Engine Update for Windows 8 and GameSalad Arcade

TaoOfSalad

We've updated the engine in Windows 8 publishing and on GameSalad Arcade to match the latest HTML5 build seen in Tizen. This rolls up all the improvements and fixes we've been making for Tizen over the past few updates. Going forward, these platforms will be kept in sync as new features and fixes are added.

Highlights:

• Smoother CPU and graphics
  
• Lower memory usage
  
• Shorter load times
  
• Smarter network usage
  
• Fixed parity issues with graphics, text, physics, tables
  
• You can publish any type of project to Arcade (such as iPhone or iPad). The engine will scale and letterbox to fit.
  

POM

Ohhhh nice one!!

Roy.

HoneyTribeStudios

Sounds good

kolabo

publish any screen size game to Arcade. The engine will scale and letterbox to fit.

Please don't wake me if I'm dreaming!

HoneyTribeStudios

@TaoOfSalad Do the changes mean we'll be able to submit games to web portals like Kongregate?

jamie_c

Super, glad to hear it all.

Does this mean by any chance that we'd have access to the actual source code to just use on our own site(s) and not need to link through the arcade?

kolabo

@TaoOfSalad "You can publish any screen size game to Arcade. The engine will scale and letterbox to fit."

So I've downloaded the 0..219 daily and have changed the resolution of my arcade game in the GS preview window using the dropdown choice "Edit Custom Resolution.." Thing is, the resolution doesn't change. What am I missing?

jonmulcahy

awesome!
time for some windows 8 updates!

EOS

You can publish any screen size game to Arcade. The engine will scale and letterbox to fit.

Sweet. I was just about to publish my #CandyJam entry but I'm gonna take the extra time to resize it now!

TaoOfSalad

I edited my initial post to clarify the wording. Games made for any platform (such as iPhone, iPad, etc) can be published to Arcade and the engine will scale+letterbox them to fit the Arcade layout, which is still 480x320. That means if you start a project with iPhone or iPad, you can still publish the same game to Arcade without redoing the layout. Support for publishing to HTML5 for different layouts is still in the future.

jamie_c

Well thats a bit of a bummer, but still some good news too. Funny how life is like that!

tenrdrmer

I edited my initial post to clarify the wording. Games made for any platform (such as iPhone, iPad, etc) can be published to Arcade and the engine will scale+letterbox them to fit the Arcade layout, which is still 480x320. That means if you start a project with iPhone or iPad, you can still publish the same game to Arcade without redoing the layout. Support for publishing to HTML5 for different layouts is still in the future.

So if you can make it scale or letter box it to fit from any size Whats the hold up and how much longer can we expect it to take to have custom publishing sizes? HTML5 publishing is really kinda pointless without this option.

kolabo

I edited my initial post to clarify the wording. Games made for any platform (such as iPhone, iPad, etc) can be published to Arcade and the engine will scale+letterbox them to fit the Arcade layout, which is still 480x320. That means if you start a project with iPhone or iPad, you can still publish the same game to Arcade without redoing the layout. Support for publishing to HTML5 for different layouts is still in the future.

So, I was dreaming after all!

kinzua

Hmph.. I was of thought that we could now publish to arcade with a larger output. Any plans on flexible screen sizes for HTML5?

3itg

Lets put a cart in front of this horse, and then another horse in front of that and just make the arcade's default size 1024 x 768.

wolala123

so can we publish windows 8.1 apps?thanks

EOS

@TaoOfSalad Thanks for the clarification on the scaling. I'm glad to see HTML5 is getting some more love. But are there any known issues with Arcade publishing? I just republished a game of mine (previously published as embeddable and publicly playable) with 'Allow Game Embed' off and 'Work in Progress' on, yet when I sign out of GS and go to the Arcade my game is both playable and embeddable by anyone. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

CaptFinn

We will tell you what we done..... We just wont tell you what you really want to hear. We will go one step further and not tell you if we are even trying to give you what you want in terms of HTML 5. But we will word things so that maybe your hopes about us will temporarily change for the better. Until we come back and reword things the correct way and break your hearts all over again.

I guess they are afraid we will take this HTML5 stuff and run with it. I dont know why they cant stay neck in neck with other HTML5 abilities. HTML5 must feel like a redheaded step child, sitting in the corner. While ad services get all the attention.

CaptFinn

Lets put a cart in front of this horse, and then another horse in front of that and just make the arcade's default size 1024 x 768.

That would be to simple if they gave us that. Then they know what we would want next is the ability to utilize it with Facebook and our own sites.

adent42

Arcade is a rather old system and needs a lot of love. Yes it's hair is very red. We've actually had a redesign in the queue for quite some time. As with many thing here, there are a lot of projects and too few resources. We currently concentrating on making our bread-and-butter mobile publishing work better.

From this update, you can see that we're not afraid HTML5. Heck, we're using the engine on two mobile platforms! It's just a relatively young technology and we've need to spend a lot of time in the optimization phase (all handled by @TaoOfSalad, so send him so love!)

As @TaoOfSalad mentioned, we're going to be a lot better about keeping HTML5, the engine, in line with the native engine.

It's just a matter of prioritization. I'd love some more time to work on arcade and in my spare time (you know, time on the toilet, time waiting for waiters to bring me my food, etc), I've been doing some research on how to make arcade better. But in the end, other things win out.

In future planning, I'll be sure to reference the passionate interest in this thread as evidence for more arcade work (cause just like you, I'd like to see Arcade take flight).

tenrdrmer

I'm gonna be honest with you @adent42 I really don't care about the arcade. I want to publish standalone html5 options so I can embed a game on my website and not rely on your servers for it to work. I want to be able to have a Facebook app that is larger than 480x320 it's basically a joke at this point and really boils down to this.

Stop trying to retain any control over pro users projects.

Give us control of our own projects and leave the GS controls stuff for the free users. This is one area GameSalad has cost me client jobs. The clients where not happy with the html5 options because they would not have total control. Lr hat company has since done an entire series of games with a friend of mine in unity because I couldn't provide them more control with the platform I have chosen to use for development.

jamie_c

I have to totally agree with the two comments above. I could care less about the actual Arcade, but soooo want real HTML 5 publishing.

With the files that seem to be exported by the Tizen publishing, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to just let us take those files and use them on a site. But perhaps I'm way off base there...

EOS

@tenrdrmer I completely agree. The fact that Pro users are still forced through the arcade is a joke.

That being said, I still wish they would at least fix the arcade publishing options. I've tried several times and neither 'allow game embed' or 'publicly available' can be turned off after they've been enabled. Looking back in the forums it appears others have ran into this as well. I figured out how to embed one of my GS Arcade games on itch.io (maybe someone else has already done this, I don't know), and while my game on itch.io is free, the fact any game published to the Arcade is playable for free on the GameSalad website nullifies the chance of selling it.

kolabo

@ardent41 I understand what you are saying, but in case there is any doubt I would like to add to @tenrdrmer's show of interest in stand-alone html5.

Over the past few years I have sub-contracted a number of html5 games and an html5 digital book. I look forward to the day when we will be able to publish stand-alone html5 apps with GameSalad. This would help me cut down development time and save money for my clients.

PhilipCC

@adent42 The only time I get to read these posts is " on the toilet " so I know what you mean. #-o

Photics

Stop trying to retain any control over pro users projects.

Photics has been saying this for years

I have to totally agree with the two comments above. I could care less about the actual Arcade, but soooo want real HTML 5 publishing.

@ardent41 I understand what you are saying, but in case there is any doubt I would like to add to @tenrdrmer's show of interest in stand-alone html5.

Wow, it seems I missed a big discussion.

Recently, I received the fourth anniversary badge. I wondered, "Has it really been that long?" It amazes me how the same core problem still plagues GameSalad.

Here's an interesting quote...

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year." - John Foster Dulles

An article I wrote two years ago is still the top article of my website... http://photics.com/gamesalad-vs-stencyl/ ...and here's a paragraph that's related here... "I don’t feel like I’m being held hostage when using StencylWorks. I don’t feel like StencylWorks is trying to own my games. StencylWorks allows me to publish my game to Flash, without it ever touching the stencyl.com server."

Pro should mean Pro. I'm sitting on an awesome project, but I can't finish it because of Metrics Gathering.

It's not very encouraging when I still see the issue at the bottom of the roadmap... http://gamesalad.com/creator/roadmap

As for HTML5, I've been using Tumult Hype for my web projects. It's not as powerful as GameSalad could be, but at least Hype is making progress in this area. (The recently released 2.5 version adds flexible layouts.) Hype is currently on the front page of the Mac App Store. With GameSalad, I'm not seeing the same level of success. And why not? It seems more about bad decisions than bad software. GameSalad is powerful software, but it feels like Pro developers are not the priority.

I keep watching the site. I've been waiting to see if GameSalad will get it right one day. Years later, I'm surprised that issues like this still exist. Pro should mean Pro!

tenrdrmer

Wow, it seems I missed a big discussion.

@photics

Unfortunately there wasn't much of a discussion. Very one sided

LumpApps

@TaoOfSalad There is a bug with attributes that are turned off. So when you hit the button on an attribute or rule. When published to arcade they are turned on again. If this is not a know bug I can do a report later.

Arrowhead

I keep getting the following error message even though I deleted all images and reloaded new images that are png

Something went wrong building your app. Please check your settings, make sure your icon and default loading images are png files and try again. If the problem persists contact us and reference publish request [17c82f97-27b0-4a58-9ff5-1631064bc088].

In the past I have submitted support emails and have not got a response back. I am a pro member. Please, respond at least out of courtesy.

Arrowhead

The above comment is for windows 8 publishing

jamie_c

I just wanted to return to this thread and say great job on the general performance update of the arcade. I just play tested a game I had previously posted that ran 'okay' but was not totally smooth previously. After the updates to the arcade there is a noticeable improvement in its performance! Great Job!