login permissions lets you use their email address to link to an account in your game, and then save to a database somewhere.

the public profile i think it gives u the username and profile icon im not sure about the icon.

for any other privilege u need a special request, if someone knows if those 2 permissions are having more purpose than what i listed please let us know, im curious also.

...

Easy to make a FIG multiplayer... as easy multiplayer games can get ... with construct, they are a bit confusing though the multiplayer plugin is for Construct Advanced users, so if you aren't yet used with Construct or you have no programming background it will be hard to understand what things do.

A FIG multiplayer game, is a multiplayer game, it doesn't needs to have any facebook functionalities outside of being hosted and accessed through the facebook platform.

Therefore any multiplayer game in Construct can be used on facebook or any other platform, as the games from construct are browser based most of them (outside mobiles i think the .apk type file extensions etc) so they run on any platform.

You can have your own login system on your own server/database, and just use facebook for hosting and audience.

Those games you said you seen, are doing exactly that + some facebook features.

But Construct comes with a multiplayer game example, out of the box, you can look at the controls, and how usernames are set, and then do a custom similar system but using the facebook credentials.

i didn't really used the multiplayer plugin, i done singleplayer games so far, il probably be hitting the multiplayer plugin pretty soon though but from what i seen and looked into the existing templates it should be easy enough if you know the basics atleast of Construct.

So for a beginner, multiplayer games depending on the gameplay you are going for it can be easy or hard.

Easy meaning using the already existing template and tweak it a bit, or change the existing template to what you need and the more things you add the more it complicates things ^_^.

The leaderboards is easy to setup, you need to create a developer.facebook leaderboard on the app, then get the id, and use it inside Construct though the FIG plugin. you can get the top players or current player highscore and compare its position to other players very easy, but again depending on what you want to show and how it should show the information is again probably not be that easy, is a matter of design and purpose of your gameplay/ user interface/ data displayed etc.

I could say i know how to use most of the Construct features, but im still finding stuff that i hit my head in a wall for days, picking the multiplayer plugin would be one of those things for me, probably that's why i avoid it. But then that is just me, i learn different than others, but some more experienced users i remember they said, isn't that hard if you give it some interest, so ^_^ learn/do/test/retest/repeat, eventually you will make it, oh and use the forum, it will save you a lot of time. There are tons of resources and examples around.

sorry for the long post...

GeorgeZaharia

thanks for elaborating!

fredriksthlm

No (realtime) multiplayer support exist at all in IG sdk, so you have to use a 3rd party for that. Like Photon, Firebase, PlayFab or similar. Depends on what you need.

Okay, i will learn to use firebase, also i am holding the idea to develop FIG for a while as $100 fee(may be less) for apple ID is too much!

Thankyou both for helping!

The apple license is available for an entire year

You can reuse it for N games.

I find it a bit abusive from the apple side, to force the 100$ license on some other stores games.

But then again Apple doesn't know what their are doing anymore.