Create Open XLive Games on Developer Website
Open XLive is a cloud based mobile game service platform. To enable Open XLive services in games, developers will need to register on Open XLive website. In this article, we’ll walk through the process of Open XLive developer registration, and the process of creating Games, Leaderboards, and Achievements. We’ll also show how to create an official website for your game.
Log on to Open XLive website
First of all, please make sure you’ve registered at Open XLive website. If not, please refer to “Register Open XLive Developer” <http://wiki.openxlive.com/Tutorial-3-Register-OpenXLive-Developer.ashx>.
Now log on to http://developer.openxlive.com/ using your user name and password. Return to http://developer.openxlive.com/ page, click on “Manage My Game” on the left dashboard, and enter developer “Game Management” page.
Creating Open XLive Games
In “Game Management” page, your previously created games are displayed. To create a new game, click on the “Create New Game” button underneath your user icon, and enter new game information page.
Adding Leaderboard
To add a Leaderboard, please make sure you’ve registered at Open XLive website. If not, please refer to “Register Open XLive Developer” <http://wiki.openxlive.com/Tutorial-3-Register-OpenXLive-Developer.ashx>.
Now log on to http://developer.openxlive.com/ using your user name and password. Return to http://developer.openxlive.com/ page, click on “Manage My Game” on the left dashboard, and enter developer “Game Management” page.
In “Game Management” page, find the game you created in the game list.
Click on the name of the game, and enter “Game Details” page:
In “Game Details” page, click on “Leaderboard”, and enter “Game Leaderboard” page:
One or more Leaderboards can be created for a game. Name of the first Leaderboard in the game can be empty, and it will be displayed as “Default” in Leaderboard list. A game can only have one default Leaderboard.
Properties of Leaderboard:
Name: English and Chinese names are supported. If there is only one Leaderboard in the game, the name is not displayed. If there are more than one Leaderboards, names will be displayed in Leaderboard Selection page. Open XLive will display Leaderboard name in different language according to the client side information.
Score Data Type: Specifies the data type of Leaderboard score. While OpenFeint on iPhong only supports Int type and other data types need to be converted to Int, Open XLive supports integers (int), float (float), and time (TimeSpan). TimeSpan data type is used to record a time period, used mostly in time score such as racing score.
If data type is changed after Leadboard is created, all existing Leaderboard scores will be erased.
Sort Type: Sorting type of scores in Leaderboard. In a Descending order, the higher score, the better position in the Leaderboard. In an Ascending order, the lower score, the better position. Ascending order is usually used in racing games.
Max Version and Min Version: Applicable versions for the Leaderboard. Versions are specified in “Basic Information” page in “Game Management”. If a game version is lower than min version or higher than max version, the Leaderboard is automatically disabled.
Show Anonymous Score: Set to True if you want the scores submitted from Anonymous to be displayed in Leaderboard. Default is False, in which case if a score is submitted from Anonymous, it won’t be displayed in Leaderboard on both website and client.
Enabled: Specifies if the Leaderboard is valid. We can temporarily disabled a Leaderboard if necessary using this property. Leaderboard is enabled when it’s created.
Description: Description of the Leaderboard in English and Chinese. It will not be displayed on client.
After we complete Leaderboard information, click on “Submit”, we can find the Leaderboard in the Leaderboard list.
Adding Achievements
To add an Achievement, please make sure you’ve registered at Open XLive website. If not, please refer to “Register Open XLive Developer” <http://wiki.openxlive.com/Tutorial-3-Register-OpenXLive-Developer.ashx>.
Now log on to http://developer.openxlive.com/ using your user name and password. Return to http://developer.openxlive.com/ page, click on “Manage My Game” on the left dashboard, and enter developer “Game Management” page.
In “Game Management” page, find the game you created in the game list.
Click on the name of the game, and enter “Game Details” page:
In “Game Details” page, click on “Achievement”, and enter “Game Achievement” page:
There are more properties for Achievement compared to Leaderboard, but they are not complex.
Name: English and Chinese names are supported.
Open XLive Point: Virtual currency in Open XLive system. Each game can have 1000 Points and 200 Achievements, and each Achievement will require a fixed amount of Points, which cannot be 0.
Max Version and Min Version: Applicable versions for the Achievement. Versions are specified in “Basic Information” page in “Game Management”. If a game version is lower than min version or higher than max version, the Achievement is automatically disabled.
Secret: Specifies if this is a secret Achievement. Secret Achievements will only be displayed in Achievement list after gamer acquires them.
Enabled: Specifies if the Achievement is enabled. Default value is True.
Picture: Specifies the picture of the Achievement. The picture is displayed in Achievement list. Default size is 60x60, and other size pictures will be converted to 60x60 automatically. In the future, user can also choose picture from a built-in list. Please note, the picture should be related to the Achievement.
Description: Description of Achievement in English and Chinese.
HowToEarn: Optional, describes how to earn the Achievement, in English and Chinese.
After we complete Achievement information, click on “Submit”, we can find the Achievement in the Achievement list.
Creating Game Official Website
Open XLive service provides official website for all registered games. For those developers who don’t want to maintain their own game websites, this is very useful and convenient. Developers can include screenshots and videos for the games, players can leave comments on the website, and it also displays the latest game Achievements and Leaderboards.
From “Game Management” page, click on “HomePage”, and enter the official website management page. The first two links are English Video and Chinese Videos, which can be used to share videos of the game. Open XLive website doesn’t support video uploads; developers can upload videos to youtube.com or other video sites that can be visited from mainland China, and then fill in the URLs here.
Banner Picture: Banner picture is used to be displayed as the banner for the official website. Banner picture should be closely relevant to the game. Open XLive supports banner picture uploads.
Game Pictures: Screenshots of the game. Multiple screenshots can be uploaded.
After the official site is created, it can be visited at:
http://game.openxlive.com/page/XnaTetrisWP7
The last portion of the URL is the alias of the game, that means it must be unique in Open XLive system.
What’s the next?
We’ve introduced how to create Games, Leaderboards, Achievements, and game official website on Open XLive website. In the next article, we’ll go back to Visual Studio 2010 and learn how to add code to submit score and achievements in games.
http://wiki.openxlive.com/Tutorial-5-Add-Leaderboard.ashx
Reference
OpenXLive Website
http://www.openxlive.com/
OpenXLive Developer Website
http://developer.openxlive.com/
Getting Started with Open XLive
http://wiki.openxlive.com/Getting-Started-with-Open-XLive.ashx