Scratch

As much as I love Scratch, some things are better. But Stencyl is not better, I don't find it complicated but when it comes to simplicity and fun, Scratch wins!

Seems people are kind of confused on the whole Stencyl vs Scratch debate. Stencyl is better for making commercially viable games and Scratch is way better for extreme ease of use.

Now, I'll just refer to some points that were brought up in this thread and my response to them.

"The Stencyl interface is WAY over-complicated. Sure, if a programming language is more advanced it will be harder to use, but Stencyl takes that idea to a new level. I was put off of it almost the minute I started when I couldn't figure out how to create a script! You might as well have text-based coding for all that Stencyl does for you."

This is actually a pretty good point. A typical Scratch user will have too much difficultly with the program to create unique games. The large amount of block categories, and large amount of blocks (400+?) makes it way more difficult to use than Scratch. A lot of the appeal of Stencyl for beginners is the ability to easily "remix" the built in game kits to easily make a generic game. The point that you may as well use text code is valid, a tool like this isn't much good if it isn't super easy.

"Just because it uses blocks doesn't mean it was based on Scratch"

Yes it was based on Scratch. Originally Stencyl only had a text programming option. Both Stencyl and Scratch were made at MIT so it was easy to borrow the idea. Jon from Stencyl has confirmed this.

"Scratch has huge limits
Stencyl's still in beta
You can believe what you want, though

Also, have you even seen the stencyl community? They're much more grown up"

Scratch has massive limits, but its easy to use. Stencyl being in beta is a huge point, so I think people should hold their final judgment until the program is done. Lastly, the Stencyl community is much more grown up because the forums are private, the Scratch forums were pretty similar I would think when it was private.

"Stencyl's better in terms of programming though, and way better in how it can be used"

It can be used to program... and it is better at programming...OK then, but Scratch is much more simple and friendly to 7-13 year olds. I could say that using FlashDevelop for programming is superior to both Scratch and Stencyl but that doesn't matter because the main appeal of the programs is ease of use.

Last edited by archmage (2010-10-21 17:55:04)

Summary?
And by how it can be used, I didn't mean how easy it is to use, I meant how it can be used to make better games

Stencyl is epic. No time to experiment though 

Blade-Edge wrote:

Summary?
And by how it can be used, I didn't mean how easy it is to use, I meant how it can be used to make better games

Summary of discussion on this topic and careful consideration of both sides of the argument (Scratch vs. Stencyl).

And ease of use results in better games.    You wouldn't try to code something completely in the command prompt, would you? It might allow for more features, but it'd also be incredibly difficult.

How can I get stencyl? Do you have to be a beta tester? Or is there a download page?

Signed up like 3 day ago