wow, that's a tough call by Apple just to avoid Flash. I suspect the Steve Jobs ego might be at fault here.... love his work dearly, but it seems he's determined not to let Flash through even if it means cutting off everyone using a cross compiler!
This could be a major stumbling block for the iPad and Apple if Steve cant 'get over it' and do whats best for the the business rather than his stubborn views.
People still make crap games using the approved Apple SDK too, it's not just the cross-compilers at fault here.
Secondly... to my rant...
The fact a company who prides themselves on ease of use and usability has failed miserably building a authoring tool / environment that is usable for the average person eg: GameSalad. without the need to learn Objective C.
OR.... I suspect Apple might launch something like GameSalad with the Apple Automator like interface for producing games the same way GS does. They are just removing all the competitors perhaps?
More info would be nice.
Gendai feel free to comment please, the community is hanging by a thread...
"Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited."
I'm looking at this statement and I'm starting to think that we don't apply to this case.
As far as I see it, our game becomes the application. Our game isn't a language or a script, such that it doesn't contain a syntax or any material that is exportable into code. As GameSalad specifically points out, we are simply issuing a set of Rules and Behaviors for Assets placed on the screen.
In a simple interpretation, we are simply customizing a single application to run it the way we want to. That differs from a packaged script and a runtime executable.
I think they have to look at it and find out what it means, that may take time (getting a hold of someone who can clarify). Yes it would be nice if they gave us a nod on the situation though.
I believe (based on only my own ideas) Apple is secretly working on an "iDevice" game dev kit along the lines of Quartz Composer meets Automator. This is something though that I doubt they are ready to release anytime soon. It would be a direct competitor to Flash and so I see why Apple would have problems with Flash. We're talking 1-3 years out though, if ever.
In regards to GameSalad and the new OS4 license. I'm no legal expert but it seems to me judging from the way GameSalad operates it appears to be a static engine that operates on dynamically composed scenes based on an XML data spec. The XML is generated by the GS editor. For you non-techies XML is a data format language, it is NOT code. It's just a way of representing data in a structured form.
This means that all your games are nothing more than a collection of data constructs. They are NOT interpreted. Therefor GS should have no problems with the new Apple license.
HOWEVER, you do see many many references to Lua in the GS package. Lua is a scripting language that is bound VERY tightly to the C language. I don't know if this will cause the GS guys a problem or not. That's something only they will be able to answer.
But here's my suggestion if Lua is a problem: Use JavaScript as your scripting engine! It's not as fast, but it's allowed.
All this is wild speculation, I don't work for Apple or GS. But I have been coding for over 20 years.
@eastbound I was actually learning the Cocos 2D engine when I found game salad! I started 8 months back learning the Obj. C language for iPhone dev. Prior to that I was in C++. Cocos 2D is not too bad at all, it is ALOT of overhead to learn objective C however!
Stanford University offers their entire iPhone Dev course on iTunes (they have the videos for 2 semesters now). It is taught by actual apple engineers and it sure helped me to learn!
That aside, being the optimist I am, I think it will work out SOMEHOW in the end for us at GS! Time will tell!
@ iPhoneDevForMe: Wow, it sounds like we went through pretty much the same process. Last october I bought some iPhone programming book and started those online Stanford videos. I understood enough obj-c to get some basic calculators out, and with the help of a code overviewer a slightly more complicated app that was basically just a UITable view.
Then I was looking into Cocos 2D, stumbled across Game Salad, and started working with this instead.
@tempowebdesign: Smoke. I know how frustrating this !@#$% is, but you'll be fine. Try to churn a game out in time just in case GS is 'blocked'. Then smoke some more. And I'm not talking about cigs.
LEt's say they ban anything not made with C, etc. What happens to all the apps that are already on people's devices that were made with banned software? Is apple really going to pull that many apps from the appstore? Why would they want to lose their 30% on all of those apps made with various game making software? I don't get it?
Comments
I think this is aimed at adobe
there areots o tools but us and those others are the big three
major studios use unity
hard to say
given the ipad app store maybe apple just wants indie apps out of thier buisiness
I did some snooping, and I think GS uses a LUA interpreter on the device at runtime.
That will go against the TOS straight away.
Not good. I just got interested in GS, and now this pops up.
This could be a major stumbling block for the iPad and Apple if Steve cant 'get over it' and do whats best for the the business rather than his stubborn views.
People still make crap games using the approved Apple SDK too, it's not just the cross-compilers at fault here.
Secondly... to my rant...
The fact a company who prides themselves on ease of use and usability has failed miserably building a authoring tool / environment that is usable for the average person eg: GameSalad. without the need to learn Objective C.
OR.... I suspect Apple might launch something like GameSalad with the Apple Automator like interface for producing games the same way GS does. They are just removing all the competitors perhaps?
More info would be nice.
Gendai feel free to comment please, the community is hanging by a thread...
crazy if apple purchased this engine and included it with the sdk
apple would never make a gs they would buy a gs
surprise beta is over now ha e fun lol
we would def have one up
I'm looking at this statement and I'm starting to think that we don't apply to this case.
As far as I see it, our game becomes the application. Our game isn't a language or a script, such that it doesn't contain a syntax or any material that is exportable into code. As GameSalad specifically points out, we are simply issuing a set of Rules and Behaviors for Assets placed on the screen.
In a simple interpretation, we are simply customizing a single application to run it the way we want to. That differs from a packaged script and a runtime executable.
I wouldn't need to worry about my issue either.
Sorry I couldn't resist.
I believe (based on only my own ideas) Apple is secretly working on an "iDevice" game dev kit along the lines of Quartz Composer meets Automator. This is something though that I doubt they are ready to release anytime soon. It would be a direct competitor to Flash and so I see why Apple would have problems with Flash. We're talking 1-3 years out though, if ever.
In regards to GameSalad and the new OS4 license. I'm no legal expert but it seems to me judging from the way GameSalad operates it appears to be a static engine that operates on dynamically composed scenes based on an XML data spec. The XML is generated by the GS editor. For you non-techies XML is a data format language, it is NOT code. It's just a way of representing data in a structured form.
This means that all your games are nothing more than a collection of data constructs. They are NOT interpreted. Therefor GS should have no problems with the new Apple license.
HOWEVER, you do see many many references to Lua in the GS package. Lua is a scripting language that is bound VERY tightly to the C language. I don't know if this will cause the GS guys a problem or not. That's something only they will be able to answer.
But here's my suggestion if Lua is a problem: Use JavaScript as your scripting engine! It's not as fast, but it's allowed.
All this is wild speculation, I don't work for Apple or GS. But I have been coding for over 20 years.
Hell, they didn't even acknowledge that the app that they made for the iPad and submitted to the store was affected by the autorotate bug until today.
Maybe its because I'm so overwhelmed by planning my future for school, but I really don't think everyone needs to panic. Yet.
Worst case scenario, I hope you all look into learning Cocos 2D with me
I was actually learning the Cocos 2D engine when I found game salad! I started 8 months back learning the Obj. C language for iPhone dev. Prior to that I was in C++. Cocos 2D is not too bad at all, it is ALOT of overhead to learn objective C however!
Stanford University offers their entire iPhone Dev course on iTunes (they have the videos for 2 semesters now). It is taught by actual apple engineers and it sure helped me to learn!
That aside, being the optimist I am, I think it will work out SOMEHOW in the end for us at GS! Time will tell!
Then I was looking into Cocos 2D, stumbled across Game Salad, and started working with this instead.
@tempowebdesign: Smoke. I know how frustrating this !@#$% is, but you'll be fine. Try to churn a game out in time just in case GS is 'blocked'. Then smoke some more. And I'm not talking about cigs.
but the contract is up and effective April 22nd
Ouch
Edit: Oh i see, i thought they were just getting rid of flash.
Eastbound, I think I need you to hook me up, man!