Mac App Store Guidelines...

TouchTiltGames

Some good, some bad:

It is a "beta," "demo", "trial," or "test" version
It duplicates apps already in the App Store, particularly if there are many of them
The developer is "spamming" the App Store with many versions of similar apps. You will also be removed from the Developer Program if this occurs.
It is not packaged and submitted using Apple's packaging technologies included in Xcode - No third party installers are allowed.
It require license keys or implements its own copy protection
It spawns processes that continue to run after a user has quit the app without user consent
It has metadata that mentions the name of any other computer platform
It uses location-based APIs to control vehicles, aircraft, or other devices (Saying goodbye to my Macbook Air tank project. Sigh.)
It uses location-based APIs for dispatch, fleet management, or emergency services
It has misspelled Apple product names in its name (i.e., GPS for Imac, iTunz)
It looks similar to Apple Products or apps bundled on the Mac, including the Finder, iChat, iTunes, and Dashboard
Your user interface is "complex or less than very good"
It changes the native user interface elements or behaviors of Mac OS X (Well, that just wiped out 90% of the best Mac apps in a single, flaming fist punch.)
It creates a store inside itself for selling or distributing other software (i.e., an audio plug-in store in an audio app)
Your game portrays realistic images of people or animals being killed or maimed, shot, stabbed, tortured or injured. (Such as Counter Strike, Halo, and pretty much every other good video game ever produced.)
"Enemies" within the context of your game solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity. (I wonder if this applies to zombies...)
It contains user generated content that is frequently pornographic (like "Chat Roulette" apps)

IsabelleK

"It duplicates apps already in the App Store, particularly if there are many of them"

So it means that you cannot post a game for Mac if you have the same game for iPhone on AppStore?

quantumsheep

I guess your post would start with "Your app will be rejected if..."?

QS

TouchTiltGames

Exactly haha. Here's a post from tuaw: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/20/apple-posts-guidelines-for-mac-app-store-and-we-have-highlights/

quantumsheep

Cheers man - it was certainly an interesting read

AfterBurnett

TouchTiltGames said:

It is not packaged and submitted using Apple's packaging technologies included in Xcode - No third party installers are allowed.

Guess that counts GS out then, for now. Also, I NEED USB PAD SUPPORT!

I'm just saying ;-)

GrapeMachine

interesting how macs can handle way more than ios devices and apple might not allow 3rd party installers. if it already allows it for ios, why not just let it slide on the mac app store aswell?

UtopianGames

So.....we can't use GS to make games for the Mac App Store?

Darren.

expired_012

@utopian, atm no, I don't think so. Hopefully they'll work on it sooner or later. The Mac App Store isn't even out yet though, so its not too important that we have it right now

iDeveloper

"It require license keys or implements its own copy protection"

Well, there goes 99% of all OS X apps out there. I guess that is one way of promoting piracy. Adobe, Autodesk and other big name software will be rejected.

One reason the App Store should STAY on iOS devices.

Snow

Their rules will change though. I think at the beginning, it will be xcode only apps, since "if it works in xcode, then a lot less headaches in the beginning of the mac app market" and censorship will be strict as they start their data-mining and researching who actually buys and uses Mac apps as compared to their theoretical data. When things smooth out, if it's a diverse demographic that buys mac apps, and developer numbers increase, then they'll start being a bit more lax.

gilall

This might not help but people have built apps for mac using realbasic if you dont know what it is google it.
There is a forum post here http://forums.realsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=36360 of how they people using realbasic have been able to submit to the mac appstore. They managed to sucessfully upload an app which was made using realbasic I'm not sure if they uploaded it to the actual store or not and do not know if it was rejected if they did. But if it is possible with realbasic it should be possible with gamesalad. maybe even using the same method. go over and read the topic on the forum for more details.

8BitMichael

utopiangames said:
So.....we can't use GS to make games for the Mac App Store?

Darren.

I think GS would still be acceptable. Even though we don't have access to the xcode files, I believe GS still uses it to package the app bundle.

ginnix

My game got accepted using Unity.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-scramble/id402472511?mt=12&ls=1

tenrdrmer

Did you make it any special size or did you use say an ipad size.

I really think most of the games we make would play just fine on ipad sized resolutions on most macs. Maybe GS could do an RI for ipad too so you could build based on that and then you can support a large range of resolutions and easily port the app both ways.

Asymptoteell

Doesn't everything eventually go through the Xcode format? I thought that gamesalad translated the attributes rules and whatnot automatically into an Xcode file when you submit to apple. Maybe not though. I haven't done it before.