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Analytics APIs

Discussion in 'Unity Analytics' started by mbirk, Feb 10, 2015.

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  1. mbirk

    mbirk

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2014
    Posts:
    18
    One question that frequently comes up when talking to developers -- in this forum, via our support channel, on Twitter, and during in-person discussions -- is "are you going to provide any APIs"?

    We will definitely be providing a number of APIs! We understand that there is a strong desire to "get at the data" and to integrate more deeply into your existing systems. While I can't yet provide a timeline nor make any promises, and some of these APIs may be released as premium features, the APIs that are under consideration include:

    Reporting API: Basically an API version of the dashboard. This provides the same aggregate data (broken down by day, segment, and metric) that you can see in e.g. the Data Explorer.

    Batch Segmentation API: Get a list of users (i.e. players) that fall into a particular segment (e.g. Whales). This would allow you to, for example, run your own retention campaigns such as an email blast.

    User Segmentation API: From within your app, get a list of segments that the current user falls into. This would allow you to change the course of your game based on the user's past behavior. Exempt your Whales from ads, run A/B tests, etc.

    Server-to-Server API: Send us data from your server in the cloud. Important for games that have a significant server-side component.

    Query API: Do custom analyses and queries, drilling down on arbitrary dimensions. Integrate with BI tools such as Tableau.

    Raw Data Export: Get access to the firehose of individual events and process them yourself.

    I'm posting these descriptions to generate a conversation and gather feedback. Let us know what you think!

    Michael Birk
    Director of Engineering
    Unity Analytics
     
  2. nventimiglia

    nventimiglia

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2011
    Posts:
    153
    Good stuff. Server developer here. Much of my game logic is server-side (specifically on an asp.net mvc webserver). The ability to post data points from my authoritative server would be a benefit. A simple rest api would be good, though, a C# wrapper such as you provided inside unity would be best.
     
  3. meroon

    meroon

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    Posts:
    23
    Just want to add my support for this feature. Would really love an API to pull in the raw data so we can funnel it into our existing data warehouse. The main reason for this is so our NOC can setup monitoring and alerts.

    Do you guys have email alerts in your backlog?
     
  4. angeloferro

    angeloferro

    Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2014
    Posts:
    105
    Hi @meroon!

    Email alerts is in our backlog, but not on our immediate roadmap. What types of alerts are you looking for?

    Here are a few examples that we've thought of:
    Emails for daily/weekly/monthly KPI summaries
    Emails when things go wrong - "DAU dropped 50% from yesterday"
    Emails when interesting things happen - "You just acquired your 10,000th user!"
    Emails about general notifications - "Unity Analytics will be down for maintenance from 1:00 am to 1:30 am UTC"

    Any of the above more or less interesting to you? Any alerts that we missed?
     
  5. Saulotti

    Saulotti

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2009
    Posts:
    19
    I would love to see Raw Data Export!
    I can't manage to create custom graphs in the web graph, so, I would do it my own. =)
     
  6. Slapworth

    Slapworth

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2013
    Posts:
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    Have you considered adding calculated fields that perform calculations on events and their parameters, as seen in Tableau? It would make it easier to interpret custom events and their parameters.

    For example, in a game I'm working on I'm capturing these events:
    * Level Start (with level_name as a parameter)
    * Level Completed (with level_name as a parameter)
    * Player Killed (with level_name as a parameter)

    Right now, I can see which level got started the most, and which level got completed the most, but I can't see which level had the best ratio of Completions:Starts. That would let me know which levels were failed or abandoned more often.

    Similarly, It's great to know how many time a player's been killed in a given level, but that number is only really meaningful when I can view it as a ratio over level starts.

    -- Slapworth
     
  7. Remiel

    Remiel

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2012
    Posts:
    105
    This is one feature that I am really really looking forward to. Although most of the listed features are great this is by far my top of the list wanted feature.

    In fact, I am even posting this to Unity Feedback so others can also vote on it:
    http://feedback.unity3d.com/suggestions/user-segmentation-api
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2015
    eezSZI likes this.
  8. elie-noune

    elie-noune

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2015
    Posts:
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    This is great feedback, thanks for your suggestion @Remiel!

    Hi @Slapworth, we haven't considered it yet, in fact, we haven't had many requests for this feature. However, I use Tableau myself and can totally see the value of being able to have calculated fields, specially when you're trying to understand metrics like conversion rates. How are you currently getting answers to your questions? With our funnels, you could visualize the conversion rate per level by using the level complete event. It's not exactly the same as levelComplete/levelStart but it's a pretty good proxy. What you cannot do today with funnels however is look at kills per sessions started.
     
  9. kenli_touchten

    kenli_touchten

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2015
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    Any news when the API will be ready?
     
  10. sschan

    sschan

    Moderator

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2014
    Posts:
    87
    Hi @kenli_touchten - We are actively working on raw data export and will post to the Forum when it’s ready. :DRegarding the other APIs, we encourage you to vote it up here.
     
  11. eezSZI

    eezSZI

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2012
    Posts:
    121
    Really looking forward to the User Segmentation API! This would be huge and would allow us to stick with Unity for everything instead of 3rd party providers.
     
  12. Skyblade

    Skyblade

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2013
    Posts:
    77
    Any update on this? I would like to show a message to a player like "You are top N% player" based on player statistics.
     
  13. marc_tanenbaum

    marc_tanenbaum

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2014
    Posts:
    637
    Hi @Skyblade

    The Raw Data Export API went live quite a long time ago, but the other APIs described have largely not been pursued. In any event, I don't think the use case you're describing is appropriate for Analytics per se. The purpose of our toolset has always been about helping you make a better game (data to help you improve retention, engagement, monetization), rather than adding player-facing features. While it's not impossible that we would go that direction, I would recommend you look towards dedicated leaderboard tools to achieve what you describe.
     
    Skyblade likes this.
  14. Gillissie

    Gillissie

    Joined:
    May 16, 2011
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    305
    What about server to server? It seems like a common use case, where you might need to track things that happen on the server side.
     
  15. JeffDUnity3D

    JeffDUnity3D

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    May 2, 2017
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    A server to server API is not currently on our road map.
     
  16. EnduvoJD

    EnduvoJD

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2016
    Posts:
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    I can't find any info regarding APIs other than Raw Data Export, so is it correct to assume this is still the only one available? The Reporting and Query APIs would be super helpful for my team.
     
  17. MrLucid72

    MrLucid72

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2016
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    What's the point of 1/2 implementing a major feature? You can't have an analytics API without endpoints.
     
  18. JeffDUnity3D

    JeffDUnity3D

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    Closing this thread, the topic has been fully discussed. The service is planned for future improvements as stated.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2021
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