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Everyplay integration design guide
This document describes good design practices in Everyplay. Methods used here have contributed to larger amount of videos that users share into social networks.
Our asset package includes ideas how to style our logo to match your game style and base logo files. You can use our default buttons for main menu and end level screens or create an icon in your own style. Also using "Watch Replays" or similar text with a font that suits your game is cool.
Example files are in PSD, AI and PNG -format.
Download everyplay logo and button asset package
When Everyplay was included to Stair Dismount, the game promoted the new feature with a splash screen in the beginning to inform players of it. The main menu has a button that opens Everyplay on Stair Dismount video page.
When players see videos shared by others they get more excited to share their own. Thus user uploaded videos work as a discussion starter that players can join and talk how they reached a high score or cheers others on their achievements. A link to Everyplay in main menu helps to build a community around your game.
Examples from Ice Rage and Fat Cat Rush main menus. Tapping the button opens the game's video feed.
When recording is complete show it to your players, so they can share it! A thumbnail screenshot of the last played video works well to incite interest in sharing the record gameplay in the social media.
- Don't hide the recording! A good place to add the thumbnail or button is right after the recording has been made.
- Keep it clean and obvious as players can often miss icon based menu items.
- Adding a call to action, like “Share With Friends” or “Watch Replay” gives more prominence to the video clip.
Example 1: After player completes a level the end screen holds video thumbnail of the recording.
Example 2: Stair dismount uses its own engine to recreate the gameplay. The recording process begins when player clicks “Record replay” from the end screen. During this time player can direct the recording as he wishes.
UPDATE: For best sharing performance make the thumbnail animated. This feature is available for Unity and Cocos engines.
Users can share their Everyplay videos either by opening the modal share dialogue or by going through the video editor. The modal dialogue has a much higher video/share ratio so we suggest using it.
For suitable scenarios, call [[Everyplay sharedInstance] showEveryplaySharingModal];
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Qu1V2OGk6FI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>The FaceCam allows players to record themselves in video or audio-only with the iDevice's front facing camera while the gameplay is simultaneously captured by Everyplay. This lets players capture Let's Play style videos, commentary, walkthroughs and reaction videos. The audio and video commentary really liven up the replay experience and make for fantastic viral videos.
FaceCam's live recording function is an opt-in feature for players as automatic recording of the player is not allowed except when the game is still in development or in usability testing with a limited user base (e.g. distribution via TestFlight).
To present the FaceCam to players, your game should provide a three way toggle at the game's start screen to choose between No FaceCam, Video recording and Audio recording modes. The example below shows a game's start screen with toggle that the player can slide to three different positions:
As the FaceCam feature is new and unique to Everyplay, we recommend providing players a tooltip after they've selected a FaceCam recording mode, for example, one of the following:
- OFF = Do not record live commentary
- Video = Record live video commentary
- Audio = Record live audio commentary
Your game should remember the toggle position between game sessions and default to the last used setting.
- Click here to see more UI component designs for the three way toggle switch.
- Download PSD file with example toggle assets.
If the player has chosen to use FaceCam you need to provide feedback to the player that he is being recorded while he is playing. For video recording, we provide a live preview window that shows the video feed from the front facing camera. You can control the position, size and other parameters of the preview window. See the FaceCam integration guide for more info. For audio recording, we recommend using the microphone icon included in the asset pack and placing it somewhere in your UI with e.g. a slowly flashing / blinking dot to detonate activity.
The image below shows an example of the live preview of FaceCam video recording
Metadata is great for unlocking information about your players behaviour inside the game.
You can include scores, playtime or any data you wish along the videos. It will be visible (or if wished hidden) on the Everyplay webpage and you can use it as a search through Everyplay API. Show the best runs with video from last week? Show the best ‘Deaths’ or ‘Boss Kills’? With metadata you can.
Metadata integration examples available on the iOS integration guide
Games where the gameplay extends beyond 5-10 minutes it might be smarter to use Everyplay’s continuous recording. Developer can set the max time video length and recording will be continuous, the beginning of the video will be cut off from video as more minutes are added to the end.
This is escpecially handy for shootem up’s, endless runners etc. where gameplay is long, but its not possible to know when the interesting moment is about to happen.
When player thinks minutes over a chessmove it's boring, but when he finally decides the move: that is the interesting thing. Pause the recording when there is nothing happening - this way your videos become shorter, quicker to upload and way more interesting!
Example: Soctics Soccer only shows the moves user has decided to initiate and the actions they cause. Planning time is not recorded.
Have some UI elements that are necessary for the gameplay, but not that cool on the video? You can use the HUDless recording and select only the UI elements you wish to record.
We have game designers working with Everyplay who are also specialists in game recordings. If you are not sure on integration, have a good feature ideas we should implement or just want to say “hi”, please go ahead and contact us.
Best, EP Dev team