iPhone and Android game server

Question

I have to make a game for both iPhone and Android platforms. So, i need:

• The game logic to be on the server side.
• I think that polling should be avoided, but I am not sure. (Persistent connection)
• Stateful server.
• Available framework for iPhone and Android
• I do NOT need encryption because the game will be played inside a specific place. (Location based game) and only one game should be available at a moment.

I have read various questions on stackoverflow and i have some concerns about the solutions available.

• XMPP is stateful and persistent and stateful but i cannot understand how to implement the game logic on the server side

• REST needs polling from the client side.

• My own TCP server is a little bit dangerous to implement. Is that right?

  Please tell me what is the best solution to go with and the frameworks I should use. Is google app engine in combination with xmpp suitable for this situation?

Answer 1

node.js lets you do fancy games servers pretty easily, using most any protocol you'd want to use. Socket.io is a layer on to of node.js that uses web-sockets, but their are android/iphone clients. It's pretty great at real-time stuff.

Some links for you:

• node.js real-time game
• http://www.nodejs.org
• http://www.socket.io
• https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Projects,-Applications,-and-Companies-Using-Node

As for Push Notifications, they're a good idea, but they're a little slow in my opinion. They may be necessary though if you want people to get notifications that don't have the app open.

Answer 2

Instead of rolling your own use a service like Parse or Urban Airship:

https://www.parse.com/

http://urbanairship.com/

They do an amazing job providing a cross platform push solution.

Answer 3

Instead of polling, you could use C2DM for Android and Apple Push Notification Service for iPhone.

http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/android/c2dm/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Push_Notification_Service