Photics - Cool Tip #3 & #4 - AND ADVICE FOR THE GAMESALAD TEAM!
Photics
Member Posts: 4,172
This post has information for GameSalad developers... and the developers of GameSalad.
Cool Tip #3 - Use Attributes like CSS
Here's something that I found makes it easier to make games. Use attributes like CSS on a web page. For those of you familiar with HTML, web pages have a certain style. Instead of changing every paragraph or every hyperlink, you can change the overall style of a page (or entire website) with proper use of CSS. GameSalad games can work exactly the same way.
As an example, I was working on BOT. I was messing around with the clouds. I wasn't sure how fast I wanted them to go. If I wanted to change the clouds, I had to update all of the cloud actors. So instead, I simply created a game attribute... game.Cloud-Speed. This really helped with the creative process. In this scenario, it makes the game a little less optimized, so use it where it makes sense.
This might look familiar to you if you've read The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook. It's also the same process for controlling the volume of the game's sound effects. Instead of entering 1 for volume, using game.Volume makes more sense. That way, all of the games sounds can be adjusted... great for game settings!
So, by using Attributes like CSS on an HTML page, you can quickly change settings throughout your game.
Cool Tip #4 - The iOS Simulator
I had forgotten about this. I didn't realize how easy it was to run GameSalad games in the simulator. Basically, when you download the GS Creator to your testing device, use Xcode to run it in the simulator too. That way, you can expand your testing.
While it's great to use the preview mode in the GameSalad Creator, it doesn't allow you to test autorotation. It doesn't let you zoom in to see the retina display graphics. It's also very fast, so it's harder to test performance.
Using a real iOS device is better, but it seems a bit buggy. Sometimes I have to restart my phone to make the GS Viewer work. If you only want to make a quick test, without the hassle of using a device, the simulator may be helpful. It's also great for screenshots!
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Advice for the GameSalad Team
I like this software. Yet, there are some features that are lacking. So, how can new features be added quickly to make GameSalad more competitive?
Device Time...
By accessing the iOS clock, new game features can be added. This doesn't even have to be anything complicated. A simple device attribute would allow GameSalad developers to create amazing effects...
• Better randomization on startup
• Time sensitive games, like Farmville, CityVille, Simcity, Virtual Pets
• In-Game effects, like sunsets
Universal Binaries...
I think the easiest way to implement this is to create a checkbox like "Resolution Independence". If the checkbox is enabled, the scene tab is split... iPad/iPhone scenes and iPad scenes. On startup, the game detects if it's on an iPad or iPhone.
We can already control the camera size and scene size with the Scene Attributes. We could do the logic ourselves if there was simply a universal start scene. If the screen width or screen height is larger than 960, then go to the first iPad scene.
Cool Tip #3 - Use Attributes like CSS
Here's something that I found makes it easier to make games. Use attributes like CSS on a web page. For those of you familiar with HTML, web pages have a certain style. Instead of changing every paragraph or every hyperlink, you can change the overall style of a page (or entire website) with proper use of CSS. GameSalad games can work exactly the same way.
As an example, I was working on BOT. I was messing around with the clouds. I wasn't sure how fast I wanted them to go. If I wanted to change the clouds, I had to update all of the cloud actors. So instead, I simply created a game attribute... game.Cloud-Speed. This really helped with the creative process. In this scenario, it makes the game a little less optimized, so use it where it makes sense.
This might look familiar to you if you've read The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook. It's also the same process for controlling the volume of the game's sound effects. Instead of entering 1 for volume, using game.Volume makes more sense. That way, all of the games sounds can be adjusted... great for game settings!
So, by using Attributes like CSS on an HTML page, you can quickly change settings throughout your game.
Cool Tip #4 - The iOS Simulator
I had forgotten about this. I didn't realize how easy it was to run GameSalad games in the simulator. Basically, when you download the GS Creator to your testing device, use Xcode to run it in the simulator too. That way, you can expand your testing.
While it's great to use the preview mode in the GameSalad Creator, it doesn't allow you to test autorotation. It doesn't let you zoom in to see the retina display graphics. It's also very fast, so it's harder to test performance.
Using a real iOS device is better, but it seems a bit buggy. Sometimes I have to restart my phone to make the GS Viewer work. If you only want to make a quick test, without the hassle of using a device, the simulator may be helpful. It's also great for screenshots!
---------
Advice for the GameSalad Team
I like this software. Yet, there are some features that are lacking. So, how can new features be added quickly to make GameSalad more competitive?
Device Time...
By accessing the iOS clock, new game features can be added. This doesn't even have to be anything complicated. A simple device attribute would allow GameSalad developers to create amazing effects...
• Better randomization on startup
• Time sensitive games, like Farmville, CityVille, Simcity, Virtual Pets
• In-Game effects, like sunsets
Universal Binaries...
I think the easiest way to implement this is to create a checkbox like "Resolution Independence". If the checkbox is enabled, the scene tab is split... iPad/iPhone scenes and iPad scenes. On startup, the game detects if it's on an iPad or iPhone.
We can already control the camera size and scene size with the Scene Attributes. We could do the logic ourselves if there was simply a universal start scene. If the screen width or screen height is larger than 960, then go to the first iPad scene.
Comments
A Device Time feature is a great idea, lots of neat things you can make with that especially in-game effects.
about the Tip #4 - The iOS Simulator
For some reason when i use it the memory "other" is about 75mb , and the fps is about 8-10 am i doing something wrong?
(on a real iphone 4 device WITH retina , total memory is 50 , and fps is 55-60)
Roy.
by "auto rotation" what do you mean?
Roy.
I am amazed that you always have such sound advise for GS! Doesn't it bug you that they never respond?
No matter how much you post here ... there is no indication of acknowledgment.
Also, I saw that you abandoned your book project which is sad in a way. February was my month of buying software and now, I will invest in good books ... as yours would have been one
BUMMER!
I just changed my avatar to do a "silent" protest against the splash screen and now I see that there is an UGLY blue line around it!
Have a really original and amazing game idea, but can't do it without the timer...
Someone else announced that they were working on a Corona book. Healthy competition is good. Yet, I wasn't feeling the passion... not like when I started with GameSalad. That's important for my writing. That's one of the reasons why The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook is so popular. In addition to having lots of useful information, it's a fun read.
It was hard for me to write in a similar fashion for Corona. I think the biggest obstacle is that I like GameSalad. By helping the Corona community, I'm hurting this community — and I like this community. There are plenty of other projects that I can work on. My icon is blank because I'm not happy with any of the icons I made. GameSalad doesn't pull data from the web. So even if in-app purchases worked with a link, the app wouldn't receive web data to unlock the purchased content.
I'm happy that you like GS so much!
I respect your decision about the book although I don't understand your reasoning. My impression is that the first few books would and should do well.
The same goes if someone is making a new GS book. There is a LOT OF ROOM for material that helps those new to GS with becoming productive quickly.
I can't work on two big projects at once, so I had to choose. Would I rather have a hit game or a hit book? Even if I wrote the best Corona book out there, would I achieve the same success as a hit game? I don't think so. I think there's more potential in gaming.
So, which is the better tool for me to build that game?
That's easy - it's GameSalad.
It's simple to add animation, particle effects, scene management and resolution independence. I already have a GameSalad subscription and I already have experience with the software. Not just mediocre experience, I'm really good with GameSalad.
jk jk
i sure hope more sense of humor is abreached...
well not really jk but.... u knoooooooooooowwwww.