When I first started making games (well, when I first took a class about making games), it was under the tutelage of Dr. Allan Partridge–one of Director’s greatest champions.  I’ve since moved on to Java and then Flex, but I never forgot my love of Director’s simplicity (doing Ruby now, it’s actually kind of nostalgic).  Besides a couple of casual games, I worked on my first major 3D game (doing parts 3D modeling, animation, and AI programming on a team of 5 or 6 people).  I think it’s pretty safe to say I wouldn’t have taken the path I took if not for Director (before grad school, I was still pretty split on whether I wanted to continue on to get a PhD in Film Studies or give this whole interactive thing a more serious shot).

I’ve got a couple of more detailed games in my notebook, and I’ve been trying to decide if I want to build them with Apollo, go old-school with Director MX, or try something new entirely (like XNA).  This announcement is something that will certainly have an influence on those future plans–and hopefully in a good way.  I can’t wait until some more info hits on the new features.