Mac App Store Opens Jan6 - anyone onboard?

guru-at-zidware

HI..

Just wondering if any GS devs are signed up for the MAS? I am waiting to see how it shakes out...personally it seems a bit confusing now...but hopefully won't be...

John

xyloFUN

I don't think i will sign up for that because of the small market share compared to the Windows install base.
Getting the iOS developer account set up made me almost quit!

quantumsheep

tshirtbooth said:
i have zombie drop ready to go and mini cannon half done.

im excited.

What resolution are you thinking of when constructing your levels mate?

QS

mynameisace

TSB: Any news yet on when GS will support the publishing?

Ace

Forcing

Why not!! It´s a tactical way to make more money with only one game

But i think the most customers wouldn´t buy such """""cheap""""" games, i mean the bigger game companys would make games for the mac as well for lower prices than real games, so we small developers wouldn´t be very successful
But I would make games for it!

jonmulcahy

Remember it'll be an additional $99 subscription though apple!

mynameisace

Yeah, I'm just holding out until GS support it. I hear they're working on it but GS told me that it won't be functional for the mac app store release date. Shouldn't be too long afterwards though I doubt, don't have much to change on their end.

Ace

jonmulcahy

mynameisace said:
Yeah, I'm just holding out until GS support it. I hear they're working on it but GS told me that it won't be functional for the mac app store release date. Shouldn't be too long afterwards though I doubt, don't have much to change on their end.

Ace

Actually, i think it is quite a large change on their end, they ave to build and deploy and entire publishing system for the mac app store, it's very different than the iPhone app store, involving new certificates, different versions of xcode and different requirements.

JBULLFROG

So if you want to make a game for the Mac App Store, do you select the 720p stage/game format? Also, I tried just going through the whole publishing bit for a 720p size game, and I don't have the apple mac app store dev set up for the extra 99, so that may be the reason, but when it got to the section where I would normally select my certs there wasn't a drop down or anything for that.

So, I guess I'm asking can we make games now, with the 720p format and submit them to the MAS? And if we cant at the moment because GS isn't ready, could we at least be working on our games that we want to eventually submit to MAS, and if so what size format do we use?

butterbean

I downloaded a few apps yesterday, and Tshirtbooth and I noticed that the games were different screen sizes. Some looked like the size of the iPad, while others were full screen.

I have one game ready to go with 720P, Dark Woods, and planned on converting a few more over to 720p, but with the screen size in debate, I may wait.

ie: Pacman apparently has a very small screen size in comparison with other Mac Apps.

Seems Apple doesn't have requirements with screen sizes for the Mac App store, and seems to vary.

butterbean

https://devforums.apple.com/message/358483

Interesting read on Mac App store sales. A Mixed Bag, but one guy said he made more downloads in ONE DAY, with 2 apps than he's ever made with all apps coded combined. Sounds enticing!

UPDATE:

also another one on "pricing" recommendations for the Mac App store.

https://devforums.apple.com/thread/82097?tstart=60

butterbean

https://devforums.apple.com/thread/82574?tstart=0

I asked in the forums about screen size requirements for the Mac App store, and apparently it seems open. I'll continue to research, but based on the app for sale in the Mac App store, it doesn't seem to bear any requirement.

jonmulcahy

Awesome, that means i'll code in some keyboard controls for my current ipad game so when its available I'll launch

It would be great to see a yellow post abut this

butterbean

"my 2 cents: your app can be of almost any size, specially if it's a game, otherwise read the HIG MarkC pointed out. The screenshots you submit to iTC, should be 1280x800, if your app is smaller than that, just fill the empty space with whatever you like, could be the desktop image.."

Here was another post I received asking about Mac App store screen size guidelines... so now I'm not sure if it needs to be 1280X800 or if we can still submit an iPad sized game. If we can, maybe just filling in the excess screen space with a backdrop like PacMan did would suffice.

Hopefully GS will have some clarity on this...

JBULLFROG

Hey butterbean,jonmulcahy, thanks for filling us in. Do you know if you can submit games that were created with GS to the MAS? And if so how do you go about the code signing?

I don't have the apple mac app store dev membership set up for the extra 99, so that may be the reason, but when i got to the section in GS where I would normally select my certs there wasn't a drop down or anything for that. Any thoughts?

Thanks

butterbean

@JBullFrog: No we can't submit to the Mac App store yet, but fingers crossed that they give that option to us.

Yeah so you can get a developer license, but I would wait until they announce that Mac App store will be available for publishing

Hope this helps!