Runtime Revolution announced at the Apple Expo in Paris the release of Dreamcard, a HyperCard-like application that enables hobbyists, students and other neophyte programmers to build their own computer applications and games. They use Dreamcard to lay out their content — including text, images, buttons and menus — on cards that represent the different screens required, with stacks of cards enabling the creation of windows, palettes and dialog boxes. Then they use Dreamcard’s scripting language, Transcript, to add functionality and interaction.
The free Dreamcard Player allows anyone to run a Dreamcard program in Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Windows or Linux, with an online storage feature providing 10MB of space to share applications and games over the Internet. Dreamcard also comes with a sample project that showcases its capabilities and a video learning center and PDF library that provide step-by-step instructions.
A trial that works for 10 hours is available for download from the Runtime Web site, with the full version of Dreamcard costing US$99. Educational users receive a 33 percent discount and can purchase a 100-user lab pack for $200. System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.0.3, 128MB RAM and 50MB hard drive space.