Sometime ago we talked about LawMaker
Both are excellent engines but C4 is, in my opinion, the direct opposite
It supplies a set of low level abstracted classes and functions .
You can design whatever you want but you must be really a good C++ programmer
That's why I am stll using 3dgs even though I purchased both LawMaker and C4 licences
3DGS is the right compromise between flexibility and ease of use, at least for me
By the way the internal editor is in my opinion a must for a game engine, that's why I did not purchase Truevision even though I like its architecture
Definitly C4 is not dead, there is a release every 2 o 3 monthes
Morover the author is a well known and reputed expert in graphic programming
It is based on opengl,a weak point in my opinion
I like opengl but it is a matter of fact that direct x won the API wars consequently tha graphic cards support direct x better than opengl