Thanks FBS. I've actually been looking a lot in to Unity already, especially since it's now free to publish to mobiles. My thought process, although it is subject to a lot of change, is this:
1 - Unity is the ideal engine for my eventual needs, it's super powerful, relatively easy to use and as you've said exports to loads of formats.
2 - I don't plan to build 3d games right now, as it seems like for a one man dev like me it could be a lot more time consuming than 2d, with the added need to model/texture/light etc.
3 - 2d games can be done in Unity, but they seem to require a few extra plugins, sprite managers, etc. This seems like a lot of extra work to try and force a 2d game in to a 3d engine.
4 - Corona therefore seemed like the next logical step for me from GameSalad as it's still geared up around 2d games.
5 - I'm hoping that after I've got pretty good with Lua, Learning Unity (and javascript) will hopefully be not so difficult, as I believe they are similar languages in a lot of ways.
So that was the thought process, that led me to Corona, although I don't like to set anything in stone, I may end up using Unity sooner if it makes sense.
I'd give Corona and Unity both a big thumbs up. I use Gamesald (its ideal for certain games as well as prototyping) as well as cocos2d, corona and unity. It all depends on what I'm making or having made. The other engines better suit our monetization and marketing strategies, although with corona you will need enterprise edition if you intend to integrate chartboost. Obviously though, gamesalad is improving rapidly and its good to see the changes coming down the line, just wish they would put a business hat on and think about things from a marketing and money making perspective too
"In a nutshell, I’m happy with so many things in my life but there’s this one problem that I just keep burying my head in the sand over – and that’s the fact that I hate having to work for somebody else to earn a living. I mean I literally hate it, I always have done. What’s worse is that I’ve never done anything about it. It’s not that I have a bad job, right now I work as a technical illustrator / documentation specialist / touch panel interface designer and all round graphics guy for an engineering company. It’s fine if you want that kind of thing, but I don’t. I don’t want to work for anybody. Working for somebody else makes me feel like I’m just selling my life away to the highest bidder, and that sucks."
And thanks @dayofjackal. I hope that in the not too distant future Gamesalad will get itself up there with those other engines in regards to monetisation, but the others are all options I might look at if I need to. With so many engines around I think it's a good idea to diversify.
Gamedev is like other businesses I run. We use multiple tools depending on the situation. In our SEO business I sometimes lose count of the tools we use for search, analytics and social media!!! Although the accountants often remind when they audit our accounts
Very true @BoomshackBarry. I might do a series of posts based on the tools we use in digital marketing as they very relevant to the games business. Theres alot of crap out there on the internet about things like SEO and too many people fall fould of bad practaces and snake oil salesman who at best don't deliver, and at worst get you banned from google.
@BoomshackBarry - Congratulations on the baby and good luck with your games! I'll try to keep up with your posts. May I ask what font you're using for the "Hello World" and the other section titles of the blog? It looks very nice
@BoomshackBarry first off...welcome to fatherhood, it's awesome! Hard sometimes, but awesome!
Nice blog. Also, the game you're working on looks sharp. Your current situation and mindset sound somewhat similar to my own. Good luck with everything!
Congrats. I think most of us would love to make this a full time living. I myself am trying. I myself am further along in my career (and age). I am in the lucky position to have started my game studio with my two teenage sons. We are nearing the completion and release of our first game, powered by GameSalad. Its a tower defense game (I know many people have tried and it hasn't been easy programming the rules for it to work properly.) and will include multiple levels and in-app purchases for additional levels. Hoping this first release will at least garner enough to pay back the Apple developer license and the GameSalad license.
Hey Barry, graphics for that game look cool, I can imagine the little backpack flame whipping around as you fly about the scene.
You've inspired me to start blogging about my situation too... we moved housed over the last week.... we're now at our 4 bed box near the beach... our broadband connection is a week late (no surprise there really)... working from Devon for the first time today (borrowing a friends internet)... all very exciting... just need to get cracking on with other projects to eventually work solely for myself... though regular freelancing is fine for the time being...
Good luck with your project... look forward to your next blog article.
Hey Barry, graphics for that game look cool, I can imagine the little backpack flame whipping around as you fly about the scene.
You've inspired me to start blogging about my situation too... we moved housed over the last week.... we're now at our 4 bed box near the beach... our broadband connection is a week late (no surprise there really)... working from Devon for the first time today (borrowing a friends internet)... all very exciting... just need to get cracking on with other projects to eventually work solely for myself... though regular freelancing is fine for the time being...
Good luck with your project... look forward to your next blog article.
@sincitygames that's great that you're working on the games with your sons, I'm definitely intending to encourage my kids to take up game dev from as young an age as I can - it's a great hobby and teaches so many useful skills. I love tower defense games, I'd love to see a decent one made in Gamesalad, be sure to post on these forums when it's done!
@StormyStudio hey I hope the move is going well, Devon's a lovely part of the country. That's awesome that you're going to start blogging too, you can already count me as an avid reader. It's great that you have the skill set to freelance while you're working towards doing your own thing. I know that freelancing is definitely not the same thing as working for yourself, but I imagine it has more of a feeling of freedom to it than doing a standard day job for somebody else.
@all thanks for continuing to check out my blog. Updates are a bit thing on the ground right now purely because I've spent the past few weeks doing a huge amount of flat decorating, getting ready for the baby. I hope to get back to the games in a big way soon, and then I'll be updating my blog much more frequently.
Hey all, I've posted a new blog post about designing a brand and logo for my game dev company, I'd love to hear some people's opinions if anyone gets a chance, thanks
Hey all, I've been away from this forum for a little while but I just wanted to check in and mention that my blog has moved location. It's now tied in more closely with my brand, and lives at: http://www.boomshack.co.uk/blog/. If anybody has the old location bookmarked or linked anywhere it would be great if you could update to the new location, although old links should forward to the new location if you don't update.
Thanks to everyone for following, commenting and reaching out on twitter, it's much appreciated. I've just posted an update today explaining what I've been up to recently so if you're interested I always appreciate the views and comments.
Comments
1 - Unity is the ideal engine for my eventual needs, it's super powerful, relatively easy to use and as you've said exports to loads of formats.
2 - I don't plan to build 3d games right now, as it seems like for a one man dev like me it could be a lot more time consuming than 2d, with the added need to model/texture/light etc.
3 - 2d games can be done in Unity, but they seem to require a few extra plugins, sprite managers, etc. This seems like a lot of extra work to try and force a 2d game in to a 3d engine.
4 - Corona therefore seemed like the next logical step for me from GameSalad as it's still geared up around 2d games.
5 - I'm hoping that after I've got pretty good with Lua, Learning Unity (and javascript) will hopefully be not so difficult, as I believe they are similar languages in a lot of ways.
So that was the thought process, that led me to Corona, although I don't like to set anything in stone, I may end up using Unity sooner if it makes sense.
- Thomas
And thanks @dayofjackal. I hope that in the not too distant future Gamesalad will get itself up there with those other engines in regards to monetisation, but the others are all options I might look at if I need to. With so many engines around I think it's a good idea to diversify.
http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Averia+Sans+Libre
http://barrykeithgrubb.com/
Nice blog. Also, the game you're working on looks sharp. Your current situation and mindset sound somewhat similar to my own. Good luck with everything!
Website ∞ Twitter ∞ My apps are available on: Apple iOS App Store ∞ Google Play App Store ∞ Amazon App Store
You've inspired me to start blogging about my situation too... we moved housed over the last week.... we're now at our 4 bed box near the beach... our broadband connection is a week late (no surprise there really)... working from Devon for the first time today (borrowing a friends internet)... all very exciting... just need to get cracking on with other projects to eventually work solely for myself... though regular freelancing is fine for the time being...
Good luck with your project... look forward to your next blog article.
Shadows Peak is an atmospheric psychological horror that explores the dark side of a player.
@sincitygames that's great that you're working on the games with your sons, I'm definitely intending to encourage my kids to take up game dev from as young an age as I can - it's a great hobby and teaches so many useful skills. I love tower defense games, I'd love to see a decent one made in Gamesalad, be sure to post on these forums when it's done!
@StormyStudio hey I hope the move is going well, Devon's a lovely part of the country. That's awesome that you're going to start blogging too, you can already count me as an avid reader. It's great that you have the skill set to freelance while you're working towards doing your own thing. I know that freelancing is definitely not the same thing as working for yourself, but I imagine it has more of a feeling of freedom to it than doing a standard day job for somebody else.
@all thanks for continuing to check out my blog. Updates are a bit thing on the ground right now purely because I've spent the past few weeks doing a huge amount of flat decorating, getting ready for the baby. I hope to get back to the games in a big way soon, and then I'll be updating my blog much more frequently.
Free Mini Games and Demo Templates
http://barrykeithgrubb.com/a-quiet-month-of-game-planning/
http://barrykeithgrubb.com/apple-delays-branding-like-donut/
Thanks to everyone for following, commenting and reaching out on twitter, it's much appreciated. I've just posted an update today explaining what I've been up to recently so if you're interested I always appreciate the views and comments.
Thanks all!
Nice blog