Alice 3 vs. 2
 

So which one is better? I still mess around with Alice 2 but I haven't taken the time to get 3. Is it any better?

No, to many joints, still animate the same way, can't import your own models, it's not color coded so it's hard to quickly see what you have been working on, you need to use command prompt so it won't work on some school computers, etc...

There are still some excellent advantages 3 has over 2, and when it's finished, 2 will be laughably useless in comparison, but at the moment, 2 is more useful to the typical user.

[QUOTE=x2495iiii;52912]There are still some excellent advantages 3 has over 2.[/QUOTE]

So what are some of the advantages that 3 has?

1. Better quality models

2. Smaller game sizes(saves every model used only once instead of once for every instance of that model in the game)

3. I believe it lets you use a wider selection of keys for controlling things

4. You can Export your games to Java code with Netbeans (I have never tried it and don't know if it works well)

5. Has an "IsCollidingWith" function which may make it much easier to implement collisions in games.

I haven't ever been able to get the iscollidingwith to work.

Well, I have no information about this thread so I am unable to make any comment. I think that I need more information on it.

isColliding?
 

It is true that the collision detection events are still being developed and implemented, but I would be curious to hear about what is not working for you.

Thanks,

Alice 3 is still in-dev so of course it's not as easy to use as Alice 2.

Not so sure.
 

[QUOTE=x2495iiii;52912]There are still some excellent advantages 3 has over 2, and when it's finished, 2 will be laughably useless in comparison, but at the moment, 2 is more useful to the typical user.[/QUOTE]

I think they are different animals meeting the needs of different groups. The basic difference I see, in the very limited amount I have played with 3, is that it is more complex - which hopefully means more powerful as well. Alice 3 seems to be "closer to the programmer" so to speak while Alice 2 tries to make things simpler, more the "ignore the man behind the curtain" approach.
Alice 2 has two use cases I can see going forward. The first is the 6 - 8 th grade where kids can start to "play" with Alice and begin to understand the relationship between the instructions, methods and functions they use and what happens when the movie is run. The other use case involves what I have been doing for the past several years. I try to teach creative problem solving mostly to new college students in non science curriculum. For me Alice provides the right blend of structure, ability to create, and quick feedback. To most students Alice, and programming in general, are outside their realm of experience so they are learning the basic “toolbox” used in programming and hopefully they gain some insight into the tools available and how they can be fitted together to make different things happen.
Alice 2 is not perfect, or there wouldn't be an Alice 3! But it is fairly clean and does not invoke the kind of panic attacks sometimes seen in the less technically experienced audience.
Always remember the mantra of Programming:
The damn thing does exactly what I tell it!

Mark