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The 8,000 registered users of the OpenFeint SDK will next month be able to download a wide-ranging update to the mobile game tool.
Though perhaps an inevitability, the most significant addition to OpenFeint 2.5 is its compatibility with Game Center – Apple’s soon to be released iPhone network service for games.
Aurora Feint, the California-based group behind OpenFeint, hope its tool can co-exist – rather than compete with – Apple’s own service.
It is becoming a widely-held view that, if both services were isolated in competition, the iPhone maker would be set for a monopoly.
“With OpenFeint 2.5, developers will be able to mix and match Game Center and OpenFeint features when building their games,” read a statement by the company.
It added: “The restructured API architecture will make Game Center and OpenFeint co-existence seamless for developers who choose to use Game Center. Dozens of developers in the private beta have endorsed the new approach and have started integrating key new features of the upgraded SDK into their games.”
OpenFeint 2.5 will also feature revamped social APIs for leaderboards, as well as friend profile and score integration with games that use the service.
Aurora Feint CEO Jason Citron praised the update. “We’ve made it even simpler to do interesting things with leaderboards and achievements. For example, now you can bring leaderboard scores directly in your game the same way as Doodle Jump with just one simple function call.”
