Marmalade SDK Eval has run out

Using the Marmalade SDK to develop a Game has been very fruitful and fun. Check it out here (Marmalade SDK).

It has been a very exciting 3 months. that is how long the Evaluation version lasts for. I did not realise there was actually a time limit on using the Eval version, but i think it makes sense in a variety of ways. Still came as a bit of a shock last week when i went to compile and got a popup window saying i had only 6 days left of my Eval version.

At first i panicked... What am I gonna do? I felt like a kid who had discovered something fun and some adult was going to take it away from me. Quickly i realised that i had several ways out of this dilemna. Though i really just wanted to keep on researching all the different elements of Phone development i wanted to. This also happened while i was getting in the IwGameAds module/library from PocketeersLtd (as mentioned in a previous post). So it was not a good feeling as coding and development was proceeding smoothly at that time. Now if it had happened when i was struggling to get the Ads system in, then I mighta not been quite so bothered.

So here i am with the days counting down. Meanwhile i am working on trying my best to get my first game (which is the simplist game i have) or test game working fully. To really know if I want to use Marmalade for all future development I really need to see one of my games reach it's conclusion and be ready for publication. It also needs to do this on at least two platforms (I picked Android and IOS). I have to say that buying the Kindle Fire for my test Android platform has been wonderful. My wife has taken to it like a duck to water. It also works really great with Marmalade, which is a huge bonus.

Here i am with a now expired license. Although i have not actually published the Android version of Hot chicks the Card Game, it is ready. Or I believe it to be ready as i went through the whole signing process this weekend, following the Android dev and Marmalade instructions. In fact it was pretty easy.
 The IOS version still needs to be looked at. I do not own any IOS device, so this one will be more trouble. I think it may be time to buy that iPodTouch or whatever i can get that is cheap and does not have a contract with it. Once i can prove that i can also publish on the IOS devices, i am a go for Marmalade.

Cost and cheapness.
I am an Indie developer. Which means I spend all my spare time creating games and yet make very litle money. Ok, that does not make an Indie dev really, but in this case it is true. This makes it hard to spend any big bucks on development of these games. So far I have a number of titles created and have made very little money. So buying a Marmalade SDK license for the year is a significant investment to me.

There are two main levels of license for someone like me. Standard at 149 dollars and Basic at 499 dollars.I would love the 499 dollar Standard license as this will allow me to develop for all platforms and also remove the forced splash screen from the startup of the game. I do not like the forced splash screen as it messes with my flow and also shows the Marmalade logo before my own, which seems like the wrong way around to me.

Marmalade also has a nice Apps program, where if accepted they offer several wonderful incentives. such as giving away a license so you may convert or create the game. Check that all out here Apps Program. Well i did apply for this and unfortunately Hot Chicks was not accepted. I am not surprised, it was just a chance that it might get accepted. Of course if it had, then i would also have some great marketing help (which we all need!).

So there i was trying hard to figure out what to do. When i decided with just 2 days left to email Marmalade support. Lets see what they say i thought. Well i got a reply by the time i was awake next morning (8 hours ahead will do that :) ). It was a nice simple and straightforward reply to my statement of where I am with my development etc and my current situation with the Eval license running out. I have to say that I was very pleased with the reply, simply stated it said they will help me and try to do what they can for me. Any developer really wants to hear this kind of support and I am very excited to see where this will lead. Once my contact gets back from the Blackberry convention, I know something will happen.

Tip:
So when you are in doubt or have concerns over 3rd party software or middleware. It can really pay off if you just contact them in a nice way.

Cheers
Da Voodoochief

ps. OMG another long wordy post!