Re: thingmaker (was open file format)

[Scott Hamlin]

I did not mean to imply that ThingMaker is a replacement for Flash--only

that it's locking/copyright features are superior to Flash's. However,

ThingMaker is capable of more than you indicate. While it is centered

around a 3-state button concept it also has a much larger event model than

Flash. Objects can be dragged  on click, they can be made to react to

collisions, you can hide/show, change location, and more. Consequently it's

better for creating many types of games than Flash is. ThingMaker's

animation capabilities are limited and there's no streaming, no Mac player,

etc, so it's not a serious contender (at least not yet), but it's more than

just a button maker. 


I've seen the Jones Soda work. Fun. We are currently making "Things" for

Parable as well. While some of our things are "buttons" many of them are

also better classified as interactive animations and several of them are

games. You can see our current collection at:

http://eyeland.com/thestuff/animgal/things/allthings.html


Still, the point of bringing up ThingMaker wasn't to sing it's praises or

compare it head to head with Flash. Flash is still a preferable technology

(at this point). However, while everyone else seems quick to blow off the

obvious pitfalls of having our Flash files become open for the taking, I'm

not. As far as I'm concerned Macromedia dropped the ball here. Are millions

of developers going to stop using Flash? Of course not. *I'm* not going to

stop using Flash. BUT, I'm also going to be more careful about what I put

*in* my Flash files. *That's* the problem. When we have to limit what we

put in our media, then progress is hindered. So, in this case it's kind of

a one step forward one step back thing, from my perspective.

>

>


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