Questions about IPhone and memberships
JamesBoucher
Member Posts: 433
I want to start by saying I think GameSalad is a great product, but I have some questions that I would like to be answered by GameSalad concerning its use on IPhone. (I’ve only been using GameSalad for a week)
Do you still consider this to be in beta?
Does the PRO version actually exist (since your selling for $2000)?
If the PRO version does not exit, then when?
Do you have a white sheet comparing what the Pro Level Tool Features are compared to the Indie product?
Does GameSalad only work on a GameSalad game engine?
What are its performance limitations on the IPhone?
What other platforms does it currently work on?
What other platforms do you plan to support and when?
What does Live Support Incidents mean (your definition)?
Is there a limit to the number of PCs that I can have GameSalad on?
Does GameSalad have rights to my games in anyway other than for promotional or advertising? Other words can they sale or distribute it without my permission.
Do you have any plans on allowing developers to test your product before purchasing it, or any kind of guarantee on its performance on the IPhone?
I’m asking these question because I work for a software company (Surgery/Medical Clinics) and write games on the side, but have never seen a beta and a non existing product sold like this. I’m trying to make an informed decision about using your product. I don’t want to spend time and money on something I cannot test, and is so undefined. Once again what I see is great; it’s what I don’t see/know that scares me.
I would also like to apologize for sounding so negative in other post, but I do think you selling this like it’s a finished featured rich product and it’s not.
I just want some answers, so please don’t turn this into bashing.
Do you still consider this to be in beta?
Does the PRO version actually exist (since your selling for $2000)?
If the PRO version does not exit, then when?
Do you have a white sheet comparing what the Pro Level Tool Features are compared to the Indie product?
Does GameSalad only work on a GameSalad game engine?
What are its performance limitations on the IPhone?
What other platforms does it currently work on?
What other platforms do you plan to support and when?
What does Live Support Incidents mean (your definition)?
Is there a limit to the number of PCs that I can have GameSalad on?
Does GameSalad have rights to my games in anyway other than for promotional or advertising? Other words can they sale or distribute it without my permission.
Do you have any plans on allowing developers to test your product before purchasing it, or any kind of guarantee on its performance on the IPhone?
I’m asking these question because I work for a software company (Surgery/Medical Clinics) and write games on the side, but have never seen a beta and a non existing product sold like this. I’m trying to make an informed decision about using your product. I don’t want to spend time and money on something I cannot test, and is so undefined. Once again what I see is great; it’s what I don’t see/know that scares me.
I would also like to apologize for sounding so negative in other post, but I do think you selling this like it’s a finished featured rich product and it’s not.
I just want some answers, so please don’t turn this into bashing.
Comments
GameSalad Viewer = The thing you install on your ipod Touch/ iPhone.
GameSalad Creator = The FREE tool (except for some subscriber only enabled features) that is installed on your Intel Based Mac.
GameSalad.com = The website where you can share your games, post stuff on the forums, read the wiki about how GameSalad Viewer and Creator work, etc.
Gendai Games = The AWESOME company that makes the family of GameSalad stuff.
Not sure what you mean by "If you could edit your post a little bit, it may help us answer the questions better.". It seems like JamesBoucher spelled it out fairly clearly. I think he is just wanting some answers to the questions he has asked. I would also be interested in what GameSalad has to say about the questions.
Thanks.
"Does GameSalad only work on a GameSalad game engine?"
Do you still consider this to be in beta? - "Early Access indicates gaining access to the program early. Next to the GS logo it says Beta, so I guess this answer is yes."
Does the PRO version actually exist (since your selling for $2000)? - "It exists, but there are not independent features yet I don't believe (besides getting rid of splash screen). The devs did say in another post they recommend people going with indie. Pro will be mainly for companies. Also you can always pay the difference to upgrade to pro."
Do you have a white sheet comparing what the Pro Level Tool Features are compared to the Indie product? - "Don't think there's much difference yet except splash. I'm sure this will be done when there are more features/updates."
Does GameSalad only work on a GameSalad game engine? - "No, idea what you mean. Maybe you mean the web version requiring a GS plugin? Then yes. But GS does not run interpreted code, Apple does not allow that for the iPhone. It converts it to a true APP form."
What are its performance limitations on the IPhone? - "The only limits are basically what the iPhone is limited too."
What other platforms do you plan to support and when? - "Currently iPhone & Mac (web). I doubt we see other platforms anytime soon. I'm assuming they will perfect the iPhone version then go to other platforms"
Is there a limit to the number of PCs that I can have GameSalad on? - "It does not support PC, so this is not relevant. If you mean Mac, I don't think so."
Does GameSalad have rights to my games in anyway other than for promotional or advertising? Other words can they sale or distribute it without my permission. - "They have said this a couple times that they do not. There's a post on the forums that go in much detail on this"
Do you have any plans on allowing developers to test your product before purchasing it, or any kind of guarantee on its performance on the IPhone? - "They did mention that they plan to support other pricing options later. Maybe they will offer a one game purchase to 'try' before you pay for the full year."
I would also like to apologize for sounding so negative in other post, but I do think you selling this like it’s a finished featured rich product and it’s not. - "I do disagree with this. I've made numerous games with this program. And I'm not talking about simple games. While I will be the first to say there are performance issues when a lot if going on, the software can do almost anything I want it to with a little planning. Much easier than writing code for months. Like I said I do agree that performance wise it can (& will) improve, feature wise it's very robust."
Anyways James I appreciate you professional sounding posts. I hate seeing negativity on the boards, & I feel you've been for the most part pretty professional in your posts (unlike some). Have fun, hope you stick around.
-JGary
Q: Do you still consider this to be in beta?
A: Yes. While the tool has most of the functionality that we're expecting to be in the 1.0 version, there's a lot we plan to continue working on with regards to work flow, bugs, and performance.
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Q: Does the PRO version actually exist (since your selling for $2000)?
A: Yes, if you sign up for Pro you activate GameSalad with a Pro license allowing you to customize branding and access remote URLs. Other Pro features like support for custom networking (read:custom), advanced analytics, and framework support are forthcoming.
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Q: If the PRO version does not exit, then when?
A: See above.
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Q: Do you have a white sheet comparing what the Pro Level Tool Features are compared to the Indie product?
A: The comparison chart on the Early Access page is what we have. As far as the Pro features, see the above answer.
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Q: Does GameSalad only work on a GameSalad game engine?
A: Not sure what this means. GameSalad Creator, the free development tool, currently works on the Mac and allows you to make games for Web and iPhone. We'll be expanding our supported platforms as we move forward. Does that answer your questions?
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Q: What are its performance limitations on the IPhone?
A: That's dependent on how you optimize your game. Like all platforms, unused assets and redundant scripts will give you poor performance compared to streamlining your behaviors and making sure everything is as lean as it can be.
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Q: What other platforms does it currently work on?
A: Currently we support the Web and iPhone.
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Q: What other platforms do you plan to support and when?
A: We've stated that we're working on getting desktop executable, however I don't have a timeline for that yet. We also plan to support other platforms, but there is no comment on which and when.
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Q: What does Live Support Incidents mean (your definition)?
A: We communicate directly, one on one with the subscriber.
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Q: Is there a limit to the number of PCs that I can have GameSalad on?
A: No limit on the number of Mac's you can have GameSalad Creator installed on.
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Q: Does GameSalad have rights to my games in anyway other than for promotional or advertising? Other words can they sale or distribute it without my permission.
A: This was answered by Adent42 at: http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=270&page=2
In short you own the game. We simply display the game and create promotional materials with it. This does not apply to iPhone games which are considered private.
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Q: Do you have any plans on allowing developers to test your product before purchasing it, or any kind of guarantee on its performance on the IPhone?
A: We hope to have the Viewer available on the App Store which should meet that need. We make no guarantees on performance as this depends on each game and developer.
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Q: I would also like to apologize for sounding so negative in other post, but I do think you selling this like it’s a finished featured rich product and it’s not.
A: We firmly believe it is quite feature rich. As you suggested in a previous sentence, there's nothing quite like it out there - and the reason is because GameSalad enables you to do things no other tool can. JGary explained this very nicely.
Hope this helped!
http://gamesalad.com/wiki/whats_new_in_gamesalad_0.5.0
http://gamesalad.com/wiki/openurl_behavior
First sorry for saying PC, I meant Mac (I work on both every day).
Some tools use a game engine (or shell) that your game runs in. I have no way of testing this on an IPhone/IPod without purchasing a membership first. If I understand your answer correctly, your game gets converted to App. Is this an Object C APP or something else?
You have for the most part answered my question concerning a white sheet (page), but where does a high score server fall under (if at all).
When you say you hope to have a viewer available on the App Store? What does this mean? How does the viewer work in allowing me to test my games on an IPhone/IPod. Can this give me a true indication of how my app will function/perform on an IPhone/IPod.
Once again thanks for the information.
A: Your game gets converted to an Xcode project, from which you can make your own app. The way Apple has setup their development system does not allow us to create straight on .apps for you.
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Q: You have for the most part answered my question concerning a white sheet (page), but where does a high score server fall under (if at all).
A: We plan on supporting the ability to save high scores for both Pro and Indie.
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Q: When you say you hope to have a viewer available on the App Store? What does this mean? How does the viewer work in allowing me to test my games on an IPhone/IPod. Can this give me a true indication of how my app will function/perform on an IPhone/IPod.
A: The Viewer is almost identical to building a standalone app for install on your device, except it's done within the Viewer app itself. The Viewer synchs with GameSalad Creator via wifi and essentially loads the game for you to test on, without using Xcode. As far as performance, we've heard reports that the actual built app performs slightly better than on the viewer, since it doesn't have to load the viewer resources.
Thanks for your questions!
If I want to share the cost of a Pro membership with another developer is that OK?
Would I be breaking any kind of a license agreement by publish Apps under more than one company?
Once the game is converted to an Xcode project, can I modify it at this point and recompile it? Say to add some other feature that’s not yet support by GameSalad.
Believe me….I am running out of questions.
I think the route I'm going to take is to finish the two games I started, and wait for the viewer. If everything works OK with the viewer I will then purchase the Indie membership. I may purchase the Pro depending on the answers I get on my last four questions.
Thanks for be patience with me.
Q: Any idea when the viewer from the App Store will be available and its cost?
A: No idea at this point. As JGary indicated, it might take some time.
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Q: If I want to share the cost of a Pro membership with another developer is that OK?
A: As far as sharing the cost of Pro: our memberships are per legal entity, whether that's you or your company is up to how you are setup. With that said, sharing account information violates the terms of service so keep that in mind.
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Q: Would I be breaking any kind of a license agreement by publish Apps under more than one company?
A: No, just keep in mind the restrictions I mentioned above.
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Q: Once the game is converted to an Xcode project, can I modify it at this point and recompile it? Say to add some other feature that’s not yet support by GameSalad.
A: No, once the Xcode project is made, it is set. We take very seriously our user feedback so we will strive to address them as we are able.