How can I implement in app purchase for windows in godot 4.3

Chukwubuikem

I am currently stuck on how I can implement in app purchase for windows for a game I am making in godot 4.3
I want to publish my game on windows store and windows store policy doesn't support using services like PayPal, stripe etc for in app purchase. Please is there a plugin written in gdscript that I can use to liaise with windows store for in app purchases. Thanks

sirbarry

Chukwubuikem can't you just open a html page and do the payment processing via a webserver?

MikeCL

Chukwubuikem So 2 things.

this is a matter of how you design your software and let people make in-app/game purchase. So this will require you to partner up with a certified payment provider like Stripe. I also recently came across Tibex, might be worth looking into. Other than this, chances are that the store/company have their own in-game purchase systems. So that might be worth investigating.
Then you have the policy you need to look after. Basically, no store likes you to direct users to an alternative income because that will make them miss out on their own cut. So you'll have to read the rules of the store you plan to release on.

Sometimes there's an SDK that makes it easier to implement a 3rd party service. Alternatively, they have an API you can use. So you'll need to spend some time reading the documents. There's no way around this. Everyone does this.

ArDanZ11 GDScript is probably not powerful enough for that, it would need to be Cpp or CS

Not really relevant. If you can implement any logic/code, you can implement this. It's not a matter of whether it's powerful or not. This is mostly done through making API calls, you are not the one processing the payments, the payment provider is. Then after a purchase, it's up to you to design your system for unlockables etc. There's probably 100 different ways to do this. A common way is to either have a 3rd party service handle this for you (tracks players progress etc), create your own backend system with registered users to track unlocks (your own hosted backend systems and database), or keep the unlocks directly in the client (but then it becomes a bigger subject to cheating).

An important thing that's crucial to keep in mind is to make sure your builds are at least encrypted for security reasons.

ArDanZ11

GDScript is probably not powerful enough for that, it would need to be Cpp or CS

kuligs2

ArDanZ11 it depends what you mean not powerfull enough? Send https requests to ms services?
There are some c# nugets that can do it, but idk.. and who is gonna buy a thing on windows store? like would you buy the thing that ad advertises?

Chukwubuikem

sirbarry This entails using services like PayPal, stripe, paystack, flutterwave, right? If I have to send https requests to these services, I would also need to implement a backend server that would enable my game determine when a payment is successful or not via webhooks. I want to avoid these and that is why I am asking if there is a plugin available in godot that will simplify things for me. Moreover, it seems windows store is against using an external service to implement in app purchase for any app published on their store.

ArDanZ11

sirbarry can't you just open a html page and do the payment processing via a webserver?

I think that is possible. You would need to have a link to the HTML page and that should do it.

However, that would mean it is not in-app purchases. It is purchases outside app.

kuligs2

Chukwubuikem what backend server? i dont know how things for payment works, but i imagine you send API requests to some payment server and just validate the transaction, godot has http capabilities to send tcp upd packets and stuff or websockets, you can do it all in the game.. it will be some work to implement.. maybe its doable.. if not then keep on searching

Surface level search lead me to this..

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/gdk/docs/store/commerce/service-to-service/microsoft-store-apis/xstore-v8-clawbackv1

housatic

kuligs2 backend server? i dont know how things for payment works, but i imagine you send API requests to some payment server and just validate the transaction

I don't know about mobile apps, but from my experience with web dev the basics are:

register with the payment service provider
get the public and private keys to sign all requests and validate all responses with
send an API request to begin the payment, get a URL in return and redirect the user to it
check status of payment, if OK then do whatever the user paid for

GDScript might be able to do API calls, but I don't know if it can do or if I'd trust it with cryptography... Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but if you directly call the store's API, without your own backend in the middle, then how do you store the private key? With a website, I'd put it on the server where the user can't reach it. If it's all inside the app, someone could extract it and use it to sign their own requests to, for example, get info about transactions that aren't their own.

So you would need to either integrate with the Store's payment system and have the purchase happen on their side, like how mobile apps do it, or have your own backend (assuming the TOS allows it). No?

Chukwubuikem Moreover, it seems windows store is against using an external service to implement in app purchase for any app published on their store.

Makes sense, so is the Play Store and App Store. They want a cut of the money. I'm pretty sure if you tried to get around it (e.g. if you redirected the user to Paypal) Microsoft would not like that, but I'm not familiar with the Windows store or how strict they are compared to Google and Apple.

ArDanZ11 I think that is possible. You would need to have a link to the HTML page and that should do it.

Again, I would definitely read through the Windows Store's terms of services before doing that.

Chukwubuikem I just wonder why godot unlike other game engines doesn't natively support in app purchase for Windows games the same way it does for mobile games.

Not enough demand, I guess. I don't know anyone who uses the Windows Store, I sure haven't touched it in my life.

Chukwubuikem

kuligs2 Well thanks for your input. I just wonder why godot unlike other game engines doesn't natively support in app purchase for Windows games the same way it does for mobile games.

kuligs2

Chukwubuikem maybe they dont have people who use windows? Make the code work yourself then make a pull request on gihub on godot repo 🙂

DaveTheCoder

housatic Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but if you directly call the store's API, without your own backend in the middle, then how do you store the private key? With a website, I'd put it on the server where the user can't reach it. If it's all inside the app, someone could extract it and use it to sign their own requests to, for example, get info about transactions that aren't their own.

Mobile operating systems have mechanisms for secure storage:
Android Keystore
iOS Keychain

I don't have experience with them, and I don't know how they compare to web security. But web servers can get hacked too.

housatic

(This is a pain to do basic research on o_o)

Also, does Unity still natively support it? I came across this
https://discussions.unity.com/t/unity3d-in-app-purchase-support-for-uwp-discontinued-any-solutions-for-the-future/896140
https://discussions.unity.com/t/windows-store-iap/892481/19

It sounds like they abandoned it and now you have to use community-made extensions and/or your own API calls.

Chukwubuikem

housatic I came across steam, and it seems godot supports it through a plugin. Unfortunately, developers from Nigeria cannot register on steamWorks.

housatic

DaveTheCoder Of course, though I assume it's a lot easier to hack something you have physical access to.
The keychain stuff is interesting, but useless to OP 😃

From what I can find, in-app purchases work with apps made using the Universal Windows Platform. Docs sound like Microsoft really wants you to use C# and Visual Studio to make Windows store apps, no surprises there. You can use a Desktop Bridge to make non-UWP apps work in the store (which I assume is what Godot does here?), and there's some ways to get IAP working with these bridged apps but it's apparently limited and complicated. There's a 50% chance everything I just said is wrong or misunderstood. All of this sounds like a headache honestly. Is there a reason you want to distribute on the Windows Store specifically?

Chukwubuikem

housatic I might have to ditch Microsoft store and look for other alternatives where I can publish my game. I came across steam but it seems Nigerians cannot publish on steamWorks

kuligs2

Chukwubuikem Now thats racist!

I wonder, well, im not sure how it works, but maybe you could partner up with a publisher, outside Nigeria. And publish it this way on steam?

Steam is the youtube of video game sales. It has its own algorithm... sometimes its good sometimes its bad. Also steam is full of spam games as of lately.

How about GOG.com ?

I dont like gog because of the cyberpunk drama, as they lost credibility in my eyes.

ArDanZ11

Chukwubuikem You can upload to Itch, even though it is not as big, and promote your game on social media platforms.

housatic

kuligs2 That's unfortunate about Steam. I'm not sure GOG supports in-app purchases, from a quick search I don't see anything, so you'd probably need your own backend.

(I guess another question is "do you really need IAP?" Personally I have them associated exclusively with multiplayer games and mobile games, and it doesn't sound like OP is making either 😅)

xyz

GOG sucks. I submitted a game there couple of times and got exactly zero response from them.