Monetizing mobile RPG MV games.

[Vaslow]

I’m considering translating my game to Chinese and Vietnamese in order to sell to those markets however, knowing the preference for F2P games in Asia, I would like to add options for purchasing in game coins or partnering with some ad company.

Would creating an in game cash shop be feasible in RPG MV?

Is there a way to pass information from MV to a website or App Store?

For example when the player selects an item to purchase a common event would run storing a variable with the players purchase selection and then pass that variable on to a website that would open a link to make the purchase. After the purchase I would need the website to send information back to MV indicating that the purchase was successful and then flipping a switch or giving an item etc.

Lastly; please don’t post telling me to find another engine. I know MV is not suited to mobile gaming but I still want to explore the possibilities.

 

[Andar]

yes and no

nothing prevents you from adding plugins that handle ingame purchases.
But I don't know of any existing ones and Degica once made a decision to not provide support for this themselves.

The problem is that anything handling monetarization is required to use minimum security standards by the laws in a lot of countries, and most hobby-programmers (which is what most plugin writers are) do not have the knowledge to implement such a security standard.

your best chance would be to look for a company that not only handles the payment for you but also have javascript programmers that know how to program a secure interface for you.

 

[MushroomCake28]

I very much agree with Andar. I have often thought about creating such a plugin, but I never follow through because of the security issues and the legal issues.

The best bet is either to look for a company that handles does kind of things like Andar said, or go with another engine, but I won't discuss this here since this is a forum for RPG Maker engines and VN Maker (and because you said not to recommend that, but bear with me for a bit). Although the idea of wrapping an MV game in another engine has been mentioned once or twice before on the forum, and it would certainly be an alternative solution. However, this forum won't provide support for that kind of inquiry.

 

[BalticoX]

Hello, RPG Maker MV is published on iOS and Android using Apache Cordova

What you need is first to choose a plug in for in app purchases that works with Cordova, and then from the JavaScript in your game you can interact with that plugin. I don't think its possible without a plugin.

And regarding Andar comment, that is not the case, since the payment is handled by iOS and Android, as the validation of in app purchases and even monthly subscriptions can be achieved.

I published a game recently on iOS and Android using cordova, and it worked perfectly, but I did not implemented any type of in-app purchases, so don't have experience in that.

Search google for "apache cordova in app purchases" you will find posts that include ionic apps, which its not necessarily the same as pure cordova apps, but are similar.

Here is commonly referred plugin

GitHub - AlexDisler/cordova-plugin-inapppurchase: A lightweight cordova plugin for in app purchases on iOS/Android

A lightweight cordova plugin for in app purchases on iOS/Android - GitHub - AlexDisler/cordova-plugin-inapppurchase: A lightweight cordova plugin for in app purchases on iOS/Android

github.com

And sample code on how to use it

inAppPurchase
  .buy('com.yourapp.consumable_prod1')
  .then(function (data) {
    // ...then mark it as consumed:
    return inAppPurchase.consume(data.productType, data.receipt, data.signature);
  })
  .then(function () {
    console.log('product was successfully consumed!');
  })
  .catch(function (err) {
    console.log(err);
  });

 

[Vaslow]

Thanks a lot for the comments. I’ll take a look at Cordova. I’m sure this solution will be useful for anyone else looking into mobile monetization.

I suppose another way to handle monetization would be to use a plugin like yanfly’s that enables links in game. Provided it’s possible to have it link to PayPal for payment and somehow have paypal return information to MV that the purchase was completed.

 

[BalticoX]

if you plan to distribute on Apple’s App Store you are not allowed to sell digital content inside the game without going through Apple’s sdk because that is how Apple gets 30% of your proceedings. That is also true for Google Play. What is allowed is that the user goes to a web, not from your game, and buys there on the web.
For Android you could create an APK and distribute it through other channels that are not the official store, but you will reach a narrow audience this way.
My recommendation is that you either implement in-app purchases the proper way with the sdks or have a web where users can buy the coins, but you cannot link directly from the game, users will need to learn this otherwise.
Take the example of Amazon. You can buy physical products from the App, but you cannot rent a movie or buy an audiobook from the App. If you want to do that, you need to open the browser on your mobile phone, buy there, and then enjoy the content on the App. Those are the rules if you want to distribute through official channels.