Perhaps if we had better forum moderation this kind of thing wouldn't happen! This is a great loss to the forum, game makers and Gamesalad themselves! I've said it before and I'll say it again - this forum needs to toss away the boy shorts and get long pants!!! Sorry you had to leave.
even if you gave everything away for free you would still have haters,unfortunately they are everywhere,lets hope that you could come back some day,im new to this game and wasnt sure about how to do things i put my game through your project optimizer and it found image size faults which was causing problems and i didnt know,so your tools are teaching me,so just want to say thanks for the help and thanks for the tools cant wait to buy more
I am gutted. Darren is right that the community sprit that I have been trying to maintain is slipping away. You will never meet a more helpfull and quality guy as he is. What people dont think about is that he puts everything into his games and it's hurtfull when people slate his work, accuse him of abusing his position as a Sous Chef, ripping of his software etc..
Firstly his work is top quality best I have seen and the level of detail to his code is outstanding always pushing the barriers of what GS can acheive.
To say that he abuses his position as a Sous Chef is crazy eveyone needs a few perks. So what if he can add charactors to his posts? He offers up alot of time to everyone for free. He is trying to make a living like others he still needs to feed and cloth himself and helping other members out does nothing towards that, yet he still does it.
This is a great loss one that I am mad about because he is one of the driving forces for the community, a community that is driven slowly by envy, greed.. I dont make the best games TRUE I have only made less then £700 to date but I do it for the banta, the sprit and when I have worked something out like the OpenFlow stuff I share with the world and everyone takes (which is great). I do not have to make a living out of it and if I did I would have given up by now. It is people like Darren (Utopian) TB(Gilles), John(StormyStudio), George(QSheep), Johnny P, Chris(Twisted Mech), and the list goes on. I know first names, I have skyped with them all, and even on FB with some, had lunch with others, because I care what they are doing as they have become friends. Simple
You know who this applies to! Shame on you.
Dark Day, Darren you know what I think of you and Utopian Games. Fanboy springs to mind. Ill call you later!
I almost didnt read this as i thought it would be another 'im moving on unless you give me gamecenter etc etc'
Im gutted, truely gutted! I hope you reconsider your decision Darren! You have been a breath of fresh air on these forums and you have inspired, whether it be a free vid, a template or just seeing your games pushing the boundaries and doing something new!
Dont let haters and jealous people bring you down, its the same wherever you go in life, if you're succedding in something, someone will try to bring you down, its human nature to some! You just need to avoid and ignore them, i guarantee theres a lot higher percentage who truely value you!
You've made these forums better for everyone, with your help, templates and tools.
Dust ya self down, ignore the fools and do what you do best
If this is the end, i hope you still make your templates, games and tools over at DeepBlue, i'll be sure to follow, all the best mate, we'll miss you.
I read this late last night and this AM I'm still at a loss for words.
It appears the actions of a few have impacted heavily on the benefits for the many and that is a real shame. I can't say I didn't see it coming as this wasn't really about the Sound Slider templates, a few have been very vocal in their posts about their dislike for the perceived advantage some had/have in money making projects.
This great little 'pub' ... GS ... had a 'Rock Star' in the audience who was willing to sing us a few songs .. but a few drove him out and now we get to listen to the local karaoke singers instead* ... yay!
(* NOT AT ALL DIRECTED AT A NUMBER OF OTHERS WHO I CONSIDER ROCK STARS HERE ALSO just to be clear ... just wanted to try to make a point .. so hopefully no other person is driven away).
Darren .. good luck and thanks for what you have given. I hope that you and Wayne still see value in the GS projects you create and success in their (and your games) sales.
I guess I've missed all the drama, not seen the main posts slating your work or what ever has gone on.
I only hope you keep up with templates/tools and bits purely through your own site.
Your help on the forum has always been A+
Your demos great, I've got a friend at work who is taking his first steps into GS after buying himself your platform demo.
I've got your volume slider, merger and another tool from you and they are all fantastic. And a bargain, the time saved with each of them amounts to 100's of hours. Allowing me more time to stare dumbly at my rules as I figure out what I've done wrong and eventually get closer to releasing another game.
I hope you reconsider, as with all things there are lots of stupid twats in the world. Most of them seem to enjoy reviewing apps, being TROLLS on forums and generally spreading annoyance and arguments.
Admittedly there is a wave of templates, both good and bad, hopefully everyone is bright enough to spot the difference between rubbish and quality.
If the offending users could please sort out some sort of full blow apology that would be great...Perhaps in the style of 'SPACED', get a tank and some music...
As a noobie, I find the GS forums invaluable and I've bought the platform template and couple of other things from Darren. All of a very high quality and it's a shame to see Darren's departure.
I'm not sure what happened but whether I buy something is dependent upon the quality of the product, not what position someone has. Any member can post on GS or design a template for sale and promote it on GS.
GameSalad NEEDS a paid version. 60-70 Pounds. If you really intend making games you will not reel at this price. The paid version should scoop up the serious users and leave most of the moaners behind. Darren and a couple of others did something for me that even Gendai sometimes struggle to do, that is convince me that GS is a viable and professional dev tool. Losing him and gaining more and more of the 'I want everything for nothing' brigade is another harsh negative point against GS and makes these forums even more unprofessional.
Any chance of this ? A paid for Game Salad PRO, in the true sense of the word ?
Darren, I think you leaving the forums is bad idea for your business. Your templates and your GameSalad helper apps appear to be doing well. And while I have the resources to compete with you, I haven't. I didn't jump on the template bandwagon. I respect what you're doing. You're a strong member of this community, bringing GameSalad to a new level.
I don't know the full story here, but you seem to conduct yourself in a professional manner. This is a community for developers, so it's natural that things get competitive around here. Yet, giving in and leaving doesn't help you. It helps your competitors. It helps those that are envious.
I think you should think this through.
If there's been an abuse of power, I haven't seen it. What's the concern here? If it's a matter of Sous Chef... drop the title. That's just extra work for nothing anyway.
wait.. making applications for gamesalad and leaving the community? that makes no sense. unless you're telling us you're not going to make GS apps anymore.
Dareen thanks for what ever you did for us.I request you dont leave this forum. We will purchase each and everything from you. We are not interested in free stuff. But dont leave Please.
forklift said: wait.. making applications for gamesalad and leaving the community? that makes no sense. unless you're telling us you're not going to make GS apps anymore.
if Darren makes a valuable/helpful app for GS users do you think people are going to not buy it just because he's stopped dropping in to say hi? I'd imagine he's going to have more time on his hands to do his job. The loss of his input to the forum is our loss not his.
I'm gonna be honest here...I'll apologize in advance if this offends anyone.
Really?! Utopian, you let/helped this get way out of hand! I'm just calling it like I see it, but for a 40 yr old, you are exhibiting traits of my 3 yr old...
You (in your previous state) are an extreme benefit to this community. From the looks of it, you weren't doing too bad for yourself either. Don't walk away from an opportunity because some kid hurt your feelings...Man up!
If you are serious, you will be missed, both for your constant contributions to the general levity of this community, as well as your technical contributions to new and established users alike.
He isn't leaving because some person ticked him off. He is leaving because of what the community has turned in to and this just happened to be the move that made him leave. He had to be considering this before this whole incident happened, because like you said, there is no way that this could have made him leave all by itself. you will be missed darren. DL
For those who don't know. Darren is full time independent developer, and without question the most helpful, genuine guys I know and have the upmost respect for. Of late he was helping a lot of people, which he enjoys and is/was OK with. So it's quite a surprise to see this actually happen.
However to simplify things, and to clear up any confusion. There has been, of late, a lot of jibes and comments, clearly targeted towards those who make a living from software/game development. And do this activity in a bid to earn a living to support families and pay bills.
To those of whom these related forum comments are indeed targeted at, day in, day out, on every related thread, inevitably becomes annoying. If you do review the manner which led to this, you would clearly and indisputable see that whilst those who were harping on about 'Community Spirit' - themselves decided to lower the level by clearly devolving any sense of moral or ethical action.
Certainly Darren hadn't invented anything specific with his templates, but, if one was to step back and say, "ok, I'm going to make a template, what hasn't been done? or what would people like?, or what could I do to improve or enhance an idea?" Why copy or simulate something within 24hrs of discovering someone has produced a template which others find useful? It goes without question, Darren and indeed many others have the talents and skills to duplicate virtually anyone else's templates/games, then pitch them against others for free, but ethics and morals are duly respected. As another example, myself and Darren had begun work on a GameSalad Development book, but when we discovered Photics was producing a book, we decided to focus our energies elsewhere. Which was for the best, as Photics book, I understand is highly regarded and well produced.
I'm sure you all remember a template Darren made, which he was holding off releasing, because another member had contacted him advising, they were producing a production game, with similar mechanics. Darren was under no obligation to withhold what he had developed, and he could quite easily have released the template - for free, and stuffed any sense of Ethics, Morals, Community Spirit in the teeth, but no, he waited, out of a sense of pure and genuine respect for the other GS member.
When users (child or adult) constantly harp on about lack of community sprit, back to the old days, money-grabbers, abuse of powers etc etc, slowly over time, it becomes intolerable. Especially for those who are being as supportive as possible to all.
I hope Darren will come back to the forums (I'm sure he will), as his contributions, help and advice to others was second to none.
wayneh001 said: For those who don't know. Darren is full time independent developer, and without question the most helpful, genuine guys I know and have the upmost respect for. Of late he was helping a lot of people, which he enjoys and is/was OK with. So it's quite a surprise to see this actually happen.
However to simplify things, and to clear up any confusion. There has been, of late, a lot of jibes and comments, clearly targeted towards those who make a living from software/game development. And do this activity in a bid to earn a living to support families and pay bills.
To those of whom these related forum comments are indeed targeted at, day in, day out, on every related thread, inevitably becomes annoying. If you do review the manner which led to this, you would clearly and indisputable see that whilst those who were harping on about 'Community Spirit' - themselves decided to lower the level by clearly devolving any sense of moral or ethical action.
Certainly Darren hadn't invented anything specific with his templates, but, if one was to step back and say, "ok, I'm going to make a template, what hasn't been done? or what would people like?, or what could I do to improve or enhance an idea?" Why copy or simulate something within 24hrs of discovering someone has produced a template which others find useful? It goes without question, Darren and indeed many others have the talents and skills to duplicate virtually anyone else's templates/games, then pitch them against others for free, but ethics and morals are duly respected. As another example, myself and Darren had begun work on a GameSalad Development book, but when we discovered Photics was producing a book, we decided to focus our energies elsewhere. Which was for the best, as Photics book, I understand is highly regarded and well produced.
I'm sure you all remember a template Darren made, which he was holding off releasing, because another member had contacted him advising, they were producing a production game, with similar mechanics. Darren was under no obligation to withhold what he had developed, and he could quite easily have released the template - for free, and stuffed any sense of Ethics, Morals, Community Spirit in the teeth, but no, he waited, out of a sense of pure and genuine respect for the other GS member.
When users (child or adult) constantly harp on about lack of community sprit, back to the old days, money-grabbers, abuse of powers etc etc, slowly over time, it becomes intolerable. Especially for those who are being as supportive as possible to all.
I hope Darren will come back to the forums (I'm sure he will), as his contributions, help and advice to others was second to none.
Wow! If that post doesn't open peoples eyes, then nothing will. Really nice post.
Even though I never purchased a template I for one respected the idea. I just felt like I shouldn't pay for something I could do with some time and effort, even though I am waiting patiently to see if they angry birds template comes out... Hope its still planning on being released.
Short and sweet thoughts
I think he will be back, this to me seems like a post he wrote when he was frustrated and decided to put it up. Once he sees how everyone reacts to it I feel he will decide to stay.
I hope Darren will come back to the forums (I'm sure he will), as his contributions, help and advice to others was second to none.
+1
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
Hello GS Users,
I have tried to stay out of this thread because I think most of everyone here is rather pissed and looking to point blame. And i'm sure there will be some who see my post and jump all over me for even posting here without giving what I have to say any thought.
I think this a very unfortunate decision and I certainly don't want this any more that the rest of you. However I don't believe for one second Darren made this choice solely because of me or my Volume Slider. The two templates don't even compare to each other so I never saw any issue. Did I add dark red actors behind the slider that turn bright red as the volume goes up? Yes. and why did I do that because I saw a feature in the video for Darren's much larger slider template that I thought was nice so I included it in mine.
Since everyone is so worried about Darren's financial situation heres food for thought. I am 27 years old with a wife and son and have been unemployed for a year. So please don't tell me about needing to paying bills because I had to scrape pennies just to get my first GS subscription.
Now my reasoning for the volume slider. I have no doubt there are many others who cannot afford the amazing work Darren or TSB puts out. Do you know how bad I wanted TSB's Coverflow template? No yo have no idea. but my bills have to come first. AppChoggie release OpenFlow and I was thrilled. I have been trying to think of something I can offer the community since. This was the first. I cannot afford to buy Darren music/sound template so I have no doubt others are in the same boat. I Found FMG's Volume slider and modified it slightly for those needs, so the poor crowd on the forum could have some features to hep their games be more polished, and I stopped there. If that was to be an F'u to Darren or anyone else I would have taken another week and actually tried to copy his template, from the video no less so it still most likely would have been less than par. This community used to flow with free simple templates and demos just like the the volume slider that was released yesterday. So how is it now such an insult that its released. Again it doesn't even compare to the one for sale.
As for the implication I copied Darren's work. The Slider is now up on my profile page and the downloads appear to be working again ( on a cool side note when I downloaded from my page it was already a .zip. And Clicking the download button auto downloaded instead of opening a the game in a larger window). So download that and download FMGs slider here. http://gamesalad.com/game/1758
Download them and look at the rules for yourself. they are the same the only thing missing from mine is all of FMG's notes. I don't know why but I hate the notes so I took them out. and before anyone says it, I gave credit to FMG in the app description for the source of the original slider. So no it was not to claim it was all my own original work.
Now, How can anyone even think I have it out for Darren. He has help me out along the way, we have even traded code before to see how we where doing a similar task. Why would I want to destroy that relationship? I remember telling my wife how cool I thought it was the guy that made bumps wants to see how I did something. Heck, not even a week ago I said this when some posted basically a direct attack on Darren and his Templates (I believe this is from the selling a bag !@#$% post he refereed to earlier)
tenrdrmer said: While you are right it seems that only Utopian Games Templates Are very successful. The reason is they are proven good work. Look around this market place with guys throwing crap together and offering it of $10 bucks and within an hour dropping to $5 because it wasn't instantly a hit. or guys throwing together basic simple stuff and offering it up to make a buck. It's not fanboyism its shovel ware right here on our own marketplace.
I think Darren does great work and has every right to sell anything he wants. He's put in a lot of work on it and normally all of the art that is included is worth the cost even without the template.
Now I have said in another post, The debacle yesterday spun way out of control and really got there due to other lacking's in this forum.
There is zero moderation on this forum, unless of course someone mentions corona or death threats are about to fly. Other than that, our "moderators" (that would be all sous-chefs as I understand it) never once step in to anything. Even yesterday if you look through the post the first time a sous-chef stepped in was after hours had past. TSB came said his 2 cents and after one response shut it down. That should have happened at post #11 when It was implied I copies Darren's code for that template. That was not true and with no proof letting it go past that only let things fester. I was an inappropriate uncalled for claim, and a moderator should have stepped in and stopped it. and told us to discuss that privately. Even a Head-Chef came in to dispel a claim made by a forum member but never once addressed the main issue or that this was spiraling out of control and it needed to stop. I believe that would have kept it all from flying out of control. Now who to blame? Everyone Involved IMO. I said things I regret saying since they did turn to direct shots at Darren.We are, almost, all adults on this forum and anyone of us could have backed and and tried to deescalate the entire disagreement.
In the emails requesting the template I received tons of thanks and hang in there type support but in the public forum not many seem to speak the same. I don't understand this unwillingness to openly speak your mind on issues. This also most likely would have help to keep this from spinning out of control.
I've already apologized once for my involvement here:
tenrdrmersaid: I think anyone who has been watching the forum the last few hours knows the problem. I'm sure some think i'm the problem, some think other sous-chefs are the problem but really the problem is zero oversight of this forum by the guys up top. Todays debacle got way outta hand and now it appears We are loosing one of the best members of the forum. I can't see that it is solely because of today but i'm sure some will blame it on that. It should have never got to the level it did and for my contribution to that escalation I apologize to the community.
But any Head Chef that doesn't know what DreamLAb is referring to completely outta the loop.
And I'll say it again. I apologize for contributing to the escalation. I don't regret offering this very simple modified version of an already existing free demo, however I said a few things I regret saying and I hope when this all cools down Darren will come back and continue to provide great help to the community and continue to make great games. Until then Darren I'm sorry for any part I played in this decision. I'm sure there are many factors you weighed in choosing this, and in time I hope you will reconsider.
DreamLab said: He isn't leaving because some person ticked him off. He is leaving because of what the community has turned in to and this just happened to be the move that made him leave. He had to be considering this before this whole incident happened, because like you said, there is no way that this could have made him leave all by itself. you will be missed darren. DL
Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. It may be like you said and it was the straw that broke the camels back but from what I've observed you were definitely one of those straws and a pretty big one in my opinion.
-I am also sorry. I have emailed darren multiple times saying sorry for bringing up the angry birds thing and that it wasn't targeted at him and was only used to make a point. Now I am 14, but that doesn't mean I am immature. and all of these "oh these kids shouldn't be allowed here" crap isn't really necessary. Yes, there are some young adults here and even ADULTS that act way immature and shouldn't be here. Again I am sorry for contributing to this. And like tendrmer said, why don't you speak up in the forum? is it because if you speak whats on your mind you think if its a bit wrong you will get burned like we did? it feels great giving your opinion.
Again, this went farther than it should have gone. It might be a little too late to bring darren back, but that shouldn't stop us from stopping all this bull crap around here. I admit, I was part of it yesterday, but I had to say what I felt. I couldn't help but speak up.
Comments
and congrats and good luck on the Nice tools you're doing too !
DL
Respect to you!
Mike
What just happened?
Firstly his work is top quality best I have seen and the level of detail to his code is outstanding always pushing the barriers of what GS can acheive.
To say that he abuses his position as a Sous Chef is crazy eveyone needs a few perks. So what if he can add charactors to his posts? He offers up alot of time to everyone for free. He is trying to make a living like others he still needs to feed and cloth himself and helping other members out does nothing towards that, yet he still does it.
This is a great loss one that I am mad about because he is one of the driving forces for the community, a community that is driven slowly by envy, greed.. I dont make the best games TRUE I have only made less then £700 to date but I do it for the banta, the sprit and when I have worked something out like the OpenFlow stuff I share with the world and everyone takes (which is great). I do not have to make a living out of it and if I did I would have given up by now. It is people like Darren (Utopian) TB(Gilles), John(StormyStudio), George(QSheep), Johnny P, Chris(Twisted Mech), and the list goes on. I know first names, I have skyped with them all, and even on FB with some, had lunch with others, because I care what they are doing as they have become friends. Simple
You know who this applies to! Shame on you.
Dark Day, Darren you know what I think of you and Utopian Games. Fanboy springs to mind. Ill call you later!
Keith.
but trust me when I say, you'll be missed sir!
I hope you're okay!
Im gutted, truely gutted! I hope you reconsider your decision Darren! You have been a breath of fresh air on these forums and you have inspired, whether it be a free vid, a template or just seeing your games pushing the boundaries and doing something new!
Dont let haters and jealous people bring you down, its the same wherever you go in life, if you're succedding in something, someone will try to bring you down, its human nature to some! You just need to avoid and ignore them, i guarantee theres a lot higher percentage who truely value you!
You've made these forums better for everyone, with your help, templates and tools.
Dust ya self down, ignore the fools and do what you do best
If this is the end, i hope you still make your templates, games and tools over at DeepBlue, i'll be sure to follow, all the best mate, we'll miss you.
It appears the actions of a few have impacted heavily on the benefits for the many and that is a real shame. I can't say I didn't see it coming as this wasn't really about the Sound Slider templates, a few have been very vocal in their posts about their dislike for the perceived advantage some had/have in money making projects.
This great little 'pub' ... GS ... had a 'Rock Star' in the audience who was willing to sing us a few songs .. but a few drove him out and now we get to listen to the local karaoke singers instead* ... yay!
(* NOT AT ALL DIRECTED AT A NUMBER OF OTHERS WHO I CONSIDER ROCK STARS HERE ALSO just to be clear ... just wanted to try to make a point .. so hopefully no other person is driven away).
Darren .. good luck and thanks for what you have given. I hope that you and Wayne still see value in the GS projects you create and success in their (and your games) sales.
I guess I've missed all the drama, not seen the main posts slating your work or what ever has gone on.
I only hope you keep up with templates/tools and bits purely through your own site.
Your help on the forum has always been A+
Your demos great, I've got a friend at work who is taking his first steps into GS after buying himself your platform demo.
I've got your volume slider, merger and another tool from you and they are all fantastic. And a bargain, the time saved with each of them amounts to 100's of hours. Allowing me more time to stare dumbly at my rules as I figure out what I've done wrong and eventually get closer to releasing another game.
I hope you reconsider, as with all things there are lots of stupid twats in the world. Most of them seem to enjoy reviewing apps, being TROLLS on forums and generally spreading annoyance and arguments.
Admittedly there is a wave of templates, both good and bad, hopefully everyone is bright enough to spot the difference between rubbish and quality.
If the offending users could please sort out some sort of full blow apology that would be great...Perhaps in the style of 'SPACED', get a tank and some music...
I'm not sure what happened but whether I buy something is dependent upon the quality of the product, not what position someone has. Any member can post on GS or design a template for sale and promote it on GS.
Losing him and gaining more and more of the 'I want everything for nothing' brigade is another harsh negative point against GS and makes these forums even more unprofessional.
Any chance of this ? A paid for Game Salad PRO, in the true sense of the word ?
Darren, I think you leaving the forums is bad idea for your business. Your templates and your GameSalad helper apps appear to be doing well. And while I have the resources to compete with you, I haven't. I didn't jump on the template bandwagon. I respect what you're doing. You're a strong member of this community, bringing GameSalad to a new level.
I don't know the full story here, but you seem to conduct yourself in a professional manner. This is a community for developers, so it's natural that things get competitive around here. Yet, giving in and leaving doesn't help you. It helps your competitors. It helps those that are envious.
I think you should think this through.
If there's been an abuse of power, I haven't seen it. What's the concern here? If it's a matter of Sous Chef... drop the title. That's just extra work for nothing anyway.
Really?! Utopian, you let/helped this get way out of hand! I'm just calling it like I see it, but for a 40 yr old, you are exhibiting traits of my 3 yr old...
You (in your previous state) are an extreme benefit to this community. From the looks of it, you weren't doing too bad for yourself either. Don't walk away from an opportunity because some kid hurt your feelings...Man up!
If you are serious, you will be missed, both for your constant contributions to the general levity of this community, as well as your technical contributions to new and established users alike.
cheers
DL
However to simplify things, and to clear up any confusion. There has been, of late, a lot of jibes and comments, clearly targeted towards those who make a living from software/game development. And do this activity in a bid to earn a living to support families and pay bills.
To those of whom these related forum comments are indeed targeted at, day in, day out, on every related thread, inevitably becomes annoying. If you do review the manner which led to this, you would clearly and indisputable see that whilst those who were harping on about 'Community Spirit' - themselves decided to lower the level by clearly devolving any sense of moral or ethical action.
Certainly Darren hadn't invented anything specific with his templates, but, if one was to step back and say, "ok, I'm going to make a template, what hasn't been done? or what would people like?, or what could I do to improve or enhance an idea?" Why copy or simulate something within 24hrs of discovering someone has produced a template which others find useful?
It goes without question, Darren and indeed many others have the talents and skills to duplicate virtually anyone else's templates/games, then pitch them against others for free, but ethics and morals are duly respected. As another example, myself and Darren had begun work on a GameSalad Development book, but when we discovered Photics was producing a book, we decided to focus our energies elsewhere. Which was for the best, as Photics book, I understand is highly regarded and well produced.
I'm sure you all remember a template Darren made, which he was holding off releasing, because another member had contacted him advising, they were producing a production game, with similar mechanics. Darren was under no obligation to withhold what he had developed, and he could quite easily have released the template - for free, and stuffed any sense of Ethics, Morals, Community Spirit in the teeth, but no, he waited, out of a sense of pure and genuine respect for the other GS member.
When users (child or adult) constantly harp on about lack of community sprit, back to the old days, money-grabbers, abuse of powers etc etc, slowly over time, it becomes intolerable. Especially for those who are being as supportive as possible to all.
I hope Darren will come back to the forums (I'm sure he will), as his contributions, help and advice to others was second to none.
Really nice post.
Short and sweet thoughts
I think he will be back, this to me seems like a post he wrote when he was frustrated and decided to put it up. Once he sees how everyone reacts to it I feel he will decide to stay.
I have tried to stay out of this thread because I think most of everyone here is rather pissed and looking to point blame. And i'm sure there will be some who see my post and jump all over me for even posting here without giving what I have to say any thought.
I think this a very unfortunate decision and I certainly don't want this any more that the rest of you. However I don't believe for one second Darren made this choice solely because of me or my Volume Slider.
The two templates don't even compare to each other so I never saw any issue. Did I add dark red actors behind the slider that turn bright red as the volume goes up? Yes. and why did I do that because I saw a feature in the video for Darren's much larger slider template that I thought was nice so I included it in mine.
Since everyone is so worried about Darren's financial situation heres food for thought. I am 27 years old with a wife and son and have been unemployed for a year. So please don't tell me about needing to paying bills because I had to scrape pennies just to get my first GS subscription.
Now my reasoning for the volume slider. I have no doubt there are many others who cannot afford the amazing work Darren or TSB puts out. Do you know how bad I wanted TSB's Coverflow template? No yo have no idea. but my bills have to come first. AppChoggie release OpenFlow and I was thrilled. I have been trying to think of something I can offer the community since. This was the first. I cannot afford to buy Darren music/sound template so I have no doubt others are in the same boat. I Found FMG's Volume slider and modified it slightly for those needs, so the poor crowd on the forum could have some features to hep their games be more polished, and I stopped there. If that was to be an F'u to Darren or anyone else I would have taken another week and actually tried to copy his template, from the video no less so it still most likely would have been less than par. This community used to flow with free simple templates and demos just like the the volume slider that was released yesterday. So how is it now such an insult that its released. Again it doesn't even compare to the one for sale.
As for the implication I copied Darren's work. The Slider is now up on my profile page and the downloads appear to be working again ( on a cool side note when I downloaded from my page it was already a .zip. And Clicking the download button auto downloaded instead of opening a the game in a larger window). So download that and download FMGs slider here. http://gamesalad.com/game/1758
Download them and look at the rules for yourself. they are the same the only thing missing from mine is all of FMG's notes. I don't know why but I hate the notes so I took them out. and before anyone says it, I gave credit to FMG in the app description for the source of the original slider. So no it was not to claim it was all my own original work.
Now, How can anyone even think I have it out for Darren. He has help me out along the way, we have even traded code before to see how we where doing a similar task. Why would I want to destroy that relationship?
I remember telling my wife how cool I thought it was the guy that made bumps wants to see how I did something. Heck, not even a week ago I said this when some posted basically a direct attack on Darren and his Templates (I believe this is from the selling a bag !@#$% post he refereed to earlier) I think Darren does great work and has every right to sell anything he wants. He's put in a lot of work on it and normally all of the art that is included is worth the cost even without the template.
Now I have said in another post, The debacle yesterday spun way out of control and really got there due to other lacking's in this forum.
There is zero moderation on this forum, unless of course someone mentions corona or death threats are about to fly. Other than that, our "moderators" (that would be all sous-chefs as I understand it) never once step in to anything. Even yesterday if you look through the post the first time a sous-chef stepped in was after hours had past. TSB came said his 2 cents and after one response shut it down. That should have happened at post #11 when It was implied I copies Darren's code for that template. That was not true and with no proof letting it go past that only let things fester. I was an inappropriate uncalled for claim, and a moderator should have stepped in and stopped it. and told us to discuss that privately. Even a Head-Chef came in to dispel a claim made by a forum member but never once addressed the main issue or that this was spiraling out of control and it needed to stop. I believe that would have kept it all from flying out of control. Now who to blame? Everyone Involved IMO. I said things I regret saying since they did turn to direct shots at Darren.We are, almost, all adults on this forum and anyone of us could have backed and and tried to deescalate the entire disagreement.
In the emails requesting the template I received tons of thanks and hang in there type support but in the public forum not many seem to speak the same. I don't understand this unwillingness to openly speak your mind on issues. This also most likely would have help to keep this from spinning out of control.
I've already apologized once for my involvement here: And I'll say it again. I apologize for contributing to the escalation. I don't regret offering this very simple modified version of an already existing free demo, however I said a few things I regret saying and I hope when this all cools down Darren will come back and continue to provide great help to the community and continue to make great games. Until then Darren I'm sorry for any part I played in this decision. I'm sure there are many factors you weighed in choosing this, and in time I hope you will reconsider.
Thanks
Aaron
You have been such an amazing asset to these forums, and to see you leave is really, the darkest day the forums will ever see.
I wish you well, and again, so sorry and so bloody sad you're leaving
-I am also sorry. I have emailed darren multiple times saying sorry for bringing up the angry birds thing and that it wasn't targeted at him and was only used to make a point. Now I am 14, but that doesn't mean I am immature. and all of these "oh these kids shouldn't be allowed here" crap isn't really necessary. Yes, there are some young adults here and even ADULTS that act way immature and shouldn't be here. Again I am sorry for contributing to this. And like tendrmer said, why don't you speak up in the forum? is it because if you speak whats on your mind you think if its a bit wrong you will get burned like we did? it feels great giving your opinion.
Again, this went farther than it should have gone. It might be a little too late to bring darren back, but that shouldn't stop us from stopping all this bull crap around here. I admit, I was part of it yesterday, but I had to say what I felt. I couldn't help but speak up.
hope you guys understand
thanks
DL