Games
You want a demo people can actually finish, and a full game they have to pay for.
Selling a game outside a storefront that handles keys for you means building the key system yourself, or shipping something that trusts every player to have paid. Most solo developers do neither and just give the whole thing away with a donate link.
The part nobody warns you about
You finish the game and then discover the storefronts want a cut, a wait, or a company you do not have. So you sell it yourself, from your own site, and now the thing standing between "made a game" and "sold a game" is a licensing system you have never built before.
What Bloom does about it
A check on launch, nothing to paste
The game claims a license on first run and locks it to that machine. A buyer runs the installer and plays; there is no key to email or lose.
One purchase, one machine
The license binds to the first machine that claims it. Somebody who buys a new PC gets reset from the panel, which is the only request you will actually get.
Paid, then licensed, in one step
Issue a licence the moment you have been paid, from the panel, from Discord or from the API. Taking the payment itself is still yours to arrange.
A demo that becomes the full game
Send the version with the check and decide what an unlicensed run gets: a demo mode, a time limit, or nothing. The same binary can be both.
The model that fits
Auto-issue on first run
A game is downloaded and run, not configured. Claiming the license on first launch is the same flow a player already expects from installing anything.
You ship a downloadable app with no key. On first launch it claims a hardware-locked license tied to that machine automatically. You can revoke (block) any issued license from the Licenses page if a user refunds or abuses it. Great for downloadable software and trials.
The integration is one HTTPS call, and the panel hands you the code for it in JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, C# or PHP. There is nothing to install.
What people ask
- Does this work for a game sold on my own site, outside Steam?
- Yes, that is the case it is for. A game already sold through a storefront with its own key system does not need this on top of it.
- Can I let people try before they buy?
- Ship one build. Without a valid license the check fails and your code decides what that means: a shorter level, a locked ending, whatever "demo" means for your game.
- What about LAN or offline play?
- The check is an HTTPS call, so it needs a connection when it runs. Cache the result after a successful check if players need to play without one afterwards; that policy is yours to write.
Something else on your mind?
Ask before you sign up. It reaches a person, and you get an answer by email.
Ask usWhat Bloom does not do here
Bloom does not replace a storefront: no listing page, no reviews, no built-in discovery. It licenses a build you already host and sell. There is no anti-cheat here either, only a license check.
Bloom does not care what it is
The same account, the same call, whatever you happen to have built.