Working on Update To The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook
Photics
Member Posts: 4,172
OK, now that GameSalad 0.9.5 is here... and Apple still hasn't fixed my certificate problem for Mac Publishing... it looks like I should focus on updating The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook. Here's what I have planned so far...
• Update all the pictures with behaviors (Stupid Off button!)
• Read and edit the whole book... updating where necessary
• Testing (Ad-Hoc) Now that I've done it, I can write about it
• Photics Tips - Add the best tips into the textbook
• Virtual Controllers... CodeMonkey has a new template out, but I think there's a better way.
• BOT... now I can finish the story of TANK... from a square to a full game.
• Game Center
• New expression
• HTML 5 games... I'll have to test this out. Looks like the Web Publishing chapter is relevant again.
Display Text has changed significantly. I was considering using GameSalad to create the textbook. But even though there is a new wrap feature, it's still not robust enough to layout well over 50,000 words and lots of images.
I'm considering a Mac Desktop version of the book, for people that hate to read from iOS devices. I'm not sure if that's going to happen though. So far, I'm not having much luck on the Mac App Store.
So, if you want to request a topic to be covered, post up here.
• Update all the pictures with behaviors (Stupid Off button!)
• Read and edit the whole book... updating where necessary
• Testing (Ad-Hoc) Now that I've done it, I can write about it
• Photics Tips - Add the best tips into the textbook
• Virtual Controllers... CodeMonkey has a new template out, but I think there's a better way.
• BOT... now I can finish the story of TANK... from a square to a full game.
• Game Center
• New expression
• HTML 5 games... I'll have to test this out. Looks like the Web Publishing chapter is relevant again.
Display Text has changed significantly. I was considering using GameSalad to create the textbook. But even though there is a new wrap feature, it's still not robust enough to layout well over 50,000 words and lots of images.
I'm considering a Mac Desktop version of the book, for people that hate to read from iOS devices. I'm not sure if that's going to happen though. So far, I'm not having much luck on the Mac App Store.
So, if you want to request a topic to be covered, post up here.
Comments
its kind of like an instruction manual the first time you read it it does not make that much sense but once you have played around with gamesalad for a few months its a better read and you kind of take it in a lot easier and understand what you are getting across, maybe in the next version there could be some real challenges and explanations of what does what in the expressions editor anyway thanks and good luck with the new version
- Jeff
And yes, I was expecting to use it on the iPad, not the iPod Touch so much.
http://www.lakercompendium.com/
It's just like the players that bought BOT 1.0. They can get 1.1 for free. That's really nice... the way the layout should look like... but it doesn't seem to be a universal binary. The downloads are split for iPhone and iPad. The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook app is a universal binary. So any updates to the app have to be compatible for the iPhone and iPad.
I let the text flow to the size of the screen, like an epub document would do. If I make it a fixed layout, it would look prettier, but people would have to use more effort in positioning the screen zoom.
Side Note: I read a rumor about the new iPad earlier today... 2048x1536 resolution is sick! If that's accurate, it's going to need some pretty big images to take advantage of the higher resolution.
- Jeff
They just don't seem to use the term universal. But you know coding better than I so I might be wrong.
http://www.lakercompendium.com/download/
...and there are four separate downloads... iPad Portrait, iPad Landscape, iPhone Portrait and iPhone Landscape. I didn't take a closer look, but I think that means a lack of universal binary support and auto-rotational support. The current version of the textbook has such features.
I just discovered something interesting with GameSalad. The "Wrap Inside Actor" option for Display Text is dynamic. If I change the X size of the box, the text automatically reflows. That means I could... in theory... use GameSalad to create the book... and maybe have auto-rotational support. Although, GameSalad doesn't support universal binaries right now, so that might be a bad idea.
There are some big limitations, otherwise GameSalad could be a great page layout tool...
1 - The Text size field is not an expression, so it would be tricky to add a custom font size option.
2 - Images cannot be embedded inside the textbox...
3 - The text can't be formatted... bold/underline/italic
4 - The box can't auto-expand. I could do that manually.
Yet, a single page could be designed with GameSalad. It's not as robust as an application like Quark XPress, but dynamic elements could be added... like animation and sound effects. This might solve the problem for the Mac Desktop version of the app.
1 - Loading Times are instant
2 - It's a desktop, so I don't need to worry about auto rotation.
3 - Examples would be more educational and interactive
4 - Voice overs!
The problem is a 150 MB cap on uploads, so I couldn't go too crazy, but I would be able to make the book look more visually impressive than the iOS version.
Maybe that might work for your project too. Is it an iOS or Mac project?
Meanwhile: Bought your book last night. Looks good. Looking forward to updates.
So meanwhile, I'll have to decide if I'm going to make a Mac Desktop version of the book. I think it could be like a classroom lecture or an interactive book. I'm not sure. It's a big project.
So perhaps links to individual rules etc out of the examples, after an introduction section with basic concepts might be the way of it? I would have a good look at some of the online resources about informational design and structure. I think getting this right is hard, but there is a lot out there that can help and would make a template for organising such a project.
With the onset of the mighty HTML5 I do wonder if it might be possible to author as a database and then essentially publish the front end to access a system that you could keep current. It would allow for examples within the work, and depending on which authoring environment you choose, video as well.
Given the vastness of the task I would perhaps try building a small section and see where it leads. The design might well offer itself up during the process, but again I would have an eye on just how slick and clear you could get things working so it became second nature for the user to use.
It would indeed be a large task and the updating as things move on with GS is always going to be with you. I wish you luck.
Kipper
This probably means one of two things...
1 - The reviewer found something that they don't like, sent it up the administrative chain, where a rejection letter will eventually find my email inbox.
2 - The reviewer started reviewing the book just before the end of the shift... took off Friday... and my book will be stuck in review until Tuesday.
The latter seems more likely because I didn't change that much. I only added some copy and some images. Although, I did use Xcode 4, so there could be some technical issues. I don't see where that could be screwed up though. If it was built wrong, the verification process should have rejected it. Even if not, Apple would probably have told me that right away.
Of course, there is the possibility that the reviewer is carefully reading the book... testing out all the information. Maybe the reviewer learned so much that the reviewer quit and is now making apps instead. HA HA. Highly unlikely, but fun to imagine.
Apple's review process is fascinating to me. HA!
Anyway...
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND. WOO HOO!
Also, after BOT, I'm not feeling too much enthusiasm with GameSalad right now. Additionally, Project Masala is not as good as it could be — not to me anyway. It's primarily a branding issue. I don't want my games on the GameSalad server and I don't want GameSalad branding on my games.
So, I'm taking a break. I'm not sure what project I'm going to work on next.
1 - Touch Arcade and the negative comments about GameSalad.
2 - Carlos from Ansca Mobile congratulated me about BOT. He said that he wanted to help market the game, but it was made with competitor software.
GameSalad has branding issues, but I'm still not seeing significant steps being taken to combat against it. Additionally, I don't understand why there's so much debate around here. The community seems less friendly lately. A lot of the cool developers that I enjoyed chatting with have already moved on... as if GameSalad is high school and college is other software.
Also, I don't agree with the retort that "a bad developer blames his tools."
Have you ever tried drilling a hole in a brick wall? If you try with a regular drill bit, it doesn't really work. Instead, you need a masonry drill bit. It makes the task much easier. There are some simple changes to GameSalad that would make things a lot easier around here. And yet... we have to wait months for changes. It's getting too frustrating for me.
I see great things on the horizon for GameSalad, like Android support and more Game Center Support... but that's months away.
I don't know if I'm just going to give up on GameSalad, as the software is awesome. Yet, it is tool. Maybe I need to expand a bit, or try something else while GameSalad catches up. It's Summertime... a vacation is good!
I doubt if I'm going to give up on App development, as I enjoy it a lot. Before app development, I wasting my time free time with MMORPGs. Heh, so clearly GameSalad game development is more productive.
Especially this one: I see lately way to many angry post of people "yelling" at people for saying their opinion about a certain feature. Or people (especially free users) just demanding that GameSalad delivers them the world overnight. Which pisses off the more experience devs that knows all the hard work that a single feature requires and the heated argument stars.
On another topic I still keep thinking that the "Free" version should be $100 bucks. That way people can take game making seriously and stop publishing the kind of games that gives this great company a bad reputation.
If you decide to leave and don't come back I wish you well on your future endeavours, But all in all I really hope we return to the old days were we had more helpful post and not so many heated discussions.
This update has already been sent to Apple. The update should go live next week. That depends on Apple's review, but I'm not anticipating any trouble. This is the fourth version of this app, so it's pretty routine.
So if you already have the app version of the Textbook, an update should be heading your way next week.
With my iOS developer registration requiring renewal next month, I've been considering opening up my own store at Photics.com. Yet, there are a lot of little things to worry about... like blocked email, New York State Sales Tax, keeping the server online, security, making it look pretty and other issues. Ultimately, I like working with Apple... and I like the App version of the textbook. I get to focus on content creation.
I don't just maintain and update this app — I USE IT! When I want to go back and read what I wrote, I usually use the app version. It's like a second monitor, where I can quickly grab reference material.
I tried to make the book useful for beginners and those already using with GameSalad... as there are great tips and tricks for avoiding common pitfalls with GameSalad development.