In-app Billing
Monkey Targets Forums/Android/In-app Billing
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| Google just released In-app Billing which would allow developers to add micro transactions to their games and applications. Now we just need someone with the right Java skills to make a Monkey module which makes it easier for the rest of us to implement this feature. More information can be found here: http://developer.android.com/guide/market/billing/index.html |
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| Must-have features? |
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| I think that it would be something that could be needed if someone were to make MMO like games where the player would be able to purchase additional content within the app itself. Other kinds of games could use this feature to allow the developer to only make one app where certain parts of the game is locked down until the player pays to open those parts. This way a developer does not need to have both a light version and a full version of the game. I am not well versed in Java at all. It must be close to a decade since I had a look at that type of code, so I would not know how to make module for monkey right now, so I was thinking that someone with Java experience might be able to make the code that would act as the glue to this feature that Google has decided to offer to the Android developers. |
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| I saw games that had in app purchase on iPad that let you buy extra content, ie. extra levels, new pinball table or jigsaw sets. |
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| This would make a valuable module for monkey, no doubt. |
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| It's definitely a must-have as freemium apps seem to overtake the market at this point. Distributing a game (any kind) for free then charging for extra content is great. That way people who don't have money (or means to) will still get to play the game and be part of your customer base. (over here for example the android market contains ONLY free apps. If you'd make a game that I'd need to buy, I wouldn't even see it). Even users who can't pay are still very valuable. You could go for an ad-supported version of the game. Even without that, expanding the customer base is always a good thing. You never know when your next game/app/whatever targets somebody in that customer base that wasn't very interested before. Back on the subject, the other nice thing is that people who can afford paying will pay based on how much they use it. Here's an example: Customer A kinda likes your game but not overly excited about it. Classic: He probably doesn't think it's worth it to pay X to play your game. Freemium: He thinks X/5 for some extra content is not so bad so he pays. Customer B really loves your game. Classic: He thinks X is a bargain. Freemium: He'd pay 4*X to have all the content. |
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| I also think that it is a must have and I would pay a decent amount for a working module that handles the interfacing with the Java api. |
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| I was more thinking along the lines of "Which of the Android API features are must-have for the Monkey module"... |
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| It would need to cover anything that is required for the full implementation as per the instructions on this page: http://developer.android.com/guide/market/billing/billing_integrate.html |
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