Will the next 5 years of GameSalad be better than the previous 5?

Photics

It snowed today in New York. Since a lot of stuff was closed, I had extra time to play. I checked on GameSalad to see a surprise - the fifth anniversary badge. Wow, has it really been that long? I feel like most of that time was spent waiting for Metrics Gathering to go away. HA!

I'm not sure if I'm optimistic about the future of GameSalad. "Graphene" feels like more of the usual run-around. But if the GameSalad team finally fixes the problems that have been troubling the software all these years, while releasing truly "Pro" level software, it could get interesting - perhaps even fun - around here again.

jamie_c

Yes. Got to keep a positive outlook!

robertkdale

The GS Team is already working on some amazing things for the future. The next 5 years are going to be amazing!

Braydon_SFX

With Graphene coming out, I think the next 5 years will be fantastic. Not only will it be good for GameSalad as a company, but also for us users as well. I'm eagerly looking forward to it!

Happy anniversary, by the way!

UtopianGames

Lets not beat around the bush, GS is a great piece of kit that allows developers who can't code to make games but GS should be a lot better than it is after 5 years and the $6.1 million invested so I'm not very optimistic but remain hopeful.

Sparkyidr

I've been away from GS for over a year (making oculus stuff etc). And have just recently started checking back.

I have to be honest. Not a great deal has changed in this past year (from an end user perspective I mean...am sure lots of things have changed under the hood).

I had hoped that the windows and mac versions would have synced up by now, and some of the cool changes of the windows version made it through to the mac (this was a bit talking point before I went off to do other things for a while). But things don't seem more along than then.

Don't get me wrong, Gamesalad IS a great piece of software that has enabled many people to get up and running super quick in world of game dev. and over the years I have been a vocal supporter/apologist for GS.
But at the mo, I'm struggling to find anything really making me want to get on board with a pro sub again (other than being forced into adding 64bit support to all my existing apps if I want to keep them up.

....How is .exe support coming along (also, joypad support?)

That all came across a bit negative. But the fact is, Gamesalad is/was a great entry point for getting started with game or app dev. But after being around for like 5 years or whatever, I feel like I need something more advanced, rather than something that's easy to use.

I do miss sitting there at my macbook with GS though.

imGua

I don't want to be crossefied by GS fans, so I'll be short. I've moved to other engine and I'm super happy that I did. Yet, I still care about GameSalad future, cause I really want to port my GS games to other platforms.

Thunder_Child

Havent been working with GS for past 5 years...im about 1.25 years in so I cant say I am able to recognize any major changes as I dont/can't/haven't learned some of the more advanced functions.

I can say I see...in the forums many comments of how GS HAS advanced in a few ways and with their new Graphene product coming "soon" I expect good things..better things so I guess my vote witll be Yes.

Armelline

As someone fast approaching 6 years with GameSalad, I can say that GameSalad has progressed massively in the past 6 years. The tool I downloaded back near the start of 2009 was... interesting. There has been far more improvement than even some of the older members posting here seem to think.

That said, there should have been more. There are a lot of little things that there's really no excuse for not being done during that time. Things that any one of the GS programmers could get implemented in a morning. My opinion has always been that there are some... curious allocations of resources and priorities given to the wrong things at times. But we don't get to see what goes on behind the curtain or what drives these decisions, so it's impossible for us to say if they were necessary or misjudged.

However, there has been a lot of changes in staff of the past few years and the current team seem more responsive and engaged, and seem far more invested in fixing problems than has been typical over the years. Some things have still be poorly handled, but show me a company where that isn't true.

Graphene has enormous potential though. Staggering potential, even. So long as they don't drop the ball with it, we've got a very, very rosy 5 years ahead of us.

Lovejoy

Graphene will make a huge impact for sure, I'm looking forward to the next 5.

Photics

I like the attitude in here. It seems that many of the familiar screen names around here remember the drama of days past, but everyone is optimistic overall. Maybe I'll still be posting here five years from now.

tatiang

@Photics said:
I like the attitude in here. It seems that many of the familiar screen names around here remember the drama of days past, but everyone is optimistic overall.

I think that's a fair assessment... most people seem to be cautiously optimistic. I remember when there was little to no communication from staff. There certainly weren't weekly release candidate notes, State of GS posts, a roadmap, and a public bug database. Sure, not everything that was promised long ago made it into production but at least we have a better sense of where things are going.

Armelline

@tatiang said:
I think that's a fair assessment... most people seem to be cautiously optimistic. I remember when there was little to no communication from staff. There certainly weren't weekly release candidate notes, State of GS posts, a roadmap, and a public bug database. Sure, not everything that was promised long ago made it into production but at least we have a better sense of where things are going.

Absolutely. That's a good little summary of the huge strides that have been made in communication over just the past year. I want to make a special note too of @dgackey and how engaged with the community he has been. Those yellow posts really do make a difference.

MattButlerStudios

Gamesalad is a great piece of software that has empowered many people to make their game ideas come to life. That alone is quite an accomplishment. However, as far as a futuristic standpoint, it really depends on how efficient the Gamesalad team can become. The software itself has ENORMOUS potential, but can the team execute updates/fixes/features in a timely fashion? That is the question. We want features and we can wait for them, but we can't wait forever..

ogreofwart

I've not been here long, and I can't profess to be an accomplished and revered member.
I do like what I see, a community doing the best it can for each other. Herding newcomers to the right path and hoping that we can make fun things along the way.
I won't try to make out I am anything but an amateur artist trying to make a "Quick Buck" cos I am. But I will say, it is all a learning experience.
Good luck for the future everyone, LETS GET SOME GAMES GOING.

Thunderfalcon

I would like to see widgets so I can create my own real antivirus program that gets rid of real viruses, malware, spyware, rootkits, worms, Trojans. All with one button ("scan and automatically erase all threats found"). Also yes I have found this product far more useful than other products I have tried.

gyroscope

It'll be five years for me too (in June) and I've seen GSC grow and develop over those years as well.

It certainly has come leaps and bounds comparing the latest version with the first incarnation - but that's not denying the promises of features which never transpired. But I consider that the vast majority of "hiccups", delays in delivering, missed deadlines, etc have been "political"/business getting in the way of business, software developers trying to wrap their heads around a previous developer's coding style/formatting, etc and not a conscious effort to handicap the software.

Despite that, you guys and gals have produced some great apps - and long may it continue for us all to produce stuff with a terrific piece of software. Graphene - mentioned as "GameSalad Creator on steroids" seems like it could be exciting stuff which might possibly replace GSC in a few years time (?)... (and if it does, without anyone "losing anything") I feel it in my bones that a lot of the reasons for delays/redirections, etc., just won't affect Graphene in any major way compared with how it did with GSC.

So my prediction is the future of GameSalad as a company will be rosier by the month - time will tell when Graphene "hits the streets" whenever that'll be.

But even if that's not to be sometime soon, I'm sticking with one of my favourite bits of software (and one of the most used - despite not much published output! (Yet... )

And my answer to "Will the next 5 years of GameSalad be better than the previous 5?" is a resounding "Yes".

Lovejoy

Lets not turn this into a competition on who can get the brownest nose.

gyroscope

@Lovejoy said:
Lets not turn this into a competition on who can get the brownest nose.

I don't understand how you consider enthusiasm and positive thinking about a GSC/Graphene as "brown-nosing" or understand why that would be any sort of competition.

Lovejoy

@gyroscope said:
I don't understand how you consider enthusiasm and positive thinking about a GSC/Graphene as "brown-nosing" or understand why that would be any sort of competition.

It was a joke, hence the , maybe i should put a to make it clearer. Im with everyone else on the positive future bandwagon!

gyroscope

OK, @Lovejoy - sorry for my misunderstanding! : :*

Lovejoy

@gyroscope said:
OK, Lovejoy - sorry for my misunderstanding! : :*

Thanks, np.

Thunder_Child

Geez...dont you know @Lovejoy emoticons following all jokes are suppose to be the troll...

Lovejoy

@Thunder_Child said:
Geez...dont you know Lovejoy emoticons following all jokes are suppose to be the troll...

My brain starts failing me when i stay awake for days on end. But ill remember next time!

kolabo

@Photics said: Maybe I'll still be posting here five years from now.

Maybe you"ll be back to using GS or even Graphene and make cool new things like interactive banners or ads for html sites. Or, maybe "Metrics Gathering" will still hold you back.