It would be a difficult choice for them and a balance they need to find. Excellent software + less money = go broke. Usable software + more money = stay in business.
Excellent software = more money ?
@Socks Not always. If they have the best software but not a big enough pool of users and or can not charge anymore for it because the market won't pay more than they will need to find other sources of income to stay in business.
In most businesses there is always a trade of between quality and the need to make a profit. I agree they need to improve the Mac Creator but I also don't want them to go broke in 12 mounts either that would be worse. I read in another thread they laid off a lot of staff recently if that is true then that is a sign things are not going great.
. Windows is a lot more user friendly than the Mac version
Hahaha that's the funniest thing I have heard all week.
The windows is no where near as user friendly as the Mac version IMO.
@tenrdrmer that surprises me I found it much easier to navigate and I am not the only one to say that. Others have said it in the threads and tshirtbooth said it in one of his videos.
The whole advert thing is frustrating to me - I'm not at all interested in this side. I keep seeing posts around (not GS) saying how little revenue they generate.
My game is 100% ad free and I get emails saying how much my customers appreciate it.
I just want to concentrate on making good quality ad free games - seeing minimal progress week in week out on Creator is therefore very frustrating. Here's hoping @CodeWizard can really help move things along...
@Socks Not always. If they have the best software but not a big enough pool of users and or can not charge anymore for it because the market won't pay more than they will need to find other sources of income to stay in business.
Like I say I'm no expert when it comes to running a business, so take everything I say here with a large pinch of salt (or S + alt as the sodium based keyboard command joke might go), most of what I say is borne out of frustration, frustration that has, over time, turned to despondency.
Don't get me wrong, I love GameSalad, there's lots to like about it, it just feels like steering a car with a wrench because the steering wheel fell off a few years back, and every time you take it to the mechanic to be sorted out it comes out with a new roof rack . . . but the steering wheel is still missing, so you clamp the wrench back on and drive off hoping next time you might be more lucky (meanwhile the mechanics are keenly thumbing through the roof rack catalogue lining up something new for your next visit).
Jeez, these analogies are starting fall apart, must get some new ones.
@Socks Not always. If they have the best software but not a big enough pool of users and or can not charge anymore for it because the market won't pay more than they will need to find other sources of income to stay in business.
Like I say I'm no expert when it comes to running a business, so take everything I say here with a large pinch of salt (or S + alt as the sodium based keyboard command joke might go), most of what I say is borne out of frustration, frustration that has, over time, turned to despondency.
Don't get me wrong, I love GameSalad, there's lots to like about it, it just feels like steering a car with a wrench because the steering wheel fell off a few years back, and every time you take it to the mechanic to be sorted out it comes out with a new roof rack . . . but the steering wheel is still missing, so you clamp the wrench back on and drive off hoping next time you might be more lucky (meanwhile the mechanics are keenly thumbing through the roof rack catalogue lining up something new for your next visit).
Jeez, these analogies are starting fall apart, must get some new ones.
That is the clearest picture of how I feel, like I said it myself!!!
I think GS right now is walking a tight rope. As a business person of 20 years experience you learn to spot the little indicators that give you clues to the big picture. Kind like a doctor doing a diagnosis off of symptoms. My diagnosis their sliming down to core people for software. The main failure was Steve's fault when they got their main funding they hired all these extraneous people who were not engineers involved in development. That was a total waste of resources. The squandered their moment to propel the software forward years ago. Having said that I believe Steve has learned a hard lesson which happens in business. He did the right thing by hiring a top guy like code wizard and they paired down the staff and hired people to service the core functions of the software. Right now they are making smart choices with what revenues they have. This is an improvement over a couple years ago. Onto the big question "will GS survive and be able to move the software forward?" The answer is yes. And here is why. Code wizard just finished cleaning up the backend mess left to him by others. This tells me he has a long term thought out plan. And he has configured the backend to be ready for that two year plan. Once this all comes fully online you'll see an acceleration of features implemented. As now the backend is ready for them which cuts down on the work to implement them. Many of the new features will be pro features. In my opinion freeware doesn't cut it as a business model. This will drive more revenue and help them add staff to engineering. Because of the failure when they had capital this plan B will take much longer. It will work but will take longer than if they had done it right when they had 6 million. If you don't know this an arm of Disney 'Steam Boat Ventures' owns a large part of GS. So by hook or crook GS will go forward. If this crew can't pull it off in two years I imagine Disney would force them to shop the company to a major like Apple, Google, Adobe et. All you can do is watch and see.
On a side note I do agree that the forum is filled with non serious people looking to make a quick buck. Now that SSS is gone it's up to us to keep the forum alive. It will be what we choose it to be. Want to stop the madness? Stop coddling people and making templates and fixing their games every two seconds.
If you don't know this an arm of Disney 'Steam Boat Ventures' owns a large part of GS. So by hook or crook GS will go forward. If this crew can't pull it off in two years I imagine Disney would force them to shop the company to a major like Apple, Google, Adobe et. All you can do is watch and see.
interesting...
On a side note I do agree that the forum is filled with non serious people looking to make a quick buck. Now that SSS is gone it's up to us to keep the forum alive. It will be what we choose it to be. Want to stop the madness? Stop coddling people and making templates and fixing their games every two seconds.
Some people just want to this as a hobby, with minimal investment. I wouldn't call it madness, or making 'a quick buck'.
@codewizard It says in the road map that the async probaly would be put into the nightly build later in on october. And it's october now and it starts to come to the end. So I wonder if it would be put into the nightly build or will it wait to november.
Well all I can say is Apple didn't build the App Store as a hobby. I'd like to drive a Ferrari as a hobby but it's too expensive. Hobby or not there is a cost to doing business as these services are designed to make money not to support hobbyist although you can do this as a hobby don't expect major companies to bend their system for hobbyists. That just unrealistic.
Both RevMob and Chartboost are useful for x-promoting other games and some ad monetization but ultimately neither of them scale, and other games don't yield the same kind of eCPM as branded ads. The big guys are all using proper mediators (most aren't even using RevMob and are only using Chartboost to buy installs).
So are we building GS to scale success or to manage small indie games that are likely to have limited success (to which RM and CB will probably suffice)? Personally, I think the only flaw in the plan here is that the ad monetization is not setup to scale. It would nice to think if someone did create a breakout hit, then the tools were in place to properly support and monetize it.
Anyone who thinks they can't make good money with chartboost and revmob is seriously deluded. I make a full time living from games via ad revenue (and its a good living). I'm keen to see what a gamesalad game can produce with the right ad strategy. I know I have games out produced on other platforms that do very well which could easily be produced in GS.
There is also no reason why a game made with GS that does well enough with downloads could not scale with branded ads.
Like any business, marketing is key unless you can buy downloads.
With the new ad networks GS can be taken more seriously, not just as a hobbyist engine.
Comments
In most businesses there is always a trade of between quality and the need to make a profit. I agree they need to improve the Mac Creator but I also don't want them to go broke in 12 mounts either that would be worse. I read in another thread they laid off a lot of staff recently if that is true then that is a sign things are not going great.
Universal Binary Template - Universal Binary Template Instructions Rev 4 (Short) - Custom Score Display Template
Universal Binary Template - Universal Binary Template Instructions Rev 4 (Short) - Custom Score Display Template
My game is 100% ad free and I get emails saying how much my customers appreciate it.
I just want to concentrate on making good quality ad free games - seeing minimal progress week in week out on Creator is therefore very frustrating. Here's hoping @CodeWizard can really help move things along...
Don't get me wrong, I love GameSalad, there's lots to like about it, it just feels like steering a car with a wrench because the steering wheel fell off a few years back, and every time you take it to the mechanic to be sorted out it comes out with a new roof rack . . . but the steering wheel is still missing, so you clamp the wrench back on and drive off hoping next time you might be more lucky (meanwhile the mechanics are keenly thumbing through the roof rack catalogue lining up something new for your next visit).
Jeez, these analogies are starting fall apart, must get some new ones.
You are on it @Socks!!!
On a side note I do agree that the forum is filled with non serious people looking to make a quick buck. Now that SSS is gone it's up to us to keep the forum alive. It will be what we choose it to be. Want to stop the madness? Stop coddling people and making templates and fixing their games every two seconds.
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
- Thomas
Chakku
It says in the road map that the async probaly would be put into the nightly build later in on october.
And it's october now and it starts to come to the end. So I wonder if it would be put into the nightly build or will it wait to november.
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
So are we building GS to scale success or to manage small indie games that are likely to have limited success (to which RM and CB will probably suffice)? Personally, I think the only flaw in the plan here is that the ad monetization is not setup to scale. It would nice to think if someone did create a breakout hit, then the tools were in place to properly support and monetize it.
http://www.indie-toys.com
There is also no reason why a game made with GS that does well enough with downloads could not scale with branded ads.
Like any business, marketing is key unless you can buy downloads.
With the new ad networks GS can be taken more seriously, not just as a hobbyist engine.