Game Foundation Tutorials

Creating a Virtual Transaction

We know how to create an Inventory Item Definition. We know how to create a Currency.
We've learned how to create and destroy item instances and how to play with the wallet manager.
You have the basics to start your game economy. You'll probably have to build a process spending currencies to buy items, or crafting a better item by merging a list of ingredients.
What if Game Foundation provided this feature out-of-the-box?

A Virtual Transaction is a catalog Item describing a recipe: a list of ingredients as costs, and a list of outputs as rewards.

To create a Virtual Transaction, you need to open the Transaction Window by selecting Window → Game Foundation → Transaction.

The window shows two tabs:

The Virtual Transaction tab: the one we'll play with in this tutorial
The IAP Transaction tab: covered by [the IAP tutorial].

The virtual transaction editor

The creation process is similar to the other catalog items we've already seen in the previous tutorials.

Make a new Virtual Transaction and call it "My Virtual Transaction".

The Editor of a Virtual Transaction

The virtual transaction editor shows two specific, similar-looking sections: Costs and Rewards.

They both provide the ability to create a list of currencies, and a list of item definitions. Costs are the recipe ([items] and currencies consumed during the transaction), and Rewards are the output ([items] and currencies generated by the transaction).
The + button on each part is a first step to add entries to those lists.

Configuring the virtual transaction

Let's define our transaction as a typical exchange "currency for item". We want to:

get 3 instances of our existing item definition
in exchange for 10 of our currency.

In the Costs section, under the currency sub-section, click on the + button. You'll see the list of the existing currencies defined in the Currency Window.
Choose "My First Currency" and set the quantity to 10.

In the Rewards section, under the item sub-section, click on the + button. You'll see the list of the existing item definitions defined in the Inventory Window.
Choose "My First Item" and set the quantity to 3.

The Virtual Transaction, configured

Your virtual transaction is now properly configured. In the next tutorial, we'll see how to initiate a purchase, using this transaction.