Photics said: Heh... I like good conversation. I don't consider your post a thread a hijack. The title of this thread is "Status Report". That means, what is everyone up to while we wait for the next update of GameSalad. That's what I consider the theme of this thread.
I've been working really hard on my game and my determination is starting to fade. That's making me grumpy. Just as I'm nearing the competition of my game, it's frustrating to see the loading time ruin the enjoyment of my game.
Well, I understand your frustration. I just haven't encountered those frustrations yet because I'm not to that point with my game. I'm just building and testing and trying to implement my ideas. So I confess that I haven't yet encountered half of the difficulties and issues of those who take their games to full production and sale in the App Store.
My determination has faded slightly in the past couple days, but I think it's because I'm over-thinking the issues which alot of us are concerned about, instead of just tinkering with the Creator software and building my game. Every time I think about "3G performance" and "App Store approval" and "potential sales" and "will Apple kill GS?", it's like a wet blanket on my motivation. These are serious issues, very serious, but with a solid idea bouncing around in my head, it's probably better to not worry and doubt, and just see where the cards may fall. By the time I get my game into a workable state with multiple levels, we might be up to GS Creator 0.9.4 and there will only be one membership option for $299 or something. THAT is exactly what I hope will happen.
QS : "GS launched with the standard package you can get now at $99 for an original price of $500. So having 'looked into it' they reacted to the market as it were"
Because they didn't get the price right first time, does not necessary bring in to question their current or future pricing structure.
QS : "Now, even people that have pro licenses (me included, and Tshirtbooth who's the most successful money-wise of us all so far I'd wager) are saying that you just don't get enough to justify the high cost and won't renew a pro membership at $2k."
If that cost is not subsidised by your work then no, of course it wont be. If however you gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps then yes it does.
QS : "If you don't add new features, then sure, your mate and a handful of others might be able to afford it as a business with clients, but the take up will be less. Perhaps so small that a price drop incentive might be introduced. Again."
GameSalad - Game creation for the rest of us. Is targeted squarely at those who don't have the knowledge/experience of the industry standard game development platforms. Thus you can assume their main income will be from these people. However they must have also recognised the fact that this also has use in small studios, even established studios as a cheep production and/or rapid prototyping tool. But this is a minor secondary income, otherwise they would have positioned themselves differently. Did the cost of a pro license ever change? (that's not a rhetorical question, i don't know)
QS:"Thus, I'm sure they're 'Looking into it' again. At least I *hope* they are. There have been plenty of good (as well as rubbish) suggestions as to how the pricing structure might be changed."
Given the only feature of the pro license, won't make you any monkey, or make your games better, why would you ever consider paying more than $99?
Chunkypixels:"@ mrfunkleberry.... why am i a silly billy? please explain....."
Sorry, that was a crap thing to say
Chunkypixels:"surely it makes more financial sense for Gendai to have a much larger base of paid pro accounts at a more reasonable price, than to have a much more limited number of accounts at the higher price."
No it really doesn't. The GameSalad market is a relatively untapped market, which they can cheaply exploit. If they went after pro's with deeper pockets, the cost of each sale goes up dramatically because of the competition.
Chunkypixels:"And to clarify.... I am a pro developer. Just not a GameSalad pro account holder. If the product justifies the $2000, then i have no issue paying it...but at the moment, like i say, Im still evaluating it, and have my concerns."
The product does not justify the $2000, only the return on investment justifies the $2000 for a pro developer. If you can't make a healthy return on the $2000 then a pro developer should look at another cheaper development platform. But you should be able to justify it. I tried to employ an iphone developer recently and had no luck at all. They're in high demand at the moment.
Well now you're going to make me sound doubly flippant!
Mr.F: Because they didn't get the price right first time, does not necessary bring in to question their current or future pricing structure.
Me: It also doesn't rule out that it might change, no?
Mr.F: If that cost is not subsidised by your work then no, of course it wont be. If however you gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps then yes it does.
Me: So that's ok? If truly the only advantage is not having the GS logo appear, why not give that to everyone? Why should people have to rely on the cost being subsidised by another company? It seems a very narrow target group to me, but that's just me...
Mr.F: Did the cost of a pro license ever change? (that's not a rhetorical question, i don't know)
Me: Actually, no it hasn't. But you can prototype for free, or, if you want to test on devices ,just pay the $99.
Mr.F: Given the only feature of the pro license, won't make you any monkey, or make your games better, why would you ever consider paying more than $99?
Me: I like to think you put in 'monkey' on purpose to make me giggle Truth is though that you stand a better chance of making money if you have URL forwarding, the other feature of a pro licence. It allows you to include a direct link to your full game from a free 'lite' version, for example, making it easier and more convenient for people to find your full app straight away from within your lite app.
Truth is, and this is the elephant in the room, that having the GS logo at the start has, I believe, a certain stigma attached. Mainly because there's a lot of rubbish out there (and I count a couple of my own games amongst that rubbish) made with GS.
Secondly there's the long load times, and no online leaderboards, and any number of other missing, some would say 'standard' features, that lead people to believe that all GS games are bad.
This isn't the case of course. And plenty of bad games get made without GameSalad. Its just that if people keep buying bad GS games, they'll associate that little logo at the start with bad quality. It's up to us to turn that misconception around.
And if we still don't agree, I'll see you on the green at dawn. 20 paces. That sort of thing
@quantumsheep listen you, you, you sheep thing! You're obviously not getting this! I refuse to talk about it any further, unless we're in a nice restaurant, and i've bought you loads of drinks, and there's the possibility of dancing later. Oh and maybe a show might be nice.
Gendai is high if they think we are going to drop $2K a year on taptard logic that works 80% of the time.
Its like paying $50 for a double cheeseburger with no cheese just so you can tell the manager they forgot the cheese...only to hear the response "we'll be providing the actual cheese in the 2nd Qtr. of 2012...at the cost of another $50".
My suspicion is that these guys are running out of cash.
BTW...Unity charges less than 2K for a full license and they give you the source code and its 3D capable. What is Gendai thinking!!! Give me a break!
mrfunkleberry said: If that cost is not subsidised by your work then no, of course it wont be. If however you gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps then yes it does.
I was under the impression that this was not possible... not selling apps made for others.
For example, if quantumsheep has the pro version, what would Gendai Games think if I sent him my game and give him $50 to pull the GameSalad logo out of the game? In that scenario, quantumsheep would "gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps".
If you're a professional, it means that you might be making games for other people... but I'm not sure that the license allows you to do that. For example, Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator lets me make publications for other companies. Dreamweaver generates code to make websites. I could charge clients for this work.
With the pro version of GameSalad, can you make apps for other people? Can I make a Soda game for Coca-Cola?
I think ONE version of GameSalad makes the most sense. No tech support... maybe sell that as a separate package... just one uber version of GameSalad... one with decent loading times, superb frame rates and robust features.
"With the pro version, can you make apps for other people?"
We now join a pro game developer (who's bought a pro license) at work
-Bring bring! bring bring! --ello? -I'd need a game to promote the new range of golf clubs my company is making. can you help? --sure, that'll be £3000 -Great --Great -Bye then --Bye
We now join a game developer (who's bought a standard) at home
-bring bring, bring bring! --ello? -DUDE you gotta see my game! it just got approved in the App Store! --Sweet! -I know!
We now join another game developer (who's bought a standard) at home
-bring bring, bring bring! --ello? -watcha mate. can you publish my game for me, so i don't have the GS logo on it? --Piss off -I'll pay you! --Really? You want to give me your hard work, for me to sell on the app store, and you'll even pay me to do it? -Yeah! --OK you got me. Where's the camera? Am i on TV right now?
mrfunkleberry said: @quantumsheep listen you, you, you sheep thing! You're obviously not getting this! I refuse to talk about it any further, unless we're in a nice restaurant, and i've bought you loads of drinks, and there's the possibility of dancing later. Oh and maybe a show might be nice.
What's going on in here? Heh... or are we adding dating to the status report?
I woke up this morning refreshed. While I rested, I mediated on a possible solution to my title screen issue. I can't really improve the loading times, but I certainly don't want to make it worse. So, how could I implement a title screen with buttons for multi-language support, options, story and instructions... in a single actor!
Those words were like an epiphany. I don't have to be the best. I just have to do well. I believe that my game does well. Overall, it's a great game. Hopefully GameSalad will fix the loading times... and then it might be perfect. I think I'm getting ready to wrap this up. Perhaps I'll be done today. Afterwards, I might be able to share greater details about my game.
...and then the fun of cramming a 768x1024 game down to 320x480 begins.
synthesis said:BTW...Unity charges less than 2K for a full license and they give you the source code and its 3D capable. What is Gendai thinking!!! Give me a break!
But your forgetting that GameSalad is a very different piece of software. Not any person can jump in and use Unity, its very complex. GameSalad gives anyone interested a chance to make games, which no other company has done. I believe almost anyone could pickup GameSalad and start making games, not with Unity.
Just because Unity can do more doesn't mean that GameSalad should cost less. Massive amounts of work have gone into both no doubt but to get GameSalad to a stage where anyone can make games, I think if you had a great popular piece of software that you slogged your guts out to make you would want to charge a high priced.
JoshKahane said: Just because Unity can do more doesn't mean that GameSalad should cost less. Massive amounts of work have gone into both no doubt but to get GameSalad to a stage where anyone can make games, I think if you had a great popular piece of software that you slogged your guts out to make you would want to charge a high priced.
I was thinking about this... Gendai Games seems very protective about their code. I think that's what is the cause of a lot of problems for us. Yet, it's not the Xcode that makes GameSalad special, it's the easy way in which it generates the code. I think they should open it up. Let the community look at it. I'm not a hardcore coder, but I imagine that others who are would offer feedback.
Why are the loading times so slow? What is GameSalad doing when an app loads? If Gendai Games was less restrictive, would the games load faster? Would the community help out to find bug fixes and performance enhancements?
I haven't even bothered to look at the Xcode. I don't want to. "Game creation for the rest of us" ...we're here because we don't want to code, so why restrict it?
As for charging a high price... I'd like to charge $20+ for my next game. Yet, I don't think it would sell very well. That's why it's probably going to be $1.99 or even $2.99.
With Unity... iPhone Pro is what... $1200? I don't fully understand how their pricing works. Yet, that probably puts pressure on GameSalad pricing... yes/no?
With Unity... iPhone Pro is what... $1200? I don't fully understand how their pricing works. Yet, that probably puts pressure on GameSalad pricing... yes/no?
it is actually $2400 because you need to buy Unity Pro as well and that is WITH early adoption discount and you have to pay for upgrades
Unity is $1500 for iPhone Standard and $2400 for Pro. There is some significant differences between the 2...the primary being that you need to be earning $100K annually to be required to purchase the pro license.
Sure you need to learn Javascript to enhance the game functionality...but the features are very robust and it has a longer track record...is much faster and much more stable. But javascript programmers are not hard to find...so assembling a team to do javascript coding over XCode is much easier...and more economical.
Besides...most of the GS devs that don't want to code (or can't) aren't really needing a pro license. So if I'm a pro and don't want the GS logo...I have to rationalize $2K for a limited game engine that is quite buggy and has about 1/4 the horsepower of Unity. I have a hard time understanding why Gendai thinks the logo removal and href linking is worth $2K.
I find the direct customer support to be useless. The software isn't that complicated so what do I need that for. I might use it once or twice a year...if that.
So the issue is... Do I invest $2K in Unity or $2K in Gamesalad. Unity has fast development times too. Gamesalad is a little faster...but that is accessible via a $99 license.
I am personally not finding ANY value in the upgrade at $2K. I would be much more willing to drop $300 or so to remove the logo...but not $2K.
Now if they add some really valuable features to the pro version down the road...then I can see $500 being tolerable...if I can have access to multi-player hosting, iAds, and so on.
But at $2K...forget it. I would try to assemble a team and build a competitive product before that.
Agreed Well from ... 'I am personally not finding ..... I aint got a scooby doo about Unity, i love GS but the pricing is wrong! I think the $300 would be a fair price to remove the logo and $500 would be good for advanced features that are not present. As has been said earlier though, why not 1 version for between $300 - $500 which includes everything, whether you use it or not?
Gendai could take a leaf out of the management style at Appcelerator Titanium. They set pricing for their "PRO" license, the community reacted very negatively towards it, Appcelerator changed their pricing more in-line with the communities expectations. This was handled admirably, and gained more "PRO" license take-ups no doubt. Really it ended up being a WIN-WIN.
I don't expect to get the source, not much would really be gained by this other than some clone setups to compete with. Having hooks or plugins as a way to extend what is already there would be a great step in the right direction. (This has been mentioned a number of times) Getting an xcode project would benefit a lot of people, but the target market doesn't seem to be the kind that are xcoders anyway...
I thought that there was thread here that mentioned an export to XCODE feature planned for GameSalad. I think there was a YouTube video with some information about that.
Here's a bonus for people that have read this far. HA HA!
I figured out a way to improve my game. I changed the way my spawners worked. Instead of using actors to spawn other actors in place, I start the scene with the actors already in place. This seems to have created a significant reduction in loading times and perhaps even a boost in frame rates.
It was more work for me to do this, but that's been the theme of this project. If it's extra work for me, but good for the players, I'm not going to shy away from it. So, I put up with having to restart the software about 4-5 times, just to reorganize the scene.
Dude, all this talk about your game... if it's another "50 bikini" babes app, I WILL kill you. Haha. Looking forward to what you have to show!
Seriously, though... the extra languages are a good idea... there are a helluva lot of people who don't speak English and would buy it... given me something to think about
POLYGAMe said: Dude, all this talk about your game... if it's another "50 bikini" babes app, I WILL kill you. Haha. Looking forward to what you have to show!
There is an image of a woman on my title screen, in a fairly attractive pose, but it's not a sex game. I'm aiming for a 4+ rating.
I'm really excited about the international launch. This could be it. Either I'll be successful or so utterly crushed by despair that I might not find the enthusiasm to stay determined. If a game with German and Polish language cannot do well on the International launch day, I don't know how to improve. I don't know what I could do better. I'm pushing GameSalad to the limit here. I'm pushing my talents to the limit too. (I also burned through a lot of my music assets!) It's really hard work! If it doesn't pay off now, I might need a new direction.
My game is so polished it has Polish!
But in general, even if my game doesn't sell well, I'll probably still think highly of the GameSalad software. I know I've been grumpy about load times and performance. It's frustrating to see performance issues after working so hard. I think I have it under control though.
Also, there's a great community here! There's lots of friendly and/or talented people.
I have to finish my game by tomorrow. I'm aiming for the 5/28 International launch. I'd like to put together a video to explain what I've done and why I think my game is pretty good. Hopefully that's done before the launch.
Whoa... I'm tired. The game is done. Now I wait for review and to see if I hit the May 28 deadline.
Heh... and the iPod Touch / iPhone conversion will begin.
Are people interested in a video about my recent project? Heh, if not, I can go work on other projects.
...and the main point of this thread was to find out about the 0.8.6 update. But unfortunately, nothing happened. I couldn't wait any longer. Hopefully Gendai Games is working on something good. It's been almost two months (iPad support) since I got excited about a GameSalad update.
I'm converting the game to the iPhone / iPod Touch. I was getting the provisioning profile was about to expire error. I kept trying to push it as long as I could, but today it expired. I don't want to have to update my GameSalad software, only to have to update it again when Gendai Games releases the next version of GameSalad. But unfortunately, I can't test FPS without the GS Viewer working properly.
Heh, so maybe this is like a good omen. Now that I'm reinstalling my software again, I'm thinking that a new update is soon.
So OK, some people want to see the video. I'm waiting for my app to be approved. It's been in review for about two days. I don't feel it's safe to start showing off my game just yet, as I suspect that others will want to create clones. Heh, I'd like to give both versions of my game a nice head-start though.
I'm surprised that 0.8.6 has not been updated yet.
Also, I noticed something interesting today. This might help Gendai Games. I noticed that my collision detection worked better when I changed the layers. Say "A" is set to be destroyed when "B" overlaps or collides with it. Things seems to work better when "B" was on top of "A".
Lagging is usually caused by un-optimized code, graphics, and audio. Now GS could certainly be fine-tuned to run faster, but nothing will help poorly written code.
You need to understand the limits of GameSalad as well as the limits of the device. You have to plan around them and think creatively.
You also need to test on as many devices as you can as you design your game, so you can make sure that nothing you add causes performance hits.
Testing in GS is fine for testing logic, not performance. You have the power of your computer during the GS preview, whereas the iPhone or iPod has significantly decreased RAM and processor power.
I am achieving 60 FPS on my iPhone so it is certainly possible to make a fast-running game with GS.
Comments
My determination has faded slightly in the past couple days, but I think it's because I'm over-thinking the issues which alot of us are concerned about, instead of just tinkering with the Creator software and building my game. Every time I think about "3G performance" and "App Store approval" and "potential sales" and "will Apple kill GS?", it's like a wet blanket on my motivation. These are serious issues, very serious, but with a solid idea bouncing around in my head, it's probably better to not worry and doubt, and just see where the cards may fall. By the time I get my game into a workable state with multiple levels, we might be up to GS Creator 0.9.4 and there will only be one membership option for $299 or something. THAT is exactly what I hope will happen.
QS : "GS launched with the standard package you can get now at $99 for an original price of $500. So having 'looked into it' they reacted to the market as it were"
Because they didn't get the price right first time, does not necessary bring in to question their current or future pricing structure.
QS : "Now, even people that have pro licenses (me included, and Tshirtbooth who's the most successful money-wise of us all so far I'd wager) are saying that you just don't get enough to justify the high cost and won't renew a pro membership at $2k."
If that cost is not subsidised by your work then no, of course it wont be. If however you gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps then yes it does.
QS : "If you don't add new features, then sure, your mate and a handful of others might be able to afford it as a business with clients, but the take up will be less. Perhaps so small that a price drop incentive might be introduced. Again."
GameSalad - Game creation for the rest of us. Is targeted squarely at those who don't have the knowledge/experience of the industry standard game development platforms. Thus you can assume their main income will be from these people. However they must have also recognised the fact that this also has use in small studios, even established studios as a cheep production and/or rapid prototyping tool. But this is a minor secondary income, otherwise they would have positioned themselves differently. Did the cost of a pro license ever change? (that's not a rhetorical question, i don't know)
QS:"Thus, I'm sure they're 'Looking into it' again. At least I *hope* they are. There have been plenty of good (as well as rubbish) suggestions as to how the pricing structure might be changed."
Given the only feature of the pro license, won't make you any monkey, or make your games better, why would you ever consider paying more than $99?
Chunkypixels:"@ mrfunkleberry.... why am i a silly billy? please explain....."
Sorry, that was a crap thing to say
Chunkypixels:"surely it makes more financial sense for Gendai to have a much larger base of paid pro accounts at a more reasonable price, than to have a much more limited number of accounts at the higher price."
No it really doesn't. The GameSalad market is a relatively untapped market, which they can cheaply exploit. If they went after pro's with deeper pockets, the cost of each sale goes up dramatically because of the competition.
Chunkypixels:"And to clarify.... I am a pro developer. Just not a GameSalad pro account holder. If the product justifies the $2000, then i have no issue paying it...but at the moment, like i say, Im still evaluating it, and have my concerns."
The product does not justify the $2000, only the return on investment justifies the $2000 for a pro developer. If you can't make a healthy return on the $2000 then a pro developer should look at another cheaper development platform. But you should be able to justify it. I tried to employ an iphone developer recently and had no luck at all. They're in high demand at the moment.
Mr.F: Because they didn't get the price right first time, does not necessary bring in to question their current or future pricing structure.
Me: It also doesn't rule out that it might change, no?
Mr.F: If that cost is not subsidised by your work then no, of course it wont be. If however you gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps then yes it does.
Me: So that's ok? If truly the only advantage is not having the GS logo appear, why not give that to everyone? Why should people have to rely on the cost being subsidised by another company? It seems a very narrow target group to me, but that's just me...
Mr.F: Did the cost of a pro license ever change? (that's not a rhetorical question, i don't know)
Me: Actually, no it hasn't. But you can prototype for free, or, if you want to test on devices ,just pay the $99.
Mr.F: Given the only feature of the pro license, won't make you any monkey, or make your games better, why would you ever consider paying more than $99?
Me: I like to think you put in 'monkey' on purpose to make me giggle
Truth is, and this is the elephant in the room, that having the GS logo at the start has, I believe, a certain stigma attached. Mainly because there's a lot of rubbish out there (and I count a couple of my own games amongst that rubbish) made with GS.
Secondly there's the long load times, and no online leaderboards, and any number of other missing, some would say 'standard' features, that lead people to believe that all GS games are bad.
This isn't the case of course. And plenty of bad games get made without GameSalad. Its just that if people keep buying bad GS games, they'll associate that little logo at the start with bad quality. It's up to us to turn that misconception around.
And if we still don't agree, I'll see you on the green at dawn. 20 paces. That sort of thing
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
Its like paying $50 for a double cheeseburger with no cheese just so you can tell the manager they forgot the cheese...only to hear the response "we'll be providing the actual cheese in the 2nd Qtr. of 2012...at the cost of another $50".
My suspicion is that these guys are running out of cash.
BTW...Unity charges less than 2K for a full license and they give you the source code and its 3D capable. What is Gendai thinking!!! Give me a break!
For example, if quantumsheep has the pro version, what would Gendai Games think if I sent him my game and give him $50 to pull the GameSalad logo out of the game? In that scenario, quantumsheep would "gain employment by selling nonGS branded apps".
If you're a professional, it means that you might be making games for other people... but I'm not sure that the license allows you to do that. For example, Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator lets me make publications for other companies. Dreamweaver generates code to make websites. I could charge clients for this work.
With the pro version of GameSalad, can you make apps for other people? Can I make a Soda game for Coca-Cola?
I think ONE version of GameSalad makes the most sense. No tech support... maybe sell that as a separate package... just one uber version of GameSalad... one with decent loading times, superb frame rates and robust features.
We now join a pro game developer (who's bought a pro license) at work
-Bring bring! bring bring!
--ello?
-I'd need a game to promote the new range of golf clubs my company is making. can you help?
--sure, that'll be £3000
-Great
--Great
-Bye then
--Bye
We now join a game developer (who's bought a standard) at home
-bring bring, bring bring!
--ello?
-DUDE you gotta see my game! it just got approved in the App Store!
--Sweet!
-I know!
We now join another game developer (who's bought a standard) at home
-bring bring, bring bring!
--ello?
-watcha mate. can you publish my game for me, so i don't have the GS logo on it?
--Piss off
-I'll pay you!
--Really? You want to give me your hard work, for me to sell on the app store, and you'll even pay me to do it?
-Yeah!
--OK you got me. Where's the camera? Am i on TV right now?
I'll bring the guns!
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
I woke up this morning refreshed. While I rested, I mediated on a possible solution to my title screen issue. I can't really improve the loading times, but I certainly don't want to make it worse. So, how could I implement a title screen with buttons for multi-language support, options, story and instructions... in a single actor!
It's wasn't easy, but I figured it out.
...and then there was this...
Apple's iPhone does well without being the best
Those words were like an epiphany. I don't have to be the best. I just have to do well. I believe that my game does well. Overall, it's a great game. Hopefully GameSalad will fix the loading times... and then it might be perfect. I think I'm getting ready to wrap this up. Perhaps I'll be done today. Afterwards, I might be able to share greater details about my game.
...and then the fun of cramming a 768x1024 game down to 320x480 begins.
Just because Unity can do more doesn't mean that GameSalad should cost less. Massive amounts of work have gone into both no doubt but to get GameSalad to a stage where anyone can make games, I think if you had a great popular piece of software that you slogged your guts out to make you would want to charge a high priced.
Why are the loading times so slow? What is GameSalad doing when an app loads? If Gendai Games was less restrictive, would the games load faster? Would the community help out to find bug fixes and performance enhancements?
I haven't even bothered to look at the Xcode. I don't want to. "Game creation for the rest of us" ...we're here because we don't want to code, so why restrict it?
As for charging a high price... I'd like to charge $20+ for my next game. Yet, I don't think it would sell very well. That's why it's probably going to be $1.99 or even $2.99.
With Unity... iPhone Pro is what... $1200? I don't fully understand how their pricing works. Yet, that probably puts pressure on GameSalad pricing... yes/no?
Sure you need to learn Javascript to enhance the game functionality...but the features are very robust and it has a longer track record...is much faster and much more stable. But javascript programmers are not hard to find...so assembling a team to do javascript coding over XCode is much easier...and more economical.
Besides...most of the GS devs that don't want to code (or can't) aren't really needing a pro license. So if I'm a pro and don't want the GS logo...I have to rationalize $2K for a limited game engine that is quite buggy and has about 1/4 the horsepower of Unity. I have a hard time understanding why Gendai thinks the logo removal and href linking is worth $2K.
I find the direct customer support to be useless. The software isn't that complicated so what do I need that for. I might use it once or twice a year...if that.
So the issue is...
Do I invest $2K in Unity or $2K in Gamesalad. Unity has fast development times too. Gamesalad is a little faster...but that is accessible via a $99 license.
I am personally not finding ANY value in the upgrade at $2K. I would be much more willing to drop $300 or so to remove the logo...but not $2K.
Now if they add some really valuable features to the pro version down the road...then I can see $500 being tolerable...if I can have access to multi-player hosting, iAds, and so on.
But at $2K...forget it. I would try to assemble a team and build a competitive product before that.
I aint got a scooby doo about Unity, i love GS but the pricing is wrong! I think the $300 would be a fair price to remove the logo and $500 would be good for advanced features that are not present. As has been said earlier though, why not 1 version for between $300 - $500 which includes everything, whether you use it or not?
They set pricing for their "PRO" license, the community reacted very negatively towards it, Appcelerator changed their pricing more in-line with the communities expectations. This was handled admirably, and gained more "PRO" license take-ups no doubt. Really it ended up being a WIN-WIN.
I don't expect to get the source, not much would really be gained by this other than some clone setups to compete with. Having hooks or plugins as a way to extend what is already there would be a great step in the right direction. (This has been mentioned a number of times) Getting an xcode project would benefit a lot of people, but the target market doesn't seem to be the kind that are xcoders anyway...
I would be happy with a PRO license for $250-$500
Do you think you're interested in foreign language support for your games? It seems to have helped my app sales somewhat.
Achtung die Bomben!
Would you pay $15 for a German translation of your game's iTunes app store description... 4000 characters max + keywords?
I figured out a way to improve my game. I changed the way my spawners worked. Instead of using actors to spawn other actors in place, I start the scene with the actors already in place. This seems to have created a significant reduction in loading times and perhaps even a boost in frame rates.
It was more work for me to do this, but that's been the theme of this project. If it's extra work for me, but good for the players, I'm not going to shy away from it. So, I put up with having to restart the software about 4-5 times, just to reorganize the scene.
Performance is important!
Seriously, though... the extra languages are a good idea... there are a helluva lot of people who don't speak English and would buy it... given me something to think about
I'm really excited about the international launch. This could be it. Either I'll be successful or so utterly crushed by despair that I might not find the enthusiasm to stay determined. If a game with German and Polish language cannot do well on the International launch day, I don't know how to improve. I don't know what I could do better. I'm pushing GameSalad to the limit here. I'm pushing my talents to the limit too. (I also burned through a lot of my music assets!) It's really hard work! If it doesn't pay off now, I might need a new direction.
My game is so polished it has Polish!
But in general, even if my game doesn't sell well, I'll probably still think highly of the GameSalad software. I know I've been grumpy about load times and performance. It's frustrating to see performance issues after working so hard. I think I have it under control though.
Also, there's a great community here!
There's lots of friendly and/or talented people.
I have to finish my game by tomorrow. I'm aiming for the 5/28 International launch. I'd like to put together a video to explain what I've done and why I think my game is pretty good. Hopefully that's done before the launch.
Heh... and the iPod Touch / iPhone conversion will begin.
Are people interested in a video about my recent project? Heh, if not, I can go work on other projects.
...and the main point of this thread was to find out about the 0.8.6 update. But unfortunately, nothing happened. I couldn't wait any longer. Hopefully Gendai Games is working on something good. It's been almost two months (iPad support) since I got excited about a GameSalad update.
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
Heh, so maybe this is like a good omen. Now that I'm reinstalling my software again, I'm thinking that a new update is soon.
So OK, some people want to see the video. I'm waiting for my app to be approved. It's been in review for about two days. I don't feel it's safe to start showing off my game just yet, as I suspect that others will want to create clones. Heh, I'd like to give both versions of my game a nice head-start though.
I'm surprised that 0.8.6 has not been updated yet.
Also, I noticed something interesting today. This might help Gendai Games. I noticed that my collision detection worked better when I changed the layers. Say "A" is set to be destroyed when "B" overlaps or collides with it. Things seems to work better when "B" was on top of "A".
MY G@M3 L@GZ!
Laaaaaaggggggggg
yeah, they need to fix that
Lagging is usually caused by un-optimized code, graphics, and audio. Now GS could certainly be fine-tuned to run faster, but nothing will help poorly written code.
You need to understand the limits of GameSalad as well as the limits of the device. You have to plan around them and think creatively.
You also need to test on as many devices as you can as you design your game, so you can make sure that nothing you add causes performance hits.
Testing in GS is fine for testing logic, not performance. You have the power of your computer during the GS preview, whereas the iPhone or iPod has significantly decreased RAM and processor power.
I am achieving 60 FPS on my iPhone so it is certainly possible to make a fast-running game with GS.