Thoughts on Masala, PopCap and GameSalad

Photics

I had such a frustrating two weeks with GameSalad that I was wondering... am I wasting my time? Is the bubble bursting? Ah, but there's plenty of reasons to be happy about GameSalad...

It looks like PopCap is going to be acquired for a Billion Dollars...
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/22/popcap-games-to-be-acquired-for-1-billion/

Heh, it reminds me of the movie The Social Network.
"What's cooler than a million dollars... a billion dollars!"

PopCap has been around a long time and it just kept working at improving... just slow and steady progress for about a decade. So that's when I started thinking about Project Masala. Is HTML 5 game publishing really that great?

I think that depends on what GameSalad does with it... and we know that this is just the beginning. It's so funny how the answer was right on the roadmap. There was Project Masala and GameSalad Arcade 2.0. Heh... when I saw that, I was wondering, "Where is 1.0?" Is Masala GameSalad Arcade 1.0?

Essentially, GameSalad is building the groundwork to create something similar to a PopCap / Zynga. If the software improves... it's like a YouTube for games. At first I looked at this as a bad thing because I don't want GameSalad to be making money off my games. Is this just GameSalad Direct 2.0? Does GameSalad make billions and I make nothing? A big question in the community right now is... how do we make money with HTML 5?

Well... monetization is coming. I believe that GameSalad is trustworthy. And when they say something is coming... it's coming. It might not get there on-time, and it might not be perfect at launch, but they will get it done and they will fix the bugs. At least... historically... that's what they've done.

So when I think about that, it's exciting. GameSalad is building something like the next Zynga, YouTube or PopCap - and we're part of it. Some people think that the bubble is about to burst on the dot-com 2.0 boom... and I think it is a concern... but good products and services usually get rewarded.

That's my main concern with GameSalad. I think Masala is cool, but what about more options for professionals? YouTube is a big website, but I don't know of too many YouTube stars. When I see Masala, I think of what it could do for web development. With some modification and improvements, it's basically a much easier version of Flash. What would that do to the Internet? Would millions... perhaps billions... of websites be powered by GameSalad?!

I can see at least two bright futures for GameSalad... and they're not mutually exclusive.

The danger with Masala is keeping the value of apps alive. The iTunes App Store is overcrowded and free HTML 5 web games would make it even harder to sell apps. Yet... something else is possibly coming... Apple Televisions.

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/21/apple-television-set-rumors-revived-to-launch-in-2011/

What if we could make games for TV... like Game Consoles? THAT'S AMAZING! GameSalad has been great about supporting the expansions of the iTunes App Store... with updates for iPad and Mac... if an Apple TV app store emerges, I suspect that GameSalad will quickly be part of the action.

So... is the party ending... or is it just beginning?

PopCap built a strong library of games in a saturated online gaming market. Now they're worth a billion dollars. Even if I'm only 1/100th as successful, that's still TEN-MILLION DOLLARS! Ha ha... maybe it's a crazy dream... but I think it would be worse to give up. BOT didn't have the launch I was hoping for, but that doesn't mean I should give up. This is what I enjoy. This is what I'm passionate about. And I'm not planning to giving up... but maybe a long weekend is a good idea

calvin9403

humm

how about if EA buys GS?

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Mammoth

The game industry as a whole knows what it is doing. There is too much money to be made of content for it to just go away. After being in the music and film industry I have migrated here and it is always a constant sigh of relief.

The world always changes and so will the industry. There will always be money to be made but it might not be the same way.

Im excited about everything. I know that most of these developments will ultimately be good for me.

old_kipper

With Apple tv or similar tie up with handhelds devices so the devices act controllers or streaming consoles to the house tv then onscreen play via old school consoles will be challenged. Not for a while, but when the power hits a few fold of current, then gaming will take a very open turn.

Keeping devices discrete will not last very long now.

Or I am I wrong. I maybe indeed, but for the moment it is apps on iOS for me with some promo in other areas.

kipper

butterbean

I don't think HTML5 will hurt app sales at all.. I think the app store will stay strong for a long time, even with Facebook games, I don't think the app store will hurt, and there's still plenty of opportunity to make money.

Unless Facebook can replicate the App store, and it's seamless experience, I don't think apple has anything to worry about.

The only issue is, as more apps come in, the more competitive it becomes for the little guys. I've noticed a difference with new apps just in comparison to a year ago. It's tough, and you have to be even more skilled at marketing your apps.

I notice a shift as well, that more people are buying "free" apps and using in app purchasing. If you look at the top grossing apps, many of them are free with in app purchases.

I think the trend will be shifting towards more "free" games with incentives, and in app purchases, but we shall see!

Photics

First... I don't know what's up with the tag. This is a pretty optimistic thread

Mammoth said:
Im excited about everything. I know that most of these developments will ultimately be good for me.

Yeah, it looks like there are some really good things on the way.

old_kipper said:
but for the moment it is apps on iOS for me with some promo in other areas.

Are you planning to use HTML 5 as some of that promo?

butterbean said:
I don't think HTML5 will hurt app sales at all.. I think the app store will stay strong for a long time, even with Facebook games, I don't think the app store will hurt, and there's still plenty of opportunity to make money.

Unless Facebook can replicate the App store, and it's seamless experience, I don't think apple has anything to worry about.

It seems like lots of companies are trying to get into the App Store thing... like Google, Amazon... and maybe Microsoft might catch up. If FaceBook joins the party, that's another market. Apple is still my favorite though. I like their online retail experience.

Here's some good news...
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/gamesalad.com

It looks like a nice traffic spike for GameSalad. It's actually a great marketing strategy... get people playing the games... and it encourages them to make the games. Heh, that's likely more competition for our games though... so it's not all good news. Although, not every one wants to be a game developer, so it does mean a lot more players learning about GameSalad games.

butterbean

Wow that's great news. I think HTML5 is great for devs, but even better for GS with marketing, and traffic. Either way, it's a step in the right direction, with many more things to come!

On the flip side competition is good for devs too, I've noticed that apps have become more polished as time passes, and that's good for GS, and the community.

Will be interesting to see how the other app markets do.

Here's one article on the prospect of the FB app store.
It talks about Apple's seamless experience vs Facebook's method of searching for apps. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-app-store-2011-6

Dizko

Well to be honest if you're at all serious about being a true professional game developer, you have to at some point look beyond GameSalad and even beyond Apple products.

GS and iPhone development is a great stepping stone, but at some point you have to graduate to something more advanced.

EDIT: Also, I think people need to understand that there is very little to be gained as a developer for having loyalty to a piece of software. Ultimately you have to use whatever tool is right for the job and if GS isn't it, then so be it.

Photics

Dizko said:
Well to be honest if you're at all serious about being a true professional game developer, you have to at some point look beyond GameSalad and even beyond Apple products.

It's a fair statement, but I don't think it has to be exclusive. I think that GameSalad should actively combat the notion that GameSalad is like elementary school, Corona is Junior High and Unity is High School.

Instead, I think it's better for the future of technology to get away from raw code. Sure, if you want to edit code, you should have the option. But just like WYSIWYG editors for creating web pages, game development should work the same way.

An example is Flash. That's software for creating apps. It's considered professional software. Yet, I think GameSalad is better at creating apps.

Flash is not as strong as it once was. Considering that Apple doesn't support Flash on iOS, opportunity has been created. What will fill that void? If you're a web developer and you want to make sure that your animated web page works on all browsers, what software would you use to quickly create content? I think GameSalad could be that software... and be more professional software.

Create once... no code... export everywhere.
I think that's cool.

Xpandemic

Check this article out, might make you think twice http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/06/whos-going-to-save-the-world-wide-web/