Photics - Cool Tip #5 - Facebook and Twitter Support - AND ADVICE FOR GAMESALAD!

PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
edited November -1 in Working with GS (Mac)
OK, this is theoretical — as I don't actually have a Facebook or Twitter account — but I realized that we might be able to add limited social networking support to our games.

How?!

Well, I recently added a social networking plugin to my website...

http://photics.com

...and at the end of every article, there are social networking icons. By clicking the link, like to Facebook or Twitter, you can share the article. So, can this be applied to our games? I think so. The OpenURL behavior should be able to create some limited support for Facebook and Twitter.

Example...

http://photics.com/bot-game-design-and-progress-reports

That's currently the main page for BOT. In the future I'll be making a different landing page for BOT, but that's what I've got now.

So, the Facebook link at the bottom is this...

http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://photics.com/bot-game-design-and-progress-reports&t=BOT+–+Game+Design+and+Progress+Reports

I think this is something that can be dropped into the OpenURL behavior.

http://twitter.com/home/?status=http://photics.com/bot-game-design-and-progress-reports

It's the same with Twitter.

The trick is to create a landing page for your game, and then create a social networking link to that page from your game.

Now I don't actually have a Twitter or Facebook account, but I think this should work. If it does, that could add value to the Professional subscription.

(I haven't decided if I should make a business account for Facebook, as I don't know if I can actually play games like FarmVille or CityVille with a Business account. I don't want a personal account.)

If you create hidden pages on your website, and cute icons for those pages, I think this could be a way to display achievements on Facebook.

———————

And now, advice for the GameSalad team... the OpenURL behavior should be dynamic. It seems unusual to me that this behavior doesn't support expressions. Such a feature would allow GameSalad developers to add their own web based leaderboards. If the "device time" function was added, it might be possible to add some decent encryption to prevent cheating.

Two small changes to GameSalad can dramatically change how the software works.

Comments

  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    Wow, this is one of the coolest posts that I've ever written on this website. I'm surprised that there's no response.

    To summarize... If my theory is correct, you can create achievements in your game and have players display them on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The trick is creative use of the OpenURL behavior.

    Perhaps Facebook and Twitter is not as big as it seems. Heh, I don't have an account, so maybe Facebook and Twitter support is not so important.
  • joshmiller602joshmiller602 Member Posts: 206
    Just tried it...it works. It posts the site as a link on FB, and shows the first paragraph of the landing page. On twitter it just posts the link...brilliant! :)
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    Well that maybe since it's been discussed a couple times in the past. http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=16021. That will teach you how to create a url to place in your game that will give you a preset message to tweet just from clicking a link. I don't have the other thread saved but another user found a way to do preset posts and such from a URL that opened the facebook app on your phone.

    Im not belittling your post just offering some insite as to a possibility of why no one has really responded.

    And I know the twitter one works because I used it in crazy.Cupid. I actually expanded on it and created a subdomains called http://crazycupidtweet.appsoluteentertainment.com this way I could change the tweet if desired without updating the app.

    Havent tried the facebook stuff yet will prob try it on my next app.
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    I think its a great post...just a bit too tired too re-read and understand fully...but I thought I'd post so you know its being read...even if its by tired people... :-)
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    Nice tip, but you don't need to create a new thread even time, you other post is still on the front page. You should structure these like your blog posts.
  • scitunesscitunes Member, Sous Chef Posts: 4,047
    Does that mean you can create a separate subdomain the redirects to fb or twitter for each achievment in your game? So it posts "I got 3 stars on level 10!" and then a second domain that says "I got 3 stars on level 20" etc?
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    jonmulcahy said:
    Nice tip, but you don't need to create a new thread even time, you other post is still on the front page. You should structure these like your blog posts.

    I wasn't planning to make another one of these posts today. I think the other one will fall off the main page soon.

    I think one thread for each is good. Codemonkey used to do something like this, but he stopped. So, I think a thread and discussion for each cool GameSalad trick is excellent discussion for the forum.
    scitunes said:
    Does that mean you can create a separate subdomain the redirects to fb or twitter for each achievment in your game? So it posts "I got 3 stars on level 10!" and then a second domain that says "I got 3 stars on level 20" etc?

    I would do this differently. I'd make hidden web pages for each achievement. Each of those pages would redirect to the main game page, so if someone actually clicked the link they'd go to the game page. On each of those pages would be an image that can be used to display the achievement... like the thumbnails on Photics.com articles.
  • simo103simo103 Member, PRO Posts: 1,331
    scitunes said:
    Does that mean you can create a separate subdomain the redirects to fb or twitter for each achievment in your game? So it posts "I got 3 stars on level 10!" and then a second domain that says "I got 3 stars on level 20" etc?

    I would think you could hard code different links in GS that a webpage could extract from like:

    www.yourwebsite.com/index.asp?Stars=3&Level=10 and in that page you could extract the stars value and the level value and trigger from there
  • scitunesscitunes Member, Sous Chef Posts: 4,047
    simo103 said:
    I would think you could hard code different links in GS that a webpage could extract from like:

    www.yourwebsite.com/index.asp?Stars=3&Level=10 and in that page you could extract the stars value and the level value and trigger from there

    I have no idea how to do that! I know some html and css but I don't even know what you are talking about!
  • firemaplegamesfiremaplegames Member Posts: 3,211
    The main issue with using openURL is that it quits your game and opens Safari. A true Twitter and Facebook behavior wouldnt close your app.
  • simo103simo103 Member, PRO Posts: 1,331
    scitunes said:
    I have no idea how to do that! I know some html and css but I don't even know what you are talking about!

    np ... if you website can handle .asp or .php coded webpages (rather than html they are dynamic and can process code with if then, loops etc) then they can take a hard coded url like http://www.yourwebsite.com/index.asp?Stars=3&Level=10 and extract the stars and level value from that url. So you could have in GS if attribute level=10 and stars=3and the code to show the url http://www.yourwebsite.com/index.asp?Stars=3&Level=10 etc and then take would go to your webpage where it can dynamically take action based on variables.

    Let me know if you want to dig further I could perhaps look at what you want to do and see what's possible based on your app and website.

    I don't have a pro account so I'm not sure how it is implemented but if you can have numerous URL's available and used based on attributes I don't see a problem with this.
  • MagoNicolasMagoNicolas Member, PRO Posts: 2,090
    I posted the same like 2 month ago, maybe 3, not to much response, lol.
  • QuinnZoneStudiosQuinnZoneStudios Member Posts: 452
    Oh I get it now (first time I saw any of these threads).
    This is a big deal!
    Yes it does exit your game but sharing your game to the players FaceBook page is great free publicity. I'll be using this idea for sure!

    Thanks guys!!!
  • MidNightGamer1125MidNightGamer1125 Member Posts: 50
    ok im really intrested in how this works. But I am a newb to GS. I don't see an open url behavior is it in a different version of GS. This is a great post by the way u got my vote.
  • MidNightGamer1125MidNightGamer1125 Member Posts: 50
    disregard need pro version
  • RedlerTechRedlerTech Member Posts: 1,583
    Hey everyone,
    has anyone ever tried to implementing a like button for a Facebook page inside of their app? Is their anyway to do this?

    Matt
  • JoeMeisterJoeMeister Member Posts: 602
    jonmulcahy said:
    Nice tip, but you don't need to create a new thread even time, you other post is still on the front page. You should structure these like your blog posts.

    jonmulcahy said:
    Nice tip, but you don't need to create a new thread even time, you other post is still on the front page. You should structure these like your blog posts.

    While you at it Jon I am also getting thick of people announcing their new games in this forum.
    When I did this I was bumped of immediately.
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