An In-Depth Look at dimeRocker

I've been inspired to write this article with the recent announcement of the dimeRocker Arcade. It's a very exciting announcement and I'll explain why by comparing it to the current dimeRocker platform that was released this past March.


About the dimeRocker (dR) Platform

The main purpose of dR is to simplify the social game development process and help developers make money. It's currently targeted at Unity developers. It takes care of most server-related features a web-based game would ever need including hosting. Its API is extremely flexible as it's meant to suit any kind of game and support multiple social networks. It includes a payment gateway option so you can include microtransactions in your game and profit from the large user-base on social networks. It's also free unless you have microtransactions, then dR takes a cut.

There are a few steps involved in integrating dR into your game. They are as follows:

You could skip the third and fourth steps if you simply just want to put your Unity game on Facebook with free hosting. However the game probably wouldn't become popular if it's not using any social or viral features provided in the dR API.


Example: Sugar Rush Rally

Sugar Rush Rally is a game I helped make with Matthew Miner and Nick Breslin. It was fully developed within ten days as a dimeRocker demo to show at conferences and other events. A ten day development cycle is incredibly short but the three of us were confident we could do it. We estimated and recorded the hours spent on every aspect of the game.

The current state of the game is what we accomplished in those ten days. If you play it now you'll notice an obvious lack of polish, but it does use every dimeRocker service. Keep in mind the game was made from scratch, aside from the models which were purchased in a model pack. Here's a list of the dR features and where you can see them being used:

  • Leaderboard along the bottom
  • Achievements click your player in the leaderboard to view
  • Data Store click your player in the leaderboard and view records/stats
  • Wallets you earn coins for racing, get Bucko's by clicking "Add Buckos"
  • Stores on the main menu you can buy new vehicles
  • Lockers/Inventory the game knows which vehicles you've purchased from the store
  • Social Publishing earning an achievement or beating your best time triggers this
  • Inviting Friends click "Invite Friend" on the bottom bar

After completing our post mortem we concluded that a third of our development time was GUI related. It seemed like too much work for a simple demo and we missed out on a lot of polish because of it. It bugged us a lot and it led to discussions about what more dimeRocker could do for developers. We found ourselves going through every step of the dimeRocker integration process and finding ways to simplify it. This led to...


The dimeRocker Arcade

It's called the Arcade because the games using it will be found within the same Facebook app. A popular example of this game collection system on Facebook is the MindJolt Games app.

One big change that really made the awesomeness of the arcade possible is that it's only meant for Facebook. So instead of developers going to an external site to setup their game for the arcade, now you actually create it right there in the Facebook app.

The look and feel of the Arcade is heavily based off the iTunes store. Great, popular, new, and featured games will be shown off. There are also search options.

Overall it's very different from the dimeRocker platform. If you're familiar with the dR platform, here are my favourite changes:

  • GUIs for leaderboards, achievements, stores, and inventories are created for you and displayed on the web page
  • Logic for stores and inventories is done for you
  • Facebook viral features are automatically called for you
  • You no longer have to create your own Facebook app
  • There's a completely new API that is significantly smaller and simplified

Huge differences. There's barely any work involved with integrating your game. It should take most people less than an hour to fully integrate. The worst time-sink that could get you is if your game has 100 achievements that require programming the logic for when to award them.


Migrating from the Platform to the Arcade

For most people this means removing a lot of code and replacing it with a few lines from the new API. Lets imagine we were going to migrate Sugar Rush Rally to the arcade. Looking at the last two lists I went over, I know I need to remove the GUIs for leaderboards, achievements, and stores. I'd need to get rid of my code that calls the Facebook social publishing, as well as remove the invite friends button. I would remove the code that awards coins and remove the button for "Get Buckos". I'd keep my inventory for vehicle selection but replace it with the new arcade API call. And I could keep my stats and records features and replace that data store API with the new one.

The rest of the migration would be setting up the game and services on the dimeRocker Arcade app. The game would now be using new leaderboards and would require me to recreate the achievements and items I had.


Which One Should You Use?

Here's a breakdown of major reasons to use either service. Choose the one that makes the most sense for your game.

dR Platform

  • You want achievements, leaderboards, or stores inside your game (not on the web page/canvas)
  • You want to customize your web page/canvas
  • You want more customization in general
  • A longer integration process is okay
  • You want your game to have its own Facebook app

dR Arcade

  • You want a leaderboard, achievements, or microtransactions
  • You want simple and quick integration
  • Sharing users within a verified app
  • Your game wasn't created to be a social game initially
  • Good for web builds of Unity iPhone games
  • Your game is Flash AS3 based
  • You just want your game on Facebook and hosted for free