Vapor
In development: the platform for games and apps where players and developers are both first-class. Everything Steam does, rebuilt modern, on PC and Android, with a developer platform driven entirely from a CLI and versioned JSON.
Vapor is a platform for games and apps, built to stand alongside Steam: a store, a library, friends, community, an in-game overlay, cloud saves, achievements, multiplayer services and everything else players expect, in a familiar layout nobody has to relearn. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and on Android for any title whose developer selects it as a platform. Underneath, it is rebuilt from scratch on modern technology, and it treats developers as first-class: every store page, price, build, achievement and sale lives as versioned JSON in the project's own repository and ships with one CLI command. No web forms, no click-by-click setup, and it fits straight into CI.
Why Vapor
Steam earned its place, but much of it was built between 2003 and 2015, and it shows. Developers configure store pages, achievements, depots, pricing, keys and events click by click in web forms, and ship builds through hand-written configuration files. None of it can be diffed, reviewed or reproduced, and continuous integration fights the platform's own security.
Discovery is opaque: developers can't see why they are or aren't surfaced. The client is heavy. And a 30% cut is the default, dropping only at lifetime revenue tiers that help the top one percent.
How It Works
For players, Vapor looks and works the way you already expect: Store, Library, Community and Friends in the same places, with the same features, made faster and cleaner inside that structure. Buy a game or app, install it, play it, and your saves, achievements and friends follow you to every PC and to your Android phone, where developers ship for it, plus the Vapor mobile companion everywhere.
For developers, everything is code. A .vapor folder in your project's repository holds the store page, pricing, builds, achievements, items, events and team as JSON, validated by published schemas. Run vapor plan to see exactly what will change, and vapor apply to publish it. Pick your platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, web), push a build with one command, promote it from beta to stable, roll it back, and do all of it from CI with scoped access tokens. The website, the desktop app and the CLI all use the same public API, so there is nothing a form can do that a command can't.
And there is nothing to pay to get started. Install the CLI, set up your store page and push your builds, and you and a QA tester get the full production experience on a private listing. Pay the $100 listing fee only when you are ready to go live, and it comes back once your product earns $1,000.
Built Modern, for Developers Too
Vapor is built on modern foundations: Go microservices behind a single public API, a lightweight TypeScript client, delta patching, staged rollouts, real-time presence and chat, and an installable web app that works on phones. Every purchase, refund, payout and store change is also written to an immutable record on a blockchain, so a buyer or developer can verify their own history independently.
Developers get far more than a storefront. Official SDKs for C, Unity, Unreal and Godot share one native interface, and a continuous-integration check guarantees every engine supports every feature. Matchmaking, lobbies, relay servers, direct peer-to-peer connections, dedicated servers with signed auth tickets, crash reports, game bans and anti-cheat hooks are all built in. Webhooks deliver any platform event to your own servers, organizations share access with fine-grained roles, and payouts arrive monthly through Stripe Connect in your currency.
Players get a store that respects them: easy refunds, clear ownership, family sharing with real parental controls, passkeys and two-factor sign-in, Remote Play to any device, and Vapor Rewards, cash back funded by developers that can be spent on anything in the store. Vapor also goes beyond Steam: it carries apps as well as games, ships to Android when a developer selects it, offers an AI-built in-game help Codex, and supports web games and apps hosted and updated just like native builds.
Vapor is in active development at Nlaak Studios.
Vapor vs Steam
Vapor is in development; the Vapor column is the feature set being built for launch. Steam features are as generally available today.
| Feature | Steam | Vapor |
|---|---|---|
| Developer platform | ||
| Build, configure and test on the platform with no up-front fee | ||
| Private store listing for the developer and a QA account before going live | Partial | |
| Listing fee to go live, recouped after $1,000 in revenue | $100 up front | $100 at launch |
| Store pages, pricing, builds and achievements as versioned JSON in git | ||
| Preview every change before publishing (vapor plan / apply) | ||
| Everything available from a CLI, with JSON output | Partial | |
| Scoped CI access tokens | Partial | |
| Same public API for the website, app and CLI | ||
| Signed webhooks for any platform event | Partial | |
| Organizations with fine-grained roles | ||
| Revenue splits between partners, accepted on-platform | Partial | |
| Developer-funded cash-back rewards | ||
| Verifiable record of every sale and change (blockchain) | ||
| SDKs and engines | ||
| Native C SDK | ||
| Official Unity package | Third-party | |
| Official Unreal plugin | ||
| Official Godot extension | Third-party | |
| Web (PWA) games SDK | Planned | |
| CI guarantee that every engine supports every feature | ||
| Store and discovery | ||
| Store front, search, tags, charts, Discovery Queue | ||
| Wishlists and following games | ||
| Personalized recommendations | ||
| Curators | ||
| Events, festivals and seasonal sales | ||
| Demos and playtests | ||
| Pre-purchase and pre-load | ||
| Bundles, complete-the-set pricing | ||
| Regional pricing and sales tax / VAT | ||
| Transparent, documented ranking | ||
| Buying and money | ||
| Refunds, including single items | ||
| Wallet | ||
| Gifts and product keys | ||
| In-game purchases and item inventory | ||
| Payouts in multiple currencies | ||
| Cash back on purchases | ||
| Accounts and family | ||
| Two-factor sign-in and mobile authenticator | ||
| Passkeys | ||
| QR-code sign-in approved on your phone | ||
| Privacy settings | ||
| Family sharing and parental controls | ||
| Allowed play hours for children | ||
| Community | ||
| Profiles, levels and badges | ||
| Activity feed, groups and comments | ||
| Reviews, discussions, guides and Workshop | ||
| Screenshots, artwork and videos | ||
| News and patch notes | ||
| Broadcasting | ||
| Trading, Community Market, trading cards, points shop | Yes (by region) | |
| Public moderation transparency report | ||
| Playing | ||
| Apps and software, not just games | Partial | |
| Android games and apps (developer selects the platform) | Planned | |
| Library, installs, updates and cloud saves | ||
| Achievements, stats and leaderboards | ||
| In-game overlay | ||
| Screenshots and game recording | ||
| Controller configuration | ||
| Shader pre-caching | ||
| Windows games on Linux (Proton) | ||
| Big Picture mode | ||
| Remote Play and Remote Play Together | ||
| VR library and launch | ||
| Non-store games in the library | ||
| Mobile companion app | ||
| AI-built in-game help (Codex) with embedded videos | Planned | |
| Web games and apps hosted like native builds | Planned | |
| Multiplayer and services | ||
| Matchmaking and lobbies | ||
| Relay servers and direct peer-to-peer | ||
| Dedicated servers, server browser, auth tickets | ||
| Game bans and anti-cheat hooks | ||
| Crash reports grouped by signature | Partial | |
| Hardware and software survey | ||