Can I lock an app to only be accessed if they have a unique password?

Synergy

I want the app to be free, but locked until they enter a password.
Each person would have a unique password.
The password would be preset to give them access to a specific series of levels.
There would be ~9 sets of levels.

tatiang

Sure, you can have a Change Scene behavior inside of a rule that checks to see if they've entered the correct password (e.g. using Keyboard Input or other methods).

Synergy

Thanks Tatiang. Is there an input method that is built into GS for an app (Apple or Android) that you recommend for a password?
Would I just put the passwords in a table when I design the game that would need to match up with the one I provide them?
To gain access to the program, they would have to purchase the password. I suppose I would just have to email it to them. I can't think of an automated way to give them a paid password. I use Magic Members plugin on my WordPress site for purchases, and I have that integrated to MailChimp for onboarding introductions.

tatiang

@Synergy said:
Thanks Tatiang. Is there an input method that is built into GS for an app (Apple or Android) that you recommend for a password?

Either Keyboard Input or a custom keyboard that you provide. There are a couple examples, including my own, here: http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/comment/574786/p1.

Would I just put the passwords in a table when I design the game that would need to match up with the one I provide them?

Yep.

To gain access to the program, they would have to purchase the password. I suppose I would just have to email it to them. I can't think of an automated way to give them a paid password. I use Magic Members plugin on my WordPress site for purchases, and I have that integrated to MailChimp for onboarding introductions.

I don't have a lot of experience with in-app purchases or other purchase methods but someone else here may chime in with a suggestion.

KevinCross

I probably wouldn't use in game tables to store passwords, firstly you can't introduce new passwords without updating your game (so you may end up with a lot of buyers and run out of passwords). The other reason, and this is the biggest one, is that if I bought a password there's nothing stopping me from sending that password to my friends so that they can use it or publishing it online so 1000's of others could use it for free, because there won't be any way of checking in your app if the password has been used before. You can cross the password out or delete it from the users table on their device but it will be in every other table on everyone else's device as unused.

For something like this if you don't want it to be easily cheated you may want to look at the http get and send data behaviours in GameSalad and check the passwords in a database online and cross them off once they've been used so that they can't be used again.

Although to be honest I wouldn't bother with any of that and would instead just use the stores in app purchases because then the user can restore the purchase if they delete the app or reset/change their device. This seems like the easiest and convenient option.

Synergy

Thanks @KevinCross . Those were some good tips to help me avoid trouble down the road.

RossmanBrothersGames

Not sure if you are developing for iOS or Android, however I think with this model you would run into issues with Apple approving it. They make money off your sales and IAPs, if you are selling passwords not through them I really don't believe your app will be approved. Just a heads up, you may want to look into it, I would hate for you to spend a ton of time developing to find that you can't use what you made.