I really think you should represent your application better. If you're not going to support Android, you shouldn't have the Android logo on your page.

I think you should really read about the product more.
Android is planned to be supported soon. (phase 2 maybe)
They would have to postpone the release to support all the phones at once, so they are building on this in phases.
That way, we can develop our games whilst we wait for future platform support.
This is much better than making us wait until they have completed all of the work, because we can start developing right away.
As soon as Android is supported, then we should already have some apps ready to go, instead of waiting to get started coding.

Who ever said they were not going to support Android anyway???? (other than you)

"

"

Who said Android support isn't coming? I think you are jumping to conclusions.

There are two sets of platforms (one at launch - Phase one) and Phase two.

Launch Platforms - Phase one:
o MacOS X
o Windows
o ios devices (all of them, iphone, ipad, ipod)
o Samsung Bada
o MeeGo (used in phones, tablets, and cars)

Phase two Platforms - (Supposed to be released in late 2011)
o Android
o Web format (Most likely Java/openGL like Minecraft)
o Windows Phone 7
o Blackberry
o Web OS from HP

I have tried Monkey, and it's horrible and it's not really made for games and you have to do everything yourself. No physics, no Networking support, No collisions, No good documentation, no good IDE and it costs $120 US dollars for very little. You have to do everything yourself and honestly if I am going to pay $120 US dollars I expect a lot more polish and something that is ready for gaming.

Basic4Android is cool, but it's an apps only world with very little gaming stuff to it. If all you want to do is make Apps and not gaming, then that might be a better choice.

If on the other hand you can buy the language and work on your project until the Android support for AppGameKit is released it might be better.

Monkey though is the worst waste of money that anyone can do, I would stay far, far, far away from that. Chances are that if you buy Monkey you are going to regret it.

lol

Yeah, go get monkey then if you don't want to wait for AppGameKit to support Android.

Good luck with that.

Well android support is coming, I don't see a problem with this. Just put an asterisk and say that it it won't be available at launch but a few months later. I really don't see any issue with this.

I think the product is represented fine.
At least for those serious enough about it to take the time to read the information, rather than impulse buy based on the logos only.
The asterisk is not a bad idea though.

Bottom line is: This is a great product that will be extremely useful for most of us who want to develop for smart phones.
So, pre-order now to get your hands on the documentation if you want to get a head start on creating your apps.

I already bought the app, knowing that Android isn't coming yet. I strongly believe in this company,and their products. I own *just about* every TGC product.

I'm just a little saddened that I won't be able to test my app on my tablet, and have to borrow my friends iPod Touch for testing on the actual device (for motion controls etc)

If you have an android tablet then you will be able to test it, just not at launch.

There are reasons for this, android is not easy when it comes to speed and device compatibility. There is a lot of prep work to be done to make it work on a lot of android devices at decent speed and compatibility among different devices, this is what the monkey guys are going through right now.

@DMXtra

I have tried Monkey, and it's horrible and it's not really made for games and you have to do everything yourself. No physics, no Networking support, No collisions, No good documentation, no good IDE and it costs $120 US dollars for very little. You have to do everything yourself and honestly if I am going to pay $120 US dollars I expect a lot more polish and something that is ready for gaming.

Although everything you have said may be true, it is also true that you have misrepresented Monkey a bit in my opinion. Almost all of the components you have listed are available from FREE user created modules, so although BR hasn't (yet) provided these as park of the package, they are there and possible to be incorporated.
The $120 price tag may seem a bit high for what you get (officially) upfront, but the other (and better IMHO) side to this point is that all future updates of the product will be FREE, so it's only a once only outlay for a product that will only get better and better (using their other products as a guide to updates).
So, if TGC keeps their planned paid updates position, then let's check again in say 2-5 years time (depending on release frequency) to see how much ADK has really cost...

I'm not trying to boo-boo ADK and promote Monkey; I'm just trying to put the other side of the argument out there.

Also I partially agree with Jimmy 9Toes in that if it's not available (and known to be not planned until Phase 2), then it shouldn't have the symbol there to represent an unavailable deployment platform (or as you have suggested, at least put an asterisk or something there as well to highlight this fact).

I already own Blitz Max, and from what I've read about Monkey, it sounds like a different version of BMax. Which is a nice little oop language that gives it's users the power to do any thing they want. But, as someone said, "It's not a game programming language" (I'm paraphrasing). But,technically, neither is c++. So there's your trade off.

I can't wait to get my hands on AppGameKit, I think it, like DBPro, is an excellent idea as a game programming language.

I might still check out Monkey Coder (the free version lets you create HTML5 apps).

I'm just a little saddened that I won't be able to test my app on my tablet, and have to borrow my friends iPod Touch for testing on the actual device (for motion controls etc)

At least you have the tablet for testing later when it is supported.
That is a step up from us who are developing on a pc and have no smart phone at all. (I only have a dumb phone)
Will you be a friend and test my Android stuff in phase 2?
Just kidding but it could be worse.

I might still check out Monkey Coder (the free version lets you create HTML5 apps).

Sounds promising, but I'll be too busy with AppGameKit to try it anytime soon.

"

I really disagree with this:

#1) The users that fill in the gap is not right either, let me explain. Most of these users will make it work on one or two platforms (if that) and not all of the platforms. Secondly, not only will they not cover all platforms, they won't be able to be output all that well since monkey is a translator.

Again, most languages have this, users can add to just about any language, so this is nothing exclusive to Monkey and like I said the users are always going to do poorly compared to the person who wrote it that can output code that is stronger and on many platforms instead of just one or two.

#2) There is no guarantee that Mark will put out updates for free for the rest of the life of Monkey. Monkey in my opinion should not even exist, there should just be blitzmax and that should already be enough, but the people who already have to bought BlitzMax now have to buy Monkey if they want support of ios and other platforms. That isn't very cool and that is a lot of money to shell out.

#3) Users shouldn't do Mark's job in the first place. If people are going to make games with it, it should include at least the basics without having the community filling out gaps with gimped modules that won't work on all platforms.

"

I get that you are not trying to put down AppGameKit and promote Monkey, but Mark has been known to not support his products very well. He had stated on the monkey forum that no major updates until April 2012 and only bug updates and small updates for things like Android support only because it was too slow and it's not his fault, Android is an OS with very broad specs and a lot of different hardware.

Mark is not going to add in 3D to Monkey, we know that as a fact and TGC are planning to do that in the future as they are also using OpenGL, this is worth an additional price.

After using Blitz products and after reading marks blog posts and posts on the forum I know how he operates by now. I don't mind paying ever so often with quality updates instead of getting very little to nothing on updates for free.

"

I don't have a problem with this, because by the time people outside of this community gets the news (notice the name of AppGameKit is a community version) Phase 2 will be out or nearly out.

Anyway that is my 2-cents.

I like paying for the major updates. This ensures the continuous development of AGK. Since it's a write once deploy anywhere solution it has pretty much limitless possibilities to improve over time by adding more platforms, 3D and many other things. It will also motivate TGC to fix and add things suggested by the community, or people won't pay for updates. This is how it's done with most software, programs that have been around for ages and are constantly improved.

@DMXtra
I suppose we have differing views on the subject - which is fine; and I understand with the points you have raised as well and believe they are almost all possible; the exception would be:

There is no guarantee that Mark will put out updates for free for the rest of the life of Monkey.

This is actually guaranteed for the people that have bought/will buy it with this agreement in effect as that is what they are buying and should be protected by laws in place to protect the customer.
He may change the agreement in future, which would mean all purchasers after that time will have to pay for updates. This has held true for all other BR products that I'm aware of (and have purchased).

@Digital Awakening

I like paying for the major updates.

I think this puts you in the minority

This ensures the continuous development of AGK.

Ummm... it may improve the chances of this, but there is no insurance of this. Also, the common thinking that purchasers have a significant affect of what the direction products take is a false one - take any major company/product you like that has a feedback forum or similar and you will see that the feature set or operation of any subsequent version of software produced will have very little convergence with the feedback of the previous version(s).

Since it's a write once deploy anywhere solution it has pretty much limitless possibilities to improve over time by adding more platforms, 3D and many other things.

This is true for both paid for and free upgrades

It will also motivate TGC to fix and add things suggested by the community, or people won't pay for updates. This is how it's done with most software, programs that have been around for ages and are constantly improved.

Please refer my comments above.
I would suggest that most of the software you refer to are improved (being generous here as normally it doesn't improve, but just adds more unused junk) more though market research or trends or even just the developers inclinations than actual user feedback.
Maybe I'm just being too cynical here.

The other point that hasn't been raised here yet, is the publishing revenue that TGC will be making when (I dare say) most developers that buy this product will turn to when they have a game they want to release to the world. This should provide them more than enough incentive to keep the product as cutting edge as possible both technology wise as well as feature set wise.

My 4 cents.

It will also motivate TGC to fix and add things suggested by the community, or people won't pay for updates. This is how it's done with most software, programs that have been around for ages and are constantly improved.

Unfortunately I have to agree with mr_d on this point. It may improve the chances but not guarantee it. I work for a software company and we seem to be being driven more towards improving the software for sales than improving the software for existing users. This means that most enhancements are made with a view to increasing sales rather than improving the product.

TGC do generally provide a constant stream of fixes that are NOT driven by sales however and tend to buck the trend that most software developers follow which is refreshing and also one of the secrets to their success in my opinion.

My two-penneth...

Just put in my Order. Would have sooner but I blew all my money on a new car. August 15th couldn't come fast enough

If there's no more money coming in from existing users then the lifespan of AppGameKit will be limited. A continuous stream of revenue from updates is the only way to keep AppGameKit alive.

#3) Users shouldn't do Mark's job in the first place. If people are going to make games with it, it should include at least the basics without having the community filling out gaps...

This reminds me of the way DBPro has so many plugins that you REALLY need to have to use it well. IanM's, Box2D, Dark Whatever, etc. If DBPro had ALL the features that you must add with plugins, it would cost a LOT!

"

There is a bundle in which you pay one small price for DBPro + all of that and it's very cheap.

This bundle contains: DarkBASIC Professional, Dark Lights, Dark AI, Dark Physics, DarkBASIC Electronic, Dark Shader, eXtends, Treemagik G3, Plant Life, Cartography Shop, DarkMATTER 1, DarkVOICES, DarkGAME Studio, FPS Creator FREE

All of this for $50.00 us dollars, that is not bad at all.

And honestly I don't remember seeing Box3D in Blitz 3D at all, I know there was a community add on but it wasn't built right in.

yesterday I have pre order AppGameKit , my payment has been received
from TGC and my order status is 'awaiting dispatched'.

I ask:

I have to wait that order status is changed to 'Sent' to receive the documentation of AppGameKit via email ? How long should I wait?

If you have pre-ordered and not received a link to the documentation please email me: mike@thegamecreators.com and provide your order reference number and I will sort things out.