I do agree with your points. I'll admit, I work mostly by myself with C@, but I'll digress back to the point in a second. Having better collaborative efforts would drive C2 in a much better direction. That extends past the program though. Having some form of modularity, especially being able to import layout and event sheets, should be a standard thing. Having access to the app directly to design an application behavioral plugin would be cool (Eg, allow native access for Spriter to C2).
I think SVN is pretty standard past that though. It should be all that's needed. It sucks to set up if you've never set up something like that before. I personally prefer Git. But a system like that is standard in the dev world. It shouldn't be shied away from.
Where collaboration could be better is better community software. The forum software is lacking. Thankfully, Tom intends on updating at some point. God knows both Ashley's and Tom's plates are full though so it might take a while. Desura has things like personal blogs, news, and such. This community needs more of the same. On top of a more feature packed and efficient forum software base, the community needs a better way to display projects, art, news, videos, files, etc... I came to C2 and became quickly disappointed in the community support software. (That is not a bash to the support Ashley gives in the community. That is by far the best I have EVER seen)
With that said, I do have hope for the future. I see both Tom and Ashley working hard and they have come a long way for a two man team.
I do wish there were more assets for sale. Personally, my artistic skills suck. I can photoshop and adjust and image to suite my needs without a problem. I understand that 2D art is more prolific than 3D assets. It's more distinguishable. That's not to say that someone couldn't put up a flora pack with 50 different leaves and stems though. The consumer can edit the leaves as needed and build the plants from the pieces. The same could be done with character models and platform pieces. OpenGameArt is cool, but it's still very limited. Most other free, and even paid assets, have me feeling the same way.
Music and sound effects I'm a bit more iffy with. Some really good free music and sound effect places already exist unlike 2D art assets. Still, it would be cool. Also, if it puts more money in Scirra's pockets, then cool!
All that, and my point in my first sentence above, bring me full circle back to my main argument though. The barrier for entry is way to low. I tried C2 because they had a free version. I spent the $100 USD on it simply to keep playing with it. In the world of hobbies that is cheap. I know to a teenager it could sound expensive. Even to a college kid a $100 can be a lot. But in reality, it's not. I guarantee just about any working adults budget could be changed for a month to come up with the (technically) $120 USD (not $100 as I mentioned).
I also am in school for CIS and information systems. I have a solid programming foundation. I was amazed to how easy C2 is to use. It simply makes sense. Anyone coming to C2 with an okay foundation in computer science knowledge will pick up C2 insanely fast. The barrier for entry is so low though, and the UI is so well done, that it is deceptively easy to use. I do agree that the games I see being put out barely scratch what C2 is capable of doing. I believe it could do so much more. I also think it might be attracting some of the wrong crowd though because of the low barrier.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking anyone using C2 at any skill level. In fact, I would encourage people to play with it. It's an amazing tool to learn the logic side of computer science. (I'd say better than Scratch and even Basic or Python as taught in courses). I think users are slightly deceived because of how damn well done the UI is designed. It really is a sexy piece of design. Users HAVE to approach C2 with a sort of programming mind set. All the better if it's a bit OOP in nature (using various event sheets and groups properly for pseudo inheritance and class principals).
In fact, the only direct 'coding' crossover event system I've seen missing (and I'm aiming this Ashley here) is the ability to do and/or blocks in the event system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've found it's one or the other which kind of impedes on some logic.
I do think, going back to my points above, that a personal file repository on Scirra for others to upload and use CapX, assets, and such would be awesome. In fact, if people are interested in the idea, I don't mind cobbling together something on a paid hosting somewhere for C2 users. I would even be happy to invite Ashley and Tom to be admins, if for nothing else to alleviate some of their workload until they can implement something official into C2 and give the community a good stop gap for right now. I'd want to see interest though before investing the time.
Anyway, sorry for the book. If you've made it to here than you have an amazing attention span!
Please use mepis to respond to me. I have a bad habit of missing replies otherwise.