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Sphere’s editor currently only works on Windows but runtime engines exist for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Given its cross-platform capabilities and it being a free open source project, it is ideal to be considered for Indie projects.

Easy of Use (6/10)

Sphere has a nice IDE interface. It is easy to use and fairly intuitive. But Sphere is not designed for non-programmers. Although the editor helps you prepare some of your art assets (Sprites & Maps), it doesn’t do everything that I hoped for. However, with some scripting, you can write your own utilities in Sphere to preprocess your assets before they are imported. This is cumbersome to do but it works.

Also, Sphere does not come with a complete scripted game engine like some other game builders do. You have to get your hands dirty with code to make any kind of game functionality. Sphere’s scripting language is Javascript. This is a powerful scripting language. If you have any web development experience, it is a natural shoe-in for you. However, if you don’t have any programming experience, I would heavily suggest reading at least one — if not all — of the beginner tutorials on the Wiki.

Sphere was originally designed to make RPG games. So, if you want to make another genre such as Adventure or Strategy, you have a lot of work on your hands. You will be coding a lengthy engine yourself. Sphere does not come with a complete scripted game engine. However, there are some impressive community projects that supply scripts for a complete game. You must be careful with these, though. Some are not well supported while others do not allow commercial use. Of course, even if you are allowed to use the supplied code, you always want to give credit to the original author.

So, if you love to code, this engine is probably perfect for you. You don’t have to code everything. It is just the main game logic. However, Sphere’s main drawback is that it doesn’t supply a strong core game logic that can be used out of the box.

Support (9/10)

A good support system is necessary for anyone taking on a new engine. Sphere has a small but strong developer community. They participate and respond to forum discussions — including the cries for help from novices. Of course, like all communities there are those with varying personalities and maturity levels. You will find that you get along with some and not so much with others. As long as you don’t walk into the forums with a flamethrower, you should be ok. Sphere’s community seems to be a little more mature than many of the others I’ve been around.

There is also a very helpful Wiki that documents Sphere’s available functions and core scripts as well as several tutorials on various aspects of learning to develop a game with Sphere. As I was testing out Sphere, I referred many times to this Wiki and found it a complete lifesaver to have while I worked.

I really have to thank those in the community who put together that Wiki. This is the type of support that I wish every engine had. It allows you to work independently and with little need for interruption or delays from requests for help. Between reading the Wiki and searching the forum, you should be able to find the answer to almost any question you have about Sphere.

Engine Improvement (7/10)

Sphere is an open source engine. Therefore, its development really is at the whim of the developers who have time for it. From reading the development discussions on the forum, these guys are really passionate about creating a great engine. They may argue at times but it is not usually personal attacks but really heated discussions about improvements to the engine and how to best implement them. As far as I can tell, the main admin is well respected and contributes the core backbone for the progress and future vision of Sphere. He discusses with the other developers and the community what he is going to do and then implements the core based on his vision and their input. It’s a very nice team structure.

However, because it is a free open source project and the team members have other jobs that pay their bills, engine development is slower than other projects but not to the point that you feel like the project has completely died. The semi-frequent updates to the development threads keep you informed and eager to see the next release. So far, Sphere 1.5 is the most recent stable version. It has been out since August of 2008. The first public beta of 1.6 was released in April 2009 but it has still not become the next stable release.

There is also work being done to a Sphere 2.0 which should be a leap forward. Given the thread that I read on it, I wouldn’t doubt that statement. The new editor promises to be very powerful with its new scriptable plugins. However, depending on the final product, it may not be 100% backwards compatible — especially the scripting language. For some very good reasons, Squirrel seems to be the language of choice for Sphere 2.0 but those who have existing projects and want to upgrade may have to rewrite some of their scripts. Hopefully, the transition wont be too bad.

So, although it would be nice to have a new stable version of Sphere (either 1.6 or 2.0) after more than 2 years, it is completely understandable as to why and I certainly trust the team’s choice in taking it slow to make the next release truly feature rich and stable.