Quick start

What you need

• An email address you can open, and an authenticator app on your phone (any app that makes 6-digit codes).
• A build of your game: a folder per platform, holding what a player would run. For Unity that is the output folder of File > Build Settings > Build.
• A terminal on the computer that has the build.

1. Create your team

1. Open Gameway in your browser, choose Sign in, then Create an account. Pick a username, enter your email and password, tick I am 16 or older and the line that accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy, and press Create account. If the form asks for a code, type the 6-digit code that arrives by email.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication: on your account page open Security in the list of settings, then choose Set up two-factor authentication. Choose Continue, confirm your password, scan the QR code with your authenticator app, choose Continue again, enter the code it shows and press Turn on. Save the recovery codes somewhere safe: each works once, and they are shown only now. Tick I saved my recovery codes to finish.
3. Open Publish on Gameway and choose Become a developer. Enter a team name, a contact email and your country, accept the developer terms and press Create team.

2. Create your app

The developer portal opens on your team. Choose Create app, then:

1. Enter a name (players will see it) and keep or edit the short name, which becomes part of the store address and cannot change later. Choose the kind: a game, a tool, or a server tool.
2. Tick the depots you build for. A depot holds the files of one platform, such as windows-x64 or macos-universal. You can add more later.
3. Review and press Create app. The new app has a stable branch that only your team can see.

Write down two things from the portal: the app id (a number from 1000 up, shown as ID 1000 above the name) and the depot name you will upload into, for example windows-x64.

3. Install the command line tool

The gw tool uploads builds. Download the archive for your system from the list below, check that its SHA-256 matches, unpack it and move the gw file (gw.exe on Windows) to a folder that is on your PATH.

Check that it runs:

gw --version

4. Point the tool at the right environment

A gw downloaded from this site already knows the addresses of Gameway: skip this step. Only for a local or test environment, tell it where the API and the website are. Your administrator gives you both addresses:

export GW_API_URL=<api-url>
export GW_WEB_URL=<web-url>

5. Sign in

gw login

The tool prints a link and opens your browser on it, on a page that names your account and this computer. Check the name and press Continue. If no browser opens, copy the printed link into a browser on the same computer, because the answer comes back to a port that only this computer can reach. The tool then prints the account you are signed in as.

You can check who you are at any time:

gw whoami

6. Check your build folder

Before uploading, look at what you are about to upload. This command changes nothing and needs no network:

gw inspect <build-folder>

It lists the files, the executables, the launch program it found and an estimate of how well the folder divides into chunks. Two things to look for:

• Launch: if it says no launch executable found, name the program yourself when you push, with --exe <path-inside-the-folder>.
• Unity data: a Unity build made with compression turns every small change into a big download for your players. Build with compression off. The store assets guide says how.

7. Push the build

gw build push <app-id> --depot <depot>=<build-folder> --label 0.1.0

Replace the three placeholders with your app id, your depot name and the folder you build into. The label is the version players will see. The tool then:

1. chunks the files and works out which chunks the server already has,
2. uploads only the missing ones, and shows progress,
3. asks the server to verify and sign the build, and prints Build ... is ready.

The build is stored in your app and only your team can see it. It is on no branch yet, so nothing reaches players until you put it on one (see What next). If your connection drops, run the same command again: it resumes where it stopped. Pushing the same files again uploads nothing new.

8. See it in the portal

Open your app in the developer portal. The Builds tab lists the build as Ready, and the first release checklist at the top of the page turns the CLI and push steps green by itself.

What next

• Let testers in: create a branch with an access code in the portal, then gw branch set <app-id> <branch> <build-id>. See the CLI reference.
• Connect friends, invites and the overlay with the Unity SDK.
• Prepare your store page with the store assets guide, then submit it for review from the checklist.

If something goes wrong

Exit codes

gw ends with 0 on success, 1 on a failure, 2 on a usage mistake, 3 when a branch changed while you were setting it, 4 on a sign-in or permission problem and 5 when verification fails.