Capability of GameSalad

Teeb

Hi there,

New to GameSalad, looks like you have a wonderful community here so I thought I might pose a few questions to you regarding the tool's abilities in terms of mechanics design.

I'd be most grateful if you could clarify the following things for me:

1. Does GameSalad support the procedural generation of actors in an infinitely scrolling scene? If this is possible, can these generated actors spawn according to a flexible rule set? So say I was to generate blocks of differing sizes within the scene, would I be able to define how many appear, in what size, their distance from each other etc? Would they be able to self-destruct upon leaving the scene if they haven't been affected by the protagonist prior to their departure?

2. What sort of size in MB should I aim for in a released application for the iPhone? What about the iPad?

3. What should I expect to pay review blogs such as Touch Arcade etc. to review my application? What other forms of publicity have you guys used in the past that have been successful for you in getting your game heard of?

4. If the idea of a procedurally generated, side scrolling scene were off-limits in terms of GameSalad's capability as a design tool, would an incredibly long, single scene be a viable alternative?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and hope to hear from you all soon.

Teeb

Teeb

Also,

5. Is it possible to augment the speed at which an actor travels over time? Say after 30 seconds of playtime, the main actor gains velocity, and again at 1 minute etc. or possibly once certain invisible checkpoints have been reached?

muoch10

yes to everything, aim for under 20 mb for iphone and im not sure for ipad. Advertising from what i have heard wont help much, mainly luck and a good game will give you publicity. If you need help with making any of these things you can ask us on the forums, we have a really good community!

mynameisace

Hey there,

Welcome aboard

1. Yeah, that's totally do-able, most 2D things you can think of are do-able in Gamesalad. Some may take a crazy thought process, but usually they can be done.
2. There isn't a limit to what size your compiled app is, although if the app is under 20MB then people can download it from the app store on a 3G connection instead of wi-fi.
3. Marketing is most people's downfall. Most people finish their game, upload it to the app store and expect instant success. Some smart marketing will really help get the name out about your game!
4. Scene sizes can pretty much be whatever, it's what's in the scene that counts towards the limits. Most unlimited scenes can be achieved in one scene.
5. Yeah, that is easily achieved.

If you have any more questions, just post them in the forums and people will help out, you're welcome to add me to Skype aceconnell or email me hello@mynameisace.com

I'm also holding a free live webinar next week and will be covering some basics as well as advanced stuff... The thread for this is at http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/37216/ and you can submit a question/topic to be featured in the webinar at http://www.mynameisace.com/webinar

Hope that helps

Ace

Teeb

Thank you very much for your detailed and informative responses!

I can now begin my design in confidence that GameSalad will be able to accomodate my idea.. although expect many more questions from me, as I'm primarily an artist and not a great logical thinker you see, so I'll have lots of queries. Willing to offer stylistic advice/critique to anyone who's struggling with their games' aesthetics!

Since I've already tagged this post and my main question has been answered.. could anyone possibly elaborate on techniques through which to achieve the 'endless level'? Or point me in the right cookbook direction?

Thanks

Teeb

muoch10

If i understand correctly, you want actors spawned and move down the scene to give the illusion of an infinite scene?

Teeb

Exactly that ^ I just watched one of tshirtbooth's video tutorials and I think I understand what I need to do now. There is one thing however - how do I tile an actor so that it continues repeating throughout the whole scene as it progresses?

Say, in the most basic instance, an actor that is the 'floor' of the level, and runs horizontally along the bottom of the scene. I'd make the graphic about 1000px wide, but would want it to continue appearing as the screen scrolls along sideways. Is using a spawner the way to do this?

muoch10

So what your saying is you have a scene, lets say 1000 pixels wide, and you want an actor to stick on top of the screen as the scene moves? Like a game controller?