GameSalad announced no-code iPhone game tool

IPhone development without the code could help the non-savvy get in on the iPhone app action

Apple iPhone games are a big market. Some 25,400 games were published this year on the apps store, according to MobClix. Game apps account for 16.7% of the apps store, tying for most items on the store, with the e-book apps. Games represent a growth category. If you need more proof, consider that an app can have a larger audience than a TV show.  Getting into that category has been largely the arena of savvy developers. One company is hoping to change all of that.

Gendai Games, the makers of GameSalad, announced Tuesday its new publishing business service, called the GameSalad Creator.  The creator allows users to make their own iPhone games, and publish them to the Apple app store.

The thing that makes this tool special is that it's a no-code option, meaning you don't need to know code to create an app.

It is not the first no-code tool for making iPhone apps. A couple that have been around fora  while include Adventure Maker and Yapper.

GameSalad Creator is free to download and to use, which is good news for business, or independent developers, who want to dip their toe into the iTunes pool without incurring major costs. The company stated, in the release that it intends to keep the tool free once it is out of its current beta period.

Another cost-saving benefit is that the new service will eliminate the need for an Apple iPhone developer account. An Apple iOS developer account costs $99. Though users with a current developers account can still submit via their account.

The only question is how much of a percentage of the game revenues, or how much of an upfront fee the  company would charge to publish a game. The company has yet to respond to an inquiry from Vator on  this issue. But a percentage model would create a three-way split, since Apple also takes a percentage of the app sales. 

Gendai Games was founded in 2007 by Michael Agustin, Tan Tran and Daniel Treiman. Gendai Games also releases several iPhone games of their own, including Johnny Constellation, which launched in April of this year. The startup then raised $1 million in July of this year in a Series A round, led by DFJ Mercury.
 
The GameSalad tool is currently available for download on an Intel Mac with OS X 10.5 or higher. There are no current plans to bring this tool to Windows based computers.

(Image courtesy of Gendai Games)