Hello,
I'm Jan Kavan, developer of Ghost in the Sheet and writer of WME book. As my work has been here taken into account, I'd like to make a few points.
First of all, I find it completely unhelpful to the case of either engine if someone tries to force one engine to another. Both engines serves their respective purposes and what I like about WME pages is that you can find on wiki pages links to other adventure engines (including AGS) for those who don't like WME. This is IMO a fair approach as it's not only you all have a freedom of choice, but this freedom is further encouraged by engine creator.
It's really sad to see this "we have it better" vs. "they have it better" behavior which belongs more to the nursery and imo violates the rules you all filled while registering to these forums.
Someone was here complaining about the fact that WME is maybe easier to make slideshow games. It's not true at all. As someone who has been in development for years (Destinies, Ghost in the Sheet, recently coming out Tale of Hero (using AGDS by FutureGames)) to make 2 1/2d game is much more expensive then to create slideshow game. It's the only reason and if you don't believe me, ask first 3d animator you meet for his/her pricelist. For destinies we paid thousands of dollars only for the main actor and handful of basic animations. If you're to create game with no budget, you probably try to cut down development costs as much as possible. That's what we did as we were 2-men team doing the game in our spare time.
One valid point here is, that WME doesn't have enough fan made games. This is what I've pointed out many times. Lots of people seeing the possibilities of WME starts to do something BIG. It doesn't work this way and many of them just failed. It's the "big-eyes" problem. On the other hand, we already have some nice games there and it's hopefully only a matter of time to see more of them coming.
To bring the discussion back on track though, I've started with AGS too, then moved to Torque (trying TGE, TGB, TGEA) and finally ended up on WME. It simply was the engine for me and had the features I needed. I don't need to go and shout all around AGS is bad, WME rulezz, because I am grown up and I know that you here appreciate AGS more and I don't need to be missionary converting you to WME.
Last thing I've seen in this thread though makes me sad. Sooner or later in professional development you have to learn how to code. It reminds me of certain martial art scam policy "you'll kill your enemies without need to be strong or fast". It's nonsense and even my old unfinished games with AGS already contained a lot of scripting. So WME is heavily script oriented engine, while AGS can do without that much, but at the end of the day, you'll have to script.
On closing I don't think any of the two "camps" should bash other engines without really knowing it. I for one can't comment on new AGS because last version I've used was three years ago. Lots of comments here arise from not understanding the engine well. My WME book was meant to guide you from 0 knowledge of WME to making a simple game. It's free and if even after reading those lines you feel WME is too complicated, you have right to say this aloud. Before that, it's just a claim without any proofs.
I wish all the best to Chris as he made an amazing job with his engine and I wish to you more tolerance and less bashing. Engines are not what counts for players - games are...
Edit: I stand corrected - AGS has links to other engines as well.
I'm Jan Kavan, developer of Ghost in the Sheet and writer of WME book. As my work has been here taken into account, I'd like to make a few points.
First of all, I find it completely unhelpful to the case of either engine if someone tries to force one engine to another. Both engines serves their respective purposes and what I like about WME pages is that you can find on wiki pages links to other adventure engines (including AGS) for those who don't like WME. This is IMO a fair approach as it's not only you all have a freedom of choice, but this freedom is further encouraged by engine creator.
It's really sad to see this "we have it better" vs. "they have it better" behavior which belongs more to the nursery and imo violates the rules you all filled while registering to these forums.
Someone was here complaining about the fact that WME is maybe easier to make slideshow games. It's not true at all. As someone who has been in development for years (Destinies, Ghost in the Sheet, recently coming out Tale of Hero (using AGDS by FutureGames)) to make 2 1/2d game is much more expensive then to create slideshow game. It's the only reason and if you don't believe me, ask first 3d animator you meet for his/her pricelist. For destinies we paid thousands of dollars only for the main actor and handful of basic animations. If you're to create game with no budget, you probably try to cut down development costs as much as possible. That's what we did as we were 2-men team doing the game in our spare time.
One valid point here is, that WME doesn't have enough fan made games. This is what I've pointed out many times. Lots of people seeing the possibilities of WME starts to do something BIG. It doesn't work this way and many of them just failed. It's the "big-eyes" problem. On the other hand, we already have some nice games there and it's hopefully only a matter of time to see more of them coming.
To bring the discussion back on track though, I've started with AGS too, then moved to Torque (trying TGE, TGB, TGEA) and finally ended up on WME. It simply was the engine for me and had the features I needed. I don't need to go and shout all around AGS is bad, WME rulezz, because I am grown up and I know that you here appreciate AGS more and I don't need to be missionary converting you to WME.
Last thing I've seen in this thread though makes me sad. Sooner or later in professional development you have to learn how to code. It reminds me of certain martial art scam policy "you'll kill your enemies without need to be strong or fast". It's nonsense and even my old unfinished games with AGS already contained a lot of scripting. So WME is heavily script oriented engine, while AGS can do without that much, but at the end of the day, you'll have to script.
On closing I don't think any of the two "camps" should bash other engines without really knowing it. I for one can't comment on new AGS because last version I've used was three years ago. Lots of comments here arise from not understanding the engine well. My WME book was meant to guide you from 0 knowledge of WME to making a simple game. It's free and if even after reading those lines you feel WME is too complicated, you have right to say this aloud.
Before that, it's just a claim without any proofs.I wish all the best to Chris as he made an amazing job with his engine and I wish to you more tolerance and less bashing. Engines are not what counts for players - games are...
Edit: I stand corrected - AGS has links to other engines as well.