Gendai Games launched an Early Access Program for its drag-and-drop iPhone gamemaking package GameSalad Creator back in September.

It came in two flavours: an Indie membership at $499/year and a Pro membership at $1,999

Since then however, the Indie price has been rebranded as Express and the price slashed to $99.

We caught up with CEO Michael Agustin to find out why, as well as how gamemakers were getting on with the technology.

Pocket Gamer: What's the response been to GameSalad Creator?

Michael Agustin: It's been incredibly positive. Our early adopters started publishing iPhone games almost right out of the gate, and we've seen a lot of really fun and interesting apps that have helped inspire new users.

Since announcing the $99 Express membership, we've greatly increased traffic and awareness of GameSalad as well as the number of active GameSalad members. We're seeing more and more of our members' games on the App Store, but it goes beyond that -we're also seeing the formation of a new kind of game community.

Game creation isn't just for game developers anymore, and we have people from very different backgrounds - college students, industry veterans, kids, designers, artists, musicians - all coming together to help each other out and turn their visions into reality. It's a phenomenal experience for everyone involved.

What's the reason for the change of price - was $499 just too high?

The $499 plan was originally introduced with the Early Access Program and was intended to help us identify and transition to a price point more in line with our motto of "game creation for the rest of us".

We were actually able to introduce the Express membership earlier than we were anticipating, thanks to good feedback from the community and the hard work of our engineers.

Ultimately, we didn't want GameSalad to be one of those monolithic programs where buying it feels like a huge burden. At $99, GameSalad Express is accessible for students, for hobbyists, for people who have never made their own game before but would love to give it a try. You can develop and publish as many iPhone games as you want for less than the cost of your actual iPhone.

What's the mix been between the indie and pro licenses?

Not surprisingly, there are quite a few more Express members than Pro members. The Express pricing is really resonating with users who've wanted a way to make their own iPhone games. Our Pro users typically have been in the iPhone market for a while, and want the branding and support features of the higher-level membership.

Any good stories yet about people who have published on the App Store using GameSalad Creator?

At the moment we have over 25 GameSalad-made games on the App Store, and we're seeing something new almost every day. Some of these are the first games that the user has ever published, and that's a success in its own right.

One of our favourites is a cool side-scroller called Z is for Zombie, which one of our members prototyped during a lunch break and then fleshed out in three weeks. The game was featured by Apple in the "New and Noteworthy" section of the App Store, and has had quite a bit of success as a result.

Thanks to Michael for his time.

To find out more information go to the GameSalad Creator website.