When comparing ImpactJS vs Stencyl, the Slant community recommends Stencyl for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D game engines?” Stencyl is ranked 11th while ImpactJS is ranked 57th. The most important reason people chose Stencyl is:
Power users can also write code in Haxe (similar to Actionscript 3) to create their own custom classes and extend the engine.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Extensive documentation available to support development
ImpactJS has an active user community that busily produces tremendous resources including videos, books, tutorials, walkthroughs and more. There are also comprehensive class documentation available.
Pro Excellent collision detection system
Impact provides 2 types of collision detection; static and dynamic collisions. Both of which are easily integrated into game development.
Pro Extendable
Many plugins are available, including one called Impact++ which adds features like pathfinding and dynamic lighting.
Pro Level editor
Built-in map editor with support for tiling, collision layers, and actors.
Pro Optimized
Works with Box2d physics library, comes with all worthwhile elements for actors built in.
Pro Truly cross-platform allowing developers to build for anything
Extending the reach of a game developed with ImpactJS is easy due to the cross-platform nature the framework. There are Considerations around performance, resolution and audio, however all can be appropriately addressed when in development. Works in the browser via Canvas, even on mobile. Easily translatable into a packaged app.
Pro Haxe scripting available for advanced users
Power users can also write code in Haxe (similar to Actionscript 3) to create their own custom classes and extend the engine.
Pro No coding required, great drag & drop interface
Visual scripting in Stencyl is based on the MIT Scratch project, which was designed to teach programming. Script elements fit together like puzzle pieces, ensuring that data and function types cannot be mismatched.
Pro Cross-Platform
Publish iOS, Android, Flash, Windows and Mac games without code.
Pro It's a NO-CODE Program, you can add logic without code
Pro The original concept for Ghost Song was created using Stencyl
The original concept for Ghost Song was created using Stencyl 3.x
Pro Great performance on every platform
Stencyl exports your games to native code so they have great performance on every platform.
Cons
Con Inactive
The last update was in 2014.
Con Cost of $99
While most HTML5 frameworks are offered as free open source projects, ImpactJS has a one time cost and no free option.
Con Not a powerful engine
Should be used for basic games only.
Con Only available via subscription
There should be an option to buy it outright, especially considering it is written by a one man team....this is not exactly an Adobe level enterprise with shareholders, so there is no excuse!
Con Slow release cycle
Con Updated
It needs much to improve for mobile games, it was left in the era of Flash games. In Android you can not even put the native keyboard, you can not access things like native camera, GPS or native text input.