Just thinking out loud

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Gamesalad has to decide if it's a software development company or an app developer. You have the foundation of a great piece of software and it seems you are hunting for ways to make money, which is totally understandable. From a developer perspective, build a great piece of software with a great interface with layers like Photoshop or Apple's motion and if you sold it for say $300 or so, I would gladly pay that for software and come out every year with a new updated version like the rest of the software developers and I would pay to upgrade. The glitches and the jagged workflow of the interface needs work. Straighten that out and you should have a solid company moving forward. Focus and decide. Software company or developer. Many of us are building businesses around your software and are willing to pay a one-time fee to purchase a version and pay for upgrades but first you have to decide what you are.

As someone who holds a well established franchise, Kate Gleeson's Little Beasties, which sold 5million copies of children books with Golden, we are using GameSalad as our development platform and we are betting our future with you guys. All I'm reflecting is on many of us who have big bucks invested in the success of your platform and hope you succeed in building a great software company and product!

David F. Souza
Gleeson Group, LLC.
Creative Partner

quantumsheep

Hello! It's me from upstairs!

I'm not affiliated with GameSalad in any way btw - I just help out on the forums a bit!

As to your point - A lot of issues I've personally had with Gamesalad are down to the fact that we use the software day in, day out, and can spot things that are broken, not working at their best or just plain redundant in some cases.

I was a senior designer on an MMO, and the feedback from the players was always the most valuable - because, while we were spending our time designing stuff, they were *playing* the game - much like we *use* this software.

It ends up the people using the software actually spend more time with it than those making it, and can spot the mistakes far easier!

So an actual game-making unit within GS is, I think, a step in the right direction. It will hopefully highlight the issues that people using it on a daily basis run into faster, and will help improve the software.

Additionally, to go back to my Platform holder/first party analogy I made earlier, I think it's still relevant.

Every platform holder has first party titles. Even Xbox had Halo (made by Bungie, who'd been bought by Microsoft - ergo first party).

Indeed I'd argue that the first party titles serve many purposes:

Firstly, they generate huge amounts of money (as they don't pay licensing fees that third parties do).

Secondly, they are usually the 'best' titles (at least technically) available at the launch of a new platform as first parties have earlier access to the hardware itself.

Thirdly, it acts as 'security' in a way - promoting the platform, while also ensuring the platform holder isn't reliant on third party licensing fees alone to generate revenue (In the case of GS, it's like creating another possible revenue stream that doesn't rely just on *us* buying the software).

So I actually disagree with you that GS needs to decide to be one thing or another. I think it can be both, and, as I understand it, GSTeamOne is just a handful of people. It's not as though there are huge resources missing from the main tool building team. It's just an 'add-on' as it were.

It's certainly an interesting discussion though!

Cheers,

QS

tenrdrmer

+1 QS

I fundamentally agree with everything you have said.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I do agree with your well formed argument! I just would like to see this software really mature. I certainly understand the gaming element, as I was a member of Sony's Gamer Advisory Panel and it is important. I have great expectations for GS which is why we kept their splash screen at the start of our apps. We made a thought-out choice to publicly associate our brand with the company. Sometimes playing a bit of the devils advocate can help shape a vision. I'm in no way attempting to be critical, to the contrary, I love this software and earnestly crave a much more refined product and willing to pay for it.

quantumsheep

dsouza41 said:
I do agree with your well formed argument! I just would like to see this software really mature. I certainly understand the gaming element, as I was a member of Sony's Gamer Advisory Panel and it is important. I have great expectations for GS which is why we kept their splash screen at the start of our apps. We made a thought-out choice to publicly associate our brand with the company. Sometimes playing a bit of the devils advocate can help shape a vision. I'm in no way attempting to be critical, to the contrary, I love this software and earnestly crave a much more refined product and willing to pay for it.

I think it's awesome that you keep the GS splash screen on your apps - I am not that brave!

And we seem to come from opposite 'sides' as it were - I was a Game Evaluator at Microsoft - helping developers make better games, and assisting marketing in spotting the 'hits' for the launch of the original Xbox and beyond

Having said all that I said in my previous post though, I too wish they'd put all their resources into making the tool as good as it could be - I always groan when I hear about new platforms being added to publishing, or stuff that just doesn't actually help me make a better game, but instead just 'monetize' all the time (I'm thinking iAds and IAP in particular - I think they have their place, but not at the expense of a better tool, more features such as arrays and GameCenter achievements, and connectivity such as Facebook/Twitter integration).

However, the small amount of resources put into making their own games won't, I don't believe, impact the evolution of the tool itself. Which is why I don't mind it so much, and actually think it might help serve us all better in future.

QS

mithrawept

Lots of companies do more than one thing. Diversification is a good way for businesses to aid their stability. So I would suggest it's a good thing.

Also, would you trust a chef who doesn't eat their own food?

T8TRG8TR

I love gamesalad but I think of they really organized their interface it would make development a lot easier.

It's almost too simple right now and the simplicity makes it difficult... which seems like it wouldn't make sense but it does.