Steamworks API

Full Steam integration for your game.

PRO FEATURE

Steamworks integration requires GemShell Pro.

Access via the global steam object in your game code.

Setup

1. Enable Steamworks in GemShell settings
2. Enter your Steam App ID
3. Build your game

Initialization

Steam initializes automatically. Check availability and load stats:

// Check if Steam is available
if (typeof steam !== 'undefined' && await steam.isAvailable()) {
  // Steam features available
  const name = await steam.getPersonaName();
  console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`);
  
  // Load stats/achievements from Steam server
  const statsReady = await steam.requestStatsAndWait(3000);
  if (statsReady) {
    console.log('Stats loaded!');
  }
}

IMPORTANT

Before reading or writing stats/achievements, call requestStatsAndWait() once at game start. This loads the player's stats from Steam's servers.

Available APIs

API	Description
User Info	Player data, Steam ID, Friends, Avatars
Achievements	Unlock/query achievements, Stats
Cloud Saves	Steam Cloud storage
Leaderboards	Global leaderboards
Lobbies & P2P	Multiplayer lobbies, P2P networking
Rich Presence	"Playing..." status
Overlay	Steam Overlay
Workshop	Subscribed items, install paths (auto-mounted as assets)
Input	Controller/Gamepad support
Events	Invites, join requests, DLC installs: what Steam raises on its own
Inventory	Items, promo grants, playtime drops
Timeline	Marks and descriptions in Steam Game Recording
Music	The player's own Steam Music
Voice	Microphone capture and playback for voice chat
Utils & DLC	Platform info, DLC, Family View

Quick Examples

Get Player Info

const steamId = await steam.getSteamID();
const name = await steam.getPersonaName();
const level = await steam.getPlayerSteamLevel();

Unlock Achievement

await steam.unlockAchievement('FIRST_BOSS');
await steam.storeStats();

Save to Cloud

const saveData = JSON.stringify(gameState);
await steam.fileWrite('save.json', saveData);

Load from Cloud

if (await steam.fileExists('save.json')) {
  const data = await steam.fileRead('save.json');
  gameState = JSON.parse(data);
}

Set Rich Presence

await steam.setRichPresence('status', 'Fighting the Dragon');
await steam.setRichPresence('level', '42');

Submit Leaderboard Score

const board = await steam.findLeaderboard('HighScores');
if (board) {
  await steam.uploadLeaderboardScore(board, score);
}

Callbacks

Call runCallbacks() regularly to process Steam events:

// In your game loop
function update() {
  if (typeof steam !== 'undefined') {
    steam.runCallbacks();
  }
  // ... rest of game update
}

Testing

For development, Steam uses App ID 480 (Spacewar) by default.

To test with your own App ID:

1. Set your App ID in GemShell
2. Have the game in your Steam library
3. Run Steam in the background

Feature Detection

async function initSteam() {
  if (typeof steam === 'undefined') {
    console.log('Steam not available');
    return false;
  }
  
  if (!await steam.isAvailable()) {
    console.log('Steam not running');
    return false;
  }
  
  // Load stats from Steam server (required before reading/writing stats)
  const statsReady = await steam.requestStatsAndWait(3000);
  if (!statsReady) {
    console.warn('Could not load stats');
  }
  
  console.log('Steam initialized');
  return true;
}