GameSalad vs Corona

Devils

I just wanted to post this topic so I could get some input on both of these development programs. I would also like to know how many of you guys are actually using Corona now instead of GameSalad if any? I've been thinking of trying it out as well.

expired_012

Doodle dash was made with GS first and im pretty sure it didn't get too far. It was then transfered to corona and now its a hit. Im guessing Corona is way better, i might take a look later on but for now i think ill stick with GS

TymeMaster

The only Corona I like is beer. Between Game Salad and Unity, I have the two best engines

Devils

Is it like GameSalad? (i.e. drag and drop) I have been trying to look more into it I believe you still have to code. Are there any tutorials on this thing yet? I can't seem to find anything on it right now wish someone would post some things on there forums.

Eminem

I know both Xcode and gamesalad , but I can't seem to understand how to use corona but the best / easiest game development is using gs

TymeMaster

The best is Unity, the easiest (but limited) is Game Salad

giacomopoppi

Corona is obviously more advanced and more efficient, but doesnt yet have support for non programmers... but they are working on it.
They started a couple of months ago and have overtaken gs in a short amount of time... they manage to get an update out every week....
Why cant GS do that??
oh... and Corona didnt recieve 1000000$ investment either....

AfterBurnett

The GUI version of Corona will be VERY interesting... I especially like the lack of a company splash screen!

I say bring it on, as competition is healthy!

TymeMaster

POLYGAMe said:
The GUI version of Corona will be VERY interesting... I especially like the lack of a company splash screen!

I say bring it on, as competition is healthy!

Yep, competition is great for us customers!

Devils

@POLYGAMe I also thought the idea of not having a splash screen was a good feature but I don't know whether it's as easy as GameSalad sounds because I do have a little trouble with GS and don't want to get into more of a hassle.

Shpint

Does UNITY requires coding and scripting?
Or is it just drag and drop ?

AfterBurnett

@Shpint - A lot of Unity is drag and drop but you need to learn C# or JavaScript (UnityScript is a variant) to make actual games. Unity is great... takes a lot of time to learn, though. In saying that, I managed to get a demo of my 3D "Virtua Racing" clone up and running pretty quickly with help from the forums and borrowed scripts. You can do a lot without coding if you ask around for scripts but you'll never be able to build a complete game.

@Devils - I know exactly what you mean but when the GUI version of Corona comes out, it should be pretty much as easy to use (if not more so) as GS. I'm hoping the next GS update brings some massive performance upgrades though, so I can stick around here!

Devils

Shpint said:
Does UNITY requires coding and scripting?
Or is it just drag and drop ?

Wish I knew I don't think so. I'm having a hard choice here because I'm ready to drop the money for the express version of GS even though I still haven't learned it. But on the other hand I want to try out Corona. I know some of you might say don't drop the money till you learn but that's the only way I see myself actually dedicating all my attention to this. I'm struggling with the choices because as of right now I actually am in the process of getting my game made by Ceruleam Games Inc. They are using the Torque2D engine. However the problems I face now are that I don't have anyone to animate my characters and create sound effects for me since this is not included in the project plans. I hope Ian will help me out with the animations since I did make him an offer even though I know some people rather have compensation up front.

If I buy the express version of GameSalad or Corona is so I could make another little mini game not the actual IP that I've worked on for the last year that's what the Ceruleam Games guys are doing.

AfterBurnett

Try the Corona demo and download GS and use that... it's free until you want to publish. Then you can decide which you like

Devils

I have the GS demo I've been trying it out but to me it's a little hard so I bought Photics book so I could learn a bit and still not done reading I hope it can teach me enough so I could start making something. I am curious if I wanted to try to build a game with GS. It I needed sprites where can I get them free just to try out because I don't want to pay for art that I'm just using as beta testing. The Corona demo I downloaded this morning I can't even launch it lol at least gamesalad has an actual icon on my dock. Lol I'm not that Mac savvy.

giacomopoppi

Guys...does anone know when the GUI version of corona coming out? (i mean drag and drop)

more or less?
what does GUI stand for?

AfterBurnett

Corona haven't stated WHEN it's being released.

It's either Graphical User Interface or Gasseous Underwear Incident... I can't remember which.

netdzynr

Just FYI, according to their recent email (they provide a weekly email update -- sure would be nice if we got more than the occasional monthly update here), Corona's price goes up to $249 on 9/15, so if you're at all interested, buying now is better than later. And their game edition is in alpha state, but they seem to be making relatively fast progress on it.

Devils

@netdzynr so if I purchase now will I always be locked in at $99 price point?

quantumsheep

Thanks for the heads up net, but I think I'll pass for now on Corona. At least until they get the GUI stuff in for the game edition.

I looked at Game Maker (Mac edition) recently, and after using GS for so long, I just couldn't be arsed to learn *another* new engine.

Sticking with GS - after all, it'll have PAUSE in it soon

QS

netdzynr

@ devils -- no idea. I assume it's an annual subscription model like any other tool, but as far as what they'll charge in a year, you'd have to ask Ansca.

@ QS -- at first I was a little put off at no GUI, but then I was thinking... I wonder if it would be so hard to build something that imported images and generated simple Lua purely for object positions, alpha, etc. Admittedly I haven't tried it, but I've built things like this before, and if Lua is as straightforward as people claim, maybe it's possible.

Devils

If Doodle Dash was ported over from GS to Corona in only 8 days I think they said. It must use drag n drop features right?

chosenonestudios

Devils said:
If Doodle Dash was ported over from GS to Corona in only 8 days I think they said. It must use drag n drop features right?

No, its text.

firemaplegames

There's no GUI, and it is all text.
There is of course a certain power in that. You can rapidly reorganize and reuse huge blocks of code.

I am a Flash programmer, so I am used to writing thousands of lines of code.

What I need though is a graphical editor to lay out all my Scenes.

Corona does not have a concept of Scenes.

You only have one.

You either have to stack everything on top of each other and turn their visibility on/off, or you have to load in everything through external text files. Making a large, complicated game starts to become very difficult.

The closest thing to Flash is Torque. Which has a graphical editor to lay everything out, including different levels or Scenes. Then you tie everything together with code. Torque uses TorqueScript, Corona uses Lua, Unity uses C#.

All the scripting languages are fairly similar and fairly easy to comprehend. However, having a basic understanding of the language and being proficient in it are two different things.

Corona as a free 30-day trial. Unity has a free version. Xcode is completely free. I recommend trying them all out and seeing what you can make.

AfterBurnett

You can script in C# for Unity but most people seem to choose UnityScript (basically JavaScript). Most of the tutorials are done in that language.

firemaplegames

Actionscript, javascript, torquescript, unityscript, are pretty much all identical. Very subtle differences between them.

The main things that those languages have and that I miss in GameSalad are:

Arrays
For loops
Concatenation
String manipulation

If I had those four things I wouldn't look back.

TymeMaster

Guys, since Corona requires programming in a scripting language (LUA), you are by far better off with Unity since it is way more powerful and also uses scripting (Javascript which is way more popular than LUA) or a real programming language (C#). Not that LUA is bad, but if you are going to put an effort into learning something, you may as well learn something that is useful (and when compared to C# and Javascript, LUA is useful but much less).

netdzynr

I disagree. There's nothing wrong with using a scripting language, especially if it's faster to market and easier to debug and maintain. I, for one, want to focus my efforts on design, gameplay, and mechanics, and if Lua gets me there faster then it's worthwhile to use.

TymeMaster

netdzynr said:
I disagree. There's nothing wrong with using a scripting language, especially if it's faster to market and easier to debug and maintain. I, for one, want to focus my efforts on design, gameplay, and mechanics, and if Lua gets me there faster then it's worthwhile to use.

Who said there was anything wrong with using a scripting language? I said, by far JAVASCRIPT is more used than LUA (and it is). Corona is a waste if you are going to write code, use a real engine like Unity.

netdzynr

So saying Lua is a "waste" doesn't suggest there's anything wrong with using it? Hmm.

TymeMaster

netdzynr said:
So saying Lua is a "waste" doesn't suggest there's anything wrong with using it? Hmm.

Where did I say LUA is a waste? Dude, I have been a developer for three decades, I worked on apps like Photoshop and Illustrator when I was at Adobe. All I am trying to do is use my background (which is extensive) to offer advice, if you don't like it that is fine, but don't put words in my mouth, I never said LUA is a waste. Please go read the posts again, thanks.