GameSalad Game Quality V Stencyl

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by stevewh, Mar 8, 2013.

  1. stevewh

    stevewh New Member

    Mar 3, 2013
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    Hi All
    I'm sure this has been talked about to death, but I'm new to this and
    thought I might get a couple of opinions.

    I've looked at both Game Salad & Stencyl, and it seems that the
    game salad games look much more polished app games, title, graphics, sounds level lock screens etc. They just follow the typical app format.

    Stencyl games look much more retro and lower quality. ( no disrespect to Stencyl developers)

    Anyone any thoughts on this do more professional developers with better resources use gamesalad and Stencyl is more aimed at the amateur market.

    Steve
     
  2. metalslime

    metalslime Active Member

    Feb 19, 2009
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    Hmm, by any chance, are you Steve Felter, CEO of GameSalad?
     
  3. MarkFromBitmenStudios

    MarkFromBitmenStudios Well-Known Member

    Apr 4, 2011
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    IT Architecture, Development Project Manager
    Austria, Europe
    Professional developers use professional tools. These non-coding tools are both for amateurs.
     
  4. dhondon

    dhondon Well-Known Member

    Jul 22, 2009
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    You can get the best of both worlds with the Playmaker plugin in Unity3D.
    Non-coding in a pro tool:)
     
  5. J. A. Whye

    J. A. Whye Well-Known Member

    Sep 26, 2010
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    Yeah, but professionals can use tools like that to create professional quality games. So could an amateur.

    I haven't published a game using GameSalad nor Stencyl (although I have published mobile games) but in playing around with them I'd go with Stencyl if I were going to create a game to be published (I actually do plan on doing that later this year). For one thing, if it doesn't give you what you want, you can "dive under the hood" and code things in Haxe. I don't believe GameSalad gives you a code option at all.

    Jay
     
  6. derpderp

    derpderp Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2011
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    Game salad is total crap, I haven't tried Stencyl yet (probbly wont, using unity now)
     
  7. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    I agree but theres lots of people out there who dont have the time to get into proper development tools but would love to create their own game. Gamesalad can produce some decent platformers (i've got a few). When a gamesalad game is say 69p its not exactly that expensive

    Have you played every single Gamesalad game ? I agree earlier games were very poor but i presume there must be a lot of updates as some later Gamesalad games were very impressive (other people here in game threads didnt realise it was a gamesalad game either from the screenshots).

    If a game plays well i dont care what its written in, as i said above when a gamesalad game is often 69p (or free) its not bad at all.
     
  8. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    Has GameSalad fixed it's annoying load times? It's not a particularly good thing when the one aspect that gives away the fact a game is made with GS is that it takes freakin' forever to load everything.
     
  9. Appvism

    Appvism Well-Known Member

    Feb 9, 2013
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    Although many more hobbyists may be more prone to using gamesalad and/or stencyl instead of unity (i guess) it doesn't mean you can't produce good quality on either of these platforms conpared with unity. I've only briefly looked at all three and unity does seem to be a lot more in depth and comprehensive. But to be a professional dev doesn't mean you have to use unity.

    With regards to the OP's thread question, my general impression was actually the opposite - gamesalad looks more "meh" than stencyl. End of the day, it boils down to you rather than the tool/software - i'm sure you could build something really professional on either.

    Just whatever you feel best and most comfortable to use to achieve your game, whether gamasalad, stencyl or unity - or whatever else!
     
  10. liteking

    liteking Well-Known Member

    Aug 1, 2013
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    Indie Game Developer
    The recent hit "Impossible Pixel" is made with Stencyl as far as I know. It reached #2 Top Free in US.
    Still there are many reviews saying it "too much lagging"
     
  11. Gua

    Gua Active Member

    Feb 22, 2010
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    Ukraine, Kyiv
    #11 Gua, Aug 2, 2013
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2013
    Game Salad vs Stencyl, google it. I've personally use Game Salad for more than two and a half years and I didn't really create something in Stencyl, I've only watched it for some time and read about it. But from what I've read. I can clearly see that a lot of people say that the "coding" part is a lot easier in Game Salad. You should also know that this tool is far from perfect, that's why I'm switching to Unity3d (+ Playmaker). But be warned, you'll need like 10 times more time to learn Unity + Plamaker, if not more. And if you wan't make 2d games, even with all GS disadvantages, it will still probably be a lot faster than in Unity. Also I should point out, that you've usually start to see most GS disadvantages only when your project becomes pretty big.

    So if you have 0 experience, Game Salad (or maybe Stencyl) is probably a better choice than Unity (even with Playmaker).

    Also I can add, that when I just started using Game Salad, there was a serious lack of good games made with it. But now, every time I open "Game of the Month" topic on GS forum, where people show their games made with GS this month. An amount of quality games made every month blows my mind.
     
  12. liteking

    liteking Well-Known Member

    Aug 1, 2013
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    Indie Game Developer
    The good thing about these software is that it is easy to learn and get started
    The bad: performance issues and often it is very difficult to do beyond what's provided in the software
     
  13. CockyCulture

    CockyCulture Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2012
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    If you're looking for a non-coding game development package I'd say check out Multimedia Fusion 2 (http://www.clickteam.com) . I used it to create my first iOS release, Pocket Ninjas. It's pretty quick to pick up and can export to iOS, Android, Xbox, Windows Phone, and Flash with more runtimes in development.
     
  14. Tinytouchtales

    Tinytouchtales Well-Known Member

    Jul 24, 2012
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    Gamedesign
    Berlin, Germany
    Hey,

    we use Stencyl for all our Games, if you like to take a look you should visit our Games-Page www.tinytouchtales.com/games .
    Also i gave a little Talk with the topic Making Games without Coding, you can check it our here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGGneOEftq0

    Stencyl is super nice for 2D Games, offers everything you need and if you feel like to code something you can still do that.
     
  15. waderain

    waderain Active Member

    Feb 3, 2013
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    yuma, az
    Either one is fine, you can get around the same results with both. I like Stencyls system better but I'm not liking the pay per year thing they setup. Just sell the damn engine for one price. I use Gamemaker Pro, it's a little clunky but i can export to android with no problems, at one price.

    The idea these are for beginners is true but you can get a great game if you put the time into it. Unity and Unreal are awesome game makers but you really need a lot of time, people an resources to make a high quality game. Just look at the credits of one of the commercial games made using them. With Stencyls or Gamesalad style engines, one or two people could put out a nice game. Good graphics and a fun story are what keep people playing.
     
  16. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    Compared unity to those just isn't fair.

    They are totally different tools aimed at offering different things. It really depends on the type of game and the amount of control you want.

    Unity is great, but certainly not the game salad market!!!
     
  17. CharredDirt

    CharredDirt Well-Known Member

    I used GameSalad for one game and the thing that really turned me off was the lack of ability to monetize and use great SDK's that can make you money. your only revenue stream option is straight paid sales. Not impossible to make money but it makes it much, much harder for an indie game.
     

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