So for the newbie mappers to either XP or Ace, how many even know that if you double click on an Autotile, you can override the system and manually select which tile you want. Also, how many know that if you draw while holding down the SHIFT KEY, you wont affect any Autotiles while drawing?
The reason I do not care for the Ace mapping system is too much control is taken away from the artist. I often look at screenshots made in XP and Ace and conclude that too many Ace maps look damn near exactly the same as any other maps made with the same tileset. Problem is the lack of Layers takes away that control. Other problem is simply the artistic style of the default tilesets used in Ace. They are tiny in comparison to XP. The squatty chibi / kaiser sprites drive me up the wall. In XP, size relations between characters and enviornment is disproportionate. My dog is as big as a tree that is also the same size as a mountain. Really? In XP, sizes feel more proportional, but require control over Layers to make natural feeling enviornments. Larger characters also allows for more details in those characters.
To me, XP vs Ace in mapping is like being given a blank canvas. In XP, you are given a paint brush and bunch of paints, but in Ace, it feels like I am trying to create the Mona Lisa using Lite Brite or an Etch a Sketch. Very paint by numbers. If you cant paint at all, you wont want to use a paint brush and may feel like the only way to create anything is to Paint by Numbers. But Paint by Numbers not only becomes a crutch, it becomes a total handicap to the point that it severely limits levels of creativity. I tried the trial of Ace and gave up on it in less than a day.
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Scripting
When we talk about Scripting, we all have this problem of referring back to the core scripts that come with each system and do not always consider the user generated content. There are more scripts for XP than Ace simply because XP is older. And there are many good scripts for XP just as there are for Ace. Many scripts in XP are highly compatible, but the core of XP that Enterbrain created makes compatability more challenging. It isnt impossible to make scripts compatible, but certainly more challenging. In regards to just the core scripts of XP vs Ace, Ace is far superior because of its modularity. The way that the core scripts were written in XP did not do very good when variable determination is buried in the middle of a method, and changes to the way these methods work required replacement of entire methods, which caused tremendous compatability issues.
Enterbrain has learned from their mistakes. The code in XP is functional, but not easily modified without causing compatability issues. Ace is better. Enterbrain also has a very unique position in that the code someone writes for one game is specific to that game and isnt intended to allow everything out there to somehow alter the behavior. Thus, the style of coding for Half Life will be exceptionally different than that made for the RM series. Methods may be huge and not easily modified. Its more like Firefox vs Internet Explorer. Xp is like IE and Ace is more like Firefox. Both actually function as designed, but Firefox allowed for Addons and IE was designed around hosting spyware.
For me, this is relatively mute point as I am stil sticking with XP over Ace due to the graphical style, and as a result, will tolerate the nuances of XP. If Enterbrain comes out with another RPG Maker that goes back to the mapping style of XP and the flexible scripting of Ace, then and only then will I change, but until that time, I am sticking with XP over Ace.
