Elysian Shadows

Hi Guys,
I'm working on a game that has a built in level editor for the iPhone/iOS platform. Level editing, creation and playing works great right now, but it is all local. I want to implement a sort of map/level sharing service that is akin to that of Super Meat Boy or another game on iOS called "Eden:World Builder". I don't need crazy features like ratings, all I need is a download count, a simple string of characters that represents the level data, and a unique user ID. I have SOME mysql/php experience, a domain name and a server, but I'd really like to avoid doing it that way at all costs.

TL:DR is there a simple level/map sharing service that can be accessed from iOS that I can use? Data is simple: level string of chars, user ID, download count.

I've tried googling of course, but I couldn't even find an article on doing it the manual way with mysql and php. Also, after the problems that the Super meat boy developers faced from having some security issues, I'm a little scared to do it the manual way

Thanks in advance!

Wouldn't be too hard to allow saving to the server directly from the game. That would help prevent users from uploading things other than maps to your server. A very simple php script and database would be required to track number of downloads. I don't know of any service that would really help you out.

My first question would be, would Apple even allow that? Not sure how they look at apps that transfers data from a sever other than the app market. I have no technical insight to that, but it's a note of consideration.

The app that I mentioned, Eden, does something almost exactly the same as what I want to do, and it appears that Apple is fine with it. I am pretty sure that there is a rule against downloaded executable code, but I think level sharing is okay. Yeah, its looking like a simple manual version is what I'm going to have to go with as there is no prebuilt service out there that offers this exact service. Thanks!

Trask wrote:My first question would be, would Apple even allow that? Not sure how they look at apps that transfers data from a sever other than the app market. I have no technical insight to that, but it's a note of consideration.

Jarrod and I created an iPhone App over the holidays and we do some simple php scripting to pull and write to mysql databases, so that shouldn't be a problem at all.

JamesParkes wrote:

Trask wrote:My first question would be, would Apple even allow that? Not sure how they look at apps that transfers data from a sever other than the app market. I have no technical insight to that, but it's a note of consideration.

Jarrod and I created an iPhone App over the holidays and we do some simple php scripting to pull and write to mysql databases, so that shouldn't be a problem at all.

Cool, thanks for the info!