Johannes from LootLocker takes us through their latest GameMaker extension: Easy Leaderboard.
We've released an extension for GameMaker that makes it super easy to add online leaderboards to your game: we call it Easy Leaderboard by LootLocker!
In addition to the extension, we've also created a sample game called Rocky Runner that shows the leaderboards in action.
You can implement the Easy Leaderboard in five simple steps:
- Create a free LootLocker account
- Create a leaderboard
- Copy Game API key & leaderboardID
- Run InitializeLootLocker() from any Create event
- Run LootLockerCallback() from Async - HTTP event
Let's discuss each of those steps in more detail.
1. Create a free LootLocker account
Step one couldn't be simpler: head over to LootLocker and set up your free account.
Once you're set up, we need to enable the Guest Login authentication method so that players can be identified by your game.
1. Click on the cog wheel on the sidebar:
2. Next, click on "Platforms":
3. Scroll down and select "Guest Login":
4. Enable guest login by clicking the toggle in the top right corner. Then press "Save":
Now we have our LootLocker settings just how we want them and can continue setting up our leaderboard.
Create a leaderboard in LootLocker
Now that you've signed up and configured LootLocker, it's time to create a leaderboard for your game.
1. In the LootLocker dashboard, click the "Systems" icon in the sidebar, and then "Leaderboards":
2. Click "Create":
3. Give your leaderboard a name and key. The name is what you use inside the LootLocker dashboard, and the key is what you can use as an identifier in your game.
Check “Enable Game API writes”, and click "Save":
Now we've created the leaderboard in LootLocker, we can begin implementing it in GameMaker!
Copy the Game API key & leaderboardID
We'll now want to copy the Game API key and leaderboardID from the LootLocker console into GameMaker.
The Game API key can be found in the "Settings" menu by clicking the cog wheel in the sidebar and selecting "Game Settings".
You'll find it under the “API” tab.
The leaderboardID can be found by clicking on "Systems" and selecting "Leaderboards". You should see the ID of the leaderboard you created earlier.
You can also use the key that you entered earlier to identify the leaderboard.
Run InitializeLootLocker() from any Create event
Inside GameMaker, create a new Object. In the "Create" event, insert the following code:
LootLockerInitialize("gameAPIkey", "version", "developmentMode", "leaderboardID");
If you’re using GML Visual, you’ll need to add the “Execute Code” action and enter the code inside it.
Next, we'll replace the values that we just entered with real data.
- Replace "gameAPIkey" with the Game API key you copied from LootLocker as a string
- Replace "leaderboardID" with the leaderboardID(int) or key(string) that you copied from LootLocker
- Replace "version" with the version of your game, for example "0.0.0.1" as a string
- Replace "developmentMode" with boolean true or false (depending on which environment you created the leaderboard in in LootLocker)
Run LootLockerCallback() from the Async - HTTP event
Now we want to create a new Async - HTTP event. We can do this by selecting:
- Add Event -> Asynchronous -> Async - HTTP
- Insert the following code:
LootLockerCallback();
That's it - you're now ready to upload and display scores on your leaderboard in GameMaker!
What happens next?
Now that you've set up your leaderboard, it's time to hook it up to your game.
Included in the extension are two examples we created for different ways to implement the leaderboard:
- LootLockerExample_SimpleLeaderboard
- LootLockerExample_RockyRunner
Below, you can also find a variety of functions to make your leaderboard work in your game.
Upload a score to your leaderboard:
LootLockerSubmitScore("leaderboardID", “scoreYouWantToUpload”);
As mentioned previously, you can use the Key defined for a leaderboard in place of its ID. Both ways are valid.
Fetch the full list of high scores formatted as "1. PlayerName 1000":
LLHighscoresTopFormatted() - Returns a string
Fetch the full list of centered highscores formatted as "1. PlayerName 1000":
LLHighscoresCenteredFormatted() - Returns a string
There are plenty more leaderboard functions available in the extension, which you can read more about on the LootLocker website.
If you get stuck, join us on Discord and we'll do our best to help out.
Good luck and have fun!
//Johannes
