ImpactJS vs Codea

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.

Impact provides 2 types of collision detection; static and dynamic collisions. Both of which are easily integrated into game development.

Many plugins are available, including one called Impact++ which adds features like pathfinding and dynamic lighting.

Built-in map editor with support for tiling, collision layers, and actors.

Works with Box2d physics library, comes with all worthwhile elements for actors built in.

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.

Errors show up live, as you type. Smarter autocompletion picks up your local and global variables, including nested types. Everything else is just plain smarter, from indentation to highlighting.

Codea ships with three great music and sound packs, composed just for Codea and free for you to use in whatever you create.

Location library lets you make use of the GPS inside your iPad. Get your latitude, longitude, altitude and more with a dead-simple API designed specifically for Codea.