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IPKF: Why did you decide to use GameSalad?
FM: I have always been a huge fan of videogames. And at some point when I was a kid I decided that I definitely wanted to work in the industry. So I started studying 3D. I never was the programmer kind of guy and the closest I got to it was making some games with ActionScript2 on Flash six or seven years ago. Since I work closer to the visual part of any creation, I needed something easy and functional to make the bridge between my creations and the complex numbers and codes of game programming. I accidentally found GameSalad’s website about 8 months ago. It was a great experience – you can create a playable game prototype in a couple of hours.
IPKF: How easy is it for a novice?
FM: Its incredibly easy. You really have to open the software and play with it to see what I’m talking about. Of course, having studied a little of Actionscript2 a couple of years ago, makes ‘thinking the game’ a little easier. If I decide to create a walking character, then I drag a few rules together and its done! Now i want to make him have a jetpack? Just add one or two rules to the already existing group of rules. Make him fire some lasers? One or two more rules. And all that in a couple of minutes.
IPKF: Can it produce games for a variety of genres in your opinion?
FM: It has many features already, making it enough to create a few game genres. But it’s a 2D engine, so many 3D-friendly-genres like FPS are a little harder if not impossible to create at the moment. But rememb that the software is still beta 0.6. so there is still a lot of stuff to happen.
IPKF: How does is compare to other packages you have used?
FM: Well, I can only compare it to Flash’s ActionScript2. And I can say, GS is definitely way easier than Flash. But, Flash’s possibilities are way ahead. Its kind of a trade you make. But as future GS updates come up, we all hope that these differences get smaller and smaller.
IPKF: Will you continue to use it?
FM: I hope so! I have some game prototypes already done in GS, one of them uploaded to the website, so everyone could test it online. But still the software lacks features that I really need, in order to make any kind of progress on these prototypes, and turn them into ‘complete’ games. I still feel that GameSalad is at a point where I can make great prototypes in no time but still not a complex, and serious game. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying that simple is bad, but sometimes we need more than that.
To find out more about creating applications with GameSalad and learn more developer secrets, check out issue 76 of iCreate Magazine, on sale 17/12/09. www.icreatemagazine.com
