IndieCity is a growing online store for Indie Games. As well as being a portal for buying games, with assorted features, they also provide a SDK that gives the developer the opportunity to use their Achievements and Leaderboards systems. I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss my thoughts on this with X-Orbtek II.
Achievements
I fully intend to support IndieCity achievements. In fact if you looked at my profile on there you may see that I've unlocked a few already!
I had three lines of thought when coming up with the list. I could:
- Come up with some tricky things to do.
- Have long terms goals to achieve (like X-Orbtek on Android has).
- Encourage the player to play the game in certain ways.
I've mainly opted for the latter so using the custom game mode, challenging yourself with difficulty and playing multiplayer unlocks achievements. Then I've also got a few gameplay based achievements. Some may be easy enough for a skilled but for some it involves staying alive for a ruddy long time!
Leaderboards
Before I started IceLib integration (Indie City stuff), I already had Leaderboards. I don't think it really makes sense to have two sets of leaderboards but it would be nice to have full IndieCity support! I see four alternatives:
- Stick to my own leaderboard system. You compete against the same players, regardless of where you bought the game.
- Axe my own and use IndieCity's. This would be a USP of buying it on IC but detrimental to people buying the game elsewhere.
- Use both with options to view either in game. This seems horrible from a UX point of view.
- Use both with IC hidden. Seems extra work for no benefit...
And Finally...
On the Xbox version it was easy to come up with the pkayer's name... use the profile. On PC the Xbox Gamer Services aren't available so I allowed you to edit your name. Through IndieCity I can take the player's name. Sorted!
What would your thoughts be on leaderboards? Leave a comment!
