Is anyone publishing to Android willing to do a complete step by step guide on "How to"
gingagaming
FREELANCE GS DEVMember Posts: 1,688
Hi Guys, I have used Gamesalad since 2013 and back in the day, I used Gamesalad for my day to day job as a freelance dev. I hung up the keyboard back in 2020 and have only looked after a couple of long term clients since. As I no longer spend endless hours hours keeping up on the forums and changes within GS im completely out of touch with Android publishing. So much so that i cant publish at all! Ive spent some serious hours trying to publish for my client and all without success. (I think its mainly down to me having a new macbook and also some changes in the way GS now do this).
That said ive searched the forums and found nothing that helps me. As an (ex) experienced GS dev Im surprised that there isnt a complete "idiots guide" on how to publish to android. (myself and other vets used to make videos like this).
Is there anyone out there who can compile an idiots guide to android publishing? Not just for me but im sure that any new user will not be able to complete this process anymore.
@Armelline @pinkio75 @Braydon_SFX @adent42 @The_Gamesalad_Guru @tatiang @gyroscope @RThurman @jonmulcahy @pHghost @CasualEvolution @adriangomez @LumpApps @beefy_clyro
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The cookbook is currently down. But I just discovered there is a backup here: https://web.archive.org/web/20230602052906/https://help.gamesalad.com/cookbook/ give it a try.
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Yah, unfortunately our cookbook's server was aged out of what was allowed on our provider. I had assumed that we had moved most of what was needed into support.gamesalad.com, but that was not the case. We're working on getting it back up. In the meantime:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221003011518/https://help.gamesalad.com/gamesalad-cookbook/publishing/4-android-publishing/android-app-bundle-aab-terminal-signing/
(Which is missing images, but at least might help with what to google)
If you poke me to remind me at the weekend I can probably put something that's enough for you together, but won't have time for a fully fleshed out tutorial.
It's basically this though:
Follow this to get the tools you need: https://web.archive.org/web/20221003025028/https://help.gamesalad.com/gamesalad-cookbook/publishing/4-android-publishing/4-01-getting-started-with-android/
Not sure if that includes bundletool but you'll need bundletool if you want to do a test APK. That's a slightly different process though, which I'll write out separately if needed. I used this one last time but I haven't checked for an update in aaaages. https://gofile.io/d/zU8lFp
Create your keystore using this command (type it out, I find copying and pasting very unreliable for some reason):
keytool -genkey -v -keystore yourgame.keystore -alias yourgame -keyalg RSA -sigalg SHA1withRSA -keysize 2048 -validity 100000
It'll dump the keystore in your home folder unless you give it a full path.
When you make your keystore it'll tell you you should update it. Do as it says, you can normally copy and paste that command for some reason. If you get an error about something not being supported, that's the error it throw up when I copy and paste and it's a lie. Try typing it out again.
Download the AAB from GameSalad publishing.
Sign with this command:
The final "yourgame" there is the alias you chose when creating your keystore.
Loads of text will fly by. You can skip it by removing "-verbose" but I find it reassuring.
Jump through the 60 million hoops Google have these days on their publishing portal and upload. If what you're after is a guide to navigating Google Play Publishing specifically, I'd honestly rather poke my eyes out than try to write one but could always hop on Skype (RIP, something else I guess) and give you a quick walk through it. Honestly it's mostly self-explanatory but it's just so fussy and unintive sometimes.
This process worked for me a couple of months ago but I publish to Android much less frequently than to iOS so I might be forgetting something.
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Thank you all. @Tumblecoin Game Studios The cookbook is so out of date for things like this but appreciate your trying to help out.
@Armelline How are we signing the Android apps? I know there was a tool that you compiled but I couldnt get that to work either? Its all since I had a new machine.
Grab the Java SDK using the link above and sign using the jarsigner command I gave (in Terminal). It's all pretty complex looking and daunting but it's actually really pretty simple. I made a small app that pulls a signed APK out of an AAB file, but that's only needed for testing on certain devices. I just copy/paste that command to sign AABs now.
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience