Need game development sandbox like Etoys to do 2D games prototyping [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Recommended 2D Game Engine for prototyping

I am new to game development, and currently working on development a mobile 2D game (for android). As the part of the development process, I need to build a prototype and playtest it, to see if the game mechanics and user interaction is ok For example: if I have a starship shooting at ememies, I need to see

• what's the best size for my starship.
• what trajectories should the enemy ships fly and what velocity.
• Should the enemy ships be coming only from left to right, or also from top
• Should the enemy ships form a 'flock' or just fly by themselves
• what's the best 'powerup' pickup mechanics: to shoot it, or to pick it with the ship etc

Implementing these details directly in Java (Android) is time consuming and as many of the 'hypotheses' will be rejected, I also don't want to invest a lot of time to code thigs, majority of which gonna be rejected.

I found 'tool' Etoys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34cWCnLC5nM&feature=related and official website http://www.squeakland.org/ which helps to build 'prototype' quickly, but Etoys is meant for children learning programming and is too basic.

SO MY QUESTION IS: Is there any prototyping tool, as simple as Etoys and with better prototype quality?

Answer 1

construct 2 has a free version, is easy to use and quite powerfull, and since it creates html5 you might even test it on your android mobile if it supports it.

Answer 2

There's also Unity, which is great for prototyping. Although if you want to test on mobile you might need a licence.

Answer 3

Yes, a simple Google search reveals this:

http://code.google.com/p/angel-engine/

From the site:

This is Angel, a cross-platform 2D game prototyping engine based on OpenGL and C++.

Angel provides:

• Cross-Platform functionality (Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS)
• Actors (game objects with color, shape, responses, attributes, etc.)
• Texturing with Transparency
• "Animations" (texture swapping at defined intervals)
• Rigid-Body Physics
• A clever programmer can do soft-body physics with it
• Sound
• Text Rendering with multiple fonts
• Particle Systems
• Some basic AI (state machine and pathfinding)
• Config File Processing
• Logging
• Input from a mouse, keyboard, or Xbox 360 controller
• Binding inputs from a config file
• A simulator for iOS input on the desktop
• Lua Scripting
• In-Game Console