Hypercade Docs

Analytics

3 min read

Foundation includes built-in analytics. Track player sessions, hardware profiles, progression milestones, and custom events. Data flows to BigQuery. You can query and visualize it any way you like.

How it works

Your game ships with the Hypercade analytics SDK (available for Unreal and Unity). The SDK logs events to a secure endpoint. Data is stored in BigQuery, partitioned by date and studio. You access it via standard SQL queries or pre-built dashboards in Looker.

No third-party analytics vendor lock-in. No monthly fees per event. Your data is yours to query.

What you can track

Sessions: Player login/logout, session duration, devices.

Progression: Milestones reached - first level completed, boss defeated, tutorial finished, etc.

Hardware: GPU, CPU, RAM, OS version. Useful for performance debugging and targeting minimum specs.

Custom events: Anything you define. Store purchases, feature engagement, difficulty selected, playstyle choices - whatever matters to your game.

Anonymous: No personally identifiable information is collected. Each player is identified by a machine ID (a UUID generated once per machine, shared across all Hypercade games on that machine). No tracking across the web. No ID stitching.

Endpoints

Events are sent to:

https://data.programmoria.com/v1/log/

The endpoint is secure (HTTPS), auto-scales, and handles retries. If the service is temporarily unavailable (503), the SDK queues events locally and retries.

Auto-collected fields

The SDK automatically collects:

  • h_id - Hypercade machine ID (UUID)
  • app - Your game slug
  • env_os - Operating system
  • env_gpu - GPU model
  • env_ram - System RAM in GB
  • env_vram - Video RAM in GB
  • env_deck - Is this a Steam Deck? (true/false)

You don’t need to log these manually. They’re captured for every event.

Event format

Events are flat key-value pairs (no nested objects). Supported types:

  • Strings
  • Numbers
  • Booleans

Example:

{
  "event": "progression",
  "level": 3,
  "boss_defeated": "fire_lord",
  "time_to_beat_minutes": 45
}

SDK integration

Setup takes 5 minutes. Initialize the SDK at game start, log events where they matter, and data starts flowing.

Querying your data

All data lands in BigQuery under your studio’s dataset. You can:

  • Query via BigQuery’s web console (if you have access)
  • Build dashboards in Looker (pre-built templates available)
  • Export to your BI tool
  • Use Hypercade’s API to retrieve summary data

The Hypercade portal includes a basic analytics view with charts and filters. For deeper analysis, SQL queries and Looker dashboards give you full control.

Data retention

Raw event data is retained in BigQuery for 1 year. Aggregated summaries (session counts, average session duration, etc.) are retained indefinitely. You can export or archive older data at any time.

Privacy and compliance

  • No PII is collected or stored.
  • Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest (BigQuery encryption).
  • Data is private to your studio - not shared with other games or studios.
  • Machine IDs are deterministic (same machine gets the same ID) but not traceable to an individual.
  • Compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and similar privacy regulations (machine ID is not personal data).

Troubleshooting

Events not appearing in BigQuery: Check that the SDK is initialized with the correct project token and game slug. Test the integration in a development build first.

High latency: Events are batched and sent periodically (typically every 30-60 seconds). The endpoint is designed for high throughput.

Disk space issues from queuing: If the game client loses network for extended periods, events are queued locally. This is normal. Once connectivity returns, queued events are uploaded.

For help, see the Unreal or Unity integration guides, or contact the Hypercade team at [email protected].

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