Hey Guys, Got some questions in regards to how to build your BuildBox games for the Steam platform. Is there any documentation or tutorials available that shows the process of how to go about doing this? What is all needed and what are all the steps involved? Would be very thankful if some kind soul could point me in the right direction please.. I'm about to make a subscription purchase to one of the available BuildBox plans.. But having some clear direction on how to be able to build games from BuildBox for the Steam Platform is currently the deciding factor for me at the moment. Many thanks in advance to everyone for any information you may have to offer for these questions above. God Bless!
Buildbox has an export option for Steam. There is also a field in the settings menu that allows you to enter your Steam App ID. There is no special process to get your game ready for Steam, all you have to do is create your game then export the game for Steam. The only thing you need to worry about is the Steamworks program which you can find here -> https://partner.steamgames.com/steamdirect Here is a screenshot of the Steam export option -> https://i.imgur.com/lD1yQou.png Just click that button and your game will be ready for distribution on Steam.
A user that I spoke with that has BuildBox 2 said that when you export using the Steam option in Buildbox 2 that all it does is create a C++ header file and C++ source files is all that is generated from using that Export to Steam option in BuildBox 2. If that is the case, then from what I know those files would have to be compiled I believe? This is why I asked what I did above to get a full understanding of what is all needed and also the full process involved to make it complete for the Steam Platform.
No it doesn't just create a couple C++ files. It comes with all the source files and the final exe. Here is a screenshot of a test export I did, might help in giving a better idea with what you are dealing with. https://imgur.com/a/JXmqvTo Steam completely changed the way they accept new games, so I am not completely sure if the publishing process now is similar to the old process. I'm also not sure if the Steam SDK is already installed or if we have to do that ourselves. To get a clear answer you might want to shoot an email to support@buildbox.com .
@rywnshyhq - I was right, the steam export only puts out supported files along with the C++ source files that has to be compiled first before uploading them on the Steam Platform Store. Checkout this link here ---> https://www.buildbox.com/forum/index.php?threads/problem-with-compile-exported-to-use-on-steam.5710/
Ah I see. Looks like that is the case. I'll open them up in visual studio and see if I can compile them into something. If you'd like me to send you the files as well, I can do that too.
I found a short snipit from the book: BuildBox 2.x Game Development that uses Visual Studio 2013 ver. 120 to compile the exported project files for the Steam Platform. I also checked on microsoft's website and there appears to be some sort of freemium version of Visual Studio..? Do not know which one though I should download as of yet? But I'll find out soon enough!
@DrWho use two separate exports: Windows EXE and OSX. Steam in BB export won't generate required files for uploading to Steam.
Sounds like the Steam Exporter is broken them to me... When will the BuildBox development team fix this then I wonder?!?
Out of all due respect @justforward - I did get your point very clearly! I was merely pointing out that BuildBox's Steam Exporter must be broken and not functioning properly as it is suppose to do or it wouldn't be necessary for you to have to export twice using the windows export and OSX exporter to accomplish the same given results!
Same with android or ios. It doesn't build apk or ipa files. You export android source and have to load it into Android Studio...ios you load exported code into Xcode. Steam you load code into VS. They could make it build APK easier than ios or steam im guessing. As other software's generate apks. I guess some platforms are more intricate and better to use their native compilers.
It would be nice if the BuildBox team would have some tutorials available that showed the complete process from start to finish on exporting your game in each exported and the following steps needed thereafter in the next applications to have a completed project ready to be uploaded to the platforms indicated.
ok so the deal with with Steam is that when you sign up you need to pay 100USD a game to submit to the steam store so for every game you build for the store your expected to pay 100 bucks BUT if you manage to sell your game and get about 1000 in revenue you apparently get the 100 bucks back so its like an insurance policy for Steam incase you flop. I would like to see a guide on how to prepare a game with buildbox for steam.
This is why we need tutorials on all of BuildBox's export options and every step in the process to final working export completed!
the problem with that is most people only want to put a game on iOS and Android, there isn't a big customer base that want to put it on windows and Mac OS or Linux. Which means there isn't a big push at more support on the areas. I suspect this may change when buildbox 3 come out because 3d games will demand more resources which means more people may want to start exporting to PC or Console platforms.
If the export option exists in BuildBox then it needs to be supported along with the rest of the exports as well.. Not just mainly Android & IOS only. Team Buildbox put the export option in there for a reason so why not fully document it and have tutorials for it?!
I understand what you mean but if there isn't many people using it there will not be a demand for it because no one would be asking for how to do it. That being said your right they should just make it regardless.
Well I at least have a good general idea now as to what is all involved finally after having done extensive research and asking a million questions and some good kind souls giving some good advise along with examples to point me in the right direction. I know that the steam export on BuildBox only outputs the source code for the game in question.. Then you have to import your exported source code into Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 or 2017 to compile it into a working application ready for steam. However though, I had been told previously that the Steam export doesn't do so well and the normal Windows export should be used instead?! Still... This is the entire point here in this thread in regards to very much needing these complete Tutorials & Video Tutorials show us all Step by Step to completion how this is all done! Hopefully in the near future Team BuildBox will get this very much needed documentation and tutorials ready and available to us all. I guess we'll see huh?
