Heads up for 1.25 release

stevej

As you may know, release 1.25 will contain support for being able to import your own fonts for use in GameSalad. In order to make font rendering consistent, we will be dropping support for system fonts (i.e. the fonts that come preinstalled on your computer/device). We will be including replacements for the default fonts listed in Display Text behavior, and automatically substituting them when you load your project into Creator. But because our replacement fonts are not 100% exactly the same as the fonts they're replacing, you will almost certainly need to adjust any actors that use Display Text. If you don't/can't want to do this, do not update to 1.25 when it come out.

However, we encourage you to use your own fonts in the 1.25 build.

Font types that will be supported: ttf, otf, fon, and ttc.

Braydon_SFX

Woohoo! Hoping it's this week!

stevej

@Braydon_SFX said:
Woohoo! Hoping it's this week!

It should be done on our side this week, but probably won't be out until the week after.

Braydon_SFX

@stevej said:

@Braydon_SFX said:
Woohoo! Hoping it's this week!

It should be done on our side this week, but probably won't be out until the week after.

Still good news!

jonmulcahy

awesome!! I have a big project that is just dying for custom fonts.

ETGgames

Haha, only just yesterday was I ranting on the forums about how bad the font system is! Gamesalad you are doing everything right atm, custom collisions shapes, then this!! Heck, your next update may even have google play leaderboard and achievement support if you carry on like this !

stevej

Another FYI for custom fonts: Licensing for fonts can be tricky, a lot of "free" fonts can only be used in non-commercial products, or don't allow redistributing the font file itself. Make sure you have full rights to use the font file(s) for your game before including it.

quantumsheep

Holy moly! \o/

QS =D

jonmulcahy

@quantumsheep said:
Holy moly! \o/

QS =D

i know right?

wilsongalucho

The version I have will automatically update if I close and open creator, How do I make it so it doesn't auto update? cheers

AlchimiaStudios

gingagaming

Just to throw a spanner in the works. Are you not fixing the current build before adding this? What about all the people out there who have updated to 1.24.X and can't release their game and are waiting for a fix and now you say if don't update if you "don't want this" well for some, they don't have that choice as you haven't fixed your last 3 broken builds and don't offer a roll back to older builds (nor offer a solution for them).

I myself don't mind as I know how to roll back as so do a handful of others but the majority of users do not and therefore are stuck. You really should offer some kind of official rollback system for these developers. They are your "bread and butter" and I think you don't appreciate them as much as you should.

Look after your existing customers and fix what you break without further additions. Please provide an official rollback system. It's a not a big job to create an app to do this. @Armelline has already built the basics of it maybe you can join teams with him and finish what he started.

Pull your socks up and support those who support you.

Armelline

I seem to magically avoid the vast majority of issues people report. I seem to be very lucky. That said, for this last build or two with the Android issues, I've not done any Android development in this period so I don't know how bad they really are.

I made a tool to roll back to previous builds but held off on releasing it as I don't really want to encourage lots of developers to cling to older versions, and I don't want emails saying "YOU BROKE MY PROJECT". So my tool should not be in consideration here, though the shoutout is always appreciated.

I think the bigger issue here is that there are clearly some major holes in GameSalad's testing environment (there have been a few builds recently where the very first project I've opened has immediately highlighted a fairly prominent bug or issue, like the textSubStr one) and I've been one of the luckier developers. The last build where the community was drafted in to help test has a pretty substantial number of issues identified by the team that was pulled together more or less at random, and the build was stronger for it. I'd love to see that become a more regular thing.

I do feel a lot of sympathy for those who are suffering these issues with each build, but I glance down the bug list and see few if any bugs submitted by the people who do the most complaining (not pointing fingers at @gingagaming specifically, though I've told him before to submit more bugs :P).

If your game has an issue, submit a bug with steps to reproduce it. Strip your project down until only the aspects affected by the bug are left and submit that to the bug report too. Only GS staff can download attachments to bugs. The same handful of people submit 90% of the bugs in the database, and they're not the same people who complain loudly every time a release isn't perfect. It's a two way street.

All that said, these builds that are working on substantial changes to underlying systems should probably be branched off into RCs or something to avoid upsetting those who update without taking the obvious steps of backing up their project and backing up their old Creator version.

People also need to remember, though, that GameSalad have squashed a lot of bugs recently. I keep getting emails telling me this or that bug has been fixed. They've added new features that we've been clamouring for for over half a decade and they're working on dealing with deep, underlying issues that have been plaguing GameSalad and it's codebase for a long, long time. Unfortunately there have been some consequences. But sometimes change is necessary, and sometimes you'll have to go back into your old projects and make updates.

Look at it this way - pretty much every major iOS update breaks the majority of apps. If you were coding your games using Xcode you'd be spending days or weeks fixing your apps pretty much every year. GameSalad does that for you, and makes most iOS updates effortless. A little bit of work to allow GameSalad to move forward seems a small price to pay.

I, for one, am seriously pumped for custom fonts and cannot wait to give them a try. I'll be updating the moment 1.25 hits the shelves.

Socks

@gingagaming said:
Pull your socks up and support those who support you.

Careful !

Bitvork

Absolutely agree. I still can not release anything to Android. I also agree with others that Mac Creator is slower again and I also see occassional performance lags also on iPhone 5 and iPad Mini 2. Critical fix has been promised thursday/friday. I am now a little bit confused. Also noticed that I should do not update GS first day (as @CodeWizard mentioned in other thread) but I did not expect that STABLE will be now EXPERIMENTALY (formerly known as Nightly or RC). Custom fonts will be definitely great but please keep us informed about critical issues as you can. Thank you!

UPDATE: Yes, I have already posted my unplayable project. And android spawning problem has been spotted by @CodeWizard. Customer care said: "Whoa! That is crazy!" So yes, android performance is definitely an issue and it is great you are lucky @Armelline. ;-)

gingagaming

@Socks said:

@gingagaming said:
Pull your socks up and support those who support you.

Careful !

I know I'm stepping out in front of a train here but these devs are being trampled on here. It's not fair to them. All they want is a working creator! Allow them to roll back if GS makes a mistake by releasing a major update that restricts them from using an older version of creator! It's not rocket science!

And @Armelline you know my reasons behind this!

AlchimiaStudios

I think custom fonts were in the works before those issues popped up. Just because they've made progress on custom fonts doesn't mean they haven't made progress on bugs/performance issues.

In fact I think we've had confirmation from staff that it's being looked into and some progress was being made.

Socks

@gingagaming said:
I know I'm stepping out in front of a train here . . .

I was joking (@ your use of 'socks'), apologies for the crap joke !

AlchimiaStudios

Also, who doesn't save an iteration of there project file when upgrading between versions of software. Even if you used Unity or Unreal you'd need to do this. It's a good habit.

Being a responsible developer falls into the developers hands, not the engines. If you are going to release soon, you probably shouldn't be using the newest engine changes anyway.

stevej

@gingagaming said:
Just to throw a spanner in the works. Are you not fixing the current build before adding this? What about all the people out there who have updated to 1.24.X and can't release their game and are waiting for a fix and now you say if don't update if you "don't want this" well for some, they don't have that choice as you haven't fixed your last 3 broken builds and don't offer a roll back to older builds (nor offer a solution for them).

I myself don't mind as I know how to roll back as so do a handful of others but the majority of users do not and therefore are stuck. You really should offer some kind of official rollback system for these developers. They are your "bread and butter" and I think you don't appreciate them as much as you should.

Look after your existing customers and fix what you break without further additions. Please provide an official rollback system. It's a not a big job to create an app to do this. @Armelline has already built the basics of it maybe you can join teams with him and finish what he started.

Pull your socks up and support those who support you.

We are making improvements to the current build as well as adding new features. There will likely be at least one more 1.24 update before 1.25 comes out.

Armelline

@gingagaming I have mixed feelings about how much sympathy I feel. I would never switch Creator versions mid-way through a major product, not unless asked to by a client. I only upgrade Creator for my own personal use, and then upgrade my client projects if I'm happy it's safe. With backups. It seems a very risky thing to do in the software world.

And at least some of the people complaining this time are people who've had these kind of issue before... and received the same advice before! If you didn't learn last time, or the time before, or the time before...

I think it's hugely disingenuous to say devs are being trampled on. Hugely.

Bitvork

@AlchimiaStudios said:
I think custom fonts were in the works before those issues popped up. Just because they've made progress on custom fonts doesn't mean they haven't made progress on bugs/performance issues.

In fact I think we've had confirmation from staff that it's being looked into and some progress was being made.

Definitely true. I am just waiting since thursday (actually November) and do not know what is happening because spawning android problem fix has been announced to be released last week. I am sorry for my panic behavior. Definitely believe that some progress has been made. I am just waiting for some info, feedback, anything...

gingagaming

@Socks said:

@gingagaming said:
I know I'm stepping out in front of a train here . . .

I was joking (@ your use of 'socks')

It went completely over my head! Have you trade marked "socks" as well as "Tony the spider" now? I can't keep up with these infringements!

Socks

@AlchimiaStudios said:
Also, who doesn't save an iteration of there project file when upgrading between versions of software. Even if you used Unity or Unreal you'd need to do this . . .

+1

@Armelline said:
I have mixed feelings about how much sympathy I feel. I would never switch Creator versions mid-way through a major product . . . .

+1

I've said it before, but yep, it's more than a little insane to do both these things, to not save an iteration of a project file and switch Creator versions mid-way through a project ! I wouldn't do this with anything where a live project is involved, not with After Effects or Logic Pro, Cinema4D or . . . . or anything !

Bitvork

Thanks @stevej for that info! ;-) Looking forward...

Armelline

Just be thankful you weren't a photographer completely reliant on Lightroom when Adobe flat out broke it a couple of months ago and took days to fix it. They had thousands and thousands of businesses unable to operate due to a version of their software that just wouldn't work at all, with no way to roll back. That was a mess

stevej

@wilsongalucho said:
The version I have will automatically update if I close and open creator, How do I make it so it doesn't auto update? cheers

If you're on a Mac, you can just copy the app package to a different name. Windows is trickier, you'll need to contact our customer support for a non-auto updating version.

Bitvork

@AlchimiaStudios said:
Also, who doesn't save an iteration of there project file when upgrading between versions of software. Even if you used Unity or Unreal you'd need to do this. It's a good habit.

Being a responsible developer falls into the developers hands, not the engines. If you are going to release soon, you probably shouldn't be using the newest engine changes anyway.

I took older version of GS Creator (.35). Opened older build of my game in that 35 version. Publishing Generation however built my game with broken android performance. What could I do?

ETGgames

@gingagaming said:
Just to throw a spanner in the works. Are you not fixing the current build before adding this? What about all the people out there who have updated to 1.24.X and can't release their game and are waiting for a fix and now you say if don't update if you "don't want this" well for some, they don't have that choice as you haven't fixed your last 3 broken builds and don't offer a roll back to older builds (nor offer a solution for them).

I myself don't mind as I know how to roll back as so do a handful of others but the majority of users do not and therefore are stuck. You really should offer some kind of official rollback system for these developers. They are your "bread and butter" and I think you don't appreciate them as much as you should.

Look after your existing customers and fix what you break without further additions. Please provide an official rollback system. It's a not a big job to create an app to do this. @Armelline has already built the basics of it maybe you can join teams with him and finish what he started.

Pull your socks up and support those who support you.

What are the problems in 1.24.X because I haven't heard of any and now you say it I wouldn't want to release a broken game. thanks.

Armelline

I also can't find the bug in the bugs database regarding the Android issues people are having. People really need to submit the bug report and then complain about an issue.

gingagaming

@Armelline said:
@gingagaming I have mixed feelings about how much sympathy I feel. I would never switch Creator versions mid-way through a major product, not unless asked to by a client. I only upgrade Creator for my own personal use, and then upgrade my client projects if I'm happy it's safe. With backups. It seems a very risky thing to do in the software world.

And at least some of the people complaining this time are people who've had these kind of issue before... and received the same advice before! If you didn't learn last time, or the time before, or the time before...

I think it's hugely disingenuous to say devs are being trampled on. Hugely.

I have to agree partially as I too never upgrade but clients upgrade without knowing. Some don't know any better, they just see an update and think, yeah I'll update. You must see this happen too. I've personally held off for some 10 builds in the past and now about 3 builds behind the current release. Just like I'm not running El Capitan yet. But not everyone knows not to upgrade so if they do make that mistake, why not let them roll back?

The issue is The GS team are purposly restricting the roll back. They CHOOSE to make it none reversible (without modifying the XML files) it's not a mistake, they change the build number so it restricts rollback and do intentionally. If they want to restrict a rollback, why not save the file as a "save as" like they did before in RC builds or at least warn the user that saving the project will mean they can't open in an older version of creator. This might educate the user to think before upgrading. But also lets not forget, the issue is the software being released to the public whilst containing serious bugs that DOES effect performance and may break some peoples games. This is now more frequent since GS decided to "do away" with RC builds. We currently have a product that is no longer in beta and you can't even download a usable version that can release to android. Why remove the download link to the last known good release?

That said, I'm not asking for sympathy for those who don't know better, just don't restrict them from correcting the mistake they made (which was updating to a broken version of creator without knowledge that it was not fully tested and bug free). This is no longer "beta" it's sold as real software and should at least be working in full or offer a roll back to a version that is.

(Or at least is my opinion!)