Hi guys! New gideros user here!

Chang

Hello everyone,

I have been using C..... SDK (another lua 2d game engine) for quite a while and have published a game (http://bit.ly/SillyOwls) with it. However due to the bad performance of C..... sdk on android and do not have the ability for native plugin, I am planning to switch to Gideros for my next game. I am hoping to get some advice from anyone or ex-c..... user about the workflow and performance of Gideros when compared to C..... SDK? How is the performance of Gideros running on armv6 devices like iPhone 3G? And what are the workflow or programming practice that is different or similar to C..... SDK so that I can catch up with Gideros quickly.

Thank you.

Best,
Chang

atilim

welcome aboard

For me, it's somewhat hard to compare different frameworks. But I'm sure you like the API design, instant testing on device and plugins. (btw, your game looks great)

GregBUG

hi! Chang! and welcome!!! >:D<

Gideros performance are very good on android and armv6 devices! (much better of beer sdk).

hope to see your next game made with gideros!!!

MikeHart

Welcome! Actually I am having performance issues on my Ipod 2ng Gen but overall it seems to be faster.

Zoyt

Welcome aboard (mabey I shouldn't be saying that. I a few days old here). Game looks cool. I can't really ell you because I never knew C (and don't plan to for a while, thanks to things like GM).

techdojo

Hi Chang, I have to say that I moved over from Corona (there I said it!) mainly due to the fact that they dropped ArmV6 support shortly after I brought my ZTE Blade (a low spec 2.2 phone) however I've been VERY surprised and impressed by how easily and quickly I managed to get code running on it using Gideros.

I also **LOVE** the fact that in the player print statements are echo'd straight back to the studio console!

I've yet to compile up and test on the iPhone player, but I'm getting increasingly fed up with the time it takes to send off a build to the Corona server and get a device build back (especially as I don't have a "pro" subscription).

My final corona project is actually a proper app (as opposed to a game) and I'm finding their "widget" library to be really slow and clunky to use, so the ability to plugin a native UI library is just the icing on the cake for me...

** So I'm definitely a member of Team "Go Go Gideros" now! **

Chang

Hi techdojo, its nice to know that you have tested the water here.

In fact I'm a pro subscriber of the beer sdk, I really hate that every time when I want to test a version on device, it takes time to send off build to Corona server.

I also agree that their so called "widget" are slow and buggy. And their third party ads owh. =(

Am glad to see more beer sdk users are hanging around here. I mean, ex-beer sdk users.

MikeHart

Man it feels so good to see you guys here.

techdojo

I'll bet the more people who show up here, the more depressed Carlos will get

The one thing that I really DO appreciate is the time and effort taken by Gorkem & Atlim and the others actually responsible for the product to spend time on the forums and help out in such a generous manner.

I realise the Gideros community is still relatively small right now and that later on as the product grows time pressures may increase - but actually getting feedback from the core developers on issues is just what really makes the difference in a product (and as the former moderator on the Zimusoft / Dragonfire SDK board I can testify first hand how frustrating NOT having this level of access to the brains behind the product can be!)

Kudos!

gorkem

You are right - requirements (which in turn constitute the roadmap) are mostly (if not all) defined by real developers & users here, and I hope it'll go in that direction as much as possible, benefiting from a meritocratic governance model. It's sometimes hard to keep a balance but since Gideros API is quite mature in terms of stability, speed and features, I do not see a conflicting issue, or a request which is very big that it cant be handled (apart from those like 3D support, Bada support etc).

Please spread the word as much as you can - that's what we really need atm as we do not have any marketing budget to support our movement. We also try to keep our minimum version free, in order to decrease the burden on the individual developers who cannot easily pay $$$ for the SDK. (out of topic but here it goes :-)

Chang

Yes I am seeing more and more users complaining about the ability to extend features / objective C plugins for the beer sdk. I believe Gideros is on the right track and more and more beer users will switch to Gideros when they need more features and stability.

It seems that Gideros will need some push on the marketing. I think the best way we developers can help is to publish more games or apps (especially high quality with thousands or millions of downloads). App showcase is definitely important at this point.

@gorkem I'm thinking that Android In-App Billing should be implemented since Android plugins are possible now, especially when the beer sdk also has it. (I will also need this in my next game with Gideros :P).

With IAP & iAds on iOS; In-App Billing & ad (e.g. Admob) plugin (which can already be done right now) for Android, the next major release will be absolutely awesome!

gorkem

@Chang - as soon as Atilim releases a minor version to fix this kindle fire issue (specific to some Android versions, excluding 3.0 and above), he'll start with documenting the Android plugins. While the support there, there are no documentations as of yet. Then we can start welcoming native Android plugins

OZApps

@TechDojo, a bit off topic first, the C'man is not depressed but is on a witch hunt. He knows that they basked in the popularity of getting out there first and attracting lots of people. The developers need functionality not marketing or smoke and mirrors.

@Chang, to answer your original question, Gideros uses a true OO paradigm as compared to the flat waterfall spaghetti code with the beer. So you can actually create classes for objects in your game and instantiate new ones, this actually would answer a lot of newbie questions that are asked on that forum, how to create multiple objects. With Gideros it is as simple as creating a new instance.

There are other subtle differences that make things ummm, different
Compiling in Gideros is entirely on to you, so you have to roll up your sleeves and set the proper settings, certificates, etc and compile in comparison to the automated online process of the other sdk.

As I had mentioned in one of my articles, the beer sdk makes you dependent on the things that as a developer sometimes you wouldn't even know where things are. Good for a kid starting development, (training wheels)

OZApps

@Gorkem,
You do not need the Marketing budgets, a lot of developers are coming and trying out Gideros and staying because they can see that the smoke and mirrors (Marketing phaze) is now wearing off for the beer sdk. In terms of cost to the end user, I think $149 for being able to compile for both Android and iOS and with an IDE, code complete, etc this is a bargain, and as you said, for a lot of users, including me, the FREE version works, but as soon as I release a game made with Gideros, I shall buy a license.