Deciding to publish or not before engine release

Team6Labs

It's awful not being able to have a timeframe for the new engine. I recently completed making an app that uses voiceovers and I really want to know if the new engine will make a difference.

Should I go ahead and publish or wait x amount of time for new engine?

blorsch

I say wait. Just my opinion.

jonmulcahy

My person opinion, if it works now, publish it. That lua free engine could come in the next few mths, but I. Think it won't be out till early 2013

LiquidGameworks

I'm with @jonmulcahy

If it works, publish it. You can super optimize and get most games to function well enough that customers won't know the difference. If you think your game is good enough to sell, then imagine all the lost revenue you might miss out on by waiting. A new engine is not the savior I think everyone thinks it is. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, but faster loading times for a crappy game only guarantees that a crappy game is loaded quicker. Besides, I think jon might be shooting for the "under" with his early 2013 prediction. When it was first announced a year ago, it was scheduled for spring 2012. I'm hoping to be surprised, but not counting on it.

jonmulcahy

The other thing to worry about, there is no guarantee your project is going to work in the new engine without some reworking. Its an entire new engine, workarounds that worked before might be fixed, causing your project to break. It's happened to me before back around .6 or .7, it'll happen again.

If your project is done, I'd publish it.

ultima

haha.. welcome to game salad, publish while you can. j/k. i agree with Jon, no reason to wait fail fast and start over again. the company that made angry bird made some 16 games before that.. instagram owner didn't start off with instagram.. and the list goes on.

wurwag

Makes me wonder where this attitude "if your game is crappy/terrible" comes from.
I thought the question was about quality of the end product and if it can be made even better with the new engine.

kinzua

@wurwag the idea of saying is.. if your candy is good enuf, the wrapper won't be a judgement factor

wurwag

@wurwag the idea of saying is.. if your candy is good enuf, the wrapper won't be a judgement factor

Very true But if talking about quality products, which feedback would you like more? "great candy in bad wrapper" or "great candy in excellent wrapper" ? If sales are what you're after I think you go for the excellent wrapper as well?

921creative

I have to say I've watched all the squabbling back and forth about the engine update and it's pretty tedious. Bottom line. If you know your game will benefit from the improved engine, just BE PATIENT. I released Night of the Firefly back in May because I had a deadline, knowing I'd rather wait. I'm simply not updating or marketing the game until GS goes Lua free. In the meantime, I'm working on a simpler game that will work great on the current engine. Of course no one wants to feel constrained by their software or engine or wait a few more months to start raking in App Store gold, but there are alternatives to plastering the forums with demands for a release date, such as WORKING ON YOUR GAME. That is all.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

This stuff makes me laugh. Why would you invest time in making a game that doesn't perform well in your chosen development environment? Why wouldn't you put that idea on the back burner and work on an idea that your current tool can handle? This would be like Apple building a 5g phone and complaining Version and AT&T need to build a 5g network. This is where is say game development may be for everyone but business sense isn't. Walt Disney always built up his animation technology film by film often pushing his epic ideas down the road until the tech caught up. I always laugh when people make illadvised business moves and then complain to GS. Everyone thinks they're going to be the next angry birds...you have better luck of getting stuck by lightning. Maybe it's time to roll out sticky fingers inc again.....;)

wurwag

This stuff makes me laugh. Why would you invest time in making a game that doesn't perform well in your chosen development environment? Why wouldn't you put that idea on the back burner and work on an idea that your current tool can handle? This would be like Apple building a 5g phone and complaining Version and AT&T need to build a 5g network. This is where is say game development may be for everyone but business sense isn't. Walt Disney always built up his animation technology film by film often pushing his epic ideas down the road until the tech caught up. I always laugh when people make illadvised business moves and then complain to GS. Everyone thinks they're going to be the next angry birds...you have better luck of getting stuck by lightning. Maybe it's time to roll out sticky fingers inc again.....;)

Where does the OP say the current GS does not handle the project? Question was if the new engine will make things even better and there for worth the wait.

I'm new here but looks like any tiny question about the new engine is read as an attack against GS This makes me laugh.

tenrdrmer

@wurwag The issue is not that GS is under attack. Its that we are sick of the My game isn't good enough because of GS. And the OP question implies their game could somehow do better for sales if GS would release a better performing Engine. Its just not the case though.

The New Engine is going to make Great games load faster and its going to make really crappy games load faster. Its not going to make the game better.

If your app is done and it plays well now, then, release it to the world and see how it does. Hell a performance improvement is a great reason to send in an update with nearly no changes anyway so the new engine is going to give you that excuse.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

And what if after all that work it can't be easily converted to the new lua free version? Then what? I bet I could already write the posts. "I've been working on this game forever, blah, blah, blah and I was waiting for the new engine, blah, blah, blah and now I have to redo the whole thing'!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yeah it would be like that. I know because that's how it always is around here and after a year he'll quit like all the rest who have came complained and left. Because the couldn't cut it because they thought they would be the next best thing overnight and reinvent the gaming industry with one game...please give the egos a rest. I love the post oh this game does stuff nobody has done with GS..and they never live up to the hype. There are like what 30,000 some GS users and maybe a short list of like 50 that have done anything worth attention and on one hand you can count the guys who made real money. This is the reality of it.

wurwag

@wurwag The issue is not that GS is under attack. Its that we are sick of the My game isn't good enough because of GS.

Blaming tools is just plain stupid, too bad if people does that here.
But when you give something to people, they want more and better and faster. That's how it is and that's how it's always going to be (especially with paying customers)

I have no idea what the new engine is about and what improvements it's going to have,
but good gaming comes from the overall experience and great first impression is often the key to its success. Faster loading times goes right into that sector. Very important I would say

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Then get a better tool oh but you'll pay over $2000 for some like unity but it has all the features they could ever want but you get what you pay for and then it takes more work to learn and most GS users not the ones with staying power pop in hoping to put in little work and making a fast buck...yeah good luck with that.

lycettebros

One point I'd add is that iOS 6 is now expected to be supported for new App submissions. I am not sure what the official line is for the current GS version and iOS 6 but it is another requirement to add to the list for GS to implement.

Speed/engine issues are not as important to me as supporting the latest OS or device changes. The ability to publish Universal builds (ipad, ipad2, ipad3, iphone3 iphone4, iphone5) for the latest OS is more imperative to GS staying relevant than speed...in my opinion.

GS are so quiet and the list is getting longer - I really hope they are up to all the constant changes.

ultima

ya i guess, as far as speed we can always do our best to work with our assets and optimize code. but benefits such as universal build and new features also resolutions basically caps our ability to advance into those areas. As far as putting others down (not calling out names) let's keep it to a minimum.. i mean after all, this platform claims to be targeted at game creation for all, which means we are gonna have people who are fresh in the game all the time, but they are also keeping the platform alive. Recently there's been a lot of pro developers entering the scene and I'm really happy that that's happening. it means more learning for the rest of us.

entersimon

Make solid code and you can minimize your fear of the engine switch.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Let me clarify my point. I love GS it is a great tool but it is what it is a limited 2d non code environment. With the great challenge of making a tool that takes complex code across multiple platforms is not easy. Adding things like multiplayer and networking capabilities into a non code environment is difficult. If you have ever worked with the code involved to do such things one would understand this. GS is a small startup with limited staff and revenue. GS could easily do this if they added a coding editor to their environment but then they wouldn't be a non code engine and be competing with proven established platforms like Unity. If you really desire these things now there is software to accomplish what you want. I use both GS and Unity. GS allows me to create great 2d games that can work in it's limits and for those ideas where I desire more horsepower I do it in Unity which means coding and more work but that is the cost of custom power.