Today we're introducing a new BYOND version, and new features to go with it. The new items on the menu are scores and medals, and they'll make games a whole lot more interactive and competitive.

Medals are represented by icons, and each one stands for some kind of special goal completed in a game. Scores are flexible bits of information, not just about scores but perhaps about how far a player has progressed or how often they have won. As an author, how you use medals and/or scores is up to you. As a player, earning all the medals you can is a status symbol, and scoring well enough could get you listed among the top players.

Whenever a game uses these new features, you'll see a Standings tab on the game's hub page. This tab will show the top-scoring players and which medals have been earned, and it will show which medals are available.

The score and medal displays for a game are interactive. Scores can be sorted, so if a game records a player's score and their highest level reached, you can click at the top of a column to sort it. For medals, click on any medal to see the people who have earned it.

To work with scores and medals in your game there are four new procs in BYOND: world.GetScores(), world.SetScores(), world.GetMedal(), and world.SetMedal(). These procs connect to the hub in order to transfer information, so when you earn a medal in a game, it will show up on the website. See the new article in Dream Makers about how to use these procs and set up your hub entry.