Comment Re:How about "Alice"? (Score 1) 172
I've found it to be really useful for prototyping shaders. One of its most useful features is that it allows developers to mark variables as "artist variables", which are then mapped onto sliders / colour-pickers etc. This allows a user to tweak parameters in the shader and view the results immediately, without having to recode it.
Assuming the engine you ultimately decide upon supports loading custom HLSL / GLSL shaders, your students could potentially apply their own shaders to assets in the games they create, allowing them full creative control over things such as lighting and blending.