.app export?
jamdis
Member Posts: 2
Someone already raised this question indirectly, but just to be clear: are there any plans to add simple .app export? I don't see it on the roadmap, but thought I'd ask anyway. This would make the software a lot more exciting for me.
Comments
But currently, the plan is you would need to go through us to make a .app. More details to come on that when it becomes available.
Not to sound combative, but it's beginning to sound like Gendai is only holding back this obviously desirable and simple feature simply as a means to establish themselves as the sole distributor of GameSalad created games. I hope I am wrong about this, because I am very excited by what I have seen of this software so far. I understand that the shifting state of intellectual property means that small software companies need to find new ways to make their products profitable. Apple has created an interesting model with the iPhone by creating a platform, and then (jailbreaks aside) appointing themselves the sole arbiters of what software will and will not be available for it. Gendai seems to be attempting a similar role as sub-gatekeepers. You can easily create iphone games with Gendai's software, but actually distributing it will require passing through Gendai at some point. Unless this is a free and fully automatic process (which would make it pointless for Gendai) I can only see this being very frustrating.
This isn't a matter of Gendai's (or Apple's) "right" to do this. Gendai has the right to do whatever they want with their software. It's the fruit of their own hard work, after all. I'm just afraid that this will lead to a software tool that is less than it could be.
I'm not trying to start a flame war. I realize that I'm drawing some pretty broad conclusions here, and that I could be just plain mistaken about the direction Gendai is headed with this. The idea of democratizing the art of game design (especially for mac users) is so good and so powerful, I don't want to see it watered down before it gets out the door.
However as you alluded to, we are a business and as such, in order to continue improving and expanding onto GameSalad, we need a way to sustain the business. Because of that what we have designed is a way to keep the tools and web publishing free for all - including hobbyists, indie developers, and educational institutes - and be able to charge those wishing to use GameSalad as a conduit to making their own profitable games – i.e. on the iPhone. We think that is a fair deal for developers who otherwise wouldn’t be able to create a game at all, or would find the costs too prohibitive. The other alternative is to sell our tools, which goes against our goal of creating an accessible system to learn and play on.
For those wishing to monetize their game creations, we’ve put a lot of thought into how we are going to handle the process of obtaining a license free exported game build (whether .app or any other version we decide to support) and we feel very confidant that it will be a much more convenient and easy process than what you’d normally have to go through.
Our plans are not yet finalized, but we ask for your patience as we move forward on our commitment to break down the barriers of game development.