Can we enter into a dialogue with GS regarding fixing the loading screen?

Chunkypixels

So this new loading screen/animation... its just not working properly is it. It sits on the blank white screen for too long, before playing the animation, and honestly looks like the apps have crashed/locked up.

Thats no good for our products, and it doesnt look good on GameSalad, so its really a lose/lose situation.

At least on the old static black loading screen it showed the animated loading wheel, and customers could see the games were still active.

Ive seen people ask and bring this up already, since the new loading screen was introduced... but Ive yet to see any solid reply on the issue from any of the GameSalad representatives.

Im not asking or arguing for removal of the screen... I accept that GameSalad has to have the screen there to help promote itself as a business, and as a middleware tool, especially at the chosen pricing structure.

I just think it really needs changing, and sooner rather than later. Theres now a growing number of games out there with the current, badly designed version, and it simply doesnt look good that GameSalad built games all look to have crashed the device, before loading up.

I'd think it should be one of the easier fixes to implement too.... So why are we stuck with it this way?

I think weve got lucky that our games are being published by Apple, and their approval process is so relaxed, and the standards are so low... had we been releasing apps for devices from Sony or Nintendo, every one of our apps would have been rejected if they left the device looking like it had crashed.

Can we get an official response regarding this please.

beefy_clyro

+1

xyloFUN

The sad thing is that in one year from now, GS wont know why it took them so long to fix this but sooner or later, it will be gone.

What i don't like is that the end user does not relate to the message about the inner designer ...

That's like saying to an air traveler to unleash the inner pilot as he tries to find his/her seat somewhere way back in 2nd class!

If they "must" push their logo, then let it be the logo so that curious george can google it but as it is now, it looks very alpha. Not classy and as others have stated, it kills our chances of hiring ourselves out for semi pro jobs. No paying customer will tolerate that intro. Ever!

Chunkypixels

So I decided to tweak my app intro, after reading codemonkey or one of the other GS chefs say in another thread that having a small first scene as the first load in your app would shorten the load time, and thus cut the time the blank white screen sits there.

So I added a scene with just my Chunkypixels logo on white background... fade it in from the white of the GS intro, then load in next scene with the same image in it, that would then fade out to my intro...thus blending it all in, and making it more seamless.

The seamless effect works well, but its done nothing to affect the amount of time the white screen sits there before the GS logo appears.

Its removed the blank white from after the animation is finished though, which is at least something... and I now at least get a spinning wheel thing halfway through my loading when it switches to my white ChunkyPixels logo.... which at least shows people it hasnt crashed at that point.

So... its improved... but not from anything GS has done. Theres still a big white blank screen that hangs there for a considerable number of seconds before the animation kicks in, and that still gives the impression the app has crashed.

....I dont know why Ive even bothered to type all this, or update the thread... as its not going to make a blind bit of difference.

Were at the mercy of GS...

Dhondon

Change video into an image and remove that horrible tag-line GS. I think the new logo actually looks good and I really like the "Powered by GamaSalad" part. But the tag-line makes it look cheap. Why doesn't UDK or Unity have an tag-line?

Chunkypixels

Im beyond the point of concern regarding the actual GS logo and the tagline...

Its the shoddy, amateurish way its been implemented that Im more concerned with... as it makes our apps look like theyve crashed or been badly coded before theyve even finished loading in.

Its been brought up as an issue of concern since the 0.9 update went live, and its something that could have been fixed relatively quickly, as its a server side issue.... so theres really no reason why it should still be how it is.

Doesnt GS care about how the apps carrying their branding look?... do they even accept that the current version of the loading screen system is badly implemented?

we dont know... but it doesnt seem like they do... They seem to spend all their time fecking about trying out new payment and publishing systems when they should be quickly implementing fixes to issues that really matter...

xyloFUN

Guys,
If my info is correct (and it might not be as I'm often wrong), GS received A level funding which means, there are now other people calling the shots because there is a LOT of money at stake.
I still believe that in time this will quietly disappear and a better solution will be found!
If the quality of the games does not speak for GS, the intro blurb will certainly not help.

I am wondering something ....

Say we submit our app to apple, get approved and down the road switch to Unity or some other platform.
Would that matter to Apple?
Is an update basically a complete replacement of the older version but with the same name?

If the $500 they charge for the pro version removed the intro, I would switch. Having URLs embedded is a big plus and worth the upgrade. Ads seem to be a mess and don't apply to my apps anyway but the intro is enough of a concern to learn another app if possible.

In the end, it's their baby and they can brand it any way they like

TwistedMech

you should be able to update your game with a different engine and call it version 2.0. The only thing I can think of which would not work is being able to retrieve any saved data like high score etc.

Yodapollo

Hey, all.

Just wanted to let you know that our devs are focusing on intro movie loading very closely this week. It's at the top of our priority list and we hope to have a fix very soon.

- Yodapollo

nulo

its been 3 WEEKS since the release of 0.9
how long will all your "top priority bugs" take to get fixed?

guru-at-zidware

Hi.

Actually I find the loading very quick 1-3 seconds now....since last 3 weeks since 0.9 arrived......I follow up with a white logo screen for my company. But yes many clients have closed projects because of the "shared" branding issue. Such a shame really....

John

tenrdrmer

TwistedMech said:
you should be able to update your game with a different engine and call it version 2.0. The only thing I can think of which would not work is being able to retrieve any saved data like high score etc.

Just put a note in your update all high scores and data are being reset due to some new calculation used for giving more realistic scores. You now or some thing along those lines.

As far as the load screen it seem to me it depends on the device. My iphone 4 load the intro video as fast as I click the app. however a 3g I get the same issues you mention

tenrdrmer

Yodo I truly think you guys need to offer a couple different splash screen options.

The express or now free subscribers its obvious they would have a splash.
the 499 pros should have the option to have a custom splash with a GS overlay or something like that.
Then you are kill some of your users who make money by building games for paying customers who are not gonna pay to have your logo on there project. you really should offer those guys a higher price to be able to remove the GS name completly

JCFord

Can we have an alternative option with a black background please so we can choose either a White or black version to better suit our app!

Ps +1 agree, delete the strap, not all apps created are games!!!!!!

gyroscope

JCFord said:
Can we have an alternative option with a black background please so we can choose either a White or black version to better suit our app!

+1

Yodapollo

@gyroscope & @JCFord

I can say that we are definitely looking into offering display options for the intro movie. At the moment, however, our top priority regarding the intro movie is to make sure it loads and runs in a timely manner. As for the options, nothing is set in stone at the moment, and we will continue looking at it once we've addressed this current issue.

- Yodapollo

gyroscope

Thanks Yodapollo; I understand the priority; still good that it'll be considered at a later date. :-)

JCFord

@ Yadapollo - thanks for the feedback. Please keep up the two way dialogue with us GS users, we really appreciate it, and it makes a big difference :-)

JCFord

TwistedMech

+1

communication is really important. Anyone who has every worked in the games industry knows what a pressure cooker it can be at times and we know that the speed increase given in the last update has caused a few issues.

All I want to stress is that everyone who has sent GS project files which crash, please look at these. Even if it enables you to provide a work-around guide to resolve many of the issues. it will all help.

frario

xyloFUN said:
If the $500 they charge for the pro version removed the intro, I would switch. Having URLs embedded is a big plus and worth the upgrade. Ads seem to be a mess and don't apply to my apps anyway but the intro is enough of a concern to learn another app if possible.

So the 499 doesn't remove the logo?? Too sad, that means 1 less paying user, I guess.
To clarify my statement, that would be me.