Stencyl seems to be kinda dead

even the regulars have been quiet here.. me included.. I still read every post... but rarely comment now

I don't even remember the last post I had, and yet I read the forum several times per day.
The thing with regulars...over the years we've seen the same questions over and over again, and most of them were answered, so we only reply to the ones that are new, that challenge us, but most questions can be avoided by a simple use of the search bar in the forum.

Except the fact that the search bar takes 100 times longer to load then every other website. So maybe the newbies think that if they post, they will get a reply before the search bar ever finishes loading results.

Except the fact that the search bar takes 100 times longer to load then every other website. So maybe the newbies think that if they post, they will get a reply before the search bar ever finishes loading results.

That could be true, but yet all the regulars are in the chat room more than willing to answer questions that were not answered in the forum a million times before.
It's probably been the same before I came along. The easy problems I had myself were probably answered by the people that just learned how to solve those problems, and the harder ones were answered by the people that were simply intrigued by the problem and had the knowledge to solve my issues.
Since then we've had TheIndieStation and Liberado (and many more) answering and making tutorials for all the questions that usually pop up in the forums, which means that some skilled people could simply focus on the more difficult issues (most of which were also answered by the above people).

The fact that you don't see answers by the Masters in the forums, doesn't mean they are gone. It simply means they are looking for the questions that intrigue them, and those are the ones that don't usually pop up in the forum that often.
 

... most questions can be avoided by a simple use of the search bar in the forum.

It's hard to stay motivated to answer the same questions again and again. Although, to be fair to newcomers, it's also hard to use the forum search bar if you're so new that you don't know what search terms to use. An expanded Stencylpedia with more walkthroughs and explanations of common tasks could help here, as would be easier methods to discover tutorials.

Repeated questions are not a nuisance for me. I don't need to "stay motivated to answer the same questions again and again". As you know, we can post the link to where any question was already answered.

Some thoughts on learning Stencyl/the Forum:
I think i would have been very lost in the beginning without Stencylforge. It was a good way to get progression fast, try ideas and it showed me what Stencyl was capable of. I did not understand the behaviours very well which was ok but i got into Stencyl fast.
Slowly i started removing all those behaviours form my project with my own once my skills got better. A very nice experience.
This is not there anymore but i have to mention that now you can get very good video tutorials (for example from TheIndieStation).

Also, i always got very nice support from individuals like you guys whenever i had a serious obstacle i could not come over.
Asking nicely works very often

Stencyl in general:
I for myself am missing a market place where i can buy behaviours which are too much work for me for example. I am missing some features (like a proper light system) in general but this is related to the tech of course.
The community is very nice and very helpful (of course small). I also want to highlight Justin as a very reliable source of help or information.
The product feels abandoned though because the communication about it is low and it would need some sort of customer support who updates the website regularly with a product vision and strategy.
Getting a personal update every 2-4 weeks on the frontpage would do magic.

Some thoughts on learning Stencyl/the Forum:
I think i would have been very lost in the beginning without Stencylforge. It was a good way to get progression fast, try ideas and it showed me what Stencyl was capable of. I did not understand the behaviours very well which was ok but i got into Stencyl fast.
Slowly i started removing all those behaviours form my project with my own once my skills got better. A very nice experience.
This is not there anymore but i have to mention that now you can get very good video tutorials (for example from TheIndieStation).

Also, i always got very nice support from individuals like you guys whenever i had a serious obstacle i could not come over.
Asking nicely works very often

Stencyl in general:
I for myself am missing a market place where i can buy behaviours which are too much work for me for example. I am missing some features (like a proper light system) in general but this is related to the tech of course.
The community is very nice and very helpful (of course small). I also want to highlight Justin as a very reliable source of help or information.
The product feels abandoned though because the communication about it is low and it would need some sort of customer support who updates the website regularly with a product vision and strategy.
Getting a personal update every 2-4 weeks on the frontpage would do magic.

It would be good to have some sort of replacement for StencylForge, or rework it so that it's not filled with rubbish.  Currently there should be some note on the forge homepage stating that it's been discontinued, and why it has. I've seen lots of posts from newcomers to Stencyl who wonder why something on the forge isn't working etc.

I wholeheartedly agree that we need updates. If long-standing Stencyl users are getting concerned, then that should really serve as a warning.  It's one of the reasons I'm holding off buying a license. It wouldn't be difficult to make the site appear as though it is still active. Embed twitter/facebook and post an update occasionally.

News alerts could even be posted within Stencyl itself once a week, maybe on opening Stencyl, then it wouldn't even matter whether people visited the site or not, they could see that things were being done.

If long-standing Stencyl users are getting concerned, then that should really serve as a warning.

Great truth.

News alerts could even be posted within Stencyl itself once a week, maybe on opening Stencyl, then it wouldn't even matter whether people visited the site or not, they could see that things were being done.

I like this idea a lot.

If long-standing Stencyl users are getting concerned, then that should really serve as a warning.

Great truth.

I'm not concerned. Granted I have only used stencyl for 4 years or so and may not count as "long standing".

@Ceosol, you can continue carefree, but I don't like to see people asking if Stencyl is dead, even not buying or renewing their license because of this concern.
I think the best way to sell any commercial product which needs continuous updates is not giving the impression that it is dead, abandoned or lacking sufficient support.
This is just my humble and personal opinion. But at least for me, it is so obvious that does not need discussion.
In fact, although I understand the concerns of users who ask if Stencyl is dead, I will not talk about this matter again because I think that this type of threads does not benefit the future of Stencyl either.

I am a newer user to Stencyl here was my first impression.

I did not know anything about programming and started google searching stuff like " game making with no experience "  I ended up finding an article written about easy to use game making software and Stencyl was on the list among construct, Game maker, ect...

So I googled Stencyl and found the site.  My first impression was that it was dead.  The forums had little activity and I just got the all around impression that not many people used it.

I liked the interface of the program and download it.  Stencyl is amazing but a lot of people probably come here like me, then turn away because of the lack of activity.

The lack of HTML 5 is a really big deal as well.  Addicting Games no longer is buying flash games and Armor low balled the hell out of me because of the flash platform of my new game.   Not to mention pretty much all other web sponsors will not take Flash.   Most people usually start with web development and not supporting HTML 5 (aside from experimental) will immediately turn new developers away.

I know HTML 5 is coming but it was supposed to be here at the end of last year and honestly I don't see being able to fully export solid HTML 5 games for a really long time.  HTML 5 should have been a priority a long time ago, now web developers are stuck in the mud with Stencyl till..... when?  Bringing on Rob is great to help with 3.5 so hopefully it can be ready soon but I just get the feeling it wont.

Also, I have not been keeping up as much but it seems that Stencyl can not export games to the new IPhone?  That seems like a HUGE problem, unless I am reading it wrong..  What happens when Apple requires all new apps to fully support the new IPhone and 3.5 is still not ready? (something I totally see them doing)  Again,  I have not been keeping up too much with all that so maybe it's not as big of a deal, but it seems that the most profit developers are making from Stencyl is through Apple features.

Stencyl should be doing everything possible to make sure Apple developers stay up to date.

Just my two cents.

Nah, the latest Apple devices are supported in 3.5.

We're focusing on critical issues at the moment, so that we can quickly get the 3.5 nightly builds back to a state where even if 3.5 as a whole isn't "ready", it's very stable for development.