Today, SEMC made a big announcement that they have started work on the developer API for Vainglory. I couldn’t be more excited; I have been waiting forever for this.

Below is a detailed look at what they have so far, and how to play around with the API.

What is an API?

Reddit user EdevoK gave a great explanation of what an API is:

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is essentially an access to under-the-hood workings of a program. In example to Vainglory, the API would allow devs/people with sufficient knowledge to operate it to extract data. Stats from the end game screen could be collected automatically and compiled. Where scout traps where placed, your APM, your touchscreen heatmap and so on.



Basically, an API will allow myself and others to create better tools to study the game. In turn, players will improve faster and the game will become even more competitive.

TESTING OUT THE API

Here is how you can test out the API. Right now the preview API does NOT pull any actual data from the game, just loads some sample data the devs have already prepared.

1. Go to http://developer.vainglorygame.com/api/



2. There are currently only six methods you can call, listed at the bottom of the page.

3. Click on whichever one you want to test and the box will expand. At the time of writing, only the search-uuid method will return sample data.

4. Scroll down and you will see “Parameters” sections. On the right there is a box with the “Example Value” you can copy and paste into the empty box on the left.

5. Hit “Try It Out!” button on the bottom and the website will call the API and return the sample data in the “RESPONSE BODY” box.

6. Copy and paste the link that gets returned to see a sample of the data.

Here is the link if you don’t want to do it yourself: https://s3-ecs-match-service-production.s3.amazonaws.com/ATestTitle/2016/10/10/08/30/044a3f8f-f10b-4bf1-83c0-651da4bc3c55?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIYPAXGOXOHVMYY2Q%2F20161201%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20161201T181211Z&X-Amz-Expires=3050&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=d50e54ee00b38d4147ae0c5623cb1358442e8bb51331321a7f0800405d3af791





PARSING THE DATA

Copy and paste all the data, then use http://codebeautify.org/jsonviewer to format the data so you can read it. Download the file and open it in your favorite text editor (I use Sublime Text 3 for Mac).

Below you can see the result after we clean up the code using beautify. The API gives us information on the Match, Each Team, Each Player, and how Each Player Performed.

Overall it’s pretty good, but the data on how Each Player Performed is super slim. It should definitely show Total Damage Dealt, and a few other things I can’t think of right now.

What are your thoughts? What is the API missing?

For more input into the API, you can comment on the Developer Roadmap Trello Board, which also has a link to the Vainglory API Development Slack channel.





OVERALL MATCH DATA





OVERALL TEAM DATA





INDIVIDUAL PLAYER DATA





PLAYER PERFORMANCE IN MATCH