Game Packaging

Introduction

This page contains information for packaging and distributing freeware games & demos (as DLCs) through in-app DLC downloader.

Platform-specific Guides

1. ScummVM Cloud
2. Android

How to extend DLC support to more distribution stores

The general steps/tips are:

1. Identify if the store have DLC support and have appropriate API or SDK for managing on-demand downloads. You may check this sheet containing information about various distribution stores for reference (might be outdated).
2. Create a new class that implements backends/dlc/store.h. See backends/dlc/android/playstore.cpp as an example.
3. Set the dlcspath in appropriate backends.
4. Use #ifdef USE_DLC where applicable. Before building, make sure to enable DLC support by using --enable-dlc with ./configure.
5. Add a new entry to packaging/export-platforms.json. The export-platforms.json consists of the description of scripts that eventually prepare and package the game in a specific format recognized by the distribution store and, if possible, upload the game directly to the distribution store. You can include the 3rd party SDK/scripts/tools or self-written scripts in the packaging/scripts directory. Here is an example for an entry to export-platforms.json (The single $ means variable from packaging/package.py context, double $ means variable from packaging/dlc-games.json, and triple $ means it is an environment variable):

"android": {
		"target": "android",
		"prepare": {
			"type": "python-script",
			"location": "android/generate_asset_pack.py",
			"options": {
				"--packagename": "org.scummvm.scummvm",
				"--assetpackname": "$$packname",
				"--deliverymode": "on-demand",
				"--assetsdir": "$game_location",
				"--outdir": "output/android"
			},
			"successMessage": "Asset pack required for bundling stage is successfully created!"
		},
		"bundle": {
			"type": "python-script",
			"location": "android/add_packs.py",
			"options": {
				"--androidsdk": "$$$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT",
				"--sdkver": "33",
				"--buildtoolsver": "33.0.2",
				"--bundletool": "scripts/android/bundletool-all-1.15.1.jar",
				"--inputbundle": "$binary_location",
				"--packdir": "output/android",
				"--packnames": "$$packname",
				"--output": "output/android/scummvm-bundled.aab"
			},
			"successMessage": "Android App Bundle is successfully created in output/android. You can now manually upload this file on Google Play Console."
		},
		"upload": {
			"type": "none"
		}
	}

It is possible that you might need to change the schema for export-platforms.json and adapt the packaging/package.py accordingly. For more details and reasoning, you may read this blog.