We have a natter with Frederico Machuca, a 22-year-old developer who lives in Curitbia, Brazil. He produced Human Invasion using iPhone app creation tool GameSalad that was covered by iPKF (link) in September this year.

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

GameSalad, developers of a program which allows gamers to create their own iPhone titles has finally revealed pricing details for its game creation program. A basic version of the downloadable software can be used for free, allowing for uploads to the web. Games, however, will contain a GameSalad splash screen and it won’t be possible to create games for the iPhone. The indie license, at $499 a year, allows for iPhone development and for unlimited executable creation. But if you want to produce games without a GameSalad splash screen, you need to shell out $1,999 a year, although you also get access to live support and pro-level tool features, the details of which are unknown. GameSalad bills itself as software which allows gamers to create titles without the need for any programming knowledge. The GameSalad Creator has been operating as a open beta application for a few months and it provides a user-friendly interface and templates for various game genres. The open platform program can also be used to produce games for the web and social networks such as Facebook and it is free to download from gamesalad.com

View the pricing structure here

By David Crookes

Gamers who fancy creating their own iPhone titles will be able to do so very soon thanks to the imminent launch of a new publishing system.

Targeted at amateur and professional game developers, GameSalad Creator has been operating as an open beta application for a few months but the official release is due in the next few weeks.It comes as a relief for hundreds of developers who have been creating games using the system and have so far been in the dark about the intentions of Gendai Games, the firm behind the service.

Although Gendai is remaining tight lipped about the specifics until the official launch, it is expected that developers will have to pay to see their games available on Apple’s App Store. But GameSalad allows people to create games without any programming knowledge, providing a user-friendly interface and templates for various game genres.

Game making programmes are nothing new but this is the first time one has been made available for the iPhone and it paves the way for independent games production.The open platform program can also be used to produce games for the web and social networks such as Facebook and it is free to download from gamesalad.com

“We’re at an extremely exciting point in our company”, says Gendai Games CEO, Michael Agustin.

“The number one feature that everyone has been clamoring for is an easy, more intuitive way to create a game for the iPhone. With GameSalad’s visual based logic system along with it’s drag-and-drop interface – we are poised to make that a reality.”

By David Crookes