1. Allow users to quickly resume or start a game directly from the start screen of your game

Game Fabric will automatically detect if the current user is in a game and display a “Start Game” tile if the user is not in a session or a “Resume game” tile if they are in the middle of a game.

This feature got bubbled up after I noticed that it was a chore to navigate back to my current game session through the main session list page. I still love the session list page (it serves its purpose) but I think this is a handy way to get back in or get going quick.

2. Leaderboards & Game Stats

Game Fabric provides an API that allows you to track not only the outcome of a game but will also allow you to track the number of certain events that take place and specify ratios that are pertinent to the user.

For example, in Euchre, I care about showing how many tricks the player won vs. how many they played. So I increment every trick played and every trick won. Then I can easily calculate a ratio based on the counts.

3. Facebook Authentication

I have added Facebook as an identity provider to my access control service. Game Fabric abstracts Access Control Service away from you plus adds additional functionality such as user profile, user settings, and game stats. If a user logs in with Facebook I am planning on building some accelerators within Game Fabric to post major achievements / milestones directly to the user’s Facebook feed (obviously this can be turned off by the user).

One example is, if you are playing Euchre with a friend on Facebook. If you p0wn them, wouldn’t it be nice to brag about it on your Facebook feed. It’s fun for the users and good advertising for your app. Another idea I had was somehow using Facebook as a meet up location to connect users who want to play together. I’m not quite sure how to do this or if its even possible but maybe you could send out a game request on your facebook feed and others could respond and (maybe) directly join through your request… I will have to investigate this feature’s feasibility.