In this article we will discuss Services on the YoYo Games Marketplace. Before continuing with this article, please make sure that you have read the companion articles listed below, as you will need to have completed the steps described in them before you can submit an offer of services:
What are Services?
Services are a sub-section of the YoYo Games Marketplace where individuals or companies can offer their third party services. If you are a firm with an advertising API or something similar that you wish to offer to GameMaker users, for example, then you would make a services offer here. Likewise, if you are a musician or artist or programmer with a portfolio to show people and wish to offer yourself for work, then you would make a services offer here too.
In this article, further down, we explain how to use the services panel, and how to set up a service listing if you wish to offer yourself or a third party product to our users, but before continuing there is one very important thing to note:
YoYo Games takes no responsibility for any issues between the contractor and the contractee, and will not mediate or otherwise get involved should there be any dispute.
Using The Services Panel
You can access the services panel from the Marketplace main page, by selecting it from the menu on the right:
Clicking the arrow will open a further sub-menu showing the categories of services available (like quality assurance or advertising), or you can select Services itself to see all of them.
From the list of services provided you can click on any of them to take you to the services overview, which will contain all the information about the service on offer as well as links to contact the provider, or sign up to their service, etc... You may also have additional links to any further resources required for the service, for example a link to an SDK asset for a site that offers a leaderboard and achievement service.
Before contacting any of the service providers being announced on the Marketplace, be sure to check out the reviews that other users have given (if any) and read the EULA provided and make sure you understand any terms of service specified. YoYo Games is not responsible for any dealings between the end user and any given service, and only provide a convenient place for people to advertise.
Note that the general rules and guidelines relating to permitted content also apply to services.
Setting Up A Service Listing
To set up your own service listing you must first have followed our guide on Setting up a Publisher Account:
On completion you will be sent a confirmation email with a link to activate the new account. When you have received the confirmation email you are all ready to set up your service listing. You can do this by clicking the Services menu item from the left of the publisher window, after which you will be presented with the Services Terms and Conditions which you must agree to before continuing. Once accepted you will be taken to a page listing all your current service offers. To create a new one, simply click the button labelled "Add New Service".
This page is where you define the type of service that you are adding, giving details of what you are offering as well as any other relevant information. The details required by you are as follows:
Primary Category - this is the type of service that you are offering. Once you have your primary category set, you can then continue to choose further sub-categories (if available) which will help people to find the appropriate service when searching the Marketplace.
Display Name - The name of the service as it will be shown on the services page (max 255bytes).
Description - A short description (less than 2000 words) that describes your service, it's functionality and possible uses, and links to further documentation etc....
Keywords - One or more words that can be used to narrow down searching to find your service on the Marketplace. These keywords should be relevant to the service on offer!
Related Assets - If your service requires any further assets (GMZ, SDK, etc,...) then you can create a regular Marketplace Asset Listing for it and link to that here. You need to give the asset name and then select it from the list that will appear. The asset must have been published previously.
Support Email - An email account where people can contact you for support should they wish to contact you about the services on offer.
Support Website - A URL where the user can receive support for the service (ie: FAQ's, Forums, Contacts etc...)
Custom EULA - A URL where the user can read the specific EULA written for the service being offered (if this is not specified then your service will fall under the generic YoYo Games EULA).
Privacy Policy URL - Should your service require device or user data, or if the service is designed for children, then you must supply a link to a privacy policy.
Marketing URL - A URL where the user can get further information about the service and the publisher, as well as see videos, screenshots and any other related marketing material.
Finally you will be required to supply a number of images to properly market your services on the Marketplace. An icon (200x200 PNG) and a feature graphic (1140x360 PNG), then at least one screen shot (which should be PNG but can be authored with the following sizes: 1280×720, 1366×768, 1600×900 or 1920×1080), and finally you have the option of adding in a video from either YouTube or Vimeo. For more detailed information and recommendations on how to set up your listing assets, see the Marketplace Style Guide.
With all these details filled out, you can now click on "Save", which will take you back to the general Services list of the publisher dashboard. You should now see that your new service is listed with a status of "Under Review".
If your service has an SDK or you wish to create an extension for it, then you can find out how to go about this from the article Creating And Uploading An Asset Package. Once you have done this, you would then add the URL for the asset package to the "Related Assets" section of the services listing.
Service Review
When you first submit any service offer to the Marketplace, it will need to be reviewed by YoYo Games to make sure that it meets the minimum entry level criteria. This means that:
- your screenshots, icons and feature graphic should be clear and related to the service on offer.
- your description of the service must match the service you give after being contacted.
- your description of the service should be coherent, detailed and well written.
- all links in the description or listing page are correct and are relevant.
- the service you offer is something that falls within the rules and guidelines for permissible material (this includes the screenshots and icons)
The review process can take a day or two, but once complete your service will be publicly visible on the Marketplace Services page. If the review has failed you will be sent an email informing you, and if you are unsure why you have been failed or what you can do to get through the review process, then please contact the Helpesk and someone will help you get it right.