Future directions, concepts, and plans

Hello <img src="/center/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

Ah the future! A wonderous time off in the distance where cancer will be cured and we will all be flying around in aircars <img src="/center/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. With all of the wonders that I am sure we will see then, I think it is appropriate for MMF 2 to consider its own path and how it will develop over the next few years.

I think that we as EDT members are at the front of a lot of the potential innovation of the product, and as such I think it is appropriate to discuss what we all want to work towards.

It seems to me that the product is heading towards education. Perhaps we should be specifically targeting this niche and developing extensions to help make the tool as easy to use for education as possible.

As I think about it, I see three areas of this product:

Games

Games are what the click line was originally designed for and it appears to be the area where MMF 2 is currently the strongest. A number of things can be added to improve the game capability of MMF 2 which are hardware acceleration, 3d, and vector graphics.

As I understand it, 3d is being covered by the Irrlicht extension and hardware acceleration is going to be investigated later. Vector graphics are still an unrealized potential and I hope to see some developments on this front in the future <img src="/center/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

Apps

Apps in MMF 2 are a bit tricky. Currently simple applications are possible, but with the relative ease and power of c#, MMF 2 may have a bit of work ahead of itself. More controls will help to improve the app capability and I think this is a real area where the EDT can shine <img src="/center/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

Education/Edutainment

This area is a bit strange. MMF 2 is capable of making Edutainment, however for someone with limited knowledge it could be an unobtainable task.

Extensions and movements that help with things such as making quizes and tests, an improved question and answer object, and some good tutorials should help to make this area as painless as possible <img src="/center/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

So extensions can generally bring some improvements to the program, but I think we should talk about the real direction and goal.

Basically I ask the question What will the product be like in a few years, and what can we do to get there?

I am glad you brought this topic into the light and the future is an important thing to consider in regards to new extensions.

So far, so good ...

I feel like I am repeating myself, (we have had MANY discussions about extensions in the old forum over a few years time) but I do like to reiterate what I feel is important.

We do need to get a good set of Widnow's controls going, (both those not available, and possibly, updates of current ones).

For media use, I would like to see a timeline object, (that allows triggierng of events) and an animation object, (similar to 3ee's modifier). The two ideas could be speparate or work together to allow some functionality similar to the way Flash works, only MMF-style and less robust. I have outlined my ideas on that in the old forum.

Hopefully, one could make presentations, cut-scenes, and such, with tools like that.

Turboferret has alreeady done some convincing tests of vectors, so I think they are not a matter of if, but when. In fact one of the obejects was rather impressive, as I recall.

Ah yes indeed <img src="/center/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. It helps to bring such topics back up once in a while, becuase we get new faces who may have something to contribute <img src="/center/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

On the topic of the future (Mainly becuase I did not wish to create a new thread), I have noticed a lot of old friends have left the EDT. They left behind a great many projects that were started, but never finished. While it is tempting to finish what they started, every effort should be made to contact them for permission. You may already do this, but from the extension idea thread I am not so sure. I realize that you can't "own" an idea, but as a matter of simple respect permission should be obtained from the original developers <img src="/center/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

With that aside, I think your ideas sound intresting. Perhaps a developer is up to the task?