What we want from Gamesalad (A bit of research across the community)

epicman

Hi there Gamesalad community!

Although we all agree that Gamesalad is one of the best development kits for application development when it comes to options, speed and its overall power, there are still some features that are missing that would make huge differences to games on Gamesalad. Now I'm not saying that Gamesalad is bad, but many developers would like these features added as it can push their apps that extra mile. This information was gathered from a number of different requests.

Firstly, Push Notifications:
For years, app developers have requested that Gamesalad should implement the option to be able to push notifications to their app users so that they can be notified when a certain condition is valid (such as a time condition) or a reminder that they should play the developers game.
Now obviously this will require the app to be continuously running in the background which I believe is something Gamesalad doesn't do at the very moment, hence a fair bit of changing to the way how Gamesalad runs will have to be done if I've done my research right.

Secondly, Video capabilities:
Now you have to admit, being able to watch movies within your app, which can be a cinematic, a tutorial, or anything else the developer intends to do with videos in Gamesalad is pretty cool. This would seriously increase the fluidity to the app, and would save the developers a lot of time when it comes to making cinematics.
Again, I have no idea how this could be made possible, yet I'm sure Gamesalad will figure out a way how to do it eventually.

Thirdly, Camera / Photo library access:
Taking photos and importing them from your camera and placing them into the game would mean that the user would be able to interact more with the app, such as being able to set up a profile with your profile pic, or choosing a background for a game, and so on.
Once again, how this could be done, I'm not sure. But it would be cool non the less.

Finally, Pivot Points:
Although there are ways in Gamesalad to use pivots for characters, it would be nice to have a system developed for developers to use in order to rapidly and with simplicity to animate actors for their projects. Though it's not vital, it would still be a nice addition to Gamesalad.

I hope you enjoyed my suggestions that I gathered from the community and I sincerely hope that Gamesalad consider adding the following functions when possible. Overall, I love Gamesalad and I hope they keep up the good work and the great service they offer, and the friendly community that follows!

vafurlogi

Also, loading times... eh... feature.

GameAlchemist

Although it's too late to suggest this but I personally think that the creators should have continued Graphene SDK and I might have paid for that software as long as it is in my budget. But recently I was researching other game making softwares, and almost all of them were not as easy to learn as GameSalad is(other than buildbox, but its price is obsolete so I wouldn't even recommend it to anyone) and that is what caught my attention in the first place. And looking at the pace of how GameSalad is updating and fixing bugs and adding small features quickly, I think they might soon catch up to the features you require or other community members require. But yeah I agree with small features like pivot points and push notifications, we should probably get those sooner.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I don't think the camera is a big item game developers want same with video as you can use the url like for now. Push notifications yes for multiplayer. Other than that better physics and custom collisions are more vital to game makers.

colander

@Lost_Oasis_Games said:
I don't think the camera is a big item game developers want

I tend to agree with this statement. But (There is always a but) when this feature is added it will open up new areas for developers to go like personalised avatars and a lot I and others haven't thought of or about yet. Add to this importing images form a server and even more apps and app features will be possible.

I know there are more pressing and higher priority features to do first but I dream on anyway.

Rainbros

If you ask me, custom fonts are WAY at the top of the list.

Moik

For me it's expansion files or some kind of hosted patching tool. Without an option here, unless Apple/Google bump their OTA/wifi limits, I expect there will be a point where I have to switch to another tool. With Google capping at 50mb and Apple at 100mb, if I want to make something graphics-heavy I'll be limited to landline downloads which is a significant hobble.

An integrated keyboard would open up a lot of impactful functionality. It would let people name their characters and stuff. Players would becoming more attached to the game and stick with it longer. That's good for helping commercial success.

I back Push Notifications for a similar reason. They can be used to help the player form a habit. Increasing the lifespan of the game increases the chances for commercial success.

I'd also like to see some Facebook integrated if possible, for some wall posted virality. I see that there's some hacks using Open URL, but it would simplify and increase reliability to be native to the tool.

Now that independent HTML5 has opened up a path to Steam, if those four upgrades land within the next year or so, I can probably stick with Game Salad for any of my planned projects. I would only need to switch out if for some reason I needed to use a 3D engine, which I don't expect.

supafly129

Faster loading times definitely beats everything on this list IMO

Braydon_SFX

Faster loading times should be at the top of the list in my opinion. While the things you mentioned I would welcome with open arms, we first have to get players to load into our games. If that takes too long, then we lose users which results in potential revenue loss.

Loading times first, then lets move on to features.

Moik

13.35 was supposed to have contained a bunch of performance improvements and memory leak plugs. Did they not work out? Would be interesting to see some of the loading times before and after that.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

They said they are working on the loading times. We would all love a host of robust features but there needs to be some reality that it's going to take time. Gamesalad is first and foremost a game development engine. Yes you can do other things like make an app but there are other programs that are for apps. Features that enhance the game engine should be first and foremost then other features can come. It's actually not that hard to build an app in Xcode. I'm using a iBooks series to learn that now. Anyone who is serious should learn code. I already knew Java so the next was to learn swift and some C.

MarcMySalad

"Anyone who is serious should learn code."
lol

GameAlchemist

@Lost_Oasis_Games Well GameSalad does actually use real code logic since the "Rules" that we use in our projects are actually the "If" statements in Javascript/some other coding language but through its drag and drop interface, we are avoiding all the fuss that coding requires us to do, and if people start learning to code properly, that would mean loss for GameSalad, and that's what we don't want. We want this Gaming engine to reach it's peak and show us what it is truly capable of. So by asking for features, is actually supporting GameSalad, otherwise people would just learn to code and leave GameSalad.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

One can ask for features all day long but they are only going to come as GS has time for. Those features asked for other than push would be a year away or more.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@MarcMySalad said:
"Anyone who is serious should learn code."
lol

By serious I mean do it exclusively for a living. try getting a job at EA without knowing code unless one is an artist.

robertkdale

@Lost_Oasis_Games what book series are you using! I am learning Xcode as well. I know that I must learn coding in order to create the type of games that I want to make. I've been using Udemy.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I'm using this series and I really like it. It walks you through everything. http://www.iosappsfornonprogrammers.com

jay2dx

I don't want push notifications "there rubbish and everyone except devs hate them"

loading times yes, and that's it, just loading times, everything else is ok as it is

robertkdale

Thank you @Lost_Oasis_Games!

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@jay2dx said:
I don't want push notifications "there rubbish and everyone except devs hate them"

loading times yes, and that's it, just loading times, everything else is ok as it is

If you have any desire for a multiplayer game which is a gamesalad feature that is ready and will be out again once they get the feature in the Windows version you will need push notifications so it is more vital than you think.

Franto

Loading times.

GS has been doing superbly, especially with the delivery of html5 and the soon to be .exes. {On any GS export that works on desktop, loading times are much, much faster even now.}