So... Stencyl just released some playable demos.

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  • http://stencyl.com/stories.php

    They're fairly simple platformers but they aren't bad by any means. "Verus" only seems to be running around 20fps and I'm not a big fan of the controls, but the sprite work is decent enough.

    I'm guessing that they don't have a particle system in place yet because there weren't really any special effects to speak of (enemies simply disappear when defeated). Also, two of the games have music but none of them have sound effects.

    All in all... meh. Not very good but not very bad. Just meh.

    At least the Stencyl team finally proved that the project still exists.

  • So are Stencle game just played on the web? No exe?

    Well there be a charge for it later? The seem to be keeping information on a need to know bases.

  • I think I remember someone saying that they can be loaded from an .exe, but you won't be able to save your game. The program is going to be free but it's hard to say if people will charge for the games that they make.

    I have to laugh a little at the "Our testers have created some amazing games." comment at the top of the "Developers Stories" page.

    They're okay, sure. But "Amazing"? Really?

  • The game demos really don't prove much. There's some graphics moving around and some interaction but I still want to see what the engine can do. None of those games seem to push any limits over what Gamemaker, MMF or Construct can do. Construct is really powerful and simple to use and that's going to be hard to match. I have to say though, being able to publish online is a HUGE plus for me.

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  • I'm going to jump in with a preemptive warning against Stencyl bashing. Not that I don't have faith that out members can handle themselves with a modicum of decorum, but just in case, you see

    UberLou has the right idea... honest crits of Stencyl and it's capabilities are fine, but let's not perpetuate any bad blood between Stencyl users and Construct. Healthy rivalry is well and good but let's keep it civil.

    And if your ire is truly bubbling over and you absolutely can't help but vent or poke fun then at least do it in chat

  • A screen shot of a gui would have gone much farther than a few demo's.

    This is like the egg laying the chicken.

  • A screen shot of a gui would have gone much farther than a few demo's.

    They have made some sort of cropped picture:

    <img src="http://www.stencyl.com/static/sw/sw1.png">

    Oh wait, this looks a lot like Scratch

    <img src="http://origin.arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.media/scratch1.png">

    Not to bash the program, but it looks just too similar beetwen these two screens.

    And after playing the games, it just feels like it doesn't really make more things than Construct, but we just have to wait till the final product.

    The thing I do like is that you can make Browser games like flash with that.

  • The thing I do like is that you can make Browser games like flash with that.

    This seems to be Stencyl's biggest strength. A lot of people are leery about downloading .exe's and there is something to be said for the convenience of it all.

    On the other hand, Stencyl may never truly be able to compete with Construct, Gamemaker or MMF2 when it comes to graphical capabilities. They don't seem to have any kind of video acceleration or shader support.

    I really wish they could give us some solid, detailed information on the UI and what it is like to use it. I have a hard time believing that it could be as easy to use as Construct, or as powerful for that matter.

  • I really don't like that GUI. The pastel colors don't help anything either, I think. Makes it look like it's for Children. I can't comment on it's usability in practice, but the whole appearance and set up just looks bad to me.

    Games on that page do nothing for me either. As long as Construct keeps updating, my 2D needs are satiated.

  • > A screen shot of a gui would have gone much farther than a few demo's.

    >

    They have made some sort of cropped picture:

    <img src="http://www.stencyl.com/static/sw/sw1.png">

    Oh wait, this looks a lot like Scratch

    <img src="http://origin.arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.media/scratch1.png">

    Not to bash the program, but it looks just too similar beetwen these two screens.

    And after playing the games, it just feels like it doesn't really make more things than Construct, but we just have to wait till the final product.

    The thing I do like is that you can make Browser games like flash with that.

    Yeah cause construct would never look anything like another application out there, oh wait.

  • They have made some sort of cropped picture:

    <img src="http://www.stencyl.com/static/sw/sw1.png">

    Oh wait, this looks a lot like Scratch

    Kind of reminds me of Alice as well.

    Out of the three games I'd say the Versus game was the best, but it still felt a little sluggish and the controls were WAY overcomplicated. You could create that control scheme with a lot fewer keys by adding some context-sensitive controls. It would probably work better with mouse aim too, especially since you could solve the "press X to turn your mech around" problem by just facing the mouse cursor. Still it seemed like the most polished game.

    Second favorite was the pumpkin game. The platforming was a lot better than the astronaut game, but they still sort of felt really similar to each other. Like they were made from the same template or something, and the creators didn't bother to change up the settings for the platforming all that much. I thought some of the enemies in the pumpkin game were coded decently too. It could use checkpoints or lives though, I kept dying on the falling-platforms-with-spikes-under-them bit on level 2. It seems they have a problem with the player staying rooted to falling platforms as well

    I really don't like that GUI. The pastel colors don't help anything either, I think. Makes it look like it's for Children.

    If that is indeed a shot of their GUI then yeah I'd have to agree with that one. But it looks so similar to Scratch that I can't help but wonder if it really is just a shot of Scratch. I can't imagine that they'd actually bite off of another game maker/programming thing so blatantly.

    Yeah cause construct would never look anything like another application out there, oh wait.

    Hey now what are you trying to say, LMK?

  • If that is indeed a shot of their GUI then yeah I'd have to agree with that one. But it looks so similar to Scratch that I can't help but wonder if it really is just a shot of Scratch.

    <img src="http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/3407/sw1u.png">

    STENCYL

    <img src="http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/3541/scratchw.png">

    SCRATCH

    You weren't kidding!

  • Well the Scratch thing he talked about is an open source project. Then again that one little sliver really doesn't tell you much, other than its kinda nodal, and drag and drop.

    It just seems everything they produce never really provides proof of existence.

  • <img src="http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/3407/sw1u.png">

    STENCYL

    <img src="http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/3541/scratchw.png">

    SCRATCH

    Alrighty then, it seems I have found the answer to this little puzzle:

    http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?id=26990

    The similarity is no coincidence, they modeled the interface directly off of Scratch, with full the permission of the creators of Scratch. They also have recruited Scratch users to be Stencyl beta-testers.

    Honestly, I think that sort of collaboration across projects is pretty damn cool. That still doesn't make the candy-colored programming interface any more attractive to me, though.

  • The thing I do like is that you can make Browser games like flash with that.

    But can you save it as a .swf so you can use it in your own web project?

    Or better yet .fla?

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