Introducing GameSalad Direct

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Comments

  • TaidakenTaidaken Member Posts: 271
    ...well damn.. that was quite a big read ... gendai certainly know how to anger the community.
  • charlieaf92charlieaf92 Member Posts: 84
    The measly $100 that you charge is NOT a barrier to entry. In fact, you could charge much more if you offered more worth while features to attract serious developers.

    Count me out - I expected the exciting update to highlight improvements and features that we have been asking for.

    Consider me an ex-GS developer once my subscription finishes. I will be licensing Unity or Torque next year.
  • charlieaf92charlieaf92 Member Posts: 84
    charlieaf92 said:
    The measly $100 that you charge is NOT a barrier to entry. In fact, you could charge much more if you offered more worth while features to attract serious developers.

    Count me out - I expected the exciting update to highlight improvements and features that we have been asking for.

    Consider me an ex-GS developer once my subscription finishes. I will be licensing Unity or Torque next year.

    AND what about updates to apps that we've been developing? Has anyone actually thought this through on your end?

    Do meetings start with 'how can we milk more money out of people' instead of 'how can we improve our product'?
  • Sunny_1etha1Sunny_1etha1 Member Posts: 41
    Cross-posted from @tshirtbooth's Other side of the coin thread, because I ended up spending an hour on writing it and figure that a small voice of dissent here can't hurt (though I fully expect to go down in flames). As I said there, you may wish to skip to the end for the summary…

    * * *

    I'm a writer. I'm certainly not stupid, but I don't know code. I've dabbled, poking about in AppleScript, Python, RealBASIC, and Ruby, as well as toying with more game-centric engines like Coldstone (awesome), RM2K(3) (also awesome, despite being Windows-only), TADS, Gamemaker. Along the way I've picked up bits and pieces - rough-and-ready game geometry, vague grasp of OO principles, a dash of logic - but I've never worked in any systematic fashion, or for any sustained period of time. Needless to say, I've nothing to show for it.

    I gave up on GameSalad several months back. I sent an email asking to shut down my account, and received a response asking why this was the case. I explained that I was looking to both cut down on the number of websites and services to which I was subscribed, and also to focus on what was of most importance to me - which is (if anything) my writing, and my university (college) studies to improve my writing skills. Games didn't figure, I figured.

    And now I'm back. I'm back because GS never really went away out of my mind, and as a twenty-something grown up on playing games (SNES-era RPGs, mostly - never much of a twitch gamer, me), I can't seem to shake a desire to try my hand at making a game of my own. So I downloaded the latest build, and within a couple of hours of poking around had a guy walking around an iPhone-sized screen.

    A little guy. Right there on the screen.

    Okay, so, not the next big thing in gaming, sure. Not yet, at least. But can we take a step back and at least appreciate what we've got here? Two hours tops, no coding, little man wandering about on command. Has everyone here lost the capacity for that to blow their minds? You can make games. You know, games - the sorts of things you played on Gameboys and consoles growing up, except about whatever you want them to be, and as good as you can make them. Without needing a degree in programming. Without a punishing learning curve. Without delay. Jump in.

    And not only that, but you can do this for free, for as long as you want? No thirty-day trials, no buy-before-you-try?

    Wow.

    And when your games are good enough - and you'll know, because you're aiming at the bar set by the games you love and admire - you can (for an as-yet unspecified fee, an issue I'll get to) make them available to anyone in the world with an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad? Not just for the love of making games, but also (should you so choose) to make some money, doing something you love doing?

    Again, wow.

    Sure, the engine is limited, in ways that frustrate and force developers to hack around to replicate what might otherwise be pretty basic functionality (arrays, much?). Sure, it stings that this new model suggests they'll take a cut of a cut. GameSalad are a business, and understandably are in the business of making money, turning a profit. Yes, the proposed model means they'll be making money and building their brand on the back of your hard work. And the harder you work, the better your games do, the more they make off you. Ouch. But then, the better you do as well, right? And isn't the same true in reverse? If you sell on the App Store, you're profiting off the work of creating a freely-distributed, zero-coding-required tool that you - and not only you, but your eight-year-old cousin, your eighty-year-old great-aunt, and everyone between - can use for free to make almost any game you can dream of. Or did you forget that the GameSalad dev tools didn't just appear one day fully-formed, ready to download?

    As has been pointed out, nobody's forcing you to use GameSalad. You're not locked in, so I wouldn't go to the FTC just yet. There are plenty of alternative game creation engines and SDKs out there. However, if you can find one out there that's as quick and easy as GameSalad, that gives you as long as you like and costs you nothing to develop your game with a full set of tools before pulling the trigger on the App Store, then my hat is off to you. Best of luck.

    To my mind, the greatest issue here is GameSalad's handling of the communication of these changes. Believe me, I know the temptation to go dark when things aren't going well - I'm notorious for not answering calls and emails, especially when there's guilt towards whoever is calling. But it's not at all amenable to building trusting relationships - which is what GS are really going to need going forward in partnership with their developers. Ad hoc forum posts are not enough, intermittent blog posts are not enough - there needs to be some regular and open communication, so that all the devs and dabblers aren't sulking around the forums murmuring dissent. I would strongly advise the establishment of a dedicated communications person on the GS team going forward. For my money, Tumblr got this spot on with their Community Director, Mark. Try emailing Tumblr support sometime…

    Here endeth the lecture.

    * * *

    tl;dr: What's with the sense of entitlement? And where was everyone so ready and willing to pay for self-distribution (at any price, it seems, based on many recent posts) when it was on offer? GameSalad is pretty great, though I admit they have a communication problem. Thanks for reading.
  • LordTarantorLordTarantor Member, PRO Posts: 890
    Oh charlie I am going to submit a game and in it I will put in the other games section I will put a brief description and some of the reviews and I will like to know if I can use yours?
    Thanks
  • AfterBurnettAfterBurnett Member Posts: 3,474
    Sunny_1etha1 said:
    Cross-posted from @tshirtbooth's Other side of the coin thread, because I ended up spending an hour on writing it and figure that a small voice of dissent here can't hurt (though I fully expect to go down in flames). As I said there, you may wish to skip to the end for the summary…

    * * *

    I'm a writer. I'm certainly not stupid, but I don't know code. I've dabbled, poking about in AppleScript, Python, RealBASIC, and Ruby, as well as toying with more game-centric engines like Coldstone (awesome), RM2K(3) (also awesome, despite being Windows-only), TADS, Gamemaker. Along the way I've picked up bits and pieces - rough-and-ready game geometry, vague grasp of OO principles, a dash of logic - but I've never worked in any systematic fashion, or for any sustained period of time. Needless to say, I've nothing to show for it.

    I gave up on GameSalad several months back. I sent an email asking to shut down my account, and received a response asking why this was the case. I explained that I was looking to both cut down on the number of websites and services to which I was subscribed, and also to focus on what was of most importance to me - which is (if anything) my writing, and my university (college) studies to improve my writing skills. Games didn't figure, I figured.

    And now I'm back. I'm back because GS never really went away out of my mind, and as a twenty-something grown up on playing games (SNES-era RPGs, mostly - never much of a twitch gamer, me), I can't seem to shake a desire to try my hand at making a game of my own. So I downloaded the latest build, and within a couple of hours of poking around had a guy walking around an iPhone-sized screen.

    A little guy. Right there on the screen.

    Okay, so, not the next big thing in gaming, sure. Not yet, at least. But can we take a step back and at least appreciate what we've got here? Two hours tops, no coding, little man wandering about on command. Has everyone here lost the capacity for that to blow their minds? You can make games. You know, games - the sorts of things you played on Gameboys and consoles growing up, except about whatever you want them to be, and as good as you can make them. Without needing a degree in programming. Without a punishing learning curve. Without delay. Jump in.

    And not only that, but you can do this for free, for as long as you want? No thirty-day trials, no buy-before-you-try?

    Wow.

    And when your games are good enough - and you'll know, because you're aiming at the bar set by the games you love and admire - you can (for an as-yet unspecified fee, an issue I'll get to) make them available to anyone in the world with an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad? Not just for the love of making games, but also (should you so choose) to make some money, doing something you love doing?

    Again, wow.

    Sure, the engine is limited, in ways that frustrate and force developers to hack around to replicate what might otherwise be pretty basic functionality (arrays, much?). Sure, it stings that this new model suggests they'll take a cut of a cut. GameSalad are a business, and understandably are in the business of making money, turning a profit. Yes, the proposed model means they'll be making money and building their brand on the back of your hard work. And the harder you work, the better your games do, the more they make off you. Ouch. But then, the better you do as well, right? And isn't the same true in reverse? If you sell on the App Store, you're profiting off the work of creating a freely-distributed, zero-coding-required tool that you - and not only you, but your eight-year-old cousin, your eighty-year-old great-aunt, and everyone between - can use for free to make almost any game you can dream of. Or did you forget that the GameSalad dev tools didn't just appear one day fully-formed, ready to download?

    As has been pointed out, nobody's forcing you to use GameSalad. You're not locked in, so I wouldn't go to the FTC just yet. There are plenty of alternative game creation engines and SDKs out there. However, if you can find one out there that's as quick and easy as GameSalad, that gives you as long as you like and costs you nothing to develop your game with a full set of tools before pulling the trigger on the App Store, then my hat is off to you. Best of luck.

    To my mind, the greatest issue here is GameSalad's handling of the communication of these changes. Believe me, I know the temptation to go dark when things aren't going well - I'm notorious for not answering calls and emails, especially when there's guilt towards whoever is calling. But it's not at all amenable to building trusting relationships - which is what GS are really going to need going forward in partnership with their developers. Ad hoc forum posts are not enough, intermittent blog posts are not enough - there needs to be some regular and open communication, so that all the devs and dabblers aren't sulking around the forums murmuring dissent. I would strongly advise the establishment of a dedicated communications person on . (for my money, Tumblr got this spot on with their Community Director, Mark).

    Here endeth the lecture.

    * * *

    tl;dr: What's with the sense of entitlement? And where was everyone so ready and willing to pay for self-distribution (at any price, it seems, based on many recent posts) when it was on offer? GameSalad is pretty great, though I admit they have a communication problem. Thanks for reading.

    Well said ;-)
  • FetaboyFetaboy Member, PRO Posts: 191
    Installing the unity 30 day trial now. I have to learn C# anyways for my day job, might as well start now.
  • EastboundEastbound Member, BASIC Posts: 1,074
    POLYGAMe said:
    Well said ;-)

    The problem is that it feels as though, right now based on the information given to us, that Gamesalad has become a hobbyist's tool only, and the new structure will alienate anybody that took game making seriously.

    You are a writer, so this new structure is for you. Now you don't have to pay $99 to start development, and you have as long as you want to make a game! I, however, expect to make a game in under a year from the start. I also expect for the app to be mine.
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    Eastbound said:
    The problem is that it feels as though, right now based on the information given to us, that Gamesalad has become a hobbyist's tool only, and the new structure will alienate anybody that took game making seriously.

    You are a writer, so this new structure is for you. Now you don't have to pay $99 to start development, and you have as long as you want to make a game! I, however, expect to make a game in under a year from the start. I also expect for the app to be mine.

    Well said ;-)
  • BeyondtheTechBeyondtheTech Member Posts: 809
    Well, they've only had 11 hours to gather their thoughts to "clarify" their new publishing model and their company's direction.

    Is it still being thought up or on their first draft, or does it have to be signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat and recycled as firelighters?

    I've said it before. If they still can't handle simple communication on a forum, what makes them think they can handle tens of thousands of users as a publisher, let alone earn their cut on our royalties?
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    @Sunny
    Just wanted to welcome you to the forums and say I for one appreciate what you've written, and that you took time out to write it.

    On any other day, most people here would be a little kinder. Tempers are high I'm afraid and emotions raw. I'm sure you can understand why.

    Take care, hope you stick around,

    QS :)

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114
    quantumsheep said:
    @Sunny
    Just wanted to welcome you to the forums and say I for one appreciate what you've written, and that you took time out to write it.

    On any other day, most people here would be a little kinder. Tempers are high I'm afraid and emotions raw. I'm sure you can understand why.

    Take care, hope you stick around,

    QS :)

    Maybe it was tiredness, and forum fatigue, but I thought his post read quite poetic, and quite beautiful. Didnt agree with it.... but did enjoy reading it :)
  • Sunny_1etha1Sunny_1etha1 Member Posts: 41
    quantumsheep said:
    @Sunny
    Just wanted to welcome you to the forums…

    Chunkypixels said:
    … snip… did enjoy reading it :)

    Thanks for the kind words. I hope to hang about and contribute to the community here. Folks wouldn't be so mad if they didn't care, right? Hopefully GS recognises this.
  • charlieaf92charlieaf92 Member Posts: 84
    LordTarantor said:
    Oh charlie I am going to submit a game and in it I will put in the other games section I will put a brief description and some of the reviews and I will like to know if I can use yours?
    Thanks

    Not sure if I understand the question. But the answer is yes - whatever I can do to help.
  • AsymptoteellAsymptoteell Member Posts: 1,362
    I like the idea of app store publishing without an annual fee. Since I'm not planning on making more than a few apps tops, the fees won't be too much for me. But I want to have my own name. Especially if I ever do switch to coding, I want to be established in the app store, not just known as Gamesalad. Other than that though, I look forward to being able to publish to the app store without a $100 a year subscription.
  • GamexcbGamexcb Member Posts: 179
    Seriously?! Ok I have had it!! First no update and now this is "THE BIG NEWS" ?! This was one of the best aspects of GS now they have killed it! Its like Gendi stabbed themselves!

    I am leaving Gamesalad...

    It was fun and easy....

    But now there is no "silver lining"

    I am going to Corona! Lets start actually coding!! Lua here I come!
  • Sunny_1etha1Sunny_1etha1 Member Posts: 41
    `` If half the time complaining about the new model were spent developing… ``
  • AsymptoteellAsymptoteell Member Posts: 1,362
    Is this out yet or when is it coming out?
  • iDeveloperiDeveloper Member Posts: 441
    @Asymptoteell:

    That's another thing that makes me angry. They state you can download the new software by having a "Download Now" button. But in reality, you cannot download the new software now.
  • AfterBurnettAfterBurnett Member Posts: 3,474
    Gamexcb said: Lets start actually coding!!

    Exactly why I'm staying here.
  • CaptainChocoCaptainChoco Member, BASIC Posts: 124
    Wow... what's this all about...
    The forum is burning...
    As I'm not good at GS(still learning), I don't have much to tell about Gendai's new way.
    But I really love this community... If someone opens new forum, I'll be there.
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
  • iPhoneDevForMeiPhoneDevForMe Member Posts: 362
    I have been attempting to learn Lua and Corona sense yesterday (before this big mess in an attempt to get in the android market), and it is quite easy to get the hang of!

    Yes it involves coding but its not as bad as it sounds. Most functionality is accomplished with only a couple of lines of code each. The documentation is endless and full of a lot of information.

    The documentation and examples are also very usable in your own games. For example, drag and drop is about 35 lines of code; however, all you have to do is copy paste the code and then tell each object you want to drag and drop to wait for a touch and then perform the drag an drop function.

    Its quite awesome!
  • nulonulo Member Posts: 315

    EPIC
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    nulo said:
    EPIC

    I couldn't resist.
  • NexusGameStudioNexusGameStudio Member Posts: 265
    Wow, what can I say. I wake up in the morning (no, not feeling like P-Diddy) and hop on Twitter to see an "EXCITING" new announcement from GameSalad regarding GameSalad Direct. I click the link to read the article, the more I read, the more I started getting enraged.

    I immediately come onto the forums to read 8 pages of the forum thread to find the rest of you as pissed off as I am. Before I could reply, I had plan to do some promo work for my upcoming game Gravonaut. Just came back 30 minutes ago to see 28 pages of comments and just finished getting caught up now.

    I'm not really going to rehash what others have already said, for I feel the same way. I in no way want GS handling ANY publishing of my title, I've spent months crafting my game in extreme care and completion is a week away. To have GS now take part, in which I've spend so much valuable time on, the relationships I have built with the community and press, and for me not only to bear their blemish on my game with their banner (for being an express user) but to now be released on the App store under their name and NOT my companies name? No way.

    Gendai, I love your tools, as limited as they can be, but this is a step too far. Your extreme lack of communications with developers, or secretive communications with exclusive developers that cannot share with the community. The slow pace of updates that miss out on very crucial features that should of been mandatory day one. How can I expect a "publisher" like this to be trusted with MY game, how do I know you will support MY game through means of advertising that go above what I can do on my own. Are we guaranteed quality control on titles or are we expected to be listed along such "fart" apps or other shovel ware titles that we are oh-too familiar with created with GameSalad. Consider any reputation we can have down the potty if that's the case.

    Next thing is, you announce this new "update" without ANY detailed information? Of course the community is going to riot, we gave you guys a solution for GS, a middle model with more features that we are willing to pay for that does not involve this new structure.

    Gendai, you realize what makes your company survive is your community. I have been here for a long time, and even longer as a lurker and we are a pretty tight nit group, this new setup is only screwing your community royally.

    As an Xbox 360 developer, I do not even have as many hurdles with Microsoft as Gendai plans to do. Though one thing some of you need to understand and its a reality in game development is license costs for development, If I want to use Unreal Engine 3 and make a game for Xbox Live or PSN, Microsoft or Sony take their % and Epic takes their %, same deal they are doing here with Gendai, so understandable. BUT the only difference is that we are not forced to use them as publishers.

    We need some extreme clarification on the subject and more details ASAP if you want to keep most of your members around. The competition is looking awfully attractive right about now.
  • izamizam Member, PRO Posts: 503
    This truly is disappointing news. Plus the fact that Gamesalad guys remain totally silent on the matter thus far...
    I am truly, truly disappointed and sad over this.
    To those who recommended Unity, thank you very much. I had taken a look and the ability to use Javascript for scripting seems less daunting for me as I come from Flash actionscript background. I have downloaded the software and will definitely spend the time learning that till my subscription with Gamesalad expires early next year.

    sigh....future truly seems bleak right now...
  • UPUP Member Posts: 70
    Whooo!! 23 pages, I F*&(^ING MADE IT!!! But it was a depressing b%$& to read though...

    All has been said really, I just wanted to make sure to point out here's another soul extremely disappointed by how GS' 'development' is turning out.. it wasn't much already but common..
    A nice loose / loose situation it is now.. I feel real bad for all of you who invested in this..

    Myself, I hadn't put any money down for GS yet.. Just checking, messing around in GS, see if it'd be worth it.. Dreaming about projects evolving in the future though... but.. sigh.

    Nothing I can do really, but to enforce all votes for UNITY, HELL YEAH!!
    Luckily I've been dabbling around with it a while back, 3D engine mainly since it works amazingly well with Cinema 4D, which is in my toolset for years.
    I absolutely do not like to code and suck quite hard at it I like to believe, somehow I did manage to setup a first person shooter type of game fairly quickly at the time (like half a day quick).. Gotta pick things up again.

    Anyways, heads up guys & gals, hope you'll all recover soon enough from this nightmare!!
    Hate to see this fall apart though, I was only here for a little bit.. and the forum was just getting interesting, hope to see many move over to a similar place.. take care :-)

    [UP]
  • ktfrightktfright Member Posts: 964
    POLYGAMe said:
    Exactly why I'm staying here.

    Agreed. Sorry angry mob. :(
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    nulo said:
    EPIC

    Wow, my little video struck a nerve. It's been pulled from two threads. Sorry if I ruffled some feathers.
This discussion has been closed.