Alice Mini-Review

Hello everyone.

I wrote a sort of Mini-Review for Alice 2 based on my impressions I've had with the program so far. Keep in mind that I've only known about the program for four days, so please tell me if any information I wrote is wrong.

It is written in a thread about video game engines, and I know Alice isn't designed primarily to make games. But it can make some kinds of games and that's why I included it.

I'd also be glad to hear the point of view from someone who has been using Alice for a while and knows it fairly well.

Anyway, here's the review.

First, to get smooth transitions between animations, set "style" to "abruptly" (just like to "shut down" Windows, you first click on "Start" ).

Re the use of Alice for creating games (or for my current primary interest, short 3D animated films) my opinion is simple - don't (at least as your primary tool). The biggest problem is that once you get a nice animation or short interactive sequence (which is very easy to do, once you learn the program's quirks, and should be useful when you're doing the final game or film), there is nowhere to go beyond the world (.a2w) file except to an .html page or external screen capture program. Further, there is no way, at least that I have found, to export object (.a2c) files to any other format.

Having said this, (and despite the fact that there are those of us who would like to see other options) I personally hope the design team continues it's clear focus on teaching beginning programming well and in an interesting manner - something for which there is a real need - and which Alice does do exceptionally well.

Finally, these are just my current personal opinions - and I'd like to hear others.

Jim

Alice is actually capable of head2head gameplay for two players, I just have no idea how it works. For actual proof of what I just said, check out the BVW movie "Spy vs. Spy". You might also want to mention that while Alice is incapable of creating a standalone .exe, it is freely downloadable and runs on most machines, therefore giving your world/game a huge compatibility base. Another thought is that it IS open source, and therefore, a person could modify it to make it better for game programming.
But I must agree with DrJim, It's primary use is for teaching. However, I like to think that there will always be a few guys who try to stretch the envelope.

Just got around to really looking at the forum you posted the review in and want to add two notes.

1. I really was looking more from the perspective of someone who was trying to make films for general submission - so you at least need to get to a good .avi or .mov file. For casual gaming, the .html file might be fine.

2. I also wasn't thinking of a forum where the Blender game engine is considered only of "medium difficulty."

It looks like an interesting forum - I'll definitely visit it again.

Jim