As we approach the end of another year, it's a good time to look back and review the year gone by. We got a lot done in 2019 and we're excited to keep it up through 2020!
Construct updates
In 2019 we released an impressive 64 updates to Construct 3 - just over one a week - from r132 to r180. As ever you can find all the details on the releases page, but here are some of the highlights!
JavaScript coding
In one of our biggest updates ever, you can now write JavaScript code in Construct! You can start small writing a single line of code in the place of an action in an event sheet, and work your way up to writing significant parts of your game in JavaScript. It's a great way to start learning real-world skills with one of the world's most widely-used professional programming languages. See the launch blog post JavaScript coding now available and the video below.
We've kept making regular improvements to the scripting feature, as well as adding more examples demonstrating what you can do with it, including 'Ghost Shooter' in code and Integrating events with script. The latest beta releases include more showing the exciting capabilities it opens up, such as calculating the average color from the camera, generating images in code, and even sound synthesis. Check the 'Scripting' section on the Start Page for even more!
Timeline animations
In another huge update, you can now create sequences of movements and changes using the new Timeline animations feature! Edit timelines using the new Timeline Bar, add the new Timeline Plugin to use timelines in event sheets, and even customise movements with the Ease Editor. See the blog post Announcing Timeline Animations in Construct 3 and the video below.
You can also find several examples in the editor to help you get started, including Timeline basic playback, Timeline instances, and Timeline drawing. You can also use Timelines to visually design a path to follow in the layout as shown in the Move along path example.
Redesigned functions
We completely redesigned the functions feature to be better, easier to use, and much faster too. See the blog posts Construct 3's new redesigned functions and More about Construct's new functions. The original overview video is included below too.
Z Elevation
The new Z Elevation lets you move 2D objects and layers up and down on the Z axis for a basic 3D effect. This is a visually impressive way to add new layer and parallax style effects with real depth. Below is our original teaser video demonstrating the feature.
New plugins and behaviors
Hot on the heels of the new and completely rewritten C3 runtime launched at the end of 2018, we've kept adding new plugins and behaviors, as well as new features to existing plugins and behaviors, to extend the features of Construct in to new areas. The new plugin and behavior features added this year include:
- A new Binary Data plugin allowing use of raw binary data in event sheets, also making possible features like sharing image files in mobile apps
- A new Bluetooth plugin for connecting to and communicating with nearby Bluetooth devices
- Support for raycasting in the Line-of-sight behavior
- A new Move To behavior for moving an object to a position, or along a path, with acceleration and deceleration
- A new Orbit behavior for moving an object around a point or another object
- Support for requesting an app rating from the store with the Share plugin, as well as the capability to share images using the new Binary Data plugin
- In the latest beta releases, a new SVG Picture plugin for displaying SVG images in your game. This should become available to everyone in the next stable release early next year!
Even more
With over 60 releases this year, there's so much more we could mention, as well as all the changes, performance improvements, and bug fixes that help ensure everything is working smoothly. Here's a few more picks from this year's updates (the features in beta will be available to all early next year):
- A new search field in the Project Bar
- Asynchronous actions to make long-running events easier to manage - see the video Construct 3 feature: async actions for more
- Comments in actions
- Auto-tiling with the Tilemap Bar (currently in beta)
- Lots of usability improvements to make Construct more enjoyable to work with
- Lots of performance improvements to ensure both the editor, and your games, run with outstanding performance
- Organising Families in to subfolders (currently in beta)
- More Remote Preview options (currently in beta)
- New Dutch and Italian translations for the editor, making for a total of 8 languages you can use the editor in! (The other 6 are Czech, English, French, Portuguese (BR), Russian and Spanish).
We're also excited about a new experimental feature for local file and folder saves from the browser, which you can try out already and we hope to make available to everyone in 2020. In future, this should also allow you to associate the Construct 3 web app with the .c3p file extension, making it easier to open projects from disk.
Website updates
As ever Tom has been working hard behind the scenes to make the construct.net website a great place for our community. Two big website updates that landed this year are:
Other news
This year the Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer came out, and we were pleased to find it runs both Construct 3 and browser games surprisingly well.
As ever there were multiple Chrome and Firefox releases throughout the year, ensuring the web moves from strength to strength and continues to develop with new features and performance improvements. Microsoft also made a significant announcement that the Microsoft Edge browser would switch to using the Chromium browser engine (the same as Chrome). The new Edge browser will start rolling out to everyone early next year, and you can try it already at MicrosoftEdgeInsider.com. We've already done some testing and it works great with Construct 3!
See you next year!
After a productive year most of our staff will be off on a well-deserved break over the winter holiday period. Consequently our support responses may slow down during this period (including email, bug reports, and the forum). We'll be back to business as usual by early January!
We're looking forwards to everything new that 2020 will bring. Happy holidays and see you next year!