any news?

zombotszombots Member Posts: 186
edited November -1 in Introductions
havnt herd any news in a while. whats happening? any news on the preview app? its been in submission to apple for a while. did it get rejected?
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Comments

  • TobyToby Member Posts: 478
    Touch, It's on the App store. However, yes.... any news? New beta release perhaps with iPhone WIFI testing capability? New features perhaps, issues you might be having with the beta build etc.
  • superNESsuperNES Member Posts: 166
    Hi there. We did hear back from Apple last week and unfortunately the app was rejected. We're not totally surprised by this, though we will continue to try to get it approved. Since we kinda expected this would take some time, we've been working on an alternative for a while now, so we're not worried about it at all. We'll have more information for you guys soon!
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    What reason did they give for rejecting it? Any clue that you can give us on the "alternative"??
  • SDMGSDMG Member Posts: 280
    is this because you are not allowed to run interpreted code on the iphone??
    I have read about a C64 emulator that was rejected because of this reason... ;(
  • daxx2kdaxx2k Member Posts: 10
    Other engises got approved why game salad is not ?
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    I'm not aware of any other engines that get approved for something on the scope of what GS is trying to do. Apple does not allow interpreted code on the iPhone. Thats what I'm figuring is the reason for rejecting it. But I guess we'll see..
  • sewinstonsewinston Member Posts: 51
    If it's about the code then how did flutterby get aproved for the app store?
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    Flutterby is not considered interpreted code. Flutterby was converted into normal iPhone code. Or at least acceptable code. The theory behind GS (from what I understand) is we are creating the game then they compile into a normal iphone type code. That's the basic concept. The Viewer just runs the basic code BEFORE it gets compiled, therefore it is not code native to the iphone, & therefore rejected. Apple doesn't allow a program to run it's own 'Code'. Hence the C64 emulator getting rejected as well.

    EDIT - Any GS Mod can give any more info on this?

    "What reason did they give for rejecting it? Any clue that you can give us on the "alternative"??"
  • superNESsuperNES Member Posts: 166
    As JCary indicated, Flutterby the game is different from GameSalad Viewer. Once we've launched, you will be able to submit a game in the same format as we did for Flutterby, so there shouldn't be any worry on whether it will be accepted or not due to the way it was compiled.

    Unfortunately, we are unable to disclose the reasons for the rejection of the app. However I will say that we will continue to do whatever we can to see it on the App Store. In the meantime, our "alternative" will be able to fully bridge the gap until it gets accepted.
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    Good enough for me.
  • sewinstonsewinston Member Posts: 51
    Me too. Any idea when the "alternative" be ready?

    On a side note, wasn't the sega genesis games outed as being an emulator that ran the original roms? How is that any different then what GS is trying to do?
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    GS won't be running a 'rom'. It will be like playing any normal iPhone game. The GS team will compile into iPhone code basically.

    If you're speaking of the GS Viewer, that's different. The Viewer basically is exactly like that, as it stands now.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    How many downloads if I dare ask has Flutterby seen to this date?
  • SDMGSDMG Member Posts: 280
    As far as i know Apple Developers are not allowed to talk about their sales ;(

    But there is a tool called MajicRank that let you track the sales ranking of every app in the different categorys of each country...
    You need the Apple-ID of the app to run MagicRank...
    You are getting the AppleID of each app by right clicking the App-Icon in the AppStore copying the URL... the Apple ID has 9 Numbers and is part of the URL...

    In some other forums i have read that its pretty easy to get listed in a subcategory like games/musik or games/educational ... for the 15th place in such a subcategory in Germany for example you only need 2-5 sales per day...

    What means nothing else that most of the apps that are listed in any subcategories and are not in the top100 simply don't have any sales or just 1-2... ;)
  • SDMGSDMG Member Posts: 280
    Its called MajicRank! not MagicRank ;)
  • guru-at-zidwareguru-at-zidware Member Posts: 369
    Hi..

    Perhaps follow the model of iTGB (Torque 2d). Have the game editor create
    the DSO resource files, main.cs, (and whatever else) is needed, import into a
    basic XCode build. Then as iPhone developers we continue with the app process
    through Apple.

    Game Salad Editor (GSE) for Iphone would have 2 price points. Indie and Pro
    with 2 sets of prices to purchase the editor, handle licensing, start screens, etc.

    Just an idea to help all involved. I don't mind paying a *fair* price to be able to get
    my games out to the masses on iPhone.

    John Popadiuk
    Zidware, Inc.
    Chicago - USA
    zidware.com
  • shwinstershwinster Member Posts: 23
    I agree with guru@zidware. I looked at torque and that seems to have a good buisness model. I think most people would prefer paying for the software instead of paying on a per app basis just because we may come out with more than a few great apps. Knowing the people makes me believe thats possible. (I'm an optimist)
  • TobyToby Member Posts: 478
    Torque is ok, but it's $1,000 for the engine then an extra $500 for the iPhone capability.
    Then there are different fees and rules around publishing eeuuuuwwwyuk!

    OPTION 1:

    The GameSalad engine could be free, and fully distributable.

    You pay an annual $100 to be a member of the community, forums, technical help. More if you are a business.

    Users create the App or Games using the engine (Which is great by the way, careful Apple does not buy you!)

    Gamesalad is the middleman, working with the author and handling the upload and approval process with Apple and App store.

    GameSalad takes a small 10 or 20 percent of any sales and sends the rest (%50) to the author.

    OPTION 2:

    The GameSalad engine can be purchased outright ($500 is reasonable), allowing compiling in the SDK with the click of a button, all within GS. You pay an annual $50 to be a member of the community, forums, technical help. More if you are a business.

    Users create the App or Games using the engine.

    Author handles the upload and approval process with Apple and App store and gets 70% of sales.
  • KamazarKamazar Member Posts: 287
    I'm leaning toward option 2. While $500 at the moment is kinda freaking me out (sophomores aren't the richest of people), I'd rather do that than have Gendai Games take a chunk out of my sales. I am against the $50 to be part of the community, though. The community is what makes all this possible, and it seems unreasonable that we have to pay to share knowledge, experience, etc.

    If there were an option 3, I'd sat I'm open to paying, say, $250-$300 for GameSalad, and $50 per app compiled. And maybe 25% off every 5th app or something would be cool.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    I myself will not use GameSalad if royalties are taken.

    I think a fee per game distributed would be the best option, or pay for the program in full, and also charge a fee per game distributed through Gamesalad.

    I'm also all for advertising them in the beginning of my game, and saying this game was created with the GameSalad engine as well, but royalties paid to GS would be a deal breaker for me, and I don't feel I am alone in this :(

    Anyone from GameSalad staff care to comment on the above comments? Any ideas of where you're going with pricing?
  • ktfrightktfright Member Posts: 964
    i remember seeing a while back that devs get 100% royalties.
  • SDMGSDMG Member Posts: 280
    Butterbean21 you are not alone ;) ...

    I for myself would defintitly prefer Option 2 ... maybee i would use gamesalad for 1 or 2 games if only option 1 is available, but the moment another "easy to use"-engine arrives and has the possibilities of option 2 i would try to change the engine...

    ;( hopefully GendaiGames finds a solution for everyone...
  • scitunesscitunes Member, Sous Chef Posts: 4,047
    It would be nice if there was some kind of "thank you deal" for people who have been using the beta and providing feedback. I am assuming that it has helped gendai make gamesalad what it is and what it will be.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    I was looking at SDMG's posting above, and it said that unless the apps are in the top 100, you're looking at 1-2 downloads, is that per day?

    Just curious if anyone knows on average how many downloads an app not in the top 100 can receive, or is it a crap shoot?

    Thanks!
  • CAmaninacanCAmaninacan Member Posts: 11
    I have 5 apps on the app store 3 are free and two are .99. for the free ones I get about 30 downloads a day and for the paid about 1 a day.

    Hopefully that helps a little bit Butterbean21
  • SDMGSDMG Member Posts: 280
    Hi Butterbean21, yes i have meant 1-2 sales per day for apps that are listed at position 30+ in subcategories like games/education or games/music.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Thanks guys that helps to know :)

    Is it true to get in the top 100 on the app store that developers first allow the game as a free download, and if they get enough, they switch over to paid, and still end up in the top 100 because they don't restart the count from unpaid to paid apps?
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    By the way, never heard of Torque, what's the diff between that and GameSalad?
  • SDMGSDMG Member Posts: 280
    you have to know programming in a c++ like script-language to use Torque...
    I would prefer unity3D with an easier to learn javascript-like language with better documentation...

    Both packages are far more complicated than gamesalad... But on the other hand you are more flexible and more things are possible...

    Oh... and both are not free... ;)

    For me Unity is simply too expensive at the moment ... the cheaper version loads with a Splashscreen that stands for more than 10 sec. on your iphone ...what is inacceptable, while the pro-version costs about 3.000$ ... and nearly every game you export with unity has more than 10 MB ;(

    Well a lot of money when you are not pretty sure that your game sells more than 1-2 times a day ;))
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Yeah, sounds like GameSalad is still the best route! :)

    I had no idea the downloads were only 1-2 a day on average, but I guess that makes sense given how the app store is flooded with apps and games

    Is it true though that if you offer it free, and it gets a ton of downloads that you can then switch over to paid, and the count still stays up, and you could end up in the top 100?

    What's the strategy on that?
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