State of GameSalad on 5-8-2015
ForumNinja
Key Master, Head Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 554
Hello again all you GameSalad fans! Once again I’ve gathered some info on what we’ve been working / focused on to share with you guys, enjoy!
Notices:
Playhaven has been sold to another company, so please be sure to check your email for any information on anything you might need to do with your playhaven account http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/06/rockyou-acquires-playhaven-from-science-as-it-moves-deeper-into-mobile-ad-networks/
Check out Tan’s post about the GameSalad Wayback http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/86041/the-gamesalad-wayback
Short Version:
We have some alpha testers working with the new marketplace and we'll make further updates soon. A new nightly build (0.14.1) has been released recently that includes the new pathfinding system / behaviors (for PRO members only). The number of known issues delaying stable releases are getting smaller each day! Currently our release candidates are 0.13.12 for Mac and 0.13.4 for Windows. More work is still being done on Graphene (can’t share any more news yet).
Standard Version:
Graphene SDK (previously known as “Cross platform Creator”). Check out the comments section of a previous SoGS post to see the most recently shared info! Other than that, there’s still more work coming along on Graphene’s website as well as the tool itself. For other previously shared info or to sign up for beta access, refer to this thread: http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/75011/introducing-graphene-sdk/
Release Candidate 0.13.4 for Windows version of GameSalad Creator. Now that we have a release out for the Mac version of Creator with improved performance, we are making this our main focus! We still need to fix up more of the known issues before pushing out a stable build. For the full list of features, known issues, and to report any issues you have using the 0.13.4 RC build head to this thread: http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/86126/windows-creator-rc-0-13-4-is-available. To download the release, head here: http://gamesalad.com/download/releases Note: It is highly recommended that you uninstall any old versions of the Windows Creator Nightly before installing the new one.
Release candidate 0.13.12 for Mac version of GameSalad Creator! We recently pushed out a release candidate of a build that has Creator that has some more fixes, so go download it here: http://gamesalad.com/download/releases! For more info on this release and to report bugs that you’ve found, refer to this thread: http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/85952/release-candidate-0-13-12-mac-arc-with-performance-improvements.
Release 0.14.0 for the Windows version of GameSalad Creator. We plan on putting a new nightly build out for this release after we finish getting a stable 0.13.x Windows build out. This release is planned to be the one that gets Windows version of Creator fully synched up with the Mac version feature wise! This includes all the features we have planned for our 0.14.0 release for Mac as well (see some below)!
Release 0.14.0 for the Mac version of Creator. We recently put out a new nightly build for this release. One feature that’s in this release that wasn’t talked about before is the new Pathfinding system and behaviors (for Pro members only). A few features this release will have are AdMob integration, the new rendering engine, and full PlaysTogether support. Check out this thread for more info on release 0.14.1: http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/86130/nightly-build-0-14-1/p1.
New marketplace! The alpha testers are currently working with the new MP and we'll make further updates soon!
That’s all I have for you guys. More info will be coming your way next week.
Comments
Cool update - thanks!
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Thanks for the update @ForumNinja! Pathfinding stuff looks awesome! GS is really cruising along - great to see! Also excited about Facebook posting.
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I remember reading somewhere, I think in the bugzilla, that 14.0 was going to have custom font integration. Do we know if that's still a thing?
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Is there any documentation on the pathfinding?
https://help.gamesalad.com/hc/en-us/articles/206039217-7-15-A-Pathfinding
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The A* looks cool, great addition!
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Pathfinding features sounds interesting.
Sorry for my lake of knoledge here but about the new path finding stuff,
Does this make a match 3 type game a lot Easter to make now! Including the type with blockers programmed into the levels?
What types of games use such a rule
is there any plans to introduce a better collision system as rectangle and circle just don't cut it if you want to do anything remotely complex. other application have a collision object that exists in each actor this is a wireframe with nodes the user is able to manipulate into any shape to act as the collision. pixel collision ignoring blank space in .png files. I have seen dozens of threads asking for it as far back as August 2009 why hasn't the collision system been updated.
What are you trying to do?
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It is the most requested feature so yes there are plans, but don't expect anything too soon.
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@Summation sorry complex might be the wrong word but precise is more what I meant
I see.
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We need one of the coders at GS to take on the "improved collision shapes" as a personal project, instead of it sitting in the official roadmap/tasklist.
Personal projects somehow always seem to get done... and much quicker, and more stable than the roadmap/tasks. Controller support and the pathfinding are big examples... things that never appeared on the roadmap, and were relatively low, or even non-existent on the requested feature lists... but somehow turned up, in a pretty solid state, and received prompt updating and bug fixing.
So yup... if one of the coders could take on some of the actually, long requested features as side projects (collision shapes/multiple copy/paste of actors in the scene/snap to grid etc,etc) and knock them out in the same way, that would be greatly appreciated!
Can I bump this question please! As this could really be a real deal breaker for me buying pro again sooner rather than later!
We'd like to get it in, but we may not have the time for 0.14. It's definitely planned for a future release, though.
Pathfinding probably won't help in match 3 games, unless you're doing a very unique take on them. Games that can take advantage of pathfinding might be Zelda-style games, Diablo-style games, and real-time or turn-based strategy/war games, among others.
I think you might be mixing up your causality here...
Tasks that are simple to implement and unlikely to break existing functionality (and thus will be pretty stable when done) are the ones mostly likely to be taken on as personal projects.
The thing is, the recent "surprise" updates were implemented because they were effectively non-GameSalad code. Blackcloak had been working on the joystick library as an independent project for years (and he's made the source code is public domain), and the opportunity happened to come up to add it to GameSalad to help support the FireTV. And I've implemented pathfinding for other projects many times, and just happened to have a couple of hours free time to add it to GameSalad.
Custom collision shapes, on the other hand, will require creating an entirely new UI in GameSalad to define the shape, and will have to happen both for the Mac and Windows, which is not a trivial task. So while we do plan on implementing it, it needs to be in the schedule.
@stevej thanks man
from my vision of how they would work would be implementing actors that would take up a space on a grid that the match 3 actors would not be aloud to enter, creating the blocker type tiles we see in popular match 3 games, so everything is tied to a predetermined grid with these programmed in as the level design!
In this thread the GS Genius @Socks explains how to add multiple collision points constrained to any shape actor: http://forums.gamesalad.com/profile/110989/janis.piziks@gmail.com
The thread is not long so be sure to read it all before you say "this is too hard" or "I'm on a PC!"
@Chunkypixels and @Summation Have you guys seen Socks work around? I reckon it's great!
That's too bad, though I hope it comes soon! I always feel like my game is taking up a much larger footprint than it needs too because of creating a new image for different menus and buttons and stuff so it will have the right font.
Vote for Nearest Neighbor Scaling option in gamesalad! Let's make our games look truly stunning!
Hopefully Google Play Leaderboards are being integrated soon, it is such a basic feature that should be implemented without needing a vote. So many games are crippled in a huge market because of it.
Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una
@stevej Really ... after six fuc**ng years you throw it away with "a couple of hours free"... pathfinding is that easy.... yet you can't chuck in a couple of extra fonts now and then or implement even the most basic of expected functions since 1991 ... snap to fecking grid.. or I don't know ... basic organisation aka folders... u guys still take the ultimate piss
Yes... >>>I've been here before but got shot down by the ultimate forum manipulator..pleased to see u got rid of that p**ick