Distribute Godot on the Windows 10 Store

[anneomcl]

I know the open source art program Krita has done something similar, but perhaps Godot could be on the Windows 10 app store along with Steam to streamline the update experience for those who don't have the Steam client open all the time. Krita is also a paid app, so perhaps that could help fund development if there's interest in that option.

[akien-mga]

What are the requirements for shipping on Windows 10 Store? Does it need to be a UWP app, or can it be a classical win32 like our current version?

[vnen]

In theory it might work with the Desktop Bridge, but it needs further investigation.

[Calinou]

For the record, Inkscape is also available in the Windows Store; I don't think its Windows Store version is an UWP application, so there must be a way to do it while still running a Win32 application (sandboxing will very likely be applied to the executable still).

[vnen]

Yes, the Desktop Bridge allows a regular Win32 app to be packaged and published in the store. I do think it is sandboxed and might forbid some syscalls, so it needs to be properly tested.

What concerns me most is the process forks for running the editor from the project manager and running the game from the editor.

[anneomcl]

If there are any concerns with onboarding that are not on any Microsoft docs, I can get in contact with the store team. I used to work with them and I'm sure they'd be happy to have more apps like Godot.

I'm not as familiar with the intricacies of Godot's source, but as mentioned, there mainly needs to be a UWP wrapper around the Win32 app.

[mattiascibien]

Here is a simple packaging project i built using this guide for packaging. It seems that the app is running fine but I have not tested it intensively. The included godot.exe is the x64 version of the latest stable release downloaded from the website.
GodotWinStore.zip

[vnen]

I tested the Desktop Bridge and it seems to work fine with Godot. I need to do more thorough tests in S mode but at first it seems to work fine (apart from things that call external programs, like some exporting processes). And I doubt anyone will do real development on a Windows S system, since it's too restricted and many dev tools can't even be installed.

The sandbox isn't that bad and allow downloading projects from the asset lib, creating folders and projects in a user-selected, and run the projects from the editor.

I also need to investigate the proper way to open a store account for Godot.

[akien-mga]

Note that publishing on the Windows Store doesn't seem to be frictionless: https://twitter.com/Krita_Painting/status/1019849392835190785

Their 10.8.5 policy which is bothering Krita might also kill the Asset Lib for the Windows Store build.

[Calinou]

Is this still relevant today, considering the current state of the Microsoft Store? Last time I checked, Windows 10 S is no longer being sold. This strongly reduces the usefulness of publishing to the Microsoft Store.

[vnen]

The advantage of publishing would be that we get a signed binary that won't trigger the usual Windows warnings. It also has an auto-updater (which can be good or bad, but would be the same as the Steam version).