Developer Support

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Documentation

• General Developer Questions

  • How do I load external resources (SWF, images, etc) into my game properly?

    When loading external resources into your game, be aware of how the resource url is interpreted relative to the page URL the main SWF is embedded. For more info view our community post:

    https://www.mochiads.com/community/forum/topic/relative-resource-loading-in-actionscript

  • Is my game eligible to join MochiAds?

    We accept Flash games in all languages, not just English. Currently MochiAds supports Flash 6 through Flash 10, with ActionScript 1, ActionScript 2 and ActionScript 3. We do not accept Flash content that is not a game (e.g., movies or tools) or games containing adult or mature content. For further information, please refer to our Developer Program Policies.

  • Do you require a contract or exclusivity?

    MochiAds does not bind you to any contract or exclusivity terms. You are free to distribute your games or include other forms of sponsorship as you see fit. All that we ask is that the games abide by the MochiAds Developer Program Policies. Our goal is to help maximize the return on your games by working with you, not against you.

  • How is MochiAds different from a sponsorship?

    While a sponsorship means someone pays you money to put their logos and links into your game permanently, MochiAds is a non-exclusive way to monetize your site by embedding ads which you can turn off at any time. We make it even easier for you by allowing you to filter ads on a per-domain basis, run your own ads, and all without a contract. Many sponsors will allow you to negotiate sponsorships to allow ads in your game.

  • Are MochiAds and sponsorships mutually exclusive?

    Sponsorships and MochiAds are not mutually exclusive. Many well-known sponsors welcome our ads. Kongregate, for example, sponsors many games that include them. And because of our wide-reaching distribution, including MochiAds can benefit sponsors because MochiAds for Publishers helps games reach a wider audience.

    We also think that MochiAds can help you negotiate better deals. You might offer a non-exclusive sponsorship, and retain rights to distribute the game yourself with MochiAds in it, or to provide licenses to other sites. You might also offer a lower price if they leave MochiAds in it. This protects you so that when the game leaves their site, you still make money. You can also turn the ads off just for their site to make the offer even more attractive. So go ahead and negotiate a deal that works for you, and don't sell yourself short.

  • Does MochiAds accept games with adult content?

    We do not support games with adult themes. Our founding principles are to provide advertisers a selection of games that are clean and family friendly. Refer to the MochiAds Developer Program Policies for our criteria on what is an acceptable game.

  • Can I use MochiAds in movies?

    At this time we only support Flash games. The video, animation, and gaming markets are all very distinct. Our energies are focused on gaming because it's what we love and it's the market we know best. Even though our technology might work with other kinds of content, the other markets would need their own sets of publishers, features, ad sales, etc.

  • Will MochiAds support non-Flash games or content in the future?

    Currently MochiAds supports Flash 6 through Flash 10 with ActionScript 1, ActionScript 2, or ActionScript 3. Our technology is not compatible with any other platforms unless those platforms can host Flash content. We are always researching new technologies and trends, but at this time we are fully committed to supporting Flash.

  • What do I do if I suspect someone copied/decompiled my game?

    If you see a game on MochiAds that you believe was actually copied and/or decompiled, you can make a claim here. Please note that while MochiAds reserves the right to remove any games from our system that we have reason to believe were added in fraud, the person making the claim is ultimately responsible for taking any legal action, per our Copyright Dispute Policy.

• Adding A Game

  • How long does it take for my game to get approval?

    The game approval process begins once ads are installed properly in a game and the game profile is 100% complete. Once you've done both of these things we usually approve your game within 24 hours, but in cases of high volume it may take longer.

    If you do not provide accurate information, especially in the game URL field, it will take much longer to get approved or it will be denied. Game URLs linking to sites that require registration or password may also increase your approval time. Additionally, games that get played more are approved with a higher priority.

  • What is the game profile for?

    The game profile is used during the approval process for your game and targeting ads (by category and keyword). It is also used as the information we send out to users of MochiAds for Publishers in the game distribution feed if you are participating in the distribution program.

  • What kind of thumbnail formats can I upload?

    Game profile thumbnails must be 100x100 ".jpg", ".gif", or ".png" files. If an animated ".gif" is uploaded, only the first frame will be used.

  • My game is already made, do I have to redesign it?

    Nope! We make it simple for you to add MochiAds into your game through our quick and easy setup process. Within the MochiAds interface, simply download and copy our MochiAd.as file next to your game's .FLA file. Then, paste the ActionScript that you get from the MochiAds site into your game where you want ads to show. If you have any questions about setting it up, feel free to email us, or our community forums are a great resource!

• Ad Settings

  • What ad units are available?

    We currently have four different types of ad units. We offer pre-game, inter-level, click away and peel away ads in our inventory. These ads are available in static, rich media and video formats. Pre-game shows as the game is loading, inter-level can be shown at any point in a natural break in the game. Click away ads have the flexibility to be integrated anywhere into the game. Peel away ad units appear as a teaser ad at the top right of the leaderboards screen, and can be clicked to peel down into a full ad. Developers should refer to the Developer Program Policies for our advertising rules. Pre-game, inter-level and peel away are available in three sizes: 500x350, 336x280, and 300x250. Click away ads are currently available only in the 300x250 size.

  • Can I control the ad's appearance?

    Yes! You can control when and how often the ad shows in the game. Through our ad formats, we provide developers with the flexibility to choose when to insert an ad and what type of ad. You can choose your own preloader bar colors with the pre-game ads, and you can develop your own custom backgrounds to integrate the ad display into your game. In the case of peel away ads, you can enable or disable these ads separately.

  • What are click away ads?

    Click away ads are untimed ads that can be removed through user initiated action. Unlike pre-game and inter-level ads, these new ad units do not have a 10 second timer and are designed to provide developers with more flexibility . These ads are available in a 300x250 size and can be placed in custom locations throughout a game. With these ads, the game player can close the ad at any time and continue playing the game. Refer to the Developer Program Policies for additional information on acceptable use.

  • What are peel away ads?

    The peel away ad appear in a game's leaderboards. It shows as a triangular teaser at the top right corner of the high score screen. The user is able to click the teaser ad, and it "peels" down to reveal the full ad which can be closed at any time. Any approved game using the MochiAds leaderboards service is eligible to use the peel away ads. Peel away ad settings can be selected from your game dashboard by selecting the "Edit" button under ad settings.

  • Can I show my own ad?

    Yes! MochiAds allows you to upload a custom ad to show in your own game. This can be used for many purposes such as to temporarily promote a new game of yours, a new site or even to provide you with the flexibility for a timed license to advertise for another site during a fixed time-period.

  • What is domain filtering?

    When you enter in a domain to be filtered, whenever the game is played on that site, we will not show any network or custom ads if the game is played from a file hosted on that domain. Each domain you enter will be filtered.

  • Am I allowed to put multiple ads in a single game?

    Yes, you can do definitely place multiple ads in a game. A pre-game ad can only be shown once while the game is loading, but an inter-level, click away or peel away ad can be shown multiple times. However, there is a frequency cap on inter-level ads. We won't show an ad more than once every five minutes during a game play. If you try and show the inter-level ad more often then it will just be skipped until the time period has passed.

  • How often can I show my ad?

    Pre-game ads can only be shown once. Inter-level ads can be shown multiple times, however there is a frequency cap on advertisements. You can't show your ad more often than once every five minutes during a game play. If you try and show the ad more often then it will just be skipped until that five minutes has passed. Click away ads are not subject to time limits.

  • Can I encourage users to click ads?

    No. Anything in a game encouraging a user to click an ad is not allowed. In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, the game should not request that users click on MochiAds advertisements or rely on deceptive implementation methods to gain clicks. In addition, developers may not circumvent existing MochiAds restrictions on frequency which an ad is showed. Refer to our MochiAds Developer Program Policies for more information.

  • I've added the MochiAds code but why don't I see an ad?

    If you've having any issues, we're here to help! Just email us. Our forums are a great resource!

    There are three scenarios that would prevent an ad from showing. The first scenario is if a connection cannot be made to the MochiAds server. The second scenario is if a game has been disapproved due to conflicts with the MochiAds Program Policies. Under these scenarios nothing will appear and the game will continue without pause. The third scenario is when a game is awaiting approval by the MochiAds team. The third scenario is if the game is not at least 300x300, and we may not have ads to fit that small size.

  • Why does my game sometimes show network ads when it is set to show custom ads?

    Even if a game is set to use custom ads, we will show network ads on sites that use our distribution and/or hosting services.

  • If a sponsor wants a version of the game not containing ads, is there a simple way to block the ad for the sponsor's site?

    Yes, we allow domain filtering. When you enter in a domain to be filtered, whenever the game is played from that host, we will not show any network or custom ads. Each domain you enter will be filtered. This way, if the game gets copied to another site, then ads are turned on and you make more money. No need for domain locking!

• Game Analytics/Stats

  • What kind of data can I track with stats?

    Stats helps you track your games’ performance over time, as well as helps you better understand which publishers are driving the majority of your traffic (i.e., where your games are being played the most). You can track your earnings, ad requests, impressions, eCPM, uniques, hosts, performance by ad format and countries in which your games are played for any defined time period (just click on “change dates” next to “currently viewing” to select dates).

  • How can I access my stats?

    Log in as a developer, click on a game in your dashboard, and select stats from the navigation bar. From here, click on the different tabs to view the performance of your game by different criteria.

  • How are MochiAds stats different from MochiBot?

    Our two products provide analytics in different ways. MochiAds tracks ad impressions and revenue, and MochiBot tracks game plays and the sites where your game is being hosted. MochiAds data may be different for a few reasons. First, in a game showing multiple ads MochiAds data will be inflated because it displays the number of ad impressions not plays. Second, MochiAds will not load 100% of the time. If the end user's connection takes too long to communicate with our server, we will abort the ad to preserve the user experience. The third reason why your data may look different is that MochiAds data is real-time, and MochiBot only processes data once per day.

  • What counts as an ad impression?

    An ad impression is the successful showing of an ad to a game player for its entire expected duration. This is not a measurement of the number of times the game was played, because depending on your game the user may see more than one ad in a single session.

  • What is the "legacy" ad format?

    In the advanced game analytics, developers are able to track the performance of ads in their game by ad format. Some developers may see stats in the "Legacy" ad format. Legacy ads are old stats data recorded from before MochiAds recorded separate ad formats in the database. These are a mix of pre-game and inter-level ads.

  • What are skipped impressions?

    A skipped impression happens when a request to our server does not return an ad to show. Common reasons for skipped ads are frequency capping and domain filtering. Frequency capping prevents ads from showing up too often: only one pre-game ad can be shown in a game, and inter-level ads can't be shown more than once every five minutes. Domain filtering is a feature you can use in the ad settings tab to disable the showing of ads on certain domain names. Some domains are always filtered due to distribution partner agreements, such as with kongregate.com.

  • Can I share my MochiAds stats with others?

    Yes! You can easily share your MochiAds ad impression statistics with other people. Select the game you would like to share from the developer dashboard, and select 'Stats' from the bar. To the right of the Game Stats header, create a link to share your data with anyone else. This can be deactivated at any time by turning off the link. Check the revenue box to share your earnings data as well the game's ad impressions.

  • What if I change my mind or no longer want to share my stats with someone?

    You have the power to deactivate the links at any time for any person you grant access to your stats. You can create separate links for different people, so that you can deactivate one user’s access while enabling another to see your data.

  • Can I choose what data I want to share with whom?

    Yes. You can share impression data, or even the full revenue data for your game with anyone.

  • Is stats available for all international developers?

    Yes.

• Game Distribution

  • What is the MochiAds Game Distribution program?

    The MochiAds Game Distribution program gets your game on our partner sites and portals automatically. Games enabled for distribution will be available to the hundreds of publishers signed up for MochiAds for Publishers. All you have to do is select your game from the dashboard, and follow the directions under Distribution to upload your game and give us permission to distribute. It's as easy as checking a box and you'll get more traffic (and ad revenue)!

  • How can I manage the contents of my distribution .zip file?

    From the developer dashboard, select the game you'd like to manage and then 'game settings'. Select the 'manage' link next to your .zip file. Check the boxes next to the files that you'd like to remove from your .zip file and click save. We recommend that you keep the same filename when you update new versions so that permalinks to your SWF will always point to the latest version.

  • I distribution enabled my game, why don't I see it in the feed?

    Your game will not be instantly available to in the MochiAds for Publishers feed. In order to assure the high quality content for our publishers, games enabled for distribution go through a second review process. Please make sure you do not upload a site-locked version of your game when you enable distribution.

• Leaderboards

  • Do I need to put ads in my game to use the leaderboard?

    No, you don't! Game developers can take advantage of the MochiAds leaderboard service without running ads in their game. Simply login to your account and set up a game.

  • What does banning an entry do?

    Banning an entry will remove all the scores for that person, and will refuse any more submissions from them. We do this based on a unique ID given to each player and not their IP address. You can undo your bans by pressing 'undo bans'. This will allow previously banned players to submit scores again. However, this will not bring back their previous entries.

  • Can I put the leaderboard on my website instead of in-game?

    Yes, you are not limited to using the MochiAds leaderboard service in-game. We have also provided some methods so you can retrieve the data and create your own version. Please refer to our API documentation for more details.

  • What is 'getPlayerInfo' for?

    'getPlayerInfo()' can be used to retrieve player information from the MochiAds leaderboard service. Currently we are storing the players username and last score submitted for each leaderboard. This is stored as a Flash SharedObject. This can be used to welcome the user on repeat game play and show them their last score.

  • What are the requirements for using leaderboards?

    To use the MochiAds leaderboards service your game must be published for at least Flash 7 and ActionScript 2.0. The minimum game size for the in-game widget (optional) is 270 pixels wide by 250 pixels. Your game does not have to be approved for ads, nor do the ads need to be active in order to use the service.

  • The in-game Leaderboards used to be fine in my game, now they look wierd? What gives?

    As of November, 2008, we launched version 2.0 of our in-game Leaderboards. We allowed all developers the opportunity to opt-out if the new leaderboards did not fit well in their existing games. To opt out, simple visit the 'Leaderboards' section for your game. If your game was already in the system at the time we released v2.0, you will see a small note at the bottom of the page and a link which you can use to revert back to the original v1.0 Leaderboards.

    Here's the difference between versions:

    Original Leaderboard specs:

  • Default width: ~405 pixels - The width would change if you specified a smaller board via the showLeaderboad parameters, OR if you removed columns via the advanced settings in the MochiAds Developer tool.
  • Default height: ~250 pixels - The height would change if you provided a height via the showLeaderboad parameters
  • Smallest width: ~250 pixels - If you turned off all the optional columns via the MochiAds developer tool

  New Leaderboard specs:

  • Default width: ~450 pixels
  • Default height: ~350 pixels
  • Smallest width: ~360 pixels
  • Smallest height: ~280 pixels