Support AI Wars for Xfire

[Quitch]

For those who aren't familiar, Xfire is an instant messenger program for gamers, it tracks time spent playing, tells people when you're in a game and where and, if possible, allows them to hop into the same game as you.

I've started up a topic over there about providing support for AI Wars, partly so I can track my time, partly so I can still receive messages while in the game and people know why I might be delayed in responding, and partly so as to increase awareness of the game amongst my friends.

If you're an Xfire user please hop on over and lend your support.

http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1878849

[x4000]

Hey Quitch,

Thanks very much for posting over there -- I've heard of XFire, but I tend to play with the same core group of friends and so have never had the need to look into it more deeply for myself.  I poked around their site for information on how I might be able to do integration with them, but looks like the way you are doing it is pretty much the only way to go -- hopefully they'll find the game interesting enough to include, though I guess they might wait until our playerbase is larger.  But, whenever they are interested, I'd be interested in talking with them about whatever I can do to support that integration with the game.

It's really a huge help when people post stuff like this, spreading the word is something that is very hard for the developer themselves to do simply because people know that no one can give an unbiased review of their own work.  So, thanks for that -- most of the best growth we have had in the last two weeks since coming out on Impulse has been because of player enthusiasm and promotion, and we are very grateful.

[Quitch]

I believe there is some kind of Xfire API, but that's about all I know.

[x4000]

I'd presume there is something, but evidently they don't share that around.  There wasn't any sort of "developer contact" link or anything, so presumably that means that there is also more work, etc, that they have to do on their end (in their database or what have you) in addition to the API.  So that would tend to make them more selective, I imagine...

[Wartwo]

Hi X4000,

Here is a link for the Xfire SDK and also on the page is the email to contact Xfire to have your game added. I do not know the exact process myself, but it should at least let you know if it is possible and who to contact.

http://www.xfire.com/cms/xf_game_sdk/

Great game! Really enjoying it.

Good luck
Wartwo

[x4000]

Hi X4000,

Here is a link for the Xfire SDK and also on the page is the email to contact Xfire to have your game added. I do not know the exact process myself, but it should at least let you know if it is possible and who to contact.

http://www.xfire.com/cms/xf_game_sdk/

Great game! Really enjoying it.

Good luck
Wartwo

Thanks very much for the link, and welcome to the forums!  I couldn't find anything like that through their main site -- I'll give that a deeper look-see tomorrow, and see what sort of response I get when I contact them.  Glad you're enjoying the game so much, and thanks so for your support!

[tals]

Echoing Quitch's comments for xfire support. Some features people may not realise they get with an xfire supported game

* It shows what you are playing which is a nice advert for your friends to try it out as well
* it alls you to broadcast the game so friends can watch
* it has a voip system - it's not great but it does work and shows who is chatting on the screen
* Allows you to capture both screenshots and video and an even cooler feature (if you have a good enough machine) is it can capture video in the past by caching it. So you can say keep the last 30seconds of play and write it away if I request it.
* xfire page for the game which gives stuff like how many people are playing daily - what the history is, what screenshots and videos have been done.

All good for promotion as well as showing the game I am playing which I particularly like. A clan page also allows like minded gamers (forums/clans etc) to share what they are currently playing. Some communities similar to Ai War create a group for there game to allow people to see when others who like that game are available.

Game Page Example
http://www.xfire.com/games/demigod/Demigod/

Clan Page example
http://www.xfire.com/communities/gamingtrend/

[x4000]

So, for an update -- the SDK is a no-go at this stage because that's for C++ applications.  However, they do mention on their SDK page that there are other options that can be used for communicating with XFire, so I've sent an email to the address they list on the SDK page and so we'll see what they say.

[Echo35]

But, it works for Steam with ingame chat and everything, why would I want to use XFire? 

[Admiral]

More importantly: Why would I want anyone to know anything about what I'm doing at any time, let alone during my recreational time?

[Revenantus]

More importantly: Why would I want anyone to know anything about what I'm doing at any time, let alone during my recreational time?

It only provides that functionality to the players that desire it. You can simply choose to not run Xfire if it's not to your tastes. I don't particularly like that sort of tracking either.

[liq3]

More importantly: Why would I want anyone to know anything about what I'm doing at any time, let alone during my recreational time?

They see the game and it spreads it, they see you're playing it and start a convo about it, etc etc.

[Echo35]

More importantly: Why would I want anyone to know anything about what I'm doing at any time, let alone during my recreational time?

They see the game and it spreads it, they see you're playing it and start a convo about it, etc etc.

I've bought a number of games because I signed into steam, saw a bunch of my friends playing it, and asked them about it.

[darke]

So, for an update -- the SDK is a no-go at this stage because that's for C++ applications.  However, they do mention on their SDK page that there are other options that can be used for communicating with XFire, so I've sent an email to the address they list on the SDK page and so we'll see what they say.

SWIG's a pretty easy to use generic c/c++ wrapper tool: http://www.swig.org/

I've used it for python, but haven't had a chance to test it's c# support before. Often it "just works" out of the box on simpler libraries but I'm not sure how complex the xfire API is.

[tals]

More importantly: Why would I want anyone to know anything about what I'm doing at any time, let alone during my recreational time?

They see the game and it spreads it, they see you're playing it and start a convo about it, etc etc.

I've bought a number of games because I signed into steam, saw a bunch of my friends playing it, and asked them about it.

Definitely - the other day I saw a friend playing a game I hadn't heard of, I then clicked on the game in xfire it showed various videos and pictures people had done - I then downloaded the game

Options are flexible so you can stop the data being uploaded to your profile and/or stop friends being able to see what you are playing rather than just not using it because that feature is not desired. You can then use the other functions such as being able to chat within the game.

I like the tracking, gives me some weird pleasure when I see the game I am playing moving up my own xfire charts. I've been running it for some time so it also reassures me I am way of a hardcore gamer

All my gaming (where it has been trackable) since 2004 including screenshots/videos I have done in game http://www.xfire.com/profile/tals/

Tals