Sponsored feature: Why Axios chose OpenFeint for Above & Beyond Air Combat
Because of its aggressive update frequency
The choice of social networking technology is a decision many iPhone developers are currently grappling with.
Continuing our series of sponsored features, Josh Rosen of Axios Games explains why he chose the OpenFeint platform for his forthcoming flight sim Above & Beyond Air Combat.
Pocket Gamer: Can you give us a brief overview of Above & Beyond?Josh Rosen: Above & Beyond is a 3D air combat game with action-oriented gameplay and rich graphics. The game's world consists of an open ocean containing over 60 islands for the player to explore and conquer.
Credits are earnt by conquering islands which can be used to customise your aircraft with various weapons and shields.
There are also two arcade modes, a racing mini-game and a wave survival mode. These two modes are where OpenFeint really shines.
Why are social networking features important for Above & Beyond?I think in general social networking is a natural way for games on connected devices like the iPhone to engage player communities.
With Above & Beyond specifically, OpenFeint became extremely useful when leaderboards were needed for the racing and survival mini-games.
After implementing the core leaderboard functionality, I quickly moved on to achievements and social network integration, which will both add to the game's depth and value.
Why did you choose OpenFeint for Above & Beyond?With my first iPhone game SciFly: Dogfight, I decided to roll my own simple high score system. Even this simple system ended up causing tons of complexity and instability. Since then I've been interested in integrating existing services so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel.
I chose OpenFeint specifically because of their very aggressive update frequency. In just the past few months they've greatly improved their feature set, UI design and even monetisation strategies.
What was the integration process like?After OpenFeint's 2.1 release, integration was a very smooth and quick process. Its APIs, documentation and developer communities are solid.
What are you planning in terms of updates, micro-transactions etc for Above & Beyond?The game definitely has the potential to work as a update friendly platform. I'm planning to update with content packs of new islands weapons and aircraft. However, these would probably be free updates, not micro-transactions for simplicity's sake.
Do you expect to include OpenFeint in your future iPhone games?Definitely.
What features would you like to see in future OpenFeint releases?I'm curious to see how real time multiplayer games will evolve on App Store. Hopefully, OpenFeint will play a part in this, but it's definitely a very complex issue.
Thanks to Josh for his time.
Above & Beyond Air Combat has been submitted for Apple's approval and should be out soon.
You can check Josh's website or twitterfeed for more details.
