Gamesalad is free ?

bbparis

Hello,

I want just to know, gamesalade is free ? how it earns money from our apps ? so if we build a game with gamesalad software, how they earn money ?

Photics

bbparis said:
I want just to know, gamesalade is free ? how it earns money from our apps ? so if we build a game with gamesalad software, how they earn money ?

Hello. Apparently, the GameSalad team went a little crazy and they made their software available for free. The "Professional" version is available for $499 — which includes the iAds and Open Url behaviors.

If you read the license agreement, the price could change at any time. So, basically, get moving if you want to make iOS games with free software.

bbparis

ok good, so it's ok if I make a free apps, but think tomorrow I will to sale an app for 1$, Apple will take 30% and gamesalad will take nothing ( for now ) so what you was trying to say, gamesalad has the right to change it someday?

Photics

bbparis said:
ok good, so it's ok if I make a free apps, but think tomorrow I will to sale an app for 1$, Apple will take 30% and gamesalad will take nothing ( for now ) so what you was trying to say, gamesalad has the right to change it someday?

The free version of GameSalad used to be $99 per year. They might change it back. I don't know... or they might add another version.

For example, GameSalad Direct® was supposed be launched, but the community freaked out. The GameSalad team was thinking of publishing the game for you... so you wouldn't need an Apple Developer account... but then GameSalad would take a percentage of the sales.

Speculation... I think they'll keep the free version where it's at, but add tons of features for the professional version... like GameCenter, in-app purchases... and maybe custom loading screens will return.

If you're wondering how GameSalad will make their money, I'm wondering that too. I think they made a mistake with the free version. It doesn't seem to have boosted the popularity of the software.

However, there's lots that can be done with a site like this...

1) Fix the web version of the GameSalad games. Start a profit sharing with Game Developers. This could be a website like MiniClip, pogo or Yahoo Games.

2) Sell game development assets... like sound effects, music and artwork. This place could be like DAZ3d, but more for game developers.

3) Make the software web based. Needing a Mac to do development limits the customer base. That could lead to cross-platform support. Without exporting to Android, it's like cutting the market in half.

4) GameSalad Direct® wasn't a bad idea. The big problem was that it wasn't voluntary. I imagine that there are a lot of people that don't want to bother with Apple registration. It's tedious.

There is one other theory. Perhaps GameSalad is just positioning itself for a takeover. I think a company like Google or Microsoft would be interested in software like this. GameSalad encourages Mac sales... because it requires the use of a Mac. If a company like Microsoft or Google took it over, they could convert the software to suit their business needs.

Microsoft is in dire need for Windows 7 developers. Meanwhile, Google's Android is the main competitor to Apple's iOS. Both Microsoft and Google seem like good suitors for GameSalad.

Also, I was thinking that the Mac App Store seems like the perfect place to sell GameSalad.

xyloFUN

Tedious? it is HELL NIGHTMARE!!
(unless one enjoys dealing with people whose senior year was grade one)

-------
Google takeover?? Not likely because they are building on the "Scratch" language if i am not mistaken. (google scratch MIT etc ...)

Microsoft? Don't know .... but i do know that google and MS buy about 20+ startups/year (there are 5000 tech startups world wide / year)

p.s. Photics,
very insightful post

Photics

xyloFUN said:
Google takeover?? Not likely because they are building on the "Scratch" language if i am not mistaken. (google scratch MIT etc ...)

Google could buy it just to ruin it — The friend of my enemy is my enemy. The same thinking could be applied to companies like EA. I don't think they want to encourage every Mac owner to make games. But if that's where the industry is going, EA might want a piece of the action.

Google has their App Inventor software. If it could be merged with GameSalad, that could be something amazing. I'm doubtful of that possibility, but I'm thinking that's what I would do if I was running Google.

xyloFUN said:
Microsoft? Don't know .... but i do know that google and MS buy about 20+ startups/year (there are 5000 tech startups world wide / year)

While this is a Mac community, I think Microsoft is a great suitor for GameSalad. Exporting to PC, Windows Phone 7, XBOX live and Internet Explorer would become top priorities. That's a lot of new customers. I'm not a big fan of Google, but I still like Microsoft.

Apple could buy them out too... make GameSalad part of iWork or iLife. If this software was an official Apple product, and their engineers cleaned it up with the usual emboss and rounded edges treatment, I'm thinking it could be incredibly popular software. I don't see much incentive for Apple to do that though, as GameSalad is a Mac exclusive. Plus, they could just make their own software.

simo103

Photics .. agree with all your points. Would rather they charge a $99 base fee and use that money to provide better support .. some of the outstanding issues are clearly trivial like better searching and links that work.

I bet even the Pro fee could be higher and still be acceptable if the features and support it came with were better. Their strategy seems wrong to me ... it should be charge what the market will allow and provide good value for it.

Rather than give it away to people who would be willing to pay some and don't talk to your customers for ages.

I have been gathering demos/templates and forum posts into a personal archive so I can quickly access it and have been thinking about throwing up a website just so it can be better accessed (which would be easy for GS but I have no idea if they will fix it tomorrow or in six months).

Photics

simo103 said:
Their strategy seems wrong to me ... it should be charge what the market will allow and provide good value for it.

I think $499 a year for Professional is the right target. Corona is $349 a year, but that software is much harder to use. If GameSalad goes much higher than $500, I think they'd lose customers.

Actually... at the end of 2011, would I be willing to pay $499 to renew the professional version GameSalad? I'm not sure.

I think there should only be one version... for $199... and it should be sold through the Mac App Store. GameSalad should strengthen their relationship with Apple. Make Steve Jobs earn that 30% commission. (Heh... and then join the affiliate program. Maybe they can get 5% back with referral links. HA HA!) Maybe they can work out a special arrangement by being a Mac Store exclusive. I think if GameSalad was able to present the software on-stage, during one a presentation from Steve Jobs, it could be a game changer.

simo103 said:
Rather than give it away to people who would be willing to pay some and don't talk to your customers for ages.

The GameSalad customer service has gotten much better. CodeMonkey is very responsive to the needs of the community.

simo103 said:
I have been gathering demos/templates and forum posts into a personal archive so I can quickly access it and have been thinking about throwing up a website just so it can be better accessed (which would be easy for GS but I have no idea if they will fix it tomorrow or in six months).

I used to tag my posts... which made it easy to find stuff... but that didn't work out so well. HA HA! You can add a topic to your favorites. It's not as good, but it can help.

xyloFUN

Photics,
I believe that GS has shown the world (as the who-is-who) that yesterday was just that and although coding will NEVER die, I argue that coding is no longer the only way to go from A to B.
Like I mentioned earlier, "Scratch" (scratch language) has laid the foundation and i would not be surprised if GS was inspired by the concept? (i'm guessing here)

As far as Windows goes, let's not forget the market share they have. Macs are out there but what home doesn't have a machine running XP or Vista or W7?

I have a few more titles to push out the door but my focus is on providing free instruments that can be downloaded and installed on any windows machine and I will charge for lessons, songs and videos by the means of a cheap monthly membership. I'm a few months away from implementing this but well on route to have it in place by summer time, just before the lessons start again.

Gamasalad is a genius concept and as you know, the proof is in the pudding! I am a music teacher, do graphics design for a hobby BUT, I can now make apps and there is nobody out there who can give me that power other than GS! And, here is the best part, I am not alone. There are thousands like me (except smarter) so i don't think they have to sell out because with some luck, GS can be the #1 game publisher in 5 - 10 years from now!

p.s. remember Palmers crazy rant? Developers developers developers (it's on youtube!)

UtopianGames

I think there missing a trick here with doing a free version, I'm sure 99% of people would pay $99 for the express?

Darren.

Photics

utopiangames said:
I think there missing a trick here with doing a free version, I'm sure 99% of people would pay $99 for the express?

Maybe it's a limited time thing to attract new people... to repair the damage to the community that was caused by GameSalad Direct®. I don't think it's working. There were some pretty active people here that are gone... like Synthesis and BeyondTheTech.

xyloFUN

utopiangames said:
I think there missing a trick here with doing a free version, I'm sure 99% of people would pay $99 for the express?

Darren.

utopiagames,
with the current "slow-down" issue, it would be hard to charge for it. It's a pain to use because we all work when we are inspired. At least i do and i have so many ideas and GS is slowing me down but i'm sure that the next update will fix this .... and then they can charge

simo103

"Actually... at the end of 2011, would I be willing to pay $499 to renew the professional version GameSalad? I'm not sure."

I think that perhaps that is for lack of features and/or support. If you list out why you might not renew and then said that GS addressed those issues you might renew?

"The GameSalad customer service has gotten much better. CodeMonkey is very responsive to the needs of the community."

Haven't been here long but in the time I have I saw the whole GS Direct fiasco (to GS credit they did step back but man a whole lot of time went by with no communication). Also although I appreciate whenever I see people like CodeMonkey sound in but often it doesn't quite settle the issue like here:

http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=14578

Couldn't that post have been more specific to an issue that has many people confused and interested?

Someone could spend two days cleaning up the website, putting downloads back on the web games and pick a handful of forum issues to address directly so people can get on with the knowledge of whats going on.

I agree they have something amazing here ... and greatly appreciated by me and those who use it but it is frustrating when you think how easy it would be for them to improve what they do.

100% agree with your 99% assessment Darren.

Photics

simo103 said:
Couldn't that post have been more specific to an issue that has many people confused and interested?

I think they're messing up with the Custom Loading Screen option. It hurts freelancers. If you can charge a client $10,000 for an app, you're probably not going to mind if GameSalad is $500 a year. I think that's what they're doing with GameSalad Accelerator... building a client list. They should probably just focus on doing one thing well... making the software better and easier to use.

It seems that something is going on behind the scenes. The splash screen is very important to GameSalad for them to remove that option. It seems that the reason the basic version of GameSalad is free is that they want to improve marketing. They want to get the message out there.

I think that's a bad strategy.

My strategy would be something like this - Throw a contest to build the best GameSalad game. If the software can create the next Angry Birds, Cut The Rope or Fruit Ninja, then the software would get known. Attaching the GameSalad logo to crappy games isn't helping with the marketing image. Instead, I think it makes more sense to give special incentives for the top GameSalad developers to team up with GameSalad.

Another possibility, I probably would build a super team... get the best artists and developers from this community to build one awesome game. If successful, the project could pay for itself, while dramatically improving the popularity of the software.

I think that the Basic version should go back to $99... or Professional should get a lot of cool features really quick.

osucowboy18

Personally, I think GS should keep the current pricing tiers, but add much wanted features to the pro version of GameSalad. That way everybody's happy. Those developers who don't "need" iAd functionality and in-app URL forwarding would be satisfied with the free version, while those who wanted iAd, as well as other features, would pay the $499 in order to get those features. Clearly, GS has a lot of work still to do if they plan on incorporating some of the functionality Corona is using (iOS keyboard, camera, etc., but they have defiantly come a long way and I am looking forward to future GS updates.

QbAnYtO

As far as I know iOS is a better and bigger market than crappy android. And most Ppl prefer iOS market for gaming and developing anyways. So that is nt a worry. Half the market. Pfft. Lmao