File Size Requirements

xacto

So... I just found an awesome soundtrack for my game and set up some nice fade ins and fade outs with the new MUSIC commands. After getting the proper artist permissions and making the music just right, I hit publish to upload my shinny new update. BOOM! I get a message saying it must me smaller the 10 MB. oh-oh.....

I guess we can not request for higher space requirements? (hint-hint) Any ideas how to compress it?

DJ'Xacto
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Starfire
http://gamesalad.com/game/play/8901

quantumsheep

Hey mate,

I think Apple prefer it if you use sound files that are mono at 22khz.

Additionally, the 10MB limit is there because most phone providers that supply the iphone won't allow you to download anything over that limit directly to the phone unless you're using wifi.

sewinston

I keep seeing questions about the 10meg limit for the GS website, can we get any kind of official word from a head chef if that will apply to the iphone as well?

Cobra

Hey Xacto,

You may be able to save some considerable space by further compressing your audio. What format / bitrate are you currently using? How many minutes of music do you have in your game?

butterbean

It was my understanding that the 10mb limit was for the website only, but in publishing games to itunes, it can be over 10mb, but those that wish to purchase will have to download via wifi.... is this correct?

quantumsheep

Butterbean,

I always assumed all games made with GS had to be below 10MB

Which is worrying me as I'm at around 7MB and haven't put many sounds in yet! :O

butterbean

"Games are limited to 10MB if you want to upload it to our website"

Looking under the Wiki, this states to me that they have to be 10mb or under to "upload them to GS website"

What about exporting games to the App Store?? I'm assuming it's okay to go over the 10mb limit with that otherwise it would be quite limiting for us as developers to make bigger games

sewinston

I agree with Butterbean, however it would still be nice if we could get some kind of confirmation from a master chef.

xacto

Oh well... looks like I will have to remove all my music - I compressed them to 16bit mono and I am still over.

I have been looking at other ways to cut down files size; cutting my graphic and sound files but I am still hitting around 15MB. Looks like I am maxing the system out. Back to work.

--------------------------------
StarFire
http://gamesalad.com/game/play/8901

CodeMonkey

did you try making the music files into m4a files for the Play Music behavior?

butterbean

So what's the verdict, can we still make games over 10mb in size to submit to apple? Just not to upload on GameSalad site?

Cobra

@Xacto:
Since you mention the new "music" behavior, it sounds like you're working with .m4A AAC files, is that correct?

16-bit is standard and should be fine. Mono will save some space, but 1) it may suck the life out of your music mix, and 2) it may not save as much as you'd think. I am finding that my .m4a AAC mono files are almost as large as stereo files, but perhaps that is just the way my audio software packages things.

What matters most is the bitrate, which is typically either 128 or 192. If it's 192, you can reduce it to 128 with an almost imperceptible loss in quality. If it's 128, you can reduce it further, but keep your ears open. (The high end will be the first thing to go -- listen to the cymbals.) This works exactly as advertised: a one-minute stereo .m4a AAC file should be right around 1.5MB using a bitrate of 192, 1.0MB using a bitrate of 128, 500K using a bitrate of 64, etc.

If you don't have a program that can make this change, I would recommend Max (http://sbooth.org/Max), which is free and can do batch converting between many different file types.

superNES

We do not have an explicit file size limit when it comes to iPhone games, however it'd be in your best interest to keep it under 10MB since otherwise it could only be purchased if the customer is connected to wifi - per Apple's restrictions.

There's different ways to conserve file size - make sure there aren't redundant assets floating around your project, ensure images are rendered at game display size (or smaller), use jpgs if your image allows it, bring down bitrates and shorten audio, etc. If anyone has other suggestions, feel free to post them. Thanks for the questions!

ktfright

Totally off topic, but xacto, we can get forum sigs now?!?!?! :O

quantumsheep

Yes, yes we can!

--------------------------

Quantum Sheep
http://www.quantum-sheep.com/

ktfright

How?

quantumsheep

Well what I did was this:

I wrote what I wanted to say.

Pressed 'Return' a couple of times...

Then pressed the '-' key a load of times. Like this: ------------------

Then under that I wrote some more stuff, and put in a link

Which is why there's a smiley winky face in my last post

Like this:

ktfright

QS, I am soooooo embarrased right now. Well, all sous chefs have those n00b dayz.

:P

xacto

@ superNES, what if we plan on making a game that will be web imbedded only... or is game salad moving towards just the iphone development? Any plans on exporting to a runtime Mac application?

@Cobra, that is VERY helpful information. I will see what I can do to compress. You need to post that info on the gamesalads WIKI. I am sure there are many people who could benefit from your expertise on sound.

@ Quantumsheep - you made funny!

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StarFire
http://gamesalad.com/game/play/8901

quantumsheep

No worries KT - I'm glad you took it as it was intended

And Xacto, every time I think of a game idea I make funny!

Back on topic, I've reduced my game from 7MB to just over 4MB by going back and trimming the graphics down to a more reasonable size. As you can see, it's made a huge difference, and it runs much better now as well.

superNES

@xacto - We plan on addressing the ability to release games larger than 10MB in the future, however that will happen after iPhone publishing is implemented. And no, GameSalad is too big to be restricted just to the iPhone...

butterbean

SuperNES, but you said earlier there are no explicit restrictions in game size, so will we be able to export a game over 10mb to the iphone, or will that happen after the publishing is implemented?

Sorry, just clarifying

superNES

@butterbean - I was referring to Xactos question about web publishing. To be crystal clear:

Games for the iPhone can be bigger than 10MB. We don't recommend it but it's totally up to each developer.

Games for the web are limited to 10MB as it's always been.

butterbean

Thanks SuperNES

I'm debating on the number of levels I was going to create for one of my bigger games now b/c of the 10mb recommendation...

Do games sell considerably less when they are over the 10mb limit?

I noticed that some games in the top 100 like "Alive forever" are over 10mb but seem to be doing well...

So basically, should you shorten your game just to get it under 10mb, or do more levels, create more value, and hope that it will sell well.... I've been trimming images down, and music files as well but the way my game is, I don't think it would be possible to get it under 10mb

xacto

Strange....

OK, so I went through my entire game and sampled all my sounds down and went through all my graphic and reduced them to the smallest size possible. However, I can only get it down to about 12.4 MB.

So I checked with an older filed right before I added the ACC file that still has all my music and images at the highest resolution and bit rate. Here is what I found:

My old version: All graphics at full resolution + All sounds at full bit rate (7.1 MB)
My new version: All graphic reduced + all sounds reduced bit rates + ACC music file (12.4MB)

Now if I take my NEW file and delete the ACC music file, it still is 12.4. This should be way lower then 7.1 because of all of the reduction of the graphics and sound files. (note: the ACC file replaced a large OGG file-so it should even be less)

OK, now I am lost. This does not make any sense. Is there a bug that retains some information even after you remove it?

Ughg!!! Help!

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StarFire
http://gamesalad.com/game/play/8901

superNES

@butterbean Anytime you remove a barrier to entry, such as allowing a game to be purchased via cellular and wifi as opposed to just wifi, you will see more sales. Think of your potential customers like a river of water; you get more flow if you widen the channel. Of course there are exceptions, but in general the rule stands.

xacto

Ok, did some playing around and it looks like there is a MAJOR BUG here.

This is how I fixed the problem:
I clicked on my gamesalad project and right-mouse-click and selected "Show package Contents" and opened my "Sound" folder. I then deleted all my sounds and then copied them again into the "Sound" folder.

I just went from 12.4 MB down to 2.5MB !!!!!!!!!!

If anyone is having issues with files size; make a copy and try replacing images/sound files this way and see if this helps.

Why this worked, I do not have a clue.

quantumsheep

But hey, great news mate!

butterbean

Quantum, did you resize your graphics "Size" or quality as well to get the memory down? What program do you use to resize your graphics?

Great news Xacto! That is a huge difference in memory!

quantumsheep

I actually resized the graphic size.

Stupidly, I was using images that were 512x512 - and then wondered why my game was crashing all the time!

They were actually, typically, 64x64 in-game, so I resized them using Pixelmator and/or Pixen.

It's worked a treat

Hope that helps,

QS

butterbean

Cobra,

I had a question I noticed you said you use Max to convert your music files, that is the same program I'm using.

What are you currently converting them to to reduce their size? I'm using OGG vorbis, is there currently any other file type that is supported by GameSalad?

What quality and bitrate do you choose? And do you check the box "Restrict encoder to constant bit rate"?

Also, some of the songs are longer in length, do you cut them shorter?

Thanks!