Facebook Instant Games

Genetix

Member
I've been reading a lot this week about Facebook opening the floodgates to all developers to publish for their instant games.

This seems like it has potential to be a huge platform with a tremendous amount of opportunity for many of us here, especially with YoYo making it a relatively simple process to create Facebook Instant Games products:
https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us...il&utm_term=0_579a1b1073-09dd8961f4-292900217

I'm pretty excited about this announcement, and hope to publish something there soon. Does anyone else here have experience with Facebook Instant games, or plan to try and release a product for it in the future?
 

rIKmAN

Member
I've been reading a lot this week about Facebook opening the floodgates to all developers to publish for their instant games.

This seems like it has potential to be a huge platform with a tremendous amount of opportunity for many of us here, especially with YoYo making it a relatively simple process to create Facebook Instant Games products:
https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us...il&utm_term=0_579a1b1073-09dd8961f4-292900217

I'm pretty excited about this announcement, and hope to publish something there soon. Does anyone else here have experience with Facebook Instant games, or plan to try and release a product for it in the future?
I don't even use Facebook but it's definitely piqued my interest after some reading about it.

To add to your questions - the YYG guides don't mention anything about the ad integration or monetization options that Facebook Instant Games Supports.

Are these features currently supported by the FBInstantGamesExtension?
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/games/instant-games/guides/ads-monetization
 

True Valhalla

Full-Time Developer
GMC Elder
I have been following Facebook Instant Games since beta, and I'm very interested in their potential, but I'm also skeptical that GMS is the right tool for building them.

A blank GMS project compiled to HTML5 starts at 1.1MB and Facebook recommends keeping initial loading under 1MB. Instant Games are mostly played on mobile and GMS doesn't have acceptable built-in functionality for displaying HTML5 games on the mobile web or dealing with the myriad issues associated with it...the mobile web is one of the most neglected platforms that GMS supports.

Extensions like the Mobility Engine solve those issues, but it only supports GMS 1.4 at the moment. Support for GMS2 is coming but I still don't know if I'd be confident to make Instant Games with GMS. Maybe it's worth taking a shot.

Edit/Update: GMS2 support has now been added to the Mobility Engine and the initial compile size of a GMS2 project has been reduced by YoYo Games. It's much more viable to make Instant Games with GMS2 now!
 
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True Valhalla

Full-Time Developer
GMC Elder
@True Valhalla what do you use for your HTML5 games then?
I use GMS for all my HTML5 games, but they are not designed as Instant Games. They are usually 8-12MB in size. My team was recently working on tech to allow dynamic loading of assets in GMS2 so that we can reduce the upfront download to 1-2MB but even that still feels too high for Instant Games.
 

tjuven

Member
I’m also interested in this but I also want to know how the ad monetization will work, I haven’t seen any documentation about this at all. If there is no way to monetize the game I see no reason to put my games up there.
 

True Valhalla

Full-Time Developer
GMC Elder
I’m also interested in this but I also want to know how the ad monetization will work, I haven’t seen any documentation about this at all. If there is no way to monetize the game I see no reason to put my games up there.
I know that certain studios (from beta) are already on track to earn $1,000,000+ annually from basic Instant Games. I wouldn't underestimate the earning potential.
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
I use GMS for all my HTML5 games, but they are not designed as Instant Games. They are usually 8-12MB in size. My team was recently working on tech to allow dynamic loading of assets in GMS2 so that we can reduce the upfront download to 1-2MB but even that still feels too high for Instant Games.
I think Facebook recommends 1MB, and up to 8MB.
But you could make instant games ports of your games by drastically reducing resolution, using more vector graphics, and reducing diversity of assets (3 rock sprites rather than 10)
I have seen a fair number of apps do that.
 
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Ryrioku

Guest
I know that certain studios (from beta) are already on track to earn $1,000,000+ annually from basic Instant Games. I wouldn't underestimate the earning potential.
Hello TV, would you be able to cite a source? I'm curious as to what kind of design practices are employed, only recently started heard at Instant Games and looking back into html5 games with GMS in general. Tried taking a crack at JS but.....did not end well. So I hope a solution to asset loading for initial build size comes around, this seems like a great opportunity for html5 to flourish more.
 
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rIKmAN

Member
I’m also interested in this but I also want to know how the ad monetization will work, I haven’t seen any documentation about this at all. If there is no way to monetize the game I see no reason to put my games up there.
There are ways to monetize using ads - I linked to the documentation for it in my post above.
I'm not sure if the GMS2 Extension allows us to use them though as ads / monetization aren't mentioned in the guides on the YYG site.

Maybe @Nocturne could clarify as he wrote those guides.

@True Valhalla
What's the ETA on the GMS2 version of your engine?
Is the delay because GMS2 doesn't have as many issues with HTML5 as 1.4 did, or just finding the time?
 

rIKmAN

Member
(or if) it'll be available in the near future
That would be a pretty big missed opportunity for users if monetization wasn't going to be added at all - let's hope that it's planned for some time in the (near) future.

Thanks mate, appreciate it!
 

True Valhalla

Full-Time Developer
GMC Elder
I think Facebook recommends 1MB, and up to 8MB.
Right, that would be a more realistic target then. I'd still want to do some dynamic asset loading behind the scenes though, rather than being fully restricted to that range. Keeping the initial download to 1-2MB seems like an important factor for user acquisition.

Hello TV, would you be able to cite a source?
I was referring to FRVR which is a studio started by Chris Benjaminsen, check out his blog and Twitter feed. I have been following his work for a long time.

"Early Instant Games developer FRVR has found quick success on the service, as Facebook said one of the developer’s titles, Basketball FRVR, has been played more than 4.2 billion times to date, and it is on track to earn over seven digits in ad revenue annually."

@True Valhalla
What's the ETA on the GMS2 version of your engine?
Is the delay because GMS2 doesn't have as many issues with HTML5 as 1.4 did, or just finding the time?
I published a major update for the Mobility Engine yesterday, so the next update should add GMS2 support. The delay is a result of GMS2 bugs that I have encountered and simply not having the time to document them all and get them resolved. My team is working on an important HTML5 project for a client at the moment so I need to balance my workload with that.

Maybe I can add GMS2 support within 3 months.
 

zbox

Member
GMC Elder
Surely the answer to the "initial payload" size thing is to make a small wrapper application that asynchronously downloads your game bundle (if it is not cached?), and then runs the game??
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
I find it funny how Facebook recommends GMS2 for this purpose, but then recommends a 1MB download. It's not a hard requirement but it is still interesting how they can make contradicting "recommendations." I'm not saying GMS2 isn't good for it, as I dabbled with HTML5 only a little, being an owner of the original GM4HTML5 product way back when and of GMS1 Master Collection. I haven't bought the HTML5 export for GMS2 though.
 

zbox

Member
GMC Elder
@kburkhart84 (If, not for some reason my thing I suggested above is not possible), I'd assume they'd be saying it's a good tool for developing the central game, and then loading that game in with a wrapper-loader? That way it isn't contradicting?

There's no way these games I see on FB Instant are under 1mb in size with there HD graphics and bloated codebases
 

rIKmAN

Member
An empty room HTML5 game from GMS2 comes in at 1.04mb with particles disabled, so that's pretty much minimum size.

The Facebook quote says the "initial loading" should be less than 1mb, and in the second YYG guide it says:
Initial loading shouldn't take more than 5 seconds: Instant Games need to be "instant", and players will tend to turn away if the initial loading takes too long.
The total size of your bundle can be up to 200MB, but Facebook recommends that you try to keep this as small as possible and aim for a 1MB initial download.
So yeah some sort of loading system to split your game into chunks would work - keep the loading screen under 5secs and the main menu as close to 1mb as possible. :D
 
R

Ryrioku

Guest
I was referring to FRVR which is a studio started by Chris Benjaminsen, check out his blog and Twitter feed. I have been following his work for a long time.

"Early Instant Games developer FRVR has found quick success on the service, as Facebook said one of the developer’s titles, Basketball FRVR, has been played more than 4.2 billion times to date, and it is on track to earn over seven digits in ad revenue annually."
.
Thank you :D
 

zbox

Member
GMC Elder
An empty room HTML5 game from GMS2 comes in at 1.04mb with particles disabled, so that's pretty much minimum size.

The Facebook quote says the "initial loading" should be less than 1mb, and in the second YYG guide it says:


So yeah some sort of loading system to split your game into chunks would work - keep the loading screen under 5secs and the main menu as close to 1mb as possible. :D
Not even chunks though... you'd literally need a tiny html page with a pretty loading animation to tick over while your slightly-larger binary downloads :p
 
A

Ampersand

Guest
Extensions like the Mobility Engine solve those issues, but it only supports GMS 1.4 at the moment. Support for GMS2 is coming but I still don't know if I'd be confident to make Instant Games with GMS. Maybe it's worth taking a shot.
Wow! I follow your blog pretty closely and somehow missed this. Thanks for the link and the work put in!
 
R

Ryrioku

Guest
So is the 1mb a requirement or more like a soft guideline? Like yea we want it to be one 1mb, but if you go over a tad its fine just don't blatantly go over several 1mb.
 

Genetix

Member
Any ideas how saving would potentially work? I currently save files directly to users mobile device for saving/loading scripts - Would instant games allow direct access to the users hardware?
 

Nocturne

Friendly Tyrant
Forum Staff
Admin
Any news on this Nocturne?
Ah, sorry, forgot to post back. Yes, monetisation through IAPs and ads is planned but I can't give any concrete information on when or how I'm afraid.

So is the 1mb a requirement or more like a soft guideline? Like yea we want it to be one 1mb, but if you go over a tad its fine just don't blatantly go over several 1mb.
It's not a requirement, no. But it is what the FB documentation recommends, so I'd say it's certainly something to aim at.
 

Speederman

Member
Hi, everybody.

I'm currently developing a game for Instant Games, but I'm stuck with a weird issue: I can't get the game to run in a bigger resolution than 360x640 on mobile devices... I have already solved this resolution limit for browsers and posted the solution here, but unfortunately it doesn't work for Instant Games.

Please, I need to fix this issue. This seems to be a GMS limitation and I can't figure out what else I can do...

Any help/hint will be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I've contacted Yoyo staff directly and they have confirmed the issue, so a new bug thread has been started here with a high priority. Let's hope they find a solution soon...
 
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C

Chris Goodwin

Guest
Any word when the .yymp extension will support the full SDK e.g. Messenger bot and Ads?
 
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Kaguva

Member
Hello!!

I have the solution to monetize your InstantGames games and be able to integrate all the other features that the platform offers.
compatible for GM1 and GM2

Compleate infomation:
YoyoMarketplace
YoyoForum Post

Administrators read this before remove my post again. . .
In this post they talk about monetization, features and if it is compatible with GM1 and GM2, I'm not only promoting my asset, I'm referring to a solution to the problems in this topic

Thanks!
 

rIKmAN

Member
Maybe I can add GMS2 support within 3 months.
How are things going with the GMS2 support?
Also, do you plan to add support for Instant Games features to the Mobility Engine at some point or is that outside the scope of what you want to do with it?
I have the solution to monetize your InstantGames games and be able to integrate all the other features that the platform offers.
compatible for GM1 and GM2

Compleate infomation:
YoyoMarketplace
YoyoForum Post
Does your extension support messenger bots?
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/games/instant-games/getting-started/bot-setup
 
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rIKmAN

Member
-Crespy images are solved
-Bots are supported but i dont tested yet
What do you mean by "Crespy images"?
Do you have an ETA on when you will be testing bots?
I believe IAPs go live on May 7th, so maybe you could test it when implementing those? (it says on the MP you will support them when out of beta)

The extension isn't cheap so it would be good to know everything is tested and works before buying it.

Thanks for the reply! :)
 

Kaguva

Member
What do you mean by "Crespy images"?
Do you have an ETA on when you will be testing bots?
I believe IAPs go live on May 7th, so maybe you could test it when implementing those? (it says on the MP you will support them when out of beta)

The extension isn't cheap so it would be good to know everything is tested and works before buying it.

Thanks for the reply! :)
-Low quality images
-i will upgrade the asset when APIs are availables for all
-can you wait one week? im in conversations with Facebook Gaming Team for do this asset free and continuos upgrades
 

rIKmAN

Member
-Low quality images
-i will upgrade the asset when APIs are availables for all
-can you wait one week? im in conversations with Facebook Gaming Team for do this asset free and continuos upgrades
Of course - I'm not urgently in need of the asset, I was just checking what was actually supported from the features that are available on the platform.
Hopefully the Facebook Gaming Team are willing to give you some support, that would be great.

Thanks for the reply, I'll keep an eye out for your reply in the next week or two! :)
 
N

nagabrahmam

Guest
I've been reading a lot this week about Facebook opening the floodgates to all developers to publish for their instant games.

This seems like it has potential to be a huge platform with a tremendous amount of opportunity for many of us here, especially with YoYo making it a relatively simple process to create Facebook Instant Games products:
https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us...il&utm_term=0_579a1b1073-09dd8961f4-292900217

I'm pretty excited about this announcement, and hope to publish something there soon. Does anyone else here have experience with Facebook Instant games, or plan to try and release a product for it in the future?
now I am diving into it...

I have been following Facebook Instant Games since beta, and I'm very interested in their potential, but I'm also skeptical that GMS is the right tool for building them.

A blank GMS project compiled to HTML5 starts at 1.1MB and Facebook recommends keeping initial loading under 1MB. Instant Games are mostly played on mobile and GMS doesn't have acceptable built-in functionality for displaying HTML5 games on the mobile web or dealing with the myriad issues associated with it...the mobile web is one of the most neglected platforms that GMS supports.

Extensions like the Mobility Engine solve those issues, but it only supports GMS 1.4 at the moment. Support for GMS2 is coming but I still don't know if I'd be confident to make Instant Games with GMS. Maybe it's worth taking a shot.
could you able to integrate FB instant games SDK without exporting GMS project into html5 format..?
 
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rIKmAN

Member
-Low quality images
-i will upgrade the asset when APIs are availables for all
-can you wait one week? im in conversations with Facebook Gaming Team for do this asset free and continuos upgrades
How did the talks go with the Facebook team, any news?
 

Kaguva

Member
Ah that's a shame.

So what is the current status of the extension regarding my previous questions about IAPs and bots etc?
IAPs arent incluyed in the current version (i will add it if some client need it)
Bots are incluyed but not tested yet
 

Kaguva

Member
What version of the Instant Games SDK does your extension use?

Do you plan on adding support for any of the other monetization options show on this page?
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/games/gamesonfacebook/monetization/

Im using Instant Games SDK v6.2 (latest)
Sorry i think that your link dont is for InstantGames, is for games in Facebook page, instantGames is for Messenger and/or Facebook chats

my asset now supports Ads, IAPS will become soon, I need someone to hurry me
 

rIKmAN

Member
Im using Instant Games SDK v6.2 (latest)
Sorry i think that your link dont is for InstantGames, is for games in Facebook page, instantGames is for Messenger and/or Facebook chats

my asset now supports Ads, IAPS will become soon, I need someone to hurry me
Ah you are right, I had that many tabs open last night I must have got that page mixed in with all of the Instant Games stuff I was reading - apologies.

I don't want to hurry you haha, I'm just trying to get as much info as possible on the platform itself and what features of it your extension supports so I can make some decisions based off that info.

One last question - this doesn't really involve your extension actually - but I noticed on the FAQ page for Instant Games it says that you must supply an Apple Developer Team ID, much like you would need when submitting and app to the actual App Store, but doesn't give much info as to why.

Is there some piece of info I am missing with regards to this?
It seems like an odd requirement for something that is meant for playing games within Messenger / Facebook chat.

Thanks for your quick reply, I appreciate it.
 

Kaguva

Member
Ah you are right, I had that many tabs open last night I must have got that page mixed in with all of the Instant Games stuff I was reading - apologies.

I don't want to hurry you haha, I'm just trying to get as much info as possible on the platform itself and what features of it your extension supports so I can make some decisions based off that info.

One last question - this doesn't really involve your extension actually - but I noticed on the FAQ page for Instant Games it says that you must supply an Apple Developer Team ID, much like you would need when submitting and app to the actual App Store, but doesn't give much info as to why.

Is there some piece of info I am missing with regards to this?
It seems like an odd requirement for something that is meant for playing games within Messenger / Facebook chat.

Thanks for your quick reply, I appreciate it.
unfortunately, Apple Developer Team ID is necessary to launch the game on the ios platform (I'm not sure if it affects the other platforms)
 
N

nagabrahmam

Guest
I've been reading a lot this week about Facebook opening the floodgates to all developers to publish for their instant games.

This seems like it has potential to be a huge platform with a tremendous amount of opportunity for many of us here, especially with YoYo making it a relatively simple process to create Facebook Instant Games products:
https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us...il&utm_term=0_579a1b1073-09dd8961f4-292900217

I'm pretty excited about this announcement, and hope to publish something there soon. Does anyone else here have experience with Facebook Instant games, or plan to try and release a product for it in the future?
have you done something for now ?
 

True Valhalla

Full-Time Developer
GMC Elder
Hey everyone - it's been a few months so I wanted to post a quick update. The latest GMS2 beta release is performing well - so many HTML5 bugs have been fixed - and I updated the Mobility Engine to support GMS2 recently. I use this engine in all of my own games.

My studio released our first Instant Game (via a publisher) and we're working on more now. The file size restrictions have not been significantly impactful. The SDK is much easier to work with than I expected and offers great functionality.

We should hit US $10,000+ revenue from Instant Games by the end of 2018.
 
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