New Game Maker launched called Build Box. Thoughts?

2

Comments

  • JSprojectJSproject Member Posts: 730
    edited August 2014

    @colander said:
    I disagree with pretty much everything you said...

    @colander yes I agree and most of us most likely does.
    It's quite easy to shoot down basically every single point Jeromy tried to make but it's simply not worth my time to get into such a pointless debate.

  • Tiny_IdeasTiny_Ideas Member Posts: 326

    This all sort of demonstrates a point - I support GS - It is my chosen Game engine - See the PRO Badge. But thats not too say I don't have subscriptions to their competitors as well.

    Everyone - in a general term - is mostly likely to disagree - thats fine - It doesn't effect me in the slightest - expect the attitudes of different people. Thats what my focus study lies on and understand what angers people, makes them agree - disagree and make them see a different point of view.

    There is no correct opinion - just because i disagree doesn't mean I am correct - and just because you disagree doesn't make me wrong.

    Do you know about BuildBox
    Are you are developer?
    Did you do some research to find out about it because you were interested?
    Were you influenced by several negative complaints.
    Were you influenced by the positive reviews?

    Its questions like these that you are most likely gong to answer yes, yes, yes , yes and no.
    Positive responses dont gain attractive - its sad but true. Hence my theory about BuildBOX.

    However I feel most of the disagree with the price statements in relation to GS.

    • Let me know how you disagree - I am interested to know how people think. Its only going to make me think outside the box more often.

    I am also in no way supporting BuildBox - I am just stating that chances are its going to be a real competition. Whether or not you think so we may never know. But at the moment no one has provided a reason as to why the actual product BuildBOX is bad.

    You have spent less than a day with it - I did the same with GameSalad and didn't know how to do a thing except make some actor move around.

    Unless someone can state some bad things about it that is creditable than I stand by my post that there is nothing wrong with BuildBox except their chosen price strategy.

    It takes a person a year on average to get familiar with GS - Why should it be less with the BuildBox?

  • Tiny_IdeasTiny_Ideas Member Posts: 326

    @colander

    Some great points from a personal perspective,

    You had a go at their demo - like said - you wouldn't have learnt much expect if your comfortable with their interface.

    Again, $2600 is not a lot of money - Most small investments are well over $10 000 if you wanting to invest in something. Thats what you are doing - And like most people, GS is used as a hobby. As a business perspective if paying $2600 going to make games quicker and better than go a head and do it.

    GS lets user publish for free using their software - Thats were most of the junk apps come from. - And its like that again because people can't afford to pay $299. So $2600 is not for them. And thats fine because a business needs to make money.

    I am just trying to point out that just because you are happy with GS, doesn't mean every other engine is bad. Then to go bad mouthing about it is unprofessional. Thats what people have done - I don't expect any higher on another game engine talking about a another. But there is no evidence that is bad - or unprofessional.

    Everyone is making claims yet nothing to support it.

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,364

    @Jeromy It's weak, limited software that is nowhere near as flexible or powerful as the marketing says. I say this having used the software. It is a scam, pure and simple.

  • colandercolander Member Posts: 1,610
    edited August 2014

    @Jeromy I look around at other software from time to time to see if there is something better than GS out there. Price is a factor but at $2,600 not a deal breaker. If something out there is as easy to use or even a bit harder to use but has better features then I am interested and will investigate it.

    I watched the BuildBox launch and the demos that followed and took the thirty minute trial. If I had not had a year's experience with GS and three published apps I wouldn't have anything to compare it to. In the sales videos he did not demonstrate anything I would call advanced and in the thirty minute trial and instruction video I couldn't find anything but basic side scrolling with a standard physics. I liked the lighting effect, the UI and a couple of other things. If you get to trial the software you will know there is not much to look at because there isn't much there so it doesn't take long.

    Thirty minutes in this case was sufficient to evaluate and compare the two. I stand by my analysis and will state when it is compared to GS it is substandard and overpriced. This may change in the future but they are a very long way from it. I am quite happy to say anyone buying this is making a big mistake.

    I read what others have to say and take there comments into consideration when looking at any product I am interested in buying. Ultimately I am responsible and it is up to me to check it out for myself. If I had the time I would jump into Unity and learn to code and develop in 3D but I don't have that luxury. So far GS is the only one I have found that strikes the right balance for me.

  • Tiny_IdeasTiny_Ideas Member Posts: 326

    @colander said:
    Jeromy I look around at other software from time to time to see if there is something better than GS out there. Price is a factor but at $2,600 not a deal breaker. If something out there is as easy to use or even a bit harder to use but has better features then I am interested and will investigate it.

    I watched the BuildBox launch and the demos that followed and took the thirty minute trial. If I had not had a year's experience with GS and three published apps I wouldn't have anything to compare it to. In the sales videos he did not demonstrate anything I would call advanced and in the thirty minute trial and instruction video I couldn't find anything but basic side scrolling with a standard physics. I liked the lighting effect, the UI and a couple of other things. If you get to trial the software you will know there is not much to look at because there isn't much there so it doesn't take long.

    Thirty minutes in this case was sufficient to evaluate and compare the two. I stand by my analysis and will state when it is compared to GS it is substandard and overpriced. This may change in the future but they are a very long way from it. I am quite happy to say anyone buying this is making a big mistake.

    I read what others have to say and take there comments into consideration when looking at any product I am interested in buying. Ultimately I am responsible and it is up to me to check it out for myself. If I had the time I would jump into Unity and learn to code and develop in 3D but I don't have that luxury. So far GS is the only one I have found that strikes the right balance for me.

    Far enough :) - As long you have made the decision base on your own needs and understanding and not from others no one can prove you wrong.

    All the best

  • motorcycle boymotorcycle boy Member Posts: 429
    edited September 2014

    @Jeromy I don't know what your experience with Build Box is but I can't imagine how you came to the conclusion that it's any good or will be any good. Trey has been releasing the same software ever since it was called "Project Zero." Before I knew about GameSalad I purchased this software for $1,000. 100% waste of money. There was absolutely no way to make a game of any worth with that software. When I downloaded Build Box demo I realized he was charging you for the Project Zero update!!! That's all it is. It may look different but it's the same engine. Even with this demo I see little value in the software for professional game making. He's not here to make a great game engine otherwise he would have actually made a great game engine; he's had the means and he's had the time. I don't believe he's planning on making one and the full version of this current Build Box doesn't even have half the features he claims in his videos. So my question to you is what are you smoking because Trey has time and time again proven he's a genius at marketing garbage; he really does have a proven track record of this. I always get emails from his company ever since I had purchased Project Zero so I always see what he's up to out of curiosity. The only thing I can say that's positive is they gave me my money back so at least their honest in that sense. One thing I also noticed is he's never had any forum support for any of his products. He has complete control of the information that's put out on his website. He keeps all of his customers unable to communicate with each other and voice their opinions about their purchases. That alone is highly suspicious to me. If I had a quality product I would want the flow of information to be very efficient. If I was hawking snake oil, then I wouldn't.

  • Tiny_IdeasTiny_Ideas Member Posts: 326
    edited September 2014

    When people start throwing insults at someone over a game engine I know I gotta get out before all hell breaks loose.

    I understand and agree with some points and a disagree with others. That's just who I am and what I believe from my own experience.

    All the best

  • colandercolander Member Posts: 1,610

    @Jeromy said:
    When people start throwing insults at someone over a game engine I know I gotta get out before all hell breaks lose.

    Yes I agree there is no need to make it personal.

  • motorcycle boymotorcycle boy Member Posts: 429

    @Jeromy said:
    When people start throwing insults at someone over a game engine I know I gotta get out before all hell breaks lose.

    I understand and agree with some points and a disagree with others. That's just who I am and what I believe from my own experience.

    All the best

    You're quite right. My apologies.

  • pHghostpHghost London, UKMember Posts: 2,342
    edited September 2014

    @Jeromy‌ -- I haven't read anything about this in the press, or anywhere else than on this forum, neither good stuff, nor bad stuff.

    Looking at their webpage, it is clear they have their marketing all worked out. They are definitely good at first-look presentation. Though that doesn't mean they cannot be scammers. Actually, it's one of the things you have to be really good at if you want to scam people. Anyway, I don't know them, I won't judge them as people. But these are some interesting points:

    First off, check out the referrals. None of the company names are clickable, and when you Google the names, it goes from weird to outright sketchy. Hard to say if some of the people are actually real.

    Secondly, about what the software can do. They say, in big letters:

    INFINITE POSSIBILITIES

    >

    Explore The Unknown

    >

    Create classic gameplay types or invent your own

    And in small letters:

    Buildbox creates nearly every type of endless game imaginable.

    Well, at least they are honest with the small type. The fact is, looking at their presets and settings in their videos, you don't really even have to test the software to understand the limitations immediately. Simply pause the video and look at all the settings. Which ones are not in GS? All of them are, of course. BuildBox seems to be GS minus the ability to create any of your own logic.

    Last but not least, the thing with closing the sale. Good marketing move? Perhaps. But what does it tell you about them as developers? About their company? If you are out there to make a good game engine FOR OTHERS, this is exactly the type of thing you won't do. If you want to help others by making it easier for them to develop games, to help them grow, you don't do crap like that. Pardon my French. I want to know the team behind a product I use is helpful, listens to their customers and tries to help their customers grow. If their primary goal is to make some cash, end of the line for me. Of course, if someone provides a good service, they should be paid, beside other things they need to feed themselves and their families. But from the videos on the website, I'm not getting the vibe that they passionately care about games. They passionately care about making money. As they eloquently put it on their web:

    MONETIZATION OPTIONS OVERLOAD

    >

    At Game Academy, we know that being able to monetize your game successfully is crucial to your business. We also know what ad companies are relevant for every platform and only include the ones with the highest payouts.

    LOL, seriously. And they mention that BEFORE detailing the light effects, which as far as people here say are one of the few good things about the engine. Talk about priorities.

    To finish my rant, I agree with you that GS cannot be called free software, in the stricter sense of the word. I have my own opinion about the limitations and anti-features of the non-PRO version, but I understand it is a hard line to define. And that is for another thread, another time.

    -- emphases in bubbles mine

  • VectologyVectology Member Posts: 23

    Hello Everybody.

    What everyone here needs to do is reevaluate why BuildBox even exists in the first place.

    Game salad is a very strong game builder, but doesn't allow you to build games in a reasonable amount of time. You must spend a great deal of your time learning the software before you can actually build the game. I will be getting back into game salad soon, but I needed to get published now. This is the reason why it bought build box.

    The people who bought BuildBox of course have heard of GS, but what makes build box so attractive is that it allows a direct way to publish games easily.

    I personally have a copy of BuildBox, is a great software with lots of features. Their strategy with BuildBox is make it VERY simple to build a COMPLETE game, then add features to the existing game. As of right now they're working with if statements and conditionals for people who want to use that kind of stuff, But you don't need it to build a complete game.

    I have used both GS and Construct 2 and I have to say there are many similarities to each. But where BuildBox differs is they gave you enough flexibility to build a game (and actually publish it to an app store) if your total noob and have not spent a year learning the software.

    image

    The price is not steep because it allows us to directly and confidently put in at into the app store, which is the whole goal. Games salad needs to allow this. I create my own art, but companies paid me anywhere from $700-$6000 and not a lot is left for programmers. They rely on tools like build box to cover them on the programming side.

    I have been using build box rigorously for the past couple of weeks and if anyone has any questions from a person who actually owns the Software, please feel free to ask any questions.

    And here is a game I am currently developing as of right now using BuildBox https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=721419151227105&set=vb.350562474979443&type=2&theater

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    Seems like it's "closed" now... Don't know why.

  • MoneyFromAppsMoneyFromApps MoneyFromApps.comMember Posts: 1

    It's going back up for sale today. I bought it back in August and can't recommend it based on all available options and what else you could do with that kind of money. You can check out my full opinion about it in an article I wrote, with lots of comments and a response from GameAcademy: moneyfromapps.com/buildbox-review-trey-smith-gameacademy-software/

  • MarcMySaladMarcMySalad Member Posts: 158

    @MoneyFromApps interesting read, thanks for sharing.

  • LovejoyLovejoy Member Posts: 2,078
    edited October 2014

    This guys is in the grey area of being a scammer. One of your sections explains it.

    Updates & The Future

    So far, they’ve been making a lot of updates to fix the many problems that the software currently has, but I’m genuinely concerned about the future. Here’s why:

    Pretty much every year, Trey Smith and GameAcademy release a product like this. Before, it was named Project Zero or Project Mayhem. Then it was Project Mayhem 2. We wrote about that one, and it had an even bigger price tag. Knowing that he had these other software packages (that some people claim aren’t being updated nearly enough) should’ve been a red flag. It’s almost certain that he will release a new Buildbox type of software, but maybe it’ll be named something different, and you’ll have to pay all over again to get access… and it’ll be much better than this version, albeit with its own set of problems and bugs.

    After Buildbox gets 1,000 sales and makes Trey another couple million dollars, why would he spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in support and fixing the software, when he could just create another Buildbox and sell it for $2,675 all over again? See the predicament? Sadly, as much as I think Trey seems like a genuine, cool guy, I don’t see updates going beyond a year, and we could be left with an inferior product that never gets updated or doesn’t keep up with changes in iOS versions, etc. That’s the risk that comes with software like this.

    Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una

  • wrhmediawrhmedia Member Posts: 70

    Build Box is far away more advanced than Gamesalad because of the publishing options alone... It is a pricey development tool but something that may prove to be worth the investment because of the additional earning options that Gamesalad is way behind on. We are looking at it as a real option.

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,364

    @wrhmedia said:
    Build Box is far away more advanced than Gamesalad because of the publishing options alone... It is a pricey development tool but something that may prove to be worth the investment because of the additional earning options that Gamesalad is way behind on. We are looking at it as a real option.

    It has a greater variety of publishing and ad options, but GameSalad is a much more flexible and advanced tool for actual creation of games. If you want to make only the games Buildbox lets you make, then sure, go for it. But you're basically paying $2.5k for a bunch of templates.

  • marc_greiffmarc_greiff Member, PRO Posts: 250

    Interesting tech, something to keep an eye on for sure, but with a 2.5k price tag, I'm not sure who its aimed at....and I dont think they do either.

  • AlchimiaStudiosAlchimiaStudios Member Posts: 1,069

    It looks kinda cool... But man that's a steep price. I think it's probably a lot of nice design and a good UI with limited functionality, kind of the opposite of GS which has a pretty solid base for creating almost anything you can imagine with the tools in place, but a not so great interface. That's one major thing GS needs is a UI redesign and some workflow improvements (folders, searching in the actor field, etc).

    But i'll keep with GS for 2d for now because I love it ( most of the time).

    Follow us: Twitter - Website

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    edited October 2014

    @AlchimiaStudios said:
    . . . a lot of nice design and a good UI with limited functionality, kind of the opposite of GS which has a pretty solid base for creating almost anything you can imagine with the tools in place, but a not so great interface. That's one major thing GS needs is a UI redesign and some workflow improvements (folders, searching in the actor field, etc) . . .

    Couldn't have said it better myself, GameSalad is incredibly powerful considering how easy it is to use and the more you keep digging into GameSalad the more you find you can do, it just lacks a few necessary features and viable UI that helps you rather than fights you.

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    @Socks said:
    Couldn't have said it better myself, GameSalad is incredibly powerful considering how easy it is to use and the more you keep digging into GameSalad the more you find you can do, it just lacks a few necessary features and viable UI that helps you rather than fights you.

    Yep, which is why I'm looking forward the Cross-Platform Creator UI changes.

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822

    @Braydon_SFX said:
    Yep, which is why I'm looking forward the Cross-Platform Creator UI changes.

    Can I get a 'Hell yeah' !

  • motorcycle boymotorcycle boy Member Posts: 429

    From what I've been told, most of the people who purchase BB or Trey's other "game builders" are just other marketers who want to learn marketing from him. I can't see a serious developer who should know better purchasing from him. In my humble opinion he is very good at marketing nothing but making it look like something every time he comes out with an item.

  • MattButlerStudiosMattButlerStudios Member Posts: 486

    Sure build box looks impressive from what they are showing us, but what many beginner game makers will find is that they are using professional art and animations that they won't have. These videos provide an excellent polished look, but if you dig deeper into this software, I am sure that you will find your $2,600 was not well spent. Gamesalad teaches valuable game logic in an easy to understand format. This software almost seems too easy and takes the fun out of making the games off-template. I also highly doubt that they will have a template for everything and allow you to just select options for all that you need. I'm sticking with Gamesalad :)

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822

    @colander said:
    Hell Yeah! :)

    Hallelujah brother.

    :sunglasses:

  • saulytesaulyte Member Posts: 2
    edited October 2014

    EDITED BY @dgackey‌ 16-Oct-2014:

    @saulyte,

    While I can appreciate your entrepreneurial spirit, this really isn't appropriate here.

    Thanks.

  • colandercolander Member Posts: 1,610
    edited October 2014

    @saulyte so you think it is ok to go onto a competitors forum and flog you competing product? Would you like it if all your competitors did a similar thing to you? You are correct your post is spam.

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    Rather than waste time switching to another engine, why not just learn to code? If I was going to switch to another engine I would opt for Unity or some other more powerful engine. Any software has a learning curve. It seems to me folks are always searching for an easy way.

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