Getting Started

Welcome to the wonderful world of Platogo!
This page is designed to introduce you to the main functionality of Platogo, and to provide guidance on how to create a game with the Platogo API in seven easy steps:

1. Become a developer
2. Create your first game
3. Download and install the Platogo SDK (API & Components)
4. Connect your game with Platogo
5. Test and debug your game locally
6. Upload your game
7. Publish your game on Platogo (and every other gaming portal)

After reading this article you'll be able to create and publish games on Platogo – and become a happier Flash game developer in the process.

Requirements

The Platogo API supports games created in ActionScript 3 & haXe only.
In order to make the most of this article, you'll need one of following software tools:

• Adobe Flash CS3/CS4 (try / buy)
• Adobe Flex Builder (try / buy)
• Powerflasher FDT (try / buy)
• FlashDevelop (download, freeware, Windows only)

Become a developer

Every game on Platogo is associated with a developer team and a single team can release as many games as they want. Each developer team has a profile page on Platogo that lists the games published so far, shows the latest activity and more. Take a look at the Platogo developer team for an example.

You can be a member of more than one team (although being part of just one team is usually the norm.) If you aren't part of a developer team yet, click here to create a developer team.

Wait, I'm not registered on Platogo yet

If you haven't created a Platogo account yet click here.

Of course I already have a Platogo account

That's great! Just click here and enter your desired developer team name and you're ready to go. You will be forwarded to the dashboard which acts as your base for all operations related to your developer teams. You can edit your team's details here, add new members and create new games or edit existing ones.

Join an existing developer team

Joining an existing developer team requires the team's admin to add you. There is one admin per team, and certain operations (like adding new members) can only be executed by this person.

Create your first game

First, head over to the developer dashboard of your team (there's now a handy link in the Platogo header's User drop-down list.) Click the Create Game button and a form pops up that lets you specify the name of your game. Enter the desired name and click on Create game. If the name is valid, the game will be created for you and you will be redirected to the Edit Game page.

(And please don't forget – games must not contain any violent, sexual, sexist, pornographic, offensive, obscene or defamatory content or materials of any kind, or other content or materials that in our reasonable judgement may be found inappropriate by Platogo users. Games in contravention of the foregoing guidleines will be removed from our servers and not published.)

The Edit Game page is hopefully pretty self-explanatory, and you can always come back to change settings later. For now, what interests us most is the game's ID (in the upper left part of the screen) since it is needed to connect your game to Platogo. Copy it into your clipboard or write it down somewhere – you'll need it later.

Background Image

Platogo gives you the possibility to match the styling of the wrapper to the look & feel of your game. You can choose an image to be displayed behind the game (or go with the default style provided by Platogo). The custom image is displayed center justified behind your game. Note that the background area is always slightly larger than your game. Consult the following graphic for details on the padding:

Fig 5: Wrapper measurements

Smaller images result in showing the background color in the surrounding area not covered by the image. Larger images are also centered with overlapping parts being cut off.

Download and install the Platogo SDK (API & Components)

Download the latest version of the Platogo API (a link to the latest Platogo SDK can be found on the sidebar of every Dev Center page.) Navigate to the folder that contains the downloaded file and extract its contents.

Follow the instructions below to install the Platogo API for your preferred tool.

Connect your game with Platogo

Your game must successfully connect to Platogo before any function of the Platogo API can be used. The following code sample shows how to call PlatogoAPI.connect(). You need to pass the game ID from the Edit Game page, your game's root and a callback function. The callback is invoked once the connection has been established. From this point on you can continue with your normal game logic.

import com.platogo.api.PlatogoAPI;
import com.platogo.api.enums.PlatogoStatus;
import com.platogo.api.vo.PlatogoResponse;
						
PlatogoAPI.connect( [your game id], [reference to stage], connectHandler );

function connectHandler( response : PlatogoResponse ) : void
{
    if ( response.status == PlatogoStatus.OK )
    {
        trace( "You are now connected to Platogo & the API is ready to be used." );
    }
}

Test and debug your game locally

If you want to debug your game as a guest user, there are no restrictions regarding your usual development process. In order to test all functionality as a logged in user you will have to debug your game in a browser context. In this section we explain how to run and debug your game in the browser.

Upload your game

You'll find your previously created game in the Your Games list in your developer dashboard.

Click on the game'name to open the Edit Game page again. Switch to the Game versions (swfs) page and use the file selector to to upload your game SWF. You and every other member of your team can now preview the game on Platogo – as long as the game is not published, it will not be directly accessible by other users.

Publish your game on Platogo (and other social networks)

Once your game is ready to be released to the public, you will be able to click the Publish button on top of the Edit Game page. A dialog will pop up to request your confirmation. Click Publish game and the game can be enjoyed by everyone, as it will now be listed on Platogo's games section.

Where to go from here

Congratulations, you have successfully created (and maybe published) a game on Platogo! But wait, that's not where the fun stops. We're just getting started!

Users are looking for games that incorporate the unique features of Platogo. Adding highscores, achievements or levels is easy – and we'll help you along the way.

See the following articles for more information on these topics:

• How to use the High Score API
• Rewarding users with Achievements
• Having fun with Platogo's unique Content API
• Save game progress using the User Data API
• Create games faster with Platogo Components
• How to publish your game on Facebook

Don't forget to drop by the developer forum if you have a question or feature request. Happy coding!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.