Overview of testing Game Center
Apple allows all prerelease development and testing to occur in exactly the same server environment as released games. This allows you to test how your app interacts with Game Center and brings several advantages including:
-
Simplifying the testing of version updates by allowing testers to play with the full player base, not just other testers
-
Removing implementation differences between the sandbox and production environments
By design, the achievements and high scores of a particular Game Center user are visible to that user's friends. This includes achievement and leaderboard scores that have not been formally released as part of a particular game version. Similarly, any game a Game Center player has played is visible to all of that player’s friends, even if that game has not yet been released.
If this data needs to be kept private as part of your release strategy, consider creating separate accounts for prerelease testing and carefully manage which Game Center users are allowed to become friends with those accounts.
Testing a Game Center-enabled app involves the following steps:
2. Add leaderboards or achievements to the app version that you’d like to test. For information on adding leaderboards and achievements, visit Enable an app version for Game Center.
3. Identify additional apps that you want to play with the app you’re testing, as described in Add multiplayer compatibility.
4. Test your Game Center components to ensure they work individually and together. For testing information, visit Beta Testing Made Simple with TestFlight.
5. Once you’ve finished testing, Remove leaderboard test data.