Stencyl - iOS Game Creator

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Jon914, Dec 19, 2011.

  1. Jon914

    Jon914 Member

    Nov 21, 2011
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    #1 Jon914, Dec 19, 2011
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2011
    Once in a while, someone asks whether there are code-free or visual ways to rapidly make iOS games. Until recently, there's been only one viable choice, but that's changing as alternatives emerge.

    Last week, I launched our iOS exporter for Stencyl, a 2D game creation toolset that lets you rapidly create games with or without code. Several games have hit the app store or are in review.

    [​IMG]

    Inevitably, some ask me about the differences between Stencyl and what's out there today. Here are the big ones.


    Higher up the power curve
    Stencyl's learning curve is somewhat steeper, but deeper games can be made. As the App Store matures and the games get better, players demand more.

    Different platform support
    Stencyl exports to Flash and plans to close the gap with others by supporting Android and HTML5 next year. Although Flash has become a punching bag, a good game can still reach a million+ players and make thousands off of sponsorships. Several of ours have.

    Works on both Mac & Windows
    Although you can't directly test the real thing on Windows, through a cloud service that I made, we can spit back an IPA that you can install OTA on your device.


    How can I learn more?

    Visit our site to learn more. It's free to trial and develop your game out on your own time. Once you're ready to publish to the app store, it's $149/yr (+ 2 extra months for early adopters).


    Let me know what you think and whether you've got any questions for me in the software itself or the technical details. About myself... I'm working solo on this at the moment. I used to do quite a bit of Java game development myself before moving last year to Flash games and this year to mobile.
     
  2. daigamer

    daigamer Well-Known Member

    Oct 30, 2011
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    Looks like a solid tools , I will look deeper into this.
     
  3. Ghouls'R'us

    Ghouls'R'us Well-Known Member

    Jun 9, 2011
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    Many would be tempted to discard this platform because of it sitting on top Flash, but there are still many types of games that can work suitably well on it, just as GameSalad can. You wouldn't try an open-world 3D sandbox game on it or a WoW clone, obviously. As for the high volume of low-quality titles bearing the GameSalad engine : don't blame the tool, blame the maker.
     
  4. Jon914

    Jon914 Member

    Nov 21, 2011
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    #4 Jon914, Dec 19, 2011
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2011
    Yep, you've hit the nail on the head with this.

    Much like GameSalad, I ran into some challenges early on where the low quality of games led to a negative perception of the toolset - it's an ages old problem for any kind of tool that makes creation easier - whether it be games, video or art. As the game quality rises, so does the stature of the tool. Even Unity at one point, was derided as a toy, as odd as that may now sound.

    (To clarify though, the iOS engine doesn't leverage Flash. It's a native Objective-C engine that uses Sparrow and Box2D. I found the Flash -> iOS exporter to be way too slow both in FPS and workflow. Why did I go with Sparrow instead of Cocos2D? I tend to float towards frameworks that are just about as nice as the #1 choice but let me get to work more closely with the project owner.)
     
  5. gust0208

    gust0208 Member

    Dec 14, 2011
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    Thanks for the post, I had not heard of StencylWorks before and looks to fit what I need out of a SDK at this time. And nice to see a Scratch-like programming interface being used, even with experienced programmers, it can get easy to be bogged down in the formalities of syntax and this removes much of that.

    Will be trying the lite version very soon and likely register after paying with a bit.
     
  6. Arty Tales

    Arty Tales Active Member

    Dec 22, 2011
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    #6 Arty Tales, Dec 22, 2011
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2011
    Interesting concept.
    But where is the profit potential for the developer in this?
     
  7. Therealtrebitsch

    Therealtrebitsch Well-Known Member

    Mar 2, 2010
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    Your server is slow as hell.
     
  8. crazygambit

    crazygambit Well-Known Member

    Nov 15, 2010
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    Looks very interesting. Definitely will give it a try.
     
  9. Jon914

    Jon914 Member

    Nov 21, 2011
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    Are you talking about me as in the developer of this or you, as the end-user developer?

    For you, you can sell your game on the app store royalty-free and do pretty much anything a regular app can do. The only thing missing as of this moment are In-App Purchases, and I'm adding that in as we speak.
     
  10. Markus Hanka

    Markus Hanka Member

    Dec 24, 2011
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    Freelance 2D Artist
    Beijing
    Wow! I know that many coder may look down on tools like this, but for me as an 2d artist this is very exciting (especially in regard to flash games). The only games I could do all by myself up to now were tabletop. I will give stencyl a try.
     
  11. crazygambit

    crazygambit Well-Known Member

    Nov 15, 2010
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    I wonder how it compares to GameSalad. Particularly in performance. Anyone given both of those a try?
     
  12. Jon914

    Jon914 Member

    Nov 21, 2011
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    Obviously, I can't give an unbiased assessment of that, but to keep it purely factual, our engine is pure, Objective-C (powered by Sparrow, which is similar to Cocos2D). Properly implemented games have no trouble maintaining 60 FPS. By that count alone, it's going to run faster than a Lua-based engine which they currently have.

    If you're talking about the interfaces, the communities and other subjective-factors, that's something you'll find more info on by visiting both communities. You'll find some thoughts about Stencyl from GS users on their forum and vice-versa.
     
  13. Photics

    Photics Well-Known Member

    Jun 1, 2010
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    Oh good! I'm glad that iStencyl doesn't use Lua ...because GameSalad is dropping Lua.
    http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/37301/gamesalads-year-in-review-2011-and-a-look-ahead-to-2012

    In general, I'm not sure about the loading times with iStencyl. It seems kinda slow on my testing device. I'm not sure if that's me... or if that's iStencyl. I'm still learning how to use the software.

    If you're wondering about performance, I had to create my own particle system with iStencyl. (Since I can use Game Center achievements, I'm planning to port Arcading over to iStencyl.) I had 50 scrolling/rotating stars on the screen, running at 60 FPS on my iPhone 4. It looked better than the effect I was using in the GameSalad version.

    I was impressed at how easy it was to make a full-screen Flash game with StencylWorks... and then that game could be ported to iOS.

    iStencyl is professional grade development software. I just became a pro subscriber today. It's easy to see that iStencyl is a little bit tougher to use than GameSalad, but there's so much more freedom with iStencyl.
     
  14. Photics

    Photics Well-Known Member

    Jun 1, 2010
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    #14 Photics, Jan 2, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2012
    If you're looking to see how Stencyl games run, here's a link that might be helpful...
    http://www.stencyl.com/stencylworks/iosshowcase

    Although, I'm still working on porting my game from GameSalad to iStencyl, so I can see first-hand the difference in performance.
     
  15. Dizko

    Dizko Well-Known Member

    Feb 24, 2011
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    Designer
    Philadelphia
    It's faster by all accounts. The area where GameSalad suffers the most, is switching scene to scene. With GameSalad you get long loading times going from scene to scene in iStencyl it's damn near instant. iStencyl may take a little more time loading upfront, but I don't even think it does. The other difference is, you don't stare at a white screen while the engine loads like in GS you get a splash screen with a progress bar in iStencyl, that way your users at least know something is happening.

    I unfortunately don't have an identical game in both GameSalad and iStencyl to do accurate performance tests, but from my experience using both tools and testing on an iPhone 3G, Stencyl is faster.

    As far as using the tools, I think GameSalad is easier to use, but more limiting. Stencyl is harder to use, but much less limiting.
     
  16. Jon914

    Jon914 Member

    Nov 21, 2011
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    Photics can correct me if I'm wrong, but the extra loading time was actually confused with that lag time that xCode has when you're testing on a device when it's setting it up to debug. It's the time after a splash image shows but before the app formally begins loading.
     
  17. BazookaTime

    BazookaTime Well-Known Member

    #17 BazookaTime, Jan 8, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2012
    I have been messing around with both and I am not sure which one I like better as I have not made a complete game with Stencyl.

    I wonder if there are going to be templates for sale for Stencyl like there is for GameSalad. The one thing I like about GameSalad is that I can usually find a template that will work for my art and game idea.
     
  18. Photics

    Photics Well-Known Member

    Jun 1, 2010
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    My assessment is the same. I'm still struggling to get a full game up and running with iStencyl. GameSalad is a lot easier to use. Yet, I like that iStencyl is less limiting. With GameSalad, I feel like I'm limited by the pace of the software developers. With iStencyl, I feel limited by a lack of familiarity. GameSalad made me lazy. Ha ha!

    With Stencyl, much of the limitation is my familiarity of the software. At least I can get better. With GameSalad, no matter how skilled I am, my apps can't advance beyond the existing behaviors.

    Well, that's what you told me :)

    It seems that the loading time in testing is not the same as the loading time for the app. I haven't tested this yet. I'm still getting used to the software. There are a lot of tricky things to figure out.

    I like both... as they both have problems and they both have advantages.

    Although. I'm not planning to renew my GameSalad subscripting when it expires at the end of this month. I feel like I've been waiting too long for new features. With Stencyl, it seems like more is going on.

    With Stencyl, some things are incredibly easy to do. It's superb for making Flash games. I was impressed with how easily I could create a full-screen game. I like iStencyl, but it's still bleeding-edge right now. I'm still trying to port Arcading and it's been quite the challenge.

    With GameSalad, it's simply easier to do particles. And right now, I prefer GameSalad for managing touch controls.

    With iStencyl, I don't have to sit around and wait for Game Center achievements. I can even add fun features like vibrating the device on a collision or explosion.
     
  19. RJ1

    RJ1 Member

    Jan 9, 2012
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    Chicago IL
    This sounds like an interesting project. I was tossing around some similar ideas. Of course, for any complex games you'll probably hit a wall where code IS needed, but that doesn't mean you couldnt make a catchy game with this tool.
     
  20. Jon914

    Jon914 Member

    Nov 21, 2011
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    You can embed code and use it within the block-building interface - it's a nifty way to add in a little something that the core tool doesn't yet/will support. Or you can take the generated Xcode project and muck around with that.
     

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