Detailed guide to upload a project to the Windows Store

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This tutorial is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Please refer to the license text if you wish to reuse, share or remix the content contained within this tutorial.

Published on 19 Oct, 2016. Last updated 19 Feb, 2019

This is a WIP. I'm just publishing the steps I do here, since the current guides omit a lot of the details. I made this tutorial as platform agnostic as possible, but since I don't have a Windows Phone or Xbox One I can't fully test those.

CONSTRUCT 2 BUG: Currently payments, purchases and licenses don't work at all (the Windows Store plugin is broken) , this guide is for free projects only.

Security Recommendations

For now, there are no major issues with the Windows Store and how Microsoft handles developer accounts, but I'm going to add some concerns raised by the Google Android Developers community just in case.

-- TO BE ADDED ASAP --

Getting Started

You're going to need:

* Windows 10 (Professional?) with Developer Mode activated

* Visual Studio 2015 or Visual Studio "15"

* Microsoft Developer Account

* A previously created App name, created in Microsoft Dev Center

* Exported solution - Universal 10+ (VS2015)

* Four images to replace the placeholders generated by Construct 2

SUGGESTION: Keep those 4 images in a separate folder inside the /images/ folder or create a batch file. Or both - have a batch file inside the separate folder inside the /images/ folder.

Construct 2 - Required Steps

* Set up a Name (your app name)

* Set up an Author (should match your Publisher name in Windows Dev Center)

* Set up a Description

Set up a Version - it must* have the x.x.x.x format.

Visual Studio Walkthrough

* Export the Construct 2 project to Windows Store

* Replace the four placeholder images

Open the solution (.sln) in Visual Studio 2015 or Visual Studio "15"

* BUG: You need to manually change the target from 10.0.0240 to the current one - 10.0.14393

* Now you can compile and Test the project to make sure everything is fine

* Open the package.appxmanifest and make sure you're including the correct display formats, and that there are no extra permissions.

* OPTIONAL: You can add more images to your project here

* When finished, save the new solution

* Now go to Store... > Associate with Store App and associate it with the correct App name

* Now go to Store... > Create Package and make sure everything is all right and create the package to upload

Windows Dev Center

* Start a submission

* Pricing and Availability is straigthforward.

* Propierties: Note that System Requirements can heavily limit your users. P.E. if you select "Touch", most desktop PCs won't be able to review the app since they don't have a touch screen.

* Age Rating is straightforward.

* Packages is straightforward .

* Store Listings: Select one language at least.

* OPTIONAL: Upload at least one screenshot. Also, mind that your contact info will be public, if you add it.

* Notes for certification is straightforward.

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Again, I'll try and keep this tutorial updated, and hopefully it will help anyone that tries to get into publishing for the Windows Store.

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