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Product information / Quickstart

Quickstart for Game Developers

Concepts and Terms

Although it may not seem that way, to a game developer FingerTips Personalizer Framework is simply a configuration component ready for use. It has more intelligence than the standard homegrown configuration components, but the basic approach is the same. In case of a homegrown configuration component you include a chunk of code into your game, and voila, you can store and retrieve configuration information that describes gaming habits of a person playing your game. The component takes care of saving these personal preferences on disk and providing access to the information.

FingerTips Personalizer Framework is more elaborate than that, but it also has a component to include in your code. This component is known as FingerTips Personalizer Framework's Application Programming Interface. The Personalizer API is written in C++ and is packaged as a redistributable DLL.

When you design a game, among other things you create a vocabulary of configuration nouns and configuration verbs. Configuration nouns correspond to options your game implements, and configuration verbs are the actions your game has. You then use the homegrown configuration component to store gamers' preferences for those nouns and verbs.

FingerTips Personalizer Framework includes a tool, Personalizer Visual Tuner, to manage such project-wise vocabularies of configuration-related metadata. When converting a game design into code, you will use Personalizer Visual Tuner to provide the FingerTips Personalizer Framework's API with all information required for a satisfying result. For example, the API uses the configuration nouns and verbs your game implements to find suitable preferences in the persistent preferences memory.

The persistent preferences memory mentioned above is unique to FingerTips Personalizer Framework as far as game development is concerned. This term refers to a set of game-independent disk files that store information about gaming habits. This database is initially empty, but as Personalizer-aware games are installed on a computer, it starts gaining content and usefulness. Persistent preferences memory is where your game will store configuration profiles when using FingerTips Personalizer Framework instead of a homegrown configuration component. Persistent preferences memory will serve as the source of personalized defaults for settings in your game.

FingerTips Personalizer Framework's API expects to find the persistent preferences memory and supporting files under a standard location. The Personalizer DLL and the on disk Personalizer files are collectively known as Personalizer Redistributable Core. Personalizer Redistributable Core is a setup component that you must include with your game.

Environment Requirements for Redistributable Personalizer Core

The following requirements apply to installation of the Personalizer Redistributable Core MSI package. Personalizer is expected to be installed and used on these platforms only.

Personalizer Redistributable Core: Installation Environment Requirements

Operating System Windows Installer Version

Windows 98/Me 2.0

Windows NT 4 SP6a 2.0

Windows 2000 SP3 3.1

Windows XP 3.1

Windows Server 2000/2003 3.1

Windows Vista not required

In other words, you can install Personalizer on any of the listed systems provided that you also install a suitable version of Windows Installer before installing Personalizer.

Integration Steps

Integrating with FingerTips Personalizer Framework involves several steps that you must follow to ensure proper results.

Install the latest version of Personalizer Development Kit which you can download from FingerTips Personalizer Framework home site.
Use Personalizer Visual Tuner to create Personalizer-specific configuration metadata that will be used with your game. This tool requires Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 to run. .Net Framework is downloadable from http://www.microsoft.com/Net. The configuration metadata file becomes a part of your game; it is loaded by Personalizer at runtime.
Write supporting code to make use of Personalizer's capabilities. Personalizer Visual Tuner automatically generates basic integration code specific to a game in question. Include this (C++) code into your game's source as the starting point for code-level integration. Develop the code from that point as required for your game.
Include the Windows Installer installers (versions 2.0 and 3.1 are two different installers) and Personalizer Redistributable Core MSI package into the installation of your game. Be sure to use the latest version of Personalizer Redistributable Core from FingerTips Personalizer Framework home site, but remember that its version must match the version of Personalizer Development Kit.