Where does Gamesalad stand?
I am not asking this to berate Gamesalad. I am asking to get a feel for where Gamesalad stands, compared to the other Game making engines on the market.
I have been researching google searches and youtube traffic to get an idea where gamesalad stands in the this industry. In the multitude of youtube videos that ask the question like. " Top 5 Game engines" "Top 10 Engines to make a game" etc etc.. None of them mention Gamesalad. Gamesalad isnt even mention in a "honorable mention catagory. There was one video alone, that when narrating and discussing all the engines out there to choose from. There was a scene showing 20-30 engines and their logos. In that brief moment, gamesalad was one of those 30 logos. Other than that... no other mention of gamesalad.
I published a few apps a decade ago with gamesalad. I loved it. The only thing that kept me going was TShirtBooths videos. The way he described and tutored you was easy to understand. But as time went on it truly felt like Gamesalad became stagnant in features and creating quality of life changes. Every few years I would come back to the forums and the site. Research and try to find what new things have come along and changed in the game that would make me want to dive back in. I went to the gamesalad youtube page. And the last video was over a year ago. Then 3 yrs, then 6yrs. No ones talking about Gamesalad and new features and new tutorials. If I was asked how gamesalad is doing today. I would peak in and say...... dead or on life support. I dont say that about its internals or finances or policy. I say it only based on viewer actions, users actions in the forums. So this is why i ask....... Where does Gamesalad stand when compared to it the other engines available.
When I now go and watch Construct 3 or Game Maker Studio 2s videos. They continue to go go go. New features, new tutorials and tons of recent activities. Again Im not berating Gamesalad. SO please no responses like " well go play with Construct 3 and GMS2. No body asked you here" Im not trying to stir up that kind of talk.
I simply want to know whats happening in Gamesalad? What are some realistic goals that are coming to fruit soon? I would love to see Life breathed back into GS. Is that in the cards?
Unreal --Unity--Game Maker Studio- Construct 3--Godot--???????---????????----???????----????????----????????
??????---Gamesalad? Or is it even further down the list?
Comments
Does it matter where it is on a list? Many of those lists are promotional articles. Where companies pay to get on it. As far as quickly making a 2D game with little or no coding that is viable, I think the list is fairly short.
Unreal and Unity are, in my opinion, too cumbersome for 2D games. Game Maker Studio, Construct 3, and Godot (and maybe BuildBox) are probably more in-line with GameSalad. But each of them has some trade-offs and advantages. Most of them just export HTML that then gets wrapped for the platform. I have been working on an HTML wrapper for GameSalad for Steam (Windows) that I will share soonish, which I think will be as good or better than those platforms offer for steam.
As far as features, they come out from time to time. I wouldn't worry about features unless they impact what you try to do. It all comes down to what you are trying to do. If you want to get a job in the industry, then probably Unity is the best bet. Since most games are built on that. If you want to build a 3D game, I will go for Lumberjack, Unreal, or Unity (or probably others that I have forgotten). Want to build an RPG? Probably RPG Maker is the best (HumbleBundle has the latest version for pennies). If you are building a game from scratch, write down your requirements and skills and then decide on the appropriate tool. If that list includes bragging about the tool you use, GameSalad is probably not for you.
GameSalad is not dead. A dead tool is one that nobody uses, and the items it produces are not accepted in the marketplace. The last time I checked, I still use it, and there isn't a store that I have tried to get into that rejected it because it was built with GameSalad. There are plenty of dead tools on GitHub. A dozen open-source game engines that you couldn't get into Apple or Google stores without considerable changes.
From the top of my head, I currently have 3 GameSalad, 2 Native (iOS and Android), 4 Solar2D, 1 Buildbox, and 1 Marmalade (dead engine) in most of the stores (Google, Amazon, Huawei, Samsung, Otto). I also have ongoing projects in Godot, GameSalad, BuildBox, Unity, and Solar2D that I plan to release. But my goals are different; I am just here to make money. Decide what you want to do, and then pick the right tool. It is not a religion or a girlfriend you are allowed to have more than one.
If you were here ten years ago, this place was hopping. It's not hard to see that things have slowed down, as people have moved on, but Gamesalad is still a powerful tool and stepping stone to get in to development and you can create so amazing things with this software. I'd imagine that there's some cool things in the pipeline for Gamesalad, and the crew behind the scenes is doing an amazing job.
I agree with CaptFinn here, and I also LOVE using GameSalad. It just seems to have ground to a halt where there are no longer improvements to the core engine. It seems there is only capacity for the team to bug-fix and fight fires. I totally understand that this may be a resource issue and I would be totally ok if they came forward and admitted it.
It's a bit frustrating when requests for engine improvements fall on deaf ears when once they would have been addressed and fixed. As CaptFinn said, these criticisms come from a good place, we say it because we care.
I have been using GS for 10 years and sincerely great progress has not been seen...
Many developers have gone elsewhere, many promises have not been kept etc... etc...
But I must say that it is definitely the software that I would recommend to everyone to start developing a game from scratch! it's simple and You can make amazing 2D games.
There are a lot of more performing no code engines around the web but each one is not without bugs or problems... i mean: the perfect software not exist!!!
So we always hope for the best in the future and look forward to the final web version.
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