BaronCyrus/ship-steam

Steam: From Steamworks Registration to Review Submission (Under Development)

Status: This channel is "under development" and has not yet gone through the full review process.

• [Tested] Completed: P1 account, P2 payments, tax, and identity verification (2026-11-03, individual developer in China, documents uploaded, awaiting Steam review). P3 build script only tested on an empty project.
• [Not Tested] Steps from P4 onward: only outlines and official links. When reaching these steps, use the backend pages as the source of truth; any discrepancies should be recorded in the progress archive under "Skill Mismatch".

Prerequisite: Confirm steps 1–4 of ship-my-game have been completed (progress archive, channel, health check, browser). If not, read that first. This channel's progress is recorded under the ## steam section of the progress archive.

Confidentiality: All Steamworks backend pages are marked as Valve confidential, and the terms of the Steam Distribution Agreement are also confidential. Content read from the backend can be explained to the user, but must not be copied into this repository, progress archive, or any public location. This skill only documents public rules and operational experience.

Start by asking the user these three questions and record the answers in the progress archive:

1. Which Steam account will be used for registration? A new account is a "limited account"; the store country is determined by the location of the first purchase. See section 1 of onboarding.md.
2. Which account will be used for payouts: a domestic bank (SWIFT wire transfer), or a US receiving account via a third-party platform? Before filling in the legal English name in P1, obtain the exact English account name recognized by this account and enter it exactly as-is in Steam. Any mismatch (including first/last name order or spaces) will cause the bank info to be rejected [Tested: Failure → Fixed]; changing the name in Steam later requires starting the registration process over, and the payout platform needs screenshot verification for re-registration—both are slow. For Payoneer, which names are recognized and where to find them, see section 2 of onboarding.md.
3. Which game will be put on Steam? Does the game contain ads? Steam does not accept apps whose business model is advertising. Official.

Then inform the user of the timeline:

Item	Duration	Source
Bank, tax, identity verification	15–30 days; after submitting tax info, the backend may indicate up to ~30 business days	Official; [Tested]
From registration fee payment to ability to release	30 days. The onboarding doc says 21 days, but the Steam Direct page differs; prepare for 30 days	Steam Direct, Onboarding
"Coming Soon" store page public	At least 2 weeks before release	Official
Store page review	Typically 3–5 business days; submit at least 7 days before target launch date	Official
Build review	1–5 days	Official

Personal Tasks

Task	Phase
Create Steam account; log in to Steam and Steamworks (password, Steam Guard code scan)	P1
Sign NDA and Steam Distribution Agreement: you explain key points in 3–5 sentences; user checks boxes and enters verification code	P1
Pay $100 registration fee	P1
Fill in bank account and foreign tax ID; sign W-8BEN; take and upload ID photo and handheld photo	P2
Register name spelling on third-party payout platform (if needed)	P2
Submit store page and build for review, then click "Release": user says "submit", you click; if permission system blocks, user clicks	P4–P6

Technical Requirements

Step 3 of ship-my-game lists gaps against this table. Details in references/build.md.

Item	Requirement	Source
Platform	Windows 64-bit	—
Scripting backend	Mono only on macOS: Unity does not support cross-compiling Windows IL2CPP from macOS; the Mac Hub only offers the "Windows Build Support (Mono)" module. IL2CPP requires building on Windows	Official; [Tested]
Module	Windows Build Support (Mono); installation in build.md section 2	[Tested: 6000.6.5f1]
Scene list	Build Settings scene list cannot be empty; scripts/ShipSteamBuild.cs errors out immediately on empty list	[Tested: Failure → Fixed]
Ads	Remove ad SDKs and ad entry points from Steam build	Official
Steamworks SDK	Achievements, cloud saves, etc., not tested yet	—

Phases

Relative paths in commands and links (e.g., scripts/…, ../ship-my-game/…) are relative to this skill's directory.

P1 Account: Steamworks Partner, Two Agreements, Registration Fee [Tested]

1. Prepare the Steam account and network per section 1 of onboarding.md. Do not use a proxy when creating the account or paying the registration fee, or the store country will be set to a different region.
2. Obtain the English account name recognized by your payout platform (question 2 at start), and determine the legal English name to be entered: it must match exactly (same characters, same name order, same spaces). See section 2 of onboarding.md.
3. Open https://partner.steamgames.com/ and ask the user to log in (phone Steam App QR code is fastest). Click "Join Steamworks", then fill in the legal English name, company type, current address per section 2 of onboarding.md, and sign the NDA.
4. Return to the main dashboard, go to "Add Features" > "Sell Games or Software" registration: sign the Steam Distribution Agreement, then pay the registration fee. See section 3 of onboarding.md.

Completion criteria:

• The legal name on the company info page exactly matches a name recognized by the payout account.
• The "Signed Agreements" section on the company info page shows both the NDA and the Software Distribution Agreement.
• Registration fee has been paid; the payment date is recorded in the progress archive (30-day waiting period starts from this date).
• The store country of the account matches the user's actual country of residence.

P2 Payments, Tax, and Identity Verification [Tested: Documents uploaded, awaiting review]

1. Bank info: First select the country of the bank account; form fields adapt accordingly. The recipient English name must exactly match the legal English name. See sections 2 and 3 of payouts.md.
2. Tax questionnaire (third-party Tax Identity, generates W-8BEN): Email must be the one bound to the Steam account; foreign tax ID is the 18-digit Chinese ID number. Step-by-step in section 4 of payouts.md.
3. ID documents: After submitting tax info, a task to upload documents appears on the main dashboard (appeared on the same day in testing). Read each requirement from the request page to the user; upload both the ID photo and the handheld selfie at once, complete within 30 days. See section 5 of payouts.md.

Completion criteria:

• Bank info saved, tax info submitted, ID photo and selfie uploaded, and upload confirmation received.
• Progress archive "Waiting" section records the document upload date, estimated end date (max ~30 business days), and instruction to check the Steamworks dashboard for results.
• When using a third-party payout platform: the legal English name in Steam appears in the platform's recognized name list (Payoneer: check "Other Payee Names" in USD account details).

P3 Windows Build [Tested: Empty project]

1. Install the Windows Build Support (Mono) module; see section 2 of build.md.
2. Copy scripts/ShipSteamBuild.cs to the game's Assets/Editor/ folder, then build:

   ../ship-my-game/scripts/unity_build.sh <project_directory> Win64 ShipSteamBuild.Win64 steam-win64 -shipVersion 1.0.0
   

3. Self-check: Log contains [ShipSteam] Succeeded; file Builds/Steam/Windows/<product_name>.exe shows PE32+ executable (GUI) x86-64; MonoBleedingEdge directory exists in same location.
4. Remove ads from the Steam build. You cannot run a Windows package on macOS: if a Windows PC is available, ask the user to play-test the build; this step has not been tested in this repository.

Completion criteria: A 64-bit Windows package exists; progress archive records the version number, package size, and whether it was run on Windows.

P4 Create App and Store Page (Not Tested)

• The "Create New App" button on the main dashboard uses one of the registration fee slots; create the app first.
• Fill in the store page, upload graphic assets, set pricing, and submit for store page review. Once approved, publish as "Coming Soon"; at least 2 weeks must pass before release.
• Sources: Coming Soon, Store Graphics Assets, Release Process.

Completion criteria: Store page is in review. This is the first "In Review" state for this channel; once reached, consider adding Steam to the README's "Included Channels" list per MAINTAINING.md.

P5 Upload Build (Not Tested)

• Use SteamPipe to upload the P3 build to the app, then submit for build review.
• Sources: Uploading to Steam, Review Process.

Completion criteria: Build is in review.

P6 Release (Not Tested)

• After the store page and build have passed review, "Coming Soon" has been active for 2 weeks, and the 30-day fee waiting period has elapsed, use the review gate to present the items to be released to the user; click "Release" only after the user confirms.
• Source: Release Process.

Waiting Periods

• Waiting for Steam account review (max ~30 business days): Do not re-upload documents or redo the tax questionnaire, as this resets your position in the queue. Use this time to work on the Steam build (remove ads, adapt for PC), and prepare store assets and copy. In testing, the main dashboard allowed creating new apps during the review period [Tested].
• Waiting for third-party platform name review (second submission passed same day in testing): After approval, confirm the new name appears in the "Other Payee Names" list in USD account details; see section 3 of payouts.md.
• Payments: Valve pays out the previous month's revenue monthly, default threshold of $100, USD only. See section 1 of payouts.md. For currency exchange and individual tax after funds enter China, refer to payouts-china.md.