An Unofficial GameSalad Textbook - New and Noteworthy Book!

PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
edited November -1 in Miscellaneous
The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook - App Version - is now listed as New and Noteworthy in the Book section of the iTunes App Store.

http://itunes.apple.com/app/an-unofficial-gamesalad-textbook/id409726843

I think this is a milestone for the GameSalad community. With the book out there, perhaps more people in the world will learn about this awesome software.

After Commove, this is my second featured app. I think it shows that even though the iTunes App Store can seem somewhat random, you can find success — by staying determined, learning and improving.

Unfortunately, this app was not made with GameSalad. If there was a "WebView" behavior, and if I could call local HTML/Project files, I probably could build this app with GameSalad.

Thanks to those that wrote friendly reviews! :)

Comments

  • dmilinovichiiidmilinovichiii Member Posts: 620
    Congrats! If you don't mind me asking, how much have you made so far?
  • magic101himagic101hi Member Posts: 713
    oh and how did you make it?

    -Josh
  • UtopianGamesUtopianGames Member Posts: 5,692
    Congrats on N&N hope the sales come flying in now.

    Darren.
  • MorganGerhardMorganGerhard PRO Posts: 14
    Great job!!! I've really enjoyed reading the PDF. The app is great as it doesn't have any "page breaks". It just scrolls & I love that!! :)
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    Mr.Rinoy said:
    Congrats! If you don't mind me asking, how much have you made so far?

    It's a secret.
    magic101hi said:
    oh and how did you make it?

    It's an Xcode app. It's mainly a UIWebView and HTML.
    tshirtbooth said:
    Maybe it will bring some new GS members also.

    I'm surprised by the general lack of coverage on GameSalad. The software is easy to use... and the basic version is free... but I haven't really seen any big articles about GameSalad since the 0.9.0 release. I'm not sure why that is.
    morgangerhard said:
    Great job!!! I've really enjoyed reading the PDF. The app is great as it doesn't have any "page breaks". It just scrolls & I love that!! :)

    I prefer the scrolling too. At first I thought the page flip was cool, but it eventually becomes annoying. They're like speed bumps in reading. With iBooks, if you change orientation of the iOS device, iBooks basically redesigns the entire book. That's slow and a huge waste of processing power. The app version of the textbook is fast and easy to use.

    For the future, I'm thinking of adding an Index. That should make it easier to search the book.
  • joshmiller602joshmiller602 Member Posts: 206
    Would love to leave you a positive review, but Would have to buy to leave it. As much as I loved the e-book version...I'm not sure I want to spend another $29 just to leave a review :) Do you have any promo codes?
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    joshmiller602 said:
    Would love to leave you a positive review, but Would have to buy to leave it. As much as I loved the e-book version...I'm not sure I want to spend another $29 just to leave a review :) Do you have any promo codes?

    I ran out of promo codes. I'm holding on to two for the press. I should get more codes when I update the app, but I'm not sure when... or even if... that will happen.
  • AfterBurnettAfterBurnett Member Posts: 3,474
    Well done! I might have to release my book in the App Store... now I just need to figure out how to convert it to an ePub etc.... gah!
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    POLYGAMe said:
    Well done! I might have to release my book in the App Store... now I just need to figure out how to convert it to an ePub etc.... gah!

    The book is not an ePub. It's really close though. It's a combination of a UIWebView and HTML/CSS.

    It's really easy to make an ePub. Just use the application "Pages" by Apple. I wrote an article about it here...
    http://photics.com/learning-about-the-epub-format

    Then, you can decide if you want to release your book as an App or an ePub. What's cool about an ePub is that you only need an ISBN for your ePub. Apple doesn't charge to publish to the iBookstore. However, realized that the App version worked better for me.

    1) It's easier to find.
    2) It's less accounts to worry about, since I'm a developer already.
    3) There's an affiliate program, so other people can get a commission for promoting the book.
    4) No fuss with ISBN
    5) While the app is harder to make, I like it better than iBooks.
  • AfterBurnettAfterBurnett Member Posts: 3,474
    Cool, thanks for the info :) My book is already available as an app, but through a 3rd party. I might release into the iBook store, too :)
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Hi POLYGAMe, Smashwords is worth checking out; they convert a Word doc into ePub format as well as quite a few others. You don't even have to submit it to Apple/Barnes&Noble, etc; they do that for you.

    http://www.smashwords.com/

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    I thought I saw a post after the reply from POLYGAMe... something about Smashwords?
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Hi Photics, I posted that but deleted it, not certain if it was relevant or not.

    Smashwords converts a Word .doc to ePub, pdf, text as well as other formats for the Sony Reader, etc; for free. and publishes them to lots of places for free (upon approval) like the iBookstore, Amazon and Barnes&Nobel. There is a fair percentage to pay Smashwords when you sell though. fair's fair, I guess...

    Maybe try your handbook with them...

    http://www.smashwords.com/

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    gyroscope said:
    Hi Photics, I posted that but deleted it, not certain if it was relevant or not.

    It's my thread. I don't care. HA! :)

    Also, if you're thinking about going the iBookstore route, here's a helpful link...
    https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wa/apply

    As you go through the process, you should see a link for third-party aggregators.
  • adrianeraldoadrianeraldo Member Posts: 9
    I bought the book on the appstore because I didn't want to wait 24 hs to get the ePub version. Is there a way to get the epub as well for those you bought the app one?
    So far I like the book a lot, I'm half way now.
    cheers
  • xyloFUNxyloFUN Member Posts: 1,593
    As many of you, developing for the ipad and iphone means keeping track of a lot of connections ... which devise is plugged in where ....
    I just noticed that Photics's book is also on my iPhone (originally, i purchased it for the ipad). Somehow, an update or sync process must have copied it over to the other device.

    Now I will know twice as much .... soon!
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    adrianeraldo said:
    I bought the book on the appstore because I didn't want to wait 24 hs to get the ePub version. Is there a way to get the epub as well for those you bought the app one?

    If you order the ePub version while I'm at my computer, it usually takes like 20 minutes. If you ordered the App version, you don't get the ePub for free.

    I'm planning to remove Google Checkout from my website soon... probably by the end of the year. That means the iTunes App Store will be the only place to order the book.
    xyloFUN said:
    I just noticed that Photics's book is also on my iPhone (originally, i purchased it for the ipad). Somehow, an update or sync process must have copied it over to the other device.

    Universal Binary - it's great. I even get a cool plus icon on the app listing.
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    Merry Christmas everyone! :)

    Heh, I think it shows how serious I am about this stuff. One of the first things I did Christmas morning was to check if the book was still featured. It is! I think it's frozen in place by the holiday break. While this is my second Christmas season with iPhone development, this is the first time I noticed Apple going on break. It's a strange occurrence.

    Sure, they should totally enjoy a holiday break. Yet, I'm left wondering about my book. Is it doing OK? Every year I look forward to Christmas. This year was no different. But this year, I'm also looking forward to December 29.
  • WyrdGuitaristWyrdGuitarist Member, PRO Posts: 91
    Hello all,

    I bought the original PDF version, just wondering if the App store version has any updated content that would make it worth buying again?

    Thanks.
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    WyrdGuitarist said:
    I bought the original PDF version, just wondering if the App store version has any updated content that would make it worth buying again?

    Right now, it's pretty much the same information. Although, I am considering phasing out the ePub / PDF versions. The App version is more popular and I don't have to worry about order processing. I'm waiting to see what happens with version 0.9.1 of GameSalad. So far, it's looking like the App version will be the only one updated with new information.

    The only major complaint I received with the app version was that it didn't have a search function. So, I created an index. That feature is ready to go. I'm just waiting for the next update to GameSalad, so I can update the copy / images accordingly and publish the updated app.
Sign In or Register to comment.

© Vanilla Keystone Theme 2024