State of GameSalad on 9-25-2013

CodeWizard

Remember to keep an eye on the roadmap page for the latest details on what we're up to in the kitchen! http://www.gamesalad.com/roadmap

Our current development focus is in getting 0.10.4a out to you to resolve the few bugs found in 0.10.4. Looks like this could be ready tomorrow. Beyond that we're still churning away on smoothing out our build process, engine optimizations and feature development. There's lots of planning going on too for the near future.

We've been holding off on turning on Amazon GameCircle and IAP support for some final approvals. Once we've got the green flag, we'll turn this on for you! This will mean FREE Kindle Fire publishing for everyone for a limited time. More news soon. I hope by tomorrow!

We also moved into our new offices this week. The move caused some disruption but not too terribly much. We've settled in and are getting back into the groove of things. Now, if we could just have reliable inter

GM_Pandagames

thanks!

colander

Thanks CodeWizard and team.

bricksingllc

@Codewizard, so 10.4 only has Amazon IAP support but it is not actually on in the build system?

SnapFireStudios

I know right, my internet sucks too!
- Tho

CodeWizard

@bricksingllc
That's right. It's in the build but not yet turned on on the publishing website.

DeepBayGames

Sounds good CodeWizard. Thanks for all the hard work by you and the GS team!

brickamator

cant wait for multiplayer

gamesfua

Thanks for the update @codewizard. Excited to use 10.4a

lycettebros

Yes, yes thanks for update Mr. Wizard. I will reject my current binaries and await 10.4a.

neoman

Sweet thanks @codewizard ... Looking forward to 0.10.4a ... ;-)

Crab_with_an_Umbrella

Sounds awesome @codewizard ! Do you have any news on the ios 7 update on 10.1?

floydianspiral

will 10.4a be a separate dmg + viewer package? Was thinking about updating to 10.4 but it makes no sense if I'm going to have to install a new viewer on 2 devices with 10.4a.

neoman

@Crab_with_an_Umbrella 10.1 was a fantastic release. I packaged my games that didn't fully work on 10.3 with it ... I just wanted to point out that all my games which were broken on 10.3 and would only fully function on 10.1 are all working with 10.4 ... Hope this helps ;-)

Crab_with_an_Umbrella

@neoman Hey, thanks for the heads up. I did the same thing. I had a game work on 10.1, updated to 10.3 and the game would crash due to the increase in memory, so I had to go back to 10.1 to publish.

gamesfua

@neoman and @crab_with_an_umbrella
I too ame ager to hear if/when there's going to be an ios 7 10.1 update. @codewizard mentioned it may be happening.
I will also agree with @neoman and say that 10.4 has actually been infinitely more stable than 10.2 and 10.3 for my game. While i still love 10.1 the most, you may want to give 10.4 and especially 10.4a a shot.

SAP_Apps

@CodeWizard Any new on Multiplayer?

SnapFireStudios

@CodeWizard Any new on Multiplayer?

Indeed, the contract is finished at this point I presume? Just finishing up the functions themselves @CodeWizard?
- Thomas

fadamion

@bricksingllc
That's right. It's in the build but not yet turned on on the publishing website.

hmm This would be nice to know in advance. So let me get this right its in the build but it dose not work? If so this is very odd i have already submitted to amazon. Did i miss the release notes? Were there release notes? Why would you add features you cant use? Am i completely lost? Someone please tell me I'm not crazy in thinking this is just not how you do things.

MillionairApps

Any stable releases coming? Been months and then 10.4 comes and its buggy. And has no features?. Fingers crossed it will be in the next few days cause really looking for those optimisations that you have been mentioning non stop for the last few months. Can't wait to see them in action finally.

Well anyhow I wish the best keeping up the work as always.

Cheers till next week

neoman

@anatomyofdreams and @crab_with_an_umbrella 10.1 was a solid stable release 10.4 is a little buggy but the good thing is that the apps still work on it and are not broken like with version 10.2 and 10.3. If 10.4a does the trick I am not gonna worry about 10.1. Only time will tell. I can't wait for 10.4a ... ;-)

TheGabfather

@MillionairApps
0.10.4a is supposed to be a stable-r release
And 0.11 is the next slated stable release which will feature the optimisations you mentioned, but it won't come that soon. It's most likely pushed back at least 1.5-2 weeks thanks to the time wisely spent on 0.10.4.

I think iOS 7 support is bigger than any new upcoming feature -- after all without this, all our apps would be useless

MillionairApps

@MillionairApps
0.10.4a is supposed to be a stable-r release
And 0.11 is the next slated stable release which will feature the optimisations you mentioned, but it won't come that soon. It's most likely pushed back at least 1.5-2 weeks thanks to the time wisely spent on 0.10.4.

I think iOS 7 support is bigger than any new upcoming feature -- after all without this, all our apps would be useless

Quite right indeed. However there has been a lot going in the nightly builds, which was meant to be away to quicken the bug fixing process. There have been 99 builds and 1 official release which doesn't even have a feature that works and ios 7 support that wasnt even in the nightly. I am keen to start using the nightly for projects, but waiting to see if they can show off all this new features before I start working with a beta version of a beta software. It's a risk that others are willing to take but I would rather have a version I can fall back onto if things get buggy.

Cheers

KevinCross

@MillionairApps the nightlie versions are just as unstable as the official releases. They start off a lot better but as soon as you spend a little amount of time with them and get a few behaviours down the bugs come out in force >.<

Nightly versions shouldn't only be a pro thing, open them to everyone and there's more chance of bugs being found.

I haven't tried 10.4 yet but it seems like a rushed and shoddy release, if you can class the time difference between 10.3 and 10.4 as rushed

neoman

@KevinCross I totally agree with you but 10.4 was a saver as without it the apps on the appstore would be broken. I am so grateful for 10.4 even though it was a little buggy as without it I would have not been able to update my apps that is my two cents.

matarua

) Oh my - I was searching for some comedy relief gold and perhaps I found it...

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I am building a game from scratch in the nightly and haven't encountered any major problems. The game has been though like ten updates. Same with the regular builds. I've build five apps for clients in the last few months and never have the types of issues I see posted. None of them were simple apps or games either. I don't understand how my experience can be so radically different from others?

gamesfua

@fryingbaconstudios they're making a 10.4a because they admit there was bugs. They've also admitted to other bugs in nightlys that they post they're going to fix. So bugs aren't hypotheticals- they're realities. If you haven't experienced any its either because you're lucky or because you aren't utilizing the mechanics that have been admitted to be bugs.
Yes, without question, many of these issues may be due to improper coding or lazy coding or bloated coding, etc. but that doesn't change the fact that many of these issues do in fact exist and do in fact affect many users. Take for instance the camera rotation bug in 10.4 which has been addressed to be a bug fix in 10.4a. Perhaps you don't have a game that utlizies this mechanic.
I hope this helps address your question.

jonmulcahy

I am building a game from scratch in the nightly and haven't encountered any major problems. The game has been though like ten updates. Same with the regular builds. I've build five apps for clients in the last few months and never have the types of issues I see posted. None of them were simple apps or games either. I don't understand how my experience can be so radically different from others?

in my 4 years with GS, 90% of my experience has been what you described above.

KevinCross

I guess if you use it for several years you become immune to all of the annoyances and bugs, to the point you don't even see them anymore. Or you are indeed really lucky!

SingleSparq

Correct me if I'm wrong but 10.4a isn't the same as the nightlies that @fryingbaconstudios and others are building on so it doesn't have the changes made to 10.4 that may be causing problems. Guess we'll know more once it hits the nightlies.