Sharing, friends and invites in PlayDrop games

Call sdk.host.share() from a tap or click. It shares the game's public page with optional text, an image or a short video, and an optional launch payload.

shareButton.addEventListener("click", async () => {
  try {
    await sdk.host.share({ text: `I reached level ${level} in Moon Jump`, image: scoreCardBlob, payload: "level-7" });
  } catch (error) {
    console.warn("Share failed", error);
  }
});

• image: a GIF, JPEG, PNG or WebP Blob up to 8 MiB. Hosts that cannot attach images share the link alone.
• video: an MP4 Blob of at most 15 seconds and 20,000,000 bytes, instead of an image. H.264/AAC at 1080p in 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 works best. Hosts without video support reject with host_share_video_unsupported rather than share a plain link.
• Prepare the Blob before the tap; generating it after the tap can lose the browser's permission to share.
• You cannot share a custom URL or other files. The link is always the game's page.

Image errors are invalid_host_share_image, host_share_image_type and host_share_image_too_large.

payload is up to 256 base64url characters. A player who opens the shared link starts the game with sdk.host.launchPayload set to it, or null. Treat it as untrusted input: validate it, and check on your server that the player may join a room it names. Never put credentials in it.

sdk.social.selectFriends({ max }) opens PlayDrop's friend picker (1 to 10, default 1) and returns only the friends the player chose, or [] if they cancel. Then send a card that appears in PlayDrop Chat:

const [friend] = await sdk.social.selectFriends({ max: 1 });
if (friend) {
  await sdk.social.sendMessage({
    recipientUserId: friend.id,
    type: "challenge",
    title: "Beat my time: 42.3 s",
    subtitle: "Moon Jump, level 7",
    payload: "level-7",
    clientMessageId: `challenge-${runId}-${friend.id}`,
  });
}

• type is invite, request, gift, challenge or turn.
• title is up to 80 characters and subtitle up to 160.
• expiresInSeconds is 60 seconds to 30 days (the default).
• clientMessageId makes a retry safe: reusing it returns the original message.
• You can message friends the player selected, friends who play this game, and players they already exchange game messages with. Strangers met in matchmaking cannot be messaged.

Read incoming cards with getMessages({ limit }), oldest first, then mark each handled with consumeMessage(message.id). The sender is message.from.id.

const page = await sdk.social.getMessages({ limit: 20 });
for (const message of page.messages) {
  await applyCard(message.type, message.from.id, message.payload);
  await sdk.social.consumeMessage(message.id);
}

Continue with cursor: page.nextCursor until it is null.

sdk.social.listGameFriends() returns friends with a recent session in this game: a good list for "play with" buttons. It does not expose the full friend list or presence. openProfile(userId) opens a player's profile and openChat({ recipientUserId, draftMessage }) opens Chat with an editable draft that the player sends themselves.

A new player who arrived from a friend may have sdk.host.launchFriend set. Offer to play with them and confirm with selectFriends({ max: 1 }); never start anything automatically.

At a natural break, such as game over, sdk.host.showGames({ games: ["@creator/name"] }) shows PlayDrop cards for one to three other public games and pauses yours. It resolves played (PlayDrop then switches games) or dismissed. sdk.host.preloadGame(ref) hints at the game the player may open next.

Sharing and social calls need a package that uses the SDK. Friends features need a signed-in player. Host-owned windows pause the game; handle pause and resume.