Share saved game data via game center?

Question

I'm trying to figure out if game center is the right tool for me. Here's my situation:

I'm building an app which allows users to create their own musical compositions. I plan to make the compositions exportable and loadable via text file (xml or json format, probably). I'd like to allow users to share their compositions with friends. It seems to me that game kit is the default social network for iOS, so it seems worth looking at. However, the social aspect of game kit seems to be designed mainly for real-time, simultaneous play. Is there any way to share data with friends in a non-realtime way via game center? Is there even a way to send game center contacts a message?

Answer 1

If you look at the documentation for peer-to-peer networking in GameKit, you will probably find exactly what you are looking for, with a tiny exception. It is only for wifi/bluetooth connectivity.

The way I would go with your description is a private server that hosts the compositions. If you are familiar to Java and/or Python, I'd recommend using Google App Engine for the server. That would make the headache a little bit less.

You can use GameKit too, but as you describe it, it's more for real-time communication. If you implement invitation handlers, you could "invite" another player to receive the composition, but if they reject you will have to retry manually at a later point.

The contents of what you sent over an open "GameKit connection" can be "anything" you like, stuffed into a NSData object, so there is no limits there.

I hope this helps you a tiny bit in the right direction, good luck!