Both impressed and let down - whats gonna change?

JamesZeppelin

So first i am happy as of now with game salad. And let me say that i would never judge a final product by its beta.

There are just some major short comings that scare me a little. And i wonder what patch will take them into account.

Performance for one. The Iphone can handle same crazy graphics. Even the Gen One deveces can play some good 3d. Yet GS bogs down with really basic 2d stuff.

So i am wondering does it basically function like an emulator that plays GS games on the iphone? That would explain things. The behaviors remind me of emulator jitters and jumps.

Crashes are the second issue. I have never in my life been so married to the save button.

The reason i ask is because patches have come and these issues seem to just linger like they are just the norm.

I mean does anyone have any suggestions or is the dev team hunting for the "leak" or glitch that is hanging the program. Would my crashlogs help etc.

When it acts up it goes crazy it will crash 10 or more times in a row after only being open for about 20 seconds.

Again im happy and having fun and will likely stay on GS even after CS5 comes out (probably just more hype than anything anyways). this community alone makes it awesome here.

Breezeonhold

I love GS because it's no programming!! It's so much faster to develop a game now. However I agree...

"Crashes are the second issue. I have never in my life been so married to the save button."

It does crash A LOT and that's one issue that needs to be fixed.

quantumsheep

"Crashes are the second issue. I have never in my life been so married to the save button."

That made me chuckle! It's sooooo true

Sparkyidr

Yeah, the crashing is a bit of a pain. As is the mem leak/slowdown issue with the editor.
The crashing of the viewer in certain situations (using the accelerometer) is grating.

I love the software in general though. Has allowed me to get up and running in a much faster time than would have been possible without it.

Looking forward to what the team can achieve moving forward in the beta.

rebump

I'm liking it. It is *way* faster at letting you get things done as opposed to generating an app the "original" way but it does have its limitations.

I would surmise that the iphone apps that are generated for the iPhone/Touch are somewhere between an "original" style app and an emulator style app in terms of performance probably swaying more toward the emulator side. Reason being, they have to build the GS framework and execution pipeline to be very open/versatile in terms of supporting new features and what folks may want to do with the tool. Kind of a system within a system...thus the emulator thought.

I think performance will always be a factor when compared to an "original" style app.

Once the 1st gen devices fade and also when the 3rd generation devices surface, we will reach a happy compromise.

My only fear is I hope the GS folks are managing burn rate appropriately so they will be around for us to use the tool and if not, at least offer us the chance to acquire the tool to convert our GS projects into apps. :-) But I hope it never comes down to that. I hope they continue to improve and make this product a great tool for us all. I just hope I can make enough to warrant the Pro edition.

quantumsheep

I have to say that's always been my main fear - that this all goes south and then... well, I don't want to think about it!

JamesZeppelin

Yes i would hate to see that happen, thats why worry about those issues especially the crash.

For the most part we are a fairly small group and we understand its beta. So, we all pitch in to give advice and grow the program. I think the problem comes in when someone else comes out with something like Game Salad.

If it was just as awesome and didn't crash a lot of folks would bolt. Personally not me just because i get set in my ways and i like it here. like i said before a community means a lot to me.