[casual_games] Question About Adobe/Macromedia Director as a Development Platform....

[Robert Gordon]

Well, I suspect it's going to be difficult to identify a feature-set that is
'game specific' that does not yield benefits for other applications. Has
gaming not traditionally led the way for technology development in
computing?

To answer your last question, I think if Flash had a development environment
that made more sense to me, a feature like the message window, a logical
cast system (library), and something very akin to Director's behaviours I
might be more inclined to make the switch...

r o b



| Robert Gordon

| The Article 19 Group Inc.

| phone: 514.938.8512

| email: rob at article19.com

| http://www.article19.com




> From: Charles Parcell <cparcell at toxictoy.com>

> Reply-To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List <casual_games at igda.org>

> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:55:18 -0500

> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List <casual_games at igda.org>

> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Question About Adobe/Macromedia Director as a

> Development Platform....

> 

> I did intend to send it to the whole group. I had started writing it as

> a response directly to you, but then decided to get the whole groups

> ideas and opinions on the top. I just never rewrote the opening

> sentence. There seem to be a lot of former and current Director

> developers on the list and this might be a rare chance to poll everyone

> on this topic.

> 

> Personally, I see a lot of parallel in your response and my own wish

> list for the potential future versions of Director. But I also wonder if

> all the features you listed truly fall under the "game development"

> umbrella. I can see several of the features as being used on a rare case

> within a game but not a "meat" feature in the game development realm.

> 

> Case in point would be the nested time line (akin to Flash). This is

> more of a workflow feature rather than anything else (in my mind).

> 

> Another one would be the improved Flash performance within Director. To

> what degree does everyone use Flash within Director? Is Director used

> more as a wrapper for Flash? Is Flash mostly an animation media within

> Director? Widgets? Other?  My thought on Flash within Director is that

> it is nice to have but at what point does developing in Flash become the

> more logical choice (in respect to utilizing Flash within Director)?  I

> think to real question at that point becomes, how can Director be

> enhanced so that Flash is no longer needed as an imported media type?

> 

> Charles P.

> 

> 

> Robert Gordon wrote:

>> Hey Charles,

>> 

>> Wasn't sure if this was supposed to go to the list or not (your reply

>> sounded more personally targeted)...so I'm replying on-list but I'm happy to

>> move this offline.

>> 

>> I guess any of us old-time Director users could complain about a number of

>> missing or still-broken features...but if I had to whittle that down to a

>> set of game-specific requests...might be something like:

>> 

>> (in no particular order)

>> 

>> - improved text engine

>> - real-time effects (dropshadow, glow, etc.) as in Flash 8

>> - continued support of the multiplayer xtra

>> - something akin to Flash's nested timeline concept

>> - something that would allow those super-fancy particle effects

>> - a more modern script editor

>> - obviously any bump in speed/performance is always a good thing

>> - specific improvement to Flash performance when playing inside Director

>> - pushing the shockwave plugin back into the limelight

>> - playback engines for console, mobile, and other interesting devices

>> 

>> I'm sure I'm missing some items of interest...those are off the top of my

>> head. Truth is, I'm so very used to doing things a certain way that I don't

>> often (enough) pause to wonder of there's a better way...

>> 

>> 

>>   

>>> From: Charles Parcell <cparcell at toxictoy.com>

>>> Reply-To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List <casual_games at igda.org>

>>> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:21:40 -0500

>>> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List <casual_games at igda.org>

>>> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Question About Adobe/Macromedia Director as a

>>> Development Platform....

>>> 

>>> Rob,

>>> 

>>> I wanted to drop you a line and ask about your comment in your post. I

>>> too think that a focus on game development would be a good think. I just

>>> wanted to get your ideas as to what specific features, enhancements, etc

>>> could be implemented to get the to this goal.

>>> 

>>> Thanks,

>>> Charles P.

>>> 

>>> 

>>> Robert Gordon wrote:

>>>     

>>>> I too heard a rumour that there may be some focus on game development

>>>> with the next version, but can't recall where. Would be very nice though!

>>>>       

> 

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