Telemetry types
Overview
There are two main sources of data in AccelByte Gaming Services (AGS):
Service telemetry: propagated directly from the AGS backend.
Custom telemetry: a customer-defined event sent from the Game Client or Game Server via the SDK (Unity, Unreal, RestAPI).
Service telemetry
What is service telemetry?
Service telemetry is all about seamlessly collecting valuable insights from the operations that keep your game running smoothly. These events emit directly from AGS, such as from the Account, Matchmaking, E-Commerce, or Engagement services. You can find all available service telemetries captured here: API events
Zero instrumentation required
Unlike custom telemetry, one of the standout aspects of the AGS service telemetry is that it doesn’t require any extra effort from you. Our system taps directly into your backend services and retrieves the relevant data, freeing you to focus on what you do best: creating an amazing gaming experience.
Service telemetry insights on your dashboard
Free users have access to out-of-the-box, easy-to-understand metrics and visualizations from the AGS dashboard, where you can find out things like:
- How many net new players in a given day?
- How many matchmaking sessions in a given day?
- How are players spending their money in your game?
Dive deeper with premium access to service telemetry
If you want to get your hands dirty with the raw data, that’s where the AccelByte Intelligence Service (AIS) comes into play. For our paid AIS users, the benefits extend beyond the out-of-the-box AGS dashboard; you’ll have direct access to the unfiltered, raw events and the option to query and analyze data from a dedicated data warehouse.
Custom telemetry
What is custom telemetry?
Custom telemetry allows you to define and track actions or occurrences within your game that go beyond the standard metrics we provide out of the box. You can send custom telemetry through our client-side and server-side SDKs. The client-side SDK offers insights into player actions, while the server-side SDK provides a comprehensive view of interactions that occur on the backend.
Instrumentation
To start benefiting from custom events, a bit of instrumentation is required. This involves strategically identifying specific actions or events within the game you want to track, and placing tracking code at the relevant points in the game’s logic when these events occur. There is no need to define a custom event schema prior to sending and instrumenting custom events.
Custom telemetry insights on your dashboard
Custom events aren't just about numbers; they're about understanding player motivations and enhancing their experiences.
From Q3 2023, the free AGS Analytics Dashboard will provide users with information regarding player progression, death, mission status, resource consumption, and reward information when you instrument game standard events from the Game SDK.
Dive deeper with premium access to custom telemetry
AccelByte Intelligence Service (AIS) lets you get full access to the data you need to truly understand your players and games by building custom dashboards using custom events.
Upgrade today by talking to your technical producer or account manager to get full access to cross-game and player data.
Limitations
Unlike other analytics services, AIS doesn't have limits on the number of events you can send or the rate at which they will be sent. Instead, AIS is priced based on the average event size of a 1 KB block stored. Character limits:
- Keys have a limit of 20 characters
- Values have a limit of 20 characters
This example is a simplified estimation and the actual numbers may vary based on the specifics of your data and encoding methods.
Custom event parameter values must be one of the following primitive types: string, int, long, float, double, or bool.