Is GameSalad a good option for me, to build an app?

RichardRi

Hi,

I have an idea for an app I’d like to create.

I’m not a developer and I’m not great at technical things.

I do use adobe photoshop, illustrator, and indesign – that’s about the limit of my technical skills.

I’d like to know if gamesalad would be a good option for me.

…Or is there another tool that would suit me better…?

A little about the app I want to develop:

The app is not a game.

Relatively speaking, I don’t think it’ll be complicated to make; but it does involve more than just static pages:

The app involves the user inputting text, saving text, scrolling through items, switching to different pages.

Ideally I want to create the app for all platforms, but if there’s a tool that’s better for my purposes and it only creates for iOS, for example, then I will opt for that to begin with.

A tool that is easy / quick / intuitive will be best for me.

But more importantly it absolutely needs to produce a technically solid product.

Is gamesalad the best option for me?

Or is there a better option for my purposes (and my low-level technical aptitude)?

Thanks.

ThoPel

Hi @RichardRi , welcome!

Some brief questions

• How many text? (one word ... some sentences ... multiple pages)
• How important is social media or push notifications? (Facebook, Twitter)
• Static "item catalog" or an online database?

KevinCross

I would not recommend GameSalad for any app that requires text input. It's ugly!

jigglybean

The great thing about Gamesalad is that there's a ton of video tutorials teaching you almost everything. Google search 'How to add a score in gamesalad' for example and its all there.

I don't think any other drag/drop platform has in depth guides like this - and free templates!

RichardRi

It sounds like gamesalad might not be the tool for the job.

Anyone recommend a tool for this?

Re people’s replies:

Thanks ThoPel,

— Users will input a lot of text in the app. Mostly it will be short sentences as separate itmes. But lots of them.

— There’s no plan to integrate social media except as buttons for people to recommend the app to their followers.

– i don’t know if static "item catalog" or an online database. I’m not technically minded and I haven’t got a technical person on board yet.

Thanks Kevin,

When you say it’s ugly; do you mean visually? Is gamesalad restricted in visuals I can use? Or do you mean technically the related code isn’t elegant?

Thanks jigglybean.

ThoPel

@RichardRi said:
gamesalad might not be the tool

Yes that's true

@RichardRi said:
Users will input a lot of text in the app.

@colander added a example below. Probably a stopgap.

@RichardRi said:
There’s no plan to integrate social media except as buttons for people to recommend the app to their followers.

Twitter is okay. But Facebook not really.

@RichardRi said:
I don’t know if static "item catalog" or an online database.

What a kind of items you are using (images, sounds, ...)?

colander

You can do text input in GS there is a behaviour for it. It is not attractive because the input box fills the screen.