SDKBox Shutdown alternatives?

cocos2d-x C++
#1

Yesterday I finished to integrate SDKBox IAP, Review and AdMob plugins, and today I was about to upload it to Google Play to test it, but then I saw the post: [URGENT] SDKBox Shutdown Breaks Project Build - #4 by slackmoehrle
And then all my hopes went down…

I don’t have much idea of Android native development. I just port my games from iOS and touch a few things to make it work with Android Studio and then release them.

I wanted to implement those functionalities for my Christmas game, but now I’m totally lost and I’m running out of time.

I did some research and I found:

AdMob: I found this link Cocos2dx  |  Firebase Documentation looks good and easy but I didn’t tried it yet. I guess is not compatible with iOS but it will be a problem for the future.

IAB/IAP: Here is the main problem. I have seen several outdated plugins or ways to do it:

-Pokkt: Last version Nov 2019. Supports Ads and IAP. It looks the best alternative.
https://wiki.pokkt.com/Cocos2d-x_V3

-CocosHelper: Jul 2017. Is discontinued and it doesn’t have IAP functionality but in some posts that I’ve read, they say that I can get an idea of how to do it by looking at some classes to know how to call native methods from c++ and so.

I think it will be the best thing to do, avoid third party plugins because the same thing could happen that with sdkbox plugin, but also looks more difficult. Also I don’t know how to retrieve purchases, which I planed to do it with SDkbox liveOps.

-Soomla: last ver. Dec 2016

-PluginX: last ver. Feb 2015

-IABPlugin: last ver. Jan 2015

-Dualface: last ver. Feb 2013

-EasyNDK/Ndkhelper: last ver. 8 years ago.

Review: No idea how to do it, maybe I will just make a custom box in different languages and a link to the store to review it, but I don’t have a clue on how to know if they have rated my games or not. I could save in an UserDefault variable if they did press the rate button or not, but those variables will be empty if they update the game. Also pressing the button doesn’t mean that they rated.

I think that SDKBox was a great cross platform solution and is very sad what is going on with it.

Can anybody provide a link or something and point me (and maybe other users too) in the right direction?

#2

I will have a conversation with engineering about this and reply.

1 Like
#3
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#6

None of the above alternatives would work, since Google has declared using Billing Library >= v3.0.0 as mandatory, in which v3.0.0 was released in 2020. I suggest you to deploy sth like RevenueCat.

#7

I have just noticed that SDKbox is dead :confused: Yes, I am also using it in all my cocos projects. Why don’t you release your lib as open source, so that we could maintain it? I could even pay for it, because I just don’t want to waste my time on something what should be done almost automatically in every (mobile) game engine. I don’t need any “web service”, just a cross platform lib.

Now, instead of working on new games I will have to dig into ios/android in-apps and handle it by myself. Fortunate I already did it for ads.

Really… no “sdkbox” alternative for cosos? C’mon… cocos guys… talk to sdkbox guys, make a deal with them and release “sdkbox” lib together with cocos2dx.

2 Likes
#8

I totally agree in what you say. Finally released the Christmas game I was working on, as a paid game without Ads, IAP and reviews…

I don’t understand the point to just shutdown sdkbox with only a little announcement in their web, without offering a transition or alternative.

Thanks for the answer @stephenhurry. I think like @kds, I don’t want to depend of any web service. Also no idea how to integrate it…

1 Like
#9

I have a half-baked understanding of what the entire plan is exactly. I know there are a lot of moving pieces in the works.

I’ll ask engineering if they have more thoughts on the best way for existing sdkbox users to migrate to similar functionality on the simplest path.

#10

@slackmoehrle I agree with @kds please open source sdkbox. We are heavily dependent on it and would hate to spend half of 2022 to redo iOS/Android IAP. Thanks!

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#11

isnt sdkbox available till 2022? according to this?

#12

That’s my understanding also.

#13

@slackmoehrle I looked into SDKHub - I like this initiative. I have apps in other stores and would love to have one sdk to handle everything. But… is there any plan to support coco2dx? I can’t find any info and doc says it is only for cocos creator.

I am asking because I think me and other devs have to “reschedule” plans for 2022. Even if SDKBox is still available, in the next few months it may become obsolete. E.g google forces developers to support latest libraries.

#14

I hear you. I will talk to team members and ensure a proper understanding and then reply back.

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#15

any news for sdkbox?
Just tried admob, it fails to compile on android.

#16

Just to provide an update, there are discussions happening.

1 Like
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