Game Center

Game Center for iOS

Developer	Apple Inc.
Type	Online service
Launch date	September 8, 2010
Current version	10.1.1 (14B150) (November 9, 2016) [±]
Platform	iOS 4 or later, Mountain Lion or later
Operating system	macOS, iOS
Members	67 million[1][2]

Game Center is an online multiplayer social gaming network released by Apple Inc.^[3][4] It allows users to invite friends to play a game, start a multiplayer game through matchmaking, track their achievements, and compare their high scores on a leader board.^[3] Game Center was originally announced on April 8, 2010, and became publicly available with the release of iOS 4.1 on September 8, for the iPad with iOS 4.2 in November. The service underwent a major update in October 2011 with iOS 5 matches. The Game Center app was removed in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, but continues to be available through compatible games.

On February 16, 2012, it was announced by Apple that Game Center would be integrated into the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, set for a July 25, 2012 release.^[5] Some games can now share multiplayer functionality between the Mac and iOS versions of the app. ^[6]

Game Center can be implemented by developers in iOS 4.1 or later, and Mac OS X 10.8 or later, through the GameKit framework. Game Center is available on iPod Touch 2nd generation and later (iOS 4.1 or higher required); iPhone 3GS and later (iOS 4.1 or higher required); all models of the iPad (iOS 4.2 or higher required); Mac computers running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later, Apple TV 4 running tvOS, and Apple Watch running watchOS 3.

History

Game Center on OS X Yosemite

Gaming became a major part of the iOS platform when Apple launched the App Store on July 10, 2008.^[7] Unlike the console systems that were currently on the market, Apple had no unified multiplayer and social system for their platform. This gap was soon filled by third parties, such as, OpenFeint, Plus+, AGON Online and Scoreloop. These third parties had control over the online gaming environment and with multiple third parties involved, it left a non-unified experience.

Game Center was announced during an iOS 4 preview event hosted by Apple on April 8, 2010. A preview was released to registered Apple developers in August.^[3] It was released on September 8, 2010 with iOS 4.1 on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2nd generation through 4th generation, and is included with iOS 4.2 on the iPad.^[8]

An updated version of Game Center was released with iOS 5 that featured the addition of turn based gaming, player photos, friend suggestions, and achievement points.^[9] The iOS 6 update added Challenges, a way for players to challenge other players to beat leaderboard scores or earn achievements.^[10]

As of June 13, 2016, the application was removed from iOS 10; however, it is still present within iOS in Settings.^[11]

Features

From within Game Center, players can connect with friends, send friend requests, start playing games and organize online multiplayer games. The number of friends that can be connected to a single Game Center account is limited to 500. Some games may feature achievements, where for completing a certain task, the player is rewarded points. Depending on the game, a leader-board may be present where a player can compare his or her score with friends or the world.^[12]

Many iOS games use Game Center, but not all of them use every feature. Apps can choose to include any or all of the following features supported by Game Center:

• Leaderboards – compares scores with the player's friends and with other players from around the world
• Achievements – Points are awarded to players as a part of Game Center's achievement tracking system. Players can earn points by meeting specific in-game challenges. Players cannot use the point for anything other than to rate progress in games. It was developed so players can socialize and compete against each other.
• Multiplayer – the game can host matches in real time, either between the player's friends or by "auto-matching" with random players from around the world

See also

• Social network game, online games played through social networks

References

1. "Inside Mobile Apps · Apple's Game Center Gets Update, Has 67 Million Total Accounts to Date". Inside Mobile Apps. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
2. "Game Center has 67 million users, news, Game Center, PocketGamer.biz". PocketGamer.biz. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
3. "What's New in iOS 4". Apple Inc. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
4. Brett Molina (September 1, 2010). "Apple's Game Center debuts next week". USA Today. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
5. "OS X - Overview - Apple". Apple. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
6. "Matchmaking Overview". June 30, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
7. "Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G". Apple Inc. June 9, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
8. Holt, Chris. "iOS 4.1's GameCenter to Hit iPhone Next Week". Macworld. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
9. Holt, Chris (October 4, 2011). "Apple Upgrades Game Center in iOS 5 Update". PC World. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
10. "What's New with Game Center in iOS 6 - Ray Wenderlich". Ray Wenderlich. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
11. "iOS 10.0". developer.apple.com. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
12. "Game Center". Apple Inc. Retrieved May 1, 2011.

External links

• Implementing a Facebook Leaderboard In a Mobile Game at How to Make Games