14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is enabling iOS developers to set up metadata for their Game Center Achievements and Leaderboard Categories in iTunes Connect, the company said in a note posted to the iPhone Dev Center.
Game Center, Apple’s social gaming network scheduled to be implemented in a future version of iOS, stems from the Game Kit framework.
Game Kit includes a beta implementation of a centralized service called Game Center which, according to Apple, provides game developers with a standard way to implement a number of features, such as aliases, leaderboards, achievements, and matchmaking.
All of the metadata for Game Center functionality is set up and managed in iTunes Connect, allowing devs to test their Game Center features before submitting a binary to Apple for review.
“Set Up Game Center Achievements and Leaderboard Categories,” reads the announcement. “You can now set up metadata for your Game Center Achievements and Leaderboard Categories in iTunes Connect,” Apple explains.
“Setting up these elements will allow you to test the full capabilities of Game Center for your app in the sandbox environment,” the company adds.
Clicking on the Manage Game Center button on the App Summary Page allows developers to enable their app to participate in Game Center.
Starting there, devs can set up their Leaderboard and Achievement data. To include the proper capabilities in a binary, devs must employ Game Kit, and then enable their app for Game Center to begin testing.
Those who wish to learn more are directed to the iTunes Connect Developer Guide where they can read the Manage Game Center section for details.
Apple urges developers to note that “Game Center is a developer-only feature available only in iOS SDK 4.0. Use it for testing purposes only to provide feedback as you implement and test Game Center features in your applications,” the company specifies in the iTunes Connect Developer Guide.
“Game Center is not a user feature in iOS 4.0 and you are not yet permitted to submit binaries that use it to the App Store,” Apple warns.