Richard Bates

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The SingStore, Open for Business How and Why to
Build an Ingame Store

• Richard Bates
• Lead Programmer

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Introduction

• SingStar a background
• Why build an ingame store
• How we built our store
• Why we did it our way
• Lessons learned

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Introduction
SingStar launched in 2004
Over 70 SKUs produced so far in PAL territories
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Introduction
US launch in late 2006
Further US titles this year
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Introduction
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SingStar on PLAYSTATION3 My SingStar

• Wallpapers
• Allow the game UI to reflect the users tastes
• SingStore
• Ingame store for downloading songs other
  content
• My SingStar Online
• Community features

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Wallpapers
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Why build an ingame store

• Users demand more content
• Appetite for new songs in SingStar is almost
  limitless
• Store can be continually updated
• No need to wait for disc releases
• Production effort distributed more evenly through
  the year

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Why build an ingame store

• Can advertise new content
• Players will naturally be interested in extended
  playing time and new experiences
• Barriers to purchase are much reduced
• High possibility of impulse buys

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Why build an ingame store

• Purchase patterns can provide targeted
  recommendations
• Can satisfy niche audiences more easily than can
  a disc
• Can leverage the catalogue for other purposes

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SingStore

• Background
• Commerce API
• Server configuration
• Page delivery
• Parental control

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SingStore Background

• SingStar has a large back catalogue of songs
• Our ambitions for number of songs make disc-based
  sales less appropriate
• Selling not only songs, but also wallpapers and
  song packs
• Must deal with a catalogue of hundreds of items

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Commerce API

• Commerce API exists in the PS3 SDK.
• Permits use of the PLAYSTATIONStore backend,
  including the wallet.
• Gives flexibility to the developer in creating
  the shopping experience.

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Server configuration

• We have our own servers that hold
• Localised descriptions
• Still images and video
• Metadata such as genre, year of release
• Limited duplication of data in PSN

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Using the commerce API

• Consistent UI with the rest of the game
• Focus on ease of navigation
• No need to learn new pad layout or other UI
  conventions

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Using the commerce API

• Searching and filtering
• Large numbers of items can be difficult to browse
• Numerous fields of metadata permit complex
  searches
• Default filters based on users region language
  use this same metadata

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Using the commerce API

• Handover to system software for checkout
• Familiar PLAYSTATIONStore interface
• Uses existing wallet
• Requires a significant amount of memory plan
  early for this.

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Page delivery

• Thin-client, page request model
• Server delivers pages of XML based content (think
  XHTML)
• Tags downloaded relate to SingStar UI system
  elements text, visuals etc

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Page delivery
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Page delivery

• Much functionality lives on the server and can be
  altered, updated and worked on separately from
  the schedule of the client side team
• Some functions live only on the client and
  special tags exist for such purposes, e.g.
  displaying an item price from PSN

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Purchase flow

• Heavy use of custom tags to bridge between our
  servers and PSN commerce
• Adding items to cart
• Displaying item price
• Displaying cart item count
• Initiate checkout
• Conditional redirect depending on success or
  failure of checkout process

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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Walkthrough
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Tools

• SAM SingStar Asset Manager
• SQL database and associated storage
• Holds large data files
• Manages configurations of discs song packs
• Captures metadata
• Versatile export processes

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Environment promotion

• PSN has a number of environments, from
  development through to deployment.
• Our own store servers must be duplicated to match
  those configurations.
• Consider when planning budgeting.

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Other server needs

• You may need to change the store catalogue while
  in QA
• Consider having extra servers holding a demo
  catalogue

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Parental control

• This is a complex area
• Different rules apply when browsing, and after
  content is downloaded
• Consider it at every step, to avoid surprises
  later
• There are regional variations

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Parental controlat point of purchase

• Investigate PEGI and ESRB logo requirements
• Display ESRB content descriptors
• Hide content inappropriate to user age
• Disallow store access if user is younger than
  disc rating
• Even if some store content would be suitable

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Parental controlat point of play

• Downloaded content is shared by all users
• SingStar downloads are usable by whole family of
  titles
• Game data PCL level is low
• Content is filtered by the game
• Item may be purchasable, but not immediately
  usable once downloaded

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Testing

• Ensure your test catalogue covers the spectrum of
  possible content
• Verify all aspects of the title scale to cope
  with the expected number of downloads
• Will require significant resources to test with
  accounts registered with different ages and home
  regions

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Versioning

• Particularly important for a store which is
  accessed from multiple titles
• Restrict access when browsing
• Restrict access once downloaded
• Content visible but not playable at least
  permit it to be deleted!

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Questions?

• richard_bates_at_scee.net