Hi everyone,

Today we're excited to announce the launch of GameSalad Creator for Windows. Since our initial launch in 2009, we set out to bring game creation to everyone, and today we’ve taken another step toward fulfilling that promise by welcoming the Windows audience to the GameSalad community.

Over the years we’ve received countless requests from PC users around the world asking us to bring GameSalad to the Windows platform. It pained us to turn away so many interested developers, and with the recent additions of HTML5 and Android publishing, supporting the Windows community made a lot of sense.

What about the existing Mac Creator?

Mac Creator and its passionate community will continue to be one of our top priorities. Windows Creator debuts with the functionality of GameSalad 0.9.92, and will achieve feature parity with the upcoming 0.9.93 version soon after it’s released to the Mac community. Going forward, our plan is to release new features on Mac first and then bring them over to Windows shortly thereafter. Both versions will eventually use our super fast native code engine that we’ll be releasing soon.

Can Mac Creator interact with Windows Creator?

Here’s where it gets really cool. You can transfer GameSalad project files back and forth between Windows and Mac machines. This means that templates and project files can be shared across the Windows and Mac community and sets us up in the future for some interesting collaboration initiatives that we’re working on. Also, if you’re a Pro member, you will have Pro membership access to both Windows and Mac versions with a single membership.

Can you publish to iOS using a Windows machine?

A Mac is still required to publish to the iTunes Store – this is an Apple requirement, sorry! We are working on a broader solution for publishing iOS games which will be released at a future date, but for now, Windows users will need to get someone with a Mac to publish their iOS games to the iTunes Store.

Woah, what’s up with that crazy new UI?

We’ve been working on a revamp of the classic GameSalad UI for a while now. We took some creative liberties with the Windows Creator in order to rethink much of our UI from the ground up. For some of our Mac users, certain elements of the new UI may be a bit foreign and disruptive to your accustomed workflow. We wanted to be sensitive to this, so the plan is to continue to gather feedback on the Windows UI, refine it over the coming weeks and then settle on a strong, professional, unified experience that will be rolled out across both versions of Creator.

Ok, I want to check this out, but I don’t have a Windows machine, what do I do?

If you’d like to play around with Windows Creator and test drive the new UI but don’t have a Windows machine, you can try using Bootcamp on your Mac. You’ll need a copy of Windows installed as well, but it should give you a good feel for what Windows Creator is like without having to purchase a Windows machine.

I’ve seen those Mac and PC commercials. I don’t want to hang out with PC people; they wear funny clothes and are behind the times. How do I know they won’t ruin our community and forums?

Take it easy! I’m a recovering PC user and can vouch that they are good people. ☺

We’re looking into creating a separate section in the forums for new Windows users so we can address their specific needs outside of the normal discussions. Who knows, you just might be pleasantly surprised by the contributions from our new PC friends, so keep an open mind and welcome them to the GameSalad community!

How do I download Windows Creator?

Sign up at GameSalad.com/windows

Access to the Windows Creator Beta is available on a first-come, first-served basis. We’ll be emailing invite codes in batches, so be patient if you don’t get access right away.

We’ll have more to share on Windows Creator and related developments in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Cheers,

Steve

Now, With GameSalad, Windows Users Can Easily Make Mobile and Web Games Without Needing to Code

GameSalad’s Revolutionary Game Creation Platform Comes to PCs

San Francisco, CA - May 17, 2012 – GameSalad Inc., which enables anyone to quickly develop sophisticated iOS, Android and HTML5 games, announced that it will bring its popular game creation platform to Windows. Today, GameSalad’s flagship product, GameSalad Creator, begins closed beta testing. GameSalad Creator streamlines the process for bringing mobile and web games to market by eliminating the need to code and allowing developers to publish to multiple platforms with the click of a button. Until now, GameSalad was only available to Mac users.

Since its debut in 2009, GameSalad has quickly grown to become a leading game development platform with over 300,000 developers. With more than 500 million Windows-based PCs worldwide, an expansion to Windows is expected to further accelerate the company’s rapidly growing developer community.

“Since we launched at SXSW in 2009, GameSalad has witnessed incredible growth,” said GameSalad CEO Steve Felter. “Initially, we introduced GameSalad Creator to Mac users, empowering them to easily create and publish iPhone and iPad games without the need to code. We’ve since added publishing to Android and HTML5 platforms, making cross-platform development as simple as clicking a button. Today, we answer the requests of thousands of game developers who’ve asked us to bring this remarkable platform to Windows users.”

To date, GameSalad Creator has powered more than 60,000 original titles across mobile and web platforms. In 2011, more than 15% of all new iOS games were built with GameSalad.

“The GameSalad developer community is both passionate and productive. In just three years, our platform has been used to create more than 60 Top 100 Games in the U.S. App Store, including a game that earned the number one slot,“ said Jonathan Hunt, GameSalad’s Director of Marketing. “We are thrilled to welcome Windows users to our community and expect that this will open up a floodgate of creativity, resulting in even more high quality games for players everywhere.”

To sign up for the Windows Beta of GameSalad Creator, visit www.gamesalad.com/windows. The software currently runs on PCs using Windows Vista and Windows 7.

About GameSalad
GameSalad's Creator platform allows anyone to rapidly design, publish, and distribute sophisticated games for iOS, Android, and HTML5 while eliminating the need to code. Since launching in 2009, over 300,000 developers have used GameSalad's accessible game creation platform to create over 60,000 games, including a #1 iOS game and more than 60 Top 100 Games in Apple’s U.S. App Store. GameSalad is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with studios in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California.

GameHunks: Episode 9: Going Indie: The Jay-Z Story

In this episode of GameHunks, Cooper and Chris are joined by GameSalad Community Manager, Lauren. Together they talk about the indie game movement and today's gaming culture. Specifically, what motivates game devs to leave big studios, enter the indie waters, and follow their passion projects with smaller studios. Also, while discussing how social rap battles could be the next wave of the future for interactive marketing, we discover that Cooper has unbelievably never heard of Jay-Z. It is CRAY. Listen and Enjoy!

GameHunks: Episode 10: Where Have All the Cheat Codes Gone? 

In this episode of GameHunks, Chris and Cooper are once again joined by Hunkstress, Lauren Myers. They discuss cheat codes of the past, where they've gone, and what they look like in the mobile space of today's causal games. We learn that Lauren is sad that her dad never bought her a Game Genie, Chris really wanted to figure out that Lara Croft cheat code, and Cooper couldn't get his Super Scope to work.

Hi everyone,

Today we have some really exciting news to share: GameSalad is teaming up with Tencent, China’s leading mobile and internet services company, on a series of initiatives to bring GameSalad to China.

What exactly does that mean?

For GameSalad developers, it means that the best games have an opportunity to get in front of potentially hundreds of millions of players in China. In addition, some top performing GameSalad games will be eligible to get help with localization, marketing, monetization, and featured distribution in Tencent’s App Store in China.

We’ll also be launching a new version of GameSalad Creator, targeted toward the Chinese developer community. The Tencent version of GameSalad has been localized into simplified Chinese and integrates local carrier billing to facilitate in-app purchase, social networking functionality using QQ Game Center, and mobile advertising using Tencent’s MobWin.

Why China?

China recently overtook the U.S. as the largest smartphone market in the world and is quickly becoming an attractive opportunity for mobile game developers. In the coming years, we believe that China will be one of the largest markets for mobile games and it’s important for GameSalad to have a presence there. Our plan is to build up key relationships over time to help GameSalad developers maximize the potential of their games in the major international markets.

Why Tencent?

Tencent is the largest internet company in China, and third largest internet company in the world. They have hundreds of millions of users on their platform and have a large thriving community of gamers. We felt that if we wanted to be successful in China, it would be important to partner with a company that has a deep understanding of how to operate a platform in that country and the necessary resources to make it successful.

What’s next?

For those of you who are interested in potential distribution opportunities in China, we’ll have more details to share in the coming weeks. For now, hold tight and keep developing awesome games. We have a new release coming up in a week or so that includes some exciting new features such as writeable tables, retina display support for iPad 3, and a few other surprises, so stay tuned!

Cheers,

Steve

GameSalad Brings Popular Mobile Game Creation Platform to China, Making Game Creation Accessible to the Masses

Revolutionary Code-Free Game Development Platform Set to Debut on Tencent’s Platform

San Francisco, CA May 10, 2012 – GameSalad Inc., which enables anyone to quickly develop and publish sophisticated iOS, Android and HTML5 games, is teaming up with Tencent, China’s leading Internet and mobile services company, to bring GameSalad’s popular game creation platform to China. GameSalad streamlines the process for bringing mobile games to market by eliminating the need to code and allowing developers to publish to multiple platforms with the click of a button.

The Tencent version of GameSalad’s flagship product, GameSalad Creator, has been localized into Simplified Chinese and seamlessly integrates local carrier billing for purchasing virtual goods, social functionality using QQ Game Center, and mobile advertising using Tencent’s MobWin. The Tencent-GameSalad partnership will generate an abundance of diverse mobile game content tailored for Chinese audiences and facilitate mobile game development for independent developers using the platform.

“China is the fastest growing smartphone market in the world and represents an incredible opportunity for mobile game developers,” said Steve Felter, CEO of GameSalad. “We are excited to introduce our platform to a whole new audience in China, while simultaneously providing access to the Chinese market for our existing top developers. With the support of Tencent, and the invaluable expertise and resources they bring, GameSalad will play a key role in growing the mobile games ecosystem in China.”

“We believe the partnership with GameSalad will help budding Chinese application developers bridge the technological gap for bringing their mobile game concepts to market,” said Simon Li, Deputy General Manager of Tencent’s Wireless Business Unit. “By making it easy to create and distribute high quality mobile games, Tencent and GameSalad add value for both developers and players in China.”

“Due to the significant differences in cultural tastes, Western companies entering the Chinese market often struggle in their attempts to deliver content that resonates with the Chinese people,” said Michael Pachter, research analyst at Wedbush Securities. “GameSalad is smart to partner with Tencent and empower the Chinese developer community to create mobile social games that are culturally relevant for local markets.”

Since its debut in 2009, GameSalad has quickly grown to become a leading game development platform with over 300,000 developers. To date, GameSalad Creator has powered more than 60,000 original titles across mobile and web platforms, including a #1 iOS game and more than 60 Top 100 Games in Apple’s U.S. App Store. In 2011, more than 15% of all new iOS games were built with GameSalad.

The Tencent version of GameSalad Creator is currently in private Beta, with a public release expected to launch in China this summer.

About GameSalad
GameSalad's Creator platform allows anyone to rapidly design, publish, and distribute sophisticated games for iOS, Android, and HTML5 while eliminating the need to code. Since launching in 2009, over 300,000 developers have used GameSalad's accessible game creation platform to create over 60,000 games, including a #1 iOS game and more than 60 Top 100 Games in Apple’s U.S. App Store. GameSalad is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with studios in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California.