So many missed opportunities...
BeyondtheTech
Member Posts: 809
Let me start off by saying I like GameSalad. I really do. I've never played with a GDK that was so easy to use and fun to work with.
That being said, I stand here with a growing amount of frustration.
At best, we've seen updates about once a month, but the speed of development and lack of communication or path, and the ambiguity in press releases/blog posts really don't help us end developers at all. Much like how Apple descends upon the public with a new product or a refresh, we just sit here clueless until you spring us with a new build, and like an iPad without a camera, many times we end up wondering how something could have been left out or not addressed.
For the last two years of its life, the App Store has proven itself to be an incredible competitive market over the past two years, and if you snooze, you lose. Missing key features can make or break a product and its sales potential.
A few months back, I came up with a bunch of suggestions, some of which can't be all that difficult to implement. One of which was accessing the device's real clock (see http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=3183). With the release of the iPad and its apparent lack of a Clock app, the developer of "Night Stand HD" was able to clock in 20,000 downloads in 30 days (see http://www.intomobile.com/2010/05/11/night-stand-hd-for-ipad-hits-20000-downloads-within-30-days-lack-of-a-built-in-alarm-clock-app-to-thank/).
Fun and simple games is what GameSalad can make. But without an online scoreboard or networking features like OpenFeint or Plus+, we're pretty much playing alone in our own sandboxes, and the users can get rather bored after a while. By adding in an array or indexable Attributes, you can open up the doors to a ton more games. Plus, it appears now that iOS 4 allows you to directly access the iTunes library for your own purposes - imagine coming up with your own rhythm/DDR/Guitar Hero-type game!
Many App Store customers are peeved at the whole "iPad games are priced with a premium" just because the screen is larger. If GameSalad offered the ability to merge two projects together into a single Universal binary to sell on the App Store, we could benefits from those missing sales. Same goes for In-App Purchasing.
Until iAds was announced, people were making additional income with AdMob, which is still inaccessible to all GS users. Now, we're seeing that only Pro users can get iAds, which is a Catch-22 for struggling Express users, including myself. With the thought of one developer getting $1400 in a single day for iAds, I'm feeling more hopeless in my continuation with GameSalad, especially as an Express member (see http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-developer-brags-1400-in-iad-revenue-in-one-day-at-150-ecpm-2010-7).
And I'm still mostly frustrated that there is such a price discrepancy between Pro and Express. I haven't made enough sales for all my GS apps to pay for Pro at its current price, but I would greatly consider and attempt to sacrifice what available monies I had if it was at its previous pricetag of $499.
At $99, you'll grab a lot of amateur developers making mediocre apps with all the same limited functionality, and the lucky $1999 users will have a little more taste of secondary income. Wouldn't it be more fruitful to you and your GS users to open the doors a little bit more? Make it one membership with one annual fee of say, $399. Give a little more insight - a roadmap or development status on each of the most-highly requested features. Give a bit more access the pre-compiled code so we can access and embed features like the compass and map, the camera or microphone, push notifications, iTunes library, third-party anti-piracy protection, voice synthesis, etc.
These are just some suggestions that I don't think I'm anywhere alone on this issue. Other platforms are starting to emerge and look more appealing.
DragonFire SDK - http://www.dragonfiresdk.com/index.htm (develop on PC platform)
Corona SDK - http://www.anscamobile.com/ (multiplatform)
Stencyl - http://www.stencyl.com/ (Mac/Windows/Linux - social network integration)
GLBasic - http://www.glbasic.com/ (multiplatform)
Unity - http://unity3d.com/ (now with full iPad support)
iTorque 2D - http://www.torquepowered.com/products/torque-2d/iphone
ShiVa 3D - http://www.stonetrip.com (multiplatform)
...and just like the App Store, it can get quite competitive. Please give your current users a fighting chance. Really, I'm begging you.
That being said, I stand here with a growing amount of frustration.
At best, we've seen updates about once a month, but the speed of development and lack of communication or path, and the ambiguity in press releases/blog posts really don't help us end developers at all. Much like how Apple descends upon the public with a new product or a refresh, we just sit here clueless until you spring us with a new build, and like an iPad without a camera, many times we end up wondering how something could have been left out or not addressed.
For the last two years of its life, the App Store has proven itself to be an incredible competitive market over the past two years, and if you snooze, you lose. Missing key features can make or break a product and its sales potential.
A few months back, I came up with a bunch of suggestions, some of which can't be all that difficult to implement. One of which was accessing the device's real clock (see http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=3183). With the release of the iPad and its apparent lack of a Clock app, the developer of "Night Stand HD" was able to clock in 20,000 downloads in 30 days (see http://www.intomobile.com/2010/05/11/night-stand-hd-for-ipad-hits-20000-downloads-within-30-days-lack-of-a-built-in-alarm-clock-app-to-thank/).
Fun and simple games is what GameSalad can make. But without an online scoreboard or networking features like OpenFeint or Plus+, we're pretty much playing alone in our own sandboxes, and the users can get rather bored after a while. By adding in an array or indexable Attributes, you can open up the doors to a ton more games. Plus, it appears now that iOS 4 allows you to directly access the iTunes library for your own purposes - imagine coming up with your own rhythm/DDR/Guitar Hero-type game!
Many App Store customers are peeved at the whole "iPad games are priced with a premium" just because the screen is larger. If GameSalad offered the ability to merge two projects together into a single Universal binary to sell on the App Store, we could benefits from those missing sales. Same goes for In-App Purchasing.
Until iAds was announced, people were making additional income with AdMob, which is still inaccessible to all GS users. Now, we're seeing that only Pro users can get iAds, which is a Catch-22 for struggling Express users, including myself. With the thought of one developer getting $1400 in a single day for iAds, I'm feeling more hopeless in my continuation with GameSalad, especially as an Express member (see http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-developer-brags-1400-in-iad-revenue-in-one-day-at-150-ecpm-2010-7).
And I'm still mostly frustrated that there is such a price discrepancy between Pro and Express. I haven't made enough sales for all my GS apps to pay for Pro at its current price, but I would greatly consider and attempt to sacrifice what available monies I had if it was at its previous pricetag of $499.
At $99, you'll grab a lot of amateur developers making mediocre apps with all the same limited functionality, and the lucky $1999 users will have a little more taste of secondary income. Wouldn't it be more fruitful to you and your GS users to open the doors a little bit more? Make it one membership with one annual fee of say, $399. Give a little more insight - a roadmap or development status on each of the most-highly requested features. Give a bit more access the pre-compiled code so we can access and embed features like the compass and map, the camera or microphone, push notifications, iTunes library, third-party anti-piracy protection, voice synthesis, etc.
These are just some suggestions that I don't think I'm anywhere alone on this issue. Other platforms are starting to emerge and look more appealing.
DragonFire SDK - http://www.dragonfiresdk.com/index.htm (develop on PC platform)
Corona SDK - http://www.anscamobile.com/ (multiplatform)
Stencyl - http://www.stencyl.com/ (Mac/Windows/Linux - social network integration)
GLBasic - http://www.glbasic.com/ (multiplatform)
Unity - http://unity3d.com/ (now with full iPad support)
iTorque 2D - http://www.torquepowered.com/products/torque-2d/iphone
ShiVa 3D - http://www.stonetrip.com (multiplatform)
...and just like the App Store, it can get quite competitive. Please give your current users a fighting chance. Really, I'm begging you.