Critical Gamesalad Additions

Zenith_Gameworks

Here are some things that I should think are long overdue and believe should be at the top of the "roadmap." In the words of Spock, not adding them would be "illogical." I think most developers would agree with me on this list. So, I am curious as to which of these are most desired by the community. Vote away

Chakku

I was borderline on Custom Font, but ultimately went with Custom Polygon Collisions because that is necessary for many games, while we can make do (although tedious) with pictures instead of custom fonts for now. (although it'd be very very nice if we could get them both )

Chakku

AleksandrGames

What are Custom Polygon Collisions?

Chakku

What are Custom Polygon Collisions?

@PixelDude
It means your actors can be a unique 'custom' shape, rather than just a square or circle as it is now.

Chakku

blue_elephant

Joints are very needed for making characters. Especially when they have guns to aim or heads that could be turned in a direction to look around.

CodeWizard

Where's "All of the Above?"

Zenith_Gameworks

Let'

Where's "All of the Above?"

Let's at least start with one of these.

Team6Labs

I say multiplayer, but I really want to see all of these made. I'm holding off on renewing pro until GS takes some steps forward. I want to see -
- Native Engine
- Customizable Alerts
- Multiplayer
- Joints
- Polygon collisions
- Custom Font
- Xcode Exporting

imGua

None of those.

For me Whith not particular order.
1. Better game performance
2. Better editor performance
3. OUYA support
4. Better editor UI
5. Windows version of GS, that is not worses than Mac version. And ability to open projects in both versions.
6. Exit behavior for Mac & Windows 8
7. Gamepad support
...
and there is a lot of other stuff that I would wan't to see before features in this poll.

Chakku

- Xcode Exporting [and/or Custom Code Input]

If only this were an option 8-> ... =P~

Now if we had this, then we could implement our own APIs, and this is the greatest investment GameSalad could make along with the Native Code Engine. Psssst! I hope you're taking notes, @CodeWizard!

Chakku

SnapFireStudios

@Chakku - Yes, I would love to hear from CW on that one.
- Thomas

Socks

1) We need a user interface:
Multiple select, alignment tools, step and repeat, float windows with permanent access to parameters (rather than the double-click-safari currently needed to change a few basic numbers), preferences, grid, snap to grid, guides, snap to guides, folder system for audio and image assets, ability to zoom in/out of the scene . . . etc etc.

2) User interface improvements:
I have a 2560 x 1440 pixel monitor, I spend a lot of time entering, checking and modifying expressions (as I suspect most people using GameSalad do), it seems bizarre to force the user to spend a sizeable percentage of his/her (the change is not complete) day working within a tiny 20 pixel high window ?

3) A better user interface:
It's also frustrating to not be able to change a window size and keep it at that size, you might be working with a lot of images, you go to the images panel, drag it open to show all your lovely images, scroll down to where you want to be, start some image wrangling, then remember you need to do XYZ, so you click out of that window and go and do what you need to do, then come back and your window has lost its position, shrunk to its original size - and you need to start again, not the end of the world by any measure, but a real pain when it happens on every window, all the time, by design, and you go through this process a couple of hundred times a day, compounded by the fact that GameSalad's user interface forces you to open and close windows all day to do basic tasks.

4) A viable interface would be nice !
When you insert a function in the expression editor why does everything need to be so 'hidden' ? There are 12 standard attributes (name, time, position, size . . . etc etc), so why not show them, instead of showing only 8 and then forcing the user to scroll down to the other 4 ? Again like the windows issue above, not the end of the world, but when you've done this a couple of thousand times, it all adds up, everything in GameSalad has always felt cramped and closed up, feels like the user interface was designed for a 640x480 screen from 1994, something is amiss when I can make the icons on my desktop (my icons in OSX !) bigger than the insert function drop down window !

This is what we've got:



This is what we want:



5) The user interface could do with an overhaul:
The actors behaviours window seems to have been designed for a portrait computer monitor, the space is poorly utilised, most of the window is dead space.



6) A modern viable, functioning, supporting of the user, intuitive and workflow enabling user interface would also be good.

7) Biscuits, I'd also like to see GameSalad include free biscuits.

SnapFireStudios

7) Bacon, I'd also like to see GameSalad include free bacon.

Got to agree with you on that one. :P
- Thomas

P.S. Very good points and ideas. Not all of us are on huge monitors though

Socks

Got to agree with you on that one. :P

@SnapFireStudios

Bacon has been something all the PowerUsers™ have been calling for since day one, you can't have a viable SDK these days without some way of efficiently getting bacon into your users (preferably through their mouths either via a sandwich of some kind or a USB based baconic™ system,).

Not all of us are on huge monitors though

Agreed, Gamesalad should have resizable windows like every piece of post 1886 software, not just one hit resizable windows that spring back to their pointlessly small default size every time you so much as look away, but windows that you can adjust to your own working preferences, needs, project requirements, monitor size (and so on) and stay that size . . . until you change them.

Notice that little blue triangle in the bottom right of the enlarged expressions panel, all windows should have that, the ability to drag it open to suit your needs . . . and for it to stay that size.

blue_elephant

I also think adding features like camera and (sound) record would be some great additions to gamesalad. I'm sure this would be way down the road but it was just a thought.

Braydon_SFX

I TOTALLY agree with everything @Socks said. That would speed development time up.
I really like point 1 that Socks wrote out. *Sigh* My DreamSalad right there.. <:-P

VGX

What do you mean by custom font? You can create these yourself in .png or am I missing something?

Chakku

What do you mean by custom font? You can create these yourself in .png or am I missing something?

@VeiraGames

It means that you can import your own font, and use it with the display text behavior. We can currently do that right now, but it's limited to ugly Times New Roman-type fonts (

Strangely, this appears to be a large endeavor for GameSalad; when they finally get it, it'll make a difference time wise, size wise, and performance wise


Also, I agree with @Socks. I too work on a 27-inch (2560x1440) iMac, and feel that the wasted space could be put to good use.

I've recently BootCamped to Windows 8 and tried the Windows GameSalad Creator, and I LOVE the Windows interface...unfortunately, it ran ridiculously slow/ unstable (at least for me it did), and it would take 10 seconds for it to recognize I was trying to enlarge an actor, and crashed a lot too.

I can't wait for the new Mac UI.

Chakku

gabrielmun

The most urgent is it is a google paly in-app billing.

The most important thing is a feature that is associated with income.

The important thing the following is a multiplay function.

CodeMonkey

@Socks @Chakku when you get down to 7 layers of behaviors via rules, groups, and Timers, that empty space becomes quite filled. Just saying.

Socks

@Socks @Chakku when you get down to 7 layers of behaviors via rules, groups, and Timers, that empty space becomes quite filled. Just saying.

@CodeMonkey

Agreed, it takes layers and layers of rules and groups and timers (and so on) before the layout even approaches being efficient, and even then I wouldn't really call the use of space efficient as the horizontal space is mostly occupied by the graphic elements needed to represent nested rules - ie: at several layers of nested rules we are mostly looking at graphics rather than code, that space may become filled, but what it gets filled with is important.

A good layout should work in all scenarios, rather than being geared towards certain situations, I can easily imagine good layouts that utilise the space much more efficiently and that work with large and small numbers of rules.

I'd say the same issue of space efficiency also applies to the vertical use of space, you could easily design a layout where you are able to display dozens of rules vertically (dependant on monitor size), as it stands, even on large monitors, beyond a dozen or so rules you can't view them all at once, there's a lot of wasted space.

Elfizm

I honestly don't care about features until they do something about the loading times. It's time to get rid of them since everything is now 3D hd graphic games and I can't even load a pause scene in under 3 seconds. That's just a pause scene.

There is little point in adding features when so many of the current existing features need upgrading and work on. They have been mentioned over and over. Complaints about the loading image. Don't understand why that has not been changed yet.

Why add joints when you can't have so many actors on a screen anyway and still get a nice loading time.

Why add multiplayer when your going to have to wait ages for your moves to Placed or accepted and send off. If the loading between scenes is still as bad as it is for simple two d platform games where an object bounces up and down. Then it's time to put that at the top of the list.

You can't keep pumping out new features.

When I can click on pause, it appears straight away, press home and bam! Straight away I am on home without waiting 7 seconds then that's when other features should be added. Such as google play inapp purchases

BenMakesGames

Id like the option of reusable code. Its almost a given that every time I start a project im going to have some kind of "score" in there, so id like that as something I could just add instantly.

kinzua

I went with Custom polygons, though i want joints to come in too. It'll just open up a new horizon to the way we use & see GS.

kinzua

Plus FB integration, alongwith private server compatibility to receive and update data.

BBEnk

Custom Collision Polygons I could so use this right now.

Wingmanapps

looking from a salespoint - I would prefer multiplayer - Its one of the keyfactors in creating a snowball effect in terms of sales. Everytime I download a game with multiplayer I always force my friends to download it aswell so we can battle it out
It also rules out creating advanced AI's since you would be playing another human (assuming he/she has "I")

baboy

We're all here in the business of making and selling apps - so i went with multiplayer.
But native engine is really the most important feature that GS needs to have

PBEmpire

All of the above.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I vote for a solid crash free creator that performs as expected and then add it all. I must admit I'm growing weary of these type of threads. We've beat this horse to death. I have complete faith in @codewizard. I agree with the course of action he layed out. He understands they must have a solid foundation before they move forward. He strikes me as a great motivational leader who can organize people and assets into a cohesive plan. As a wise mentor told me; "Plan your work and work your plan." We just need to be patient and let him work his plan. @codewizard, I have complete confidence in your ability to right the ship and get us sailing in the right direction! I know by the end of the year the creator will be nothing like it is now. Carry on!

Sparkyidr

I voted for collision shapes.....

If we are talking here about "stuff that's essential to make better games" that is.

Lots of talk about how in-app this, and monitization-that are important to make better games.
What you really mean is, those features are important for you as a dev to make the monies...not a better game for your punters. (just saying)

Not having custom polygon collision shapes is kinda holding me back on a couple of projects really.

Joints....meh, I can live without. Anyone who has had a play around with stencyl (as I have) which has joints, will know that it doesn't particularly make your life a whole heap easier than we already have it here. (I'm assuming most people are thinking of elastic joints between actors, rather than motor joints or the like)

Multiplayer...yep. Deffo important with how the gaming space is at the mo.

And I was hovering over custom fonts for a while also.