Game Center, one of Apple’s least talked-about platform components, is getting a whole new design this year with a focus on finding games and playing with friends. Other details at WWDC’s game development conversations this year include taking advantage of new game controller advancements, how to offer users the ability to share game clips, and more.
Apple highlights the new Game Center on the preview pages for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. There are seven WWDC talks this year focused on game development, and several of them covering how to take advantage of the new Game Center are available now.
A beautifully redesigned Game Center makes it easy to discover and experience games with friends. Quickly access achievements, leaderboards, and your Game Center profile directly from the App Store and within your Game Center-enabled games.
“Design for Game Center” is an introduction to everything new this year, and you can find the new Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for Game Center here.
Prepare your game interface for Game Center. We’ll show you how to provide custom touches to the GameKit interface that provide an enriching experience for players, with features like achievements, leaderboards, and multiplayer games. Learn how to customize your game’s hotspot, design collectible card-style achievements and multiple leaderboards, and tailor your interface for all platforms and orientations.
Digging deeper, more talks include “Leveraging Game Center: Dashboard, Access Point, and Profile”, “Leveraging Game Center: Leaderboards, Achievements, and Multiplayer” and “Advances in Game Controllers”. The latter covers new support for Xbox Elite 2 and Adaptive controllers, how to offer custom button mapping, take advantage of motion sensors, lights, design custom noise feedback for Xbox and Playstation controllers, and more.
We’ll show you how to add support for the latest controllers, including Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and Adaptive Controller, and map your game controls accordingly. Learn how you can use the Game Controller framework in conjunction with Core Haptics to enable forceful feedback. And find out how you can take your gaming experience to the next level with custom button mapping, non-standard inputs, and control over special features like motion sensors, lights, and battery level. To get the most out of this session, you should be familiar with the game controller framework. See the documentation link for a primer. And if you’re creating iPad games, be sure to check out “Bringing Keyboard and Mouse Games to iPad” for a guide on how to integrate keyboard, mouse, and trackpad inputs into your experience.
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