Posted on July 2, 2009 - by Eric

Agon Online, I Choose you!

After comparing, evaluating features and then testing the sample games. We finally came to the conclusion that the best social platform overall is Agon-Online. Factors that convinced us are the following;

• Its neutral in terms of its appearance and functionality (compared to scoreloop which had the whole avatar / coins ecosystem which tended to steal mindshare when a player is using an app)
• Its cleanly designed (compared to geocade which looked rough and rudimentary)
• Its free (OpenFeint charges ‘pennies’ which is a fair offer, but once you factor in the fact that you will be paying crackers or pirates using your app. Then its not a viable thing anymore.)
• Its open and inviting (plus+ is a big wall, which we, iPhone developers should be very allergic by now)
• its pretty easy to integrate
• the developers seem to be passionate enough as demonstrated by their fast response and personal correspondence.
• the promise to focus on cross-promotional features.

There are a few trade-offs of course.

• This is one of the newer social platform provider so expect a few missing features (twitter and landscape support is coming in the next few weeks)
• So far, few games have Agon Online in them so the cross-promotional potential is still not that great.
• Their business model is yet to be revealed so there is a tiny concern for charges but I am assured that the exisiting features would remain free in the foreseeable future.

So, with RPL (coming in the next few weeks) , we will go with Agon. On our next app codename Slow, we will re-evaluate the other social platforms again and see if they have new features that trump Agon’s.  In the meantime, we highly recommend Agon Online for the best overall social platform for Iphone apps.

Note: The social platform space is changing all the time. As of August 09. OpenFeint went free, and releasing more features and less restrictions. Scoreloop chose to focus on some compelling promotional benefits as well as getting a B funding. Agon online remains a great platform, and many developers wait and see how they respond to their competitors