In-App Purchases with GDevelop Credits

(Note: This topic is similar to In App purchase through gdevelop account but is changed in many ways, therefore I did not see the need to continue the conversation there, but rather start a new post.)

In-App Purchases / Gamepasses with GDevelop Credits

If you haven’t used Roblox before, they have a way to include in-app purchases in your games through items called “Gamepasses”. I’d love to see these in GDevelop as I think it would earn creators (and GDevelop) a lot of money. :money_mouth_face:

How would this work?

Users in GDevelop would be able to create “Gamepasses” and set an amount of GDevelop credits it would cost to purchase that gamepass. They would also be able to choose a title for the gamepass. Once the pass is created, the pass is given an ID number to reference it. In GDevelop, there would be an action named “Prompt Gamepass Purchase” with a spot for the user to put the gamepass ID. When a user clicks it, they would need to login to their GDevelop account and confirm the purchase, and then it would allow the condition “Player Owns Gamepass” (ID) to be true. This gamepass purchase is hooked up to that user’s GDevelop account, so that way no storage or firebase is needed to save that the player own’s that gamepass.

Note: I’m not 100% sure how GDevelop’s backend looks for withdrawing as money or as credits, but I feel like purchases would still contain the same 40% money rate, and maybe like 70-80% credit rate.

How would this look in game?

When the action “Prompt Gamepass Purchase” runs, it opens a pop up with the “Log into GDevelop” page. Once they’ve logged in, if they have enough GDevelop coins it will say “Are you sure you would like to purchase (Gamepass Name) for (Credit amount)?” and the person would need to type “confirm” to confirm the purchase (just like “delete” to delete a GDevelop project). Once they’ve confirmed, it officially adds that gamepass as “Owned” on their GDevelop account, and that person would be able to use whatever they purchased. Also, if they didn’t have enough credits when they try to purchase, it could instead show a pop-up like “Purchase 800 credits for $7.99” and bring them to the GDevelop purchase credits page.

Why add this?

I think an in-app purchase system like this would really bring a lot of new users to the engine. It’s also a way for GDevelop and creators to earn more money. This means that developers don’t have to sell their game on steam, itch, or google play, they could be making money with in-app purchases directly on gd.games!

What all is needed

Here is a quick summary of everything that would need to get added:

  • Gamepass Creation System with ID
  • Prompt Gamepass Purchase action
  • Player Owns Gamepass Condition
  • Some way to withdraw money as USD/EUR or Credits

Optional things that could be added, but are not a necessity

  • Small commission if you sell someone else’s gamepass in your game
  • Description for gamepasses where you can write about what’s included in it, and players can read before purchasing.

I will update this if I get any more ideas. Thanks for reading through all that! :smile:

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…Hmm, I feel a bit indifferent about this idea. I’ve never once thought of in-game purchases as a good thing, and I’m pretty sure there’s a method of doing it anyway. It’s best not to make mobile slop games easier to develop (which is GDevelop’s entire job). But that’s all just my opinion. Sure, potential for good, but if there’s potential for good, the rest is all bad.

GDevelop is marketed for two things at once, and they clash a lot. Teaching, and a monetization pipeline. The issue with that is you should never teach a game developer to see money as the goal, as they will quite quickly make a game with terrible gameplay and various dark patterns, with the core of the game being an afterthought. GDevelop’s main demographic is also a oversight and liability, being mostly made up of younger people (8-14), which may be susceptible to influence and GDevelop’s own dark patterns. Making a “game” purely to squeeze money out of wallets is one thing, but teaching somebody to have a dream of wealth is worse, because games require conscious effort and longterm work. The Roblox platform is a bad example for this, as it is home to some of the worst business practices, and liabilities with in-game currencies, which could also be applied to GDevelop’s own shop, which sells “ready-made games”, assets, tutorials, and more.

2 Likes

There are some good points in there.

I do understand how deceptive strategies could be used, but at the same time the proposal I suggested includes the user having to confirm they would like to purchase it.

I overall still think that the pros outweigh the cons, as there are already games out there (stranded on a raft for one) that have in-app purchases. I just think having them built in would be good.

What method is there currently? I know Stranded uses a different website for the purchases, but I haven’t looked into how they get Kofi to connect with GDevelop.

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This is a good idea, but then you’ll have to create a group of game moderators to check whether purchases are being used fairly in the game or not.
I like the idea.

And this idea will be more useful than AI. AI is also good, but almost no one uses AI for its intended purpose.

Yandex Games has a similar method of in-game purchases that you described!