mTropolis
mTropolis (pronounced "metropolis") was a multimedia authoring tool created in 1996 by mFactory (pronounced "em-factory"). The development environment was very different from the other tools around at the time - Apple Computer's HyperCard and others had a card based metaphor, and Macromedia Director had a film metaphor (the content area is called The Stage, the time line The Score, an assets library named The Cast, etc). In mTropolis there were sections, subsections, and scenes. Assets would be placed onto the scene, and then combinations of behaviors and modifiers would be dragged onto the assets
Powerful interaction and animation could be created by making different modifiers send messages to each other, allowing a user to create something impressive fairly quickly, without any typing. There was a simple programming language, accessed via a Miniscript modifier, but most of the programming was achieved by attaching standard behaviors and modifiers, and making selections within the modifier pop-up menus. Definitely the association of ease of use and raw power made one of the most amazing programs ever created up to date. Even being completely obsolete due to Mac OS X. It is possible to make a runtime program with amazing interactivity. The main problem with this sort of program is that the combination Web + broadband has offered so many options that delivering content on CDs and even DVDs isn't commercially feasible anymore. Still, seeing mTropolis in action is seeing how a program should really work as in user interface and simplicity. The power of it's features allowed even for a creation of runtime simple operating simples.
mTropolis was short lived, being bought by Quark in 1997, who then discontinued the product a few months later, possibly in favor of QuarkImmedia. Many believe though that the use of behaviors in mTropolis spurred Macromedia on to introduce behaviors in Director 6.0. A few CD-ROMs were created using mTropolis, including Scott Kim's Obsidian, A Sharp's King of Dragon Pass, the Muppets Treasure Island, Voyager's Fun With Architecture and The Magic World of Beatrix Potter.