I think the script editor component would be the center of such an application. You''d start by defining your characters, and then have each line in the script linked to characters - but then, you''d have to annotate the script. Emotion - ''this line should be said wistfully'' or just ''this character is 80% sad until otherwise specified'' - gestures, be they specific or ''generalised'' (X waves his hands, X points at Y) - and actions (X walks to point (A,B)). I think eventually, you''d end up with a timeline editor, a la most video editing packages. Each ''actor'' on stage would have a track for lines, actions, and ''mood.''

The larger the prop library the better, but trying to provide for every desire is pointless. Casual users will be happy playing with whatever you provide - trying to explain the use of certain props rather than the most logical ones could produce some interesting plot devices (like how coders used to produce some very ingenious techniques because without them the game wouldn''t run on the hardware of the day).

Users who want to use it for proper ''productions'' would probably be prepared to either learn how to model in 3D, or would find a friend who could. So aside from a large prop library, being fairly easy to model for is also of utmost importance. Support multiple modellers, avoid ''model compilers,'' and so on.

Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates, and when he''s not doing that, runs The Binary Refinery.
Enginuity1 | Enginuity2 | Enginuity3 | Enginuity4

I think that the program a few of you a referring to was Microsoft''s 3d Movie Maker? I''ve still got my cd of that somewhere. .. It was **great** fun. I spent hours in it. But I was limited in the action scenes I could do by the small scene selection, pre rendered sets and fixed camera angles. I''ve often wondered why noone''s done something similar since, because I found that a surprising number of my friends also bought it.

It would be a _very_ interesting mod for a game that could bring back the fun of that product (perhaps with the HL2 engine? Funho voice/lip syncing).