Should I use Construct 2?

Less than a few years ago, I made a similar topic back when Construct 2 was in far earlier stages than it's in now. [LINK] I tried making games with Construct Classic, but due to the lack of tutorials and the fact it was essentially a discontinued product, I lost interest in ever using Construct Classic. However, I noticed Construct 2 has better community support nowadays and it's way further along in development. Is Construct 2 currently capable of making games like

? I haven't seen anything made for Construct 2 that looks anywhere near as impressive as that game.

I'm looking for a visual scripting program to make pixelated action platformers and I'm thinking about using Construct 2, Clickteam Fusion, Unreal Engine 4, or possibly a different program. My experience with programming is limited and I'm not very good at it. What advantages and disadvantages does Construct 2 have compared to Clickteam Fusion and Construct Classic? Also, does anyone here know if Unreal Engine 4 is a good choice for making pixelated action platformers? It seems like it's more capable than the other programs I mentioned, but it also sounds like a resource hog with games which might result in ridiculous computer requirements to run pixelated action games. That, and I'm worried about the skill level required to make good games with that engine along with the much higher longterm price tag from the subscription model.

There's no reason you couldn't do something like The Iconoclasts in C2. Platfomer stuff is pretty straight-forward, but C2 isn't going to generate art of that quality for you.

Getting it on consoles is still an issue at this time, outside of Wii U.

Pretty much anything you can do in classic (apart from some of the advanced shaders and 3D stuff) you can do in C2 - and a LOT more.

Well, that's great to hear Construct 2 can do nearly anything Construct Classic could do and a lot more. How would guys compare Clickteam Fusion's capabilities to what's possible in Construct 2? Also, do you guys think it's likely that the PS4 and Xbox One will eventually be able to support Construct 2?

Xbox One will almost certainly support it (I've talked with a MS rep) but performance will be questionable - no webGL or advanced audio either.

No idea about PS4.

I second what sqiddster said, c2 is definitely capable of making a game like the iconoclasts. There isn't much that CC can do that C2 can't, and most of the differences aren't really useful (some exceptions are stuff like inline editing of events (not essential, but handy for the workflow), sprite distortion (most people probably wouldn't use it) and color filters (I really want these in c2)). What c2 can do that CC can't, however, more than makes up for those differences.

Also, I really recommend not using MMF. I used it before discovering construct, and haven't had any desire to work with it again. From another thread asking for comparisons between the programs:

I've used both. In my opinion, construct is vastly superior. Sub events alone would be enough to have convinced me, but also objects can have named variables and as many of them as you want, the behaviors aren't useless because they aren't buggy and actually work, none of that spread value nonsense to get multiple instances working, event sheet includes, no broken object references, local variables, updates every week or two, the list goes on and on.

I don't mean to bash MMF, but it was so frustrating to work with. I felt like I was fighting it more than I was making a game with it. C2 in comparison, glides.

I can't talk about unreal because I haven't used it, but I know it's possible to make a pixelated flappy bird clone in it. However, c2 has a lot of stuff built in specifically for stuff like 2d platformers, and it's very, very easy to get the basics implemented with the platform behavior. It seems like with unreal you would likely have to code that yourself, which could be tricky. Also, I can't say I'm a fan of the blueprint logic flow chart they have - I appreciate that they have an alternative to straight coding, but I find c2's events far easier to understand, especially when things get complex and there is a lot of code.

You can watch the video on the front page of this site to see just how quick it is to get started with platforming in c2 (it's a couple minutes long).

So how much does HTML5 limit Construct 2's overall potential? It seems like Construct 2's largest criticisms have to do with its reliance on HTML5 and its lack of native exporters. The type of games I want to make would be large games so that's a huge concern of mine.

So how much does HTML5 limit Construct 2's overall potential? It seems like Construct 2's largest criticisms have to do with its reliance on HTML5 and its lack of native exporters. The type of games I want to make would be large games so that's a huge concern of mine.

Large games - meaning for PC?

So you will export using Node-webkit.

I think Construct 2 beats the competition in 2 areas.

1)html5 games for web.

2)desktop games.

Html5 isn't limiting, it is actually uplifting as it isn't limited/restricted.

Hell, I get to play one of my boardgames on my samsung tv which is makes sitting around the fire with couple friends and a boardgame on screen a different experience.

Should you use it?

I would prefer you didn't, no seriously, too many folks are discovery how great this software is. Umm, I mean how bad it is. Seriously, walk away, now. I don't like all this new blood/competition

Large games - REVEN (damn I can't wait for this)

After reading a bunch of posts in this thread, it made me concerned about how HTML5 was limiting Construct 2's overall potential. But if it's capable of something like that ReVeN game you linked, I'm nowhere near as concerned as I was fiften minutes ago. Still, I made a thread here and on Clickteam's forum, and the latest post in that thread claims someone "tried making a tower defense game in Construct 2 but it started chugging with only a few enemies," where as in Fusion, he could have over a thousand enemies. o_O I'm hearing trash-talking about Fusion on this forum and trash-talking about Construct 2 on Clickteam's forum, and it leaves me confused on what's my best option. At this point, it sounds like Construct 2's logic system and interface is easier to learn than Clickteam's product, but HTML5 might be a problem. I don't know. I'm hearing conflicting statements from various people and it leaves me confused. Do Construct 2 games generally perform a lot better with Node-webkit than on a web browser?

If you are designing your game well, you shouldn t have problem

Of course if you design it badly, you will have more problems, but in the end you will also have problem in a more powerful engine, just at an higher point. And since for so many reasons you want to design your game well anyway, it is not a problem.

Often people says "C2 should not be marketed towards non programmers", when in fact non programmers will do just fine, as long as they think well about their games (Should I verify all those collisions? Should this AI be enabled? Am I using the functionnalities correctly?)

If someone has problems with only a few ennemies on C2, either he is doing too many useless verifications and actions, or uses a bad graphic card driver (or both), while fusion is maybe more tolerant upon those points. We can help when you have problems anyway so you understand how to work in a better way, of course if at the end you want to use fusion, use it.

Reminds me of the user asking for all little secrets about C2, there isn t really secrets, just don t do useless things, learn how C2 works (manual, eventually tutorial but keep a critic eyes on them, some are really not that well though), and also learn to organise your events, so you can easily correct bugs and optimise (I have seen some event sheets, that no one could understand long term wise)

Also node webkit and chrome performs the same (chrome has sometimes better performances though), but if you go with "game in a browser = shitty game" you are wrong, they are just easier to do so people do them more often.

The html5 weakness is more mobile, but on PC this is not justified

Use both, decide yourself. They both are great engines to work with. The limit is not the framerate or the limits of HTML5. Framerate problem is only on old mobile devices, you don't have to worry about them. Average PC runs HTML5 smooth. What you can compare is the development and support of the engines. New features are made every month for Construct2 that's a good plus point.

Do Construct 2 games generally perform a lot better with Node-webkit than on a web browser?

I own all the engines from Game Maker through to C2 and each has its strengths and weaknesses. I would rate Game Maker closest to Construct 2. But that is my preferences. Of course Unity3d is awesome, but has a extremely steep learning curve.

Node Webkit (Node = node.js | Webkit = Chrome) so it actually is running via a web browser so performance is excellent.

You can bring a small game to a standstill if you don't program properly. You can run a big game on mobile, it all depends on you, your skill level, etc etc etc.

A 5 year old PC leaves lots of room to design, even carelessly, and graphics no matter what engine is what will cause you issues. Thisis all you need to really watch out for

No, you shouldn't care about performance, it should be as fast as native, these were concerns before but HTML5 is now getting more and more stable

Unity got an HTML5 export, and other big engines are also considering HTML5

and if you want desktop apps, you can export with NodeWebkit

the people talking about C2 as bad are probably people who tried it for 5 mins in beta and judged it from that experience

One last thing, C2 needs some big releases, it's not getting the attention it needs

Node-Webkit should perform identically to Chrome.

You could always download our demo at http://www.airscapegame.com to see the performance of a platformer using node-webkit export for yourself.

One last thing, C2 needs some big releases, it's not getting the attention it needs

Agreed. I expect more big releases by the end of year, especially now that C2 is gaining traction, and bigger developers embrasing it (though they not admitting it - yet - lol)