Download Construct 2 public preview 37
Link to release 36
New in this build - layer properties!
<img src="http://www.scirra.com/construct2/releases/r37.png">
Layer properties allow you to set parallax and opacity on layers, plus a few other usual suspects. One thing to note is the layout background colour has been removed - you should use an opaque bottom layer instead. This, however, allows transparent canvases (if all layers are transparent), which will show the rest of the webpage underneath them.
Parallax, if you've forgotten, is great for scrolling backgrounds. It's also very handy for HUDs - just set the parallax to 0 and your UI stuff won't scroll.
Another benefit over Classic is you can now set layers to parallax in the editor, so you can preview how the objects move with the scrolling before running the game. Useful to get parallax right in some distant corner of your game.
You can also set the opacity on entire layers - this works in the HTML5 canvas as well. There's a new demo based on the platform demo here (.capx here). The art is definitely uninspiring, but it shows three layers of parallax, non-scrolling text, and 50% opacity on the main layer.
Changelog
- [Add] Layer properties. You can now select a layer from the layers bar and edit properties for it in the properties bar.
- [Add] Layer properties 'Parallax in editor' (improvement over Classic): if enabled, the layout view in the Construct 2 editor parallaxes like it does in the game, so you can see how things will line up before previewing.
- [Add] Layout view: rotate handle for Sprites like in Classic
- [Change] System 'compare values' condition: changed descriptions to emphasise it does not pick any objects, and just compares two raw values.
- [Change/Remove] The layout 'background color' option has been removed because it is redundant. Instead, set the background color on the bottom layer and make sure 'transparent' is 'no'. On the other hand, if you want the canvas background to be transparent (i.e. show the rest of the web page underneath it), make sure all layers have 'transparent' set to 'yes'. Note a minor backwards incompatibility has been introduced: old projects from previous releases will consequently ignore the layout background color and assume all layers are transparent (because in those releases there were no layer properties). To restore an opaque background color set it on the bottom layer as described previously.
- [Change] Layers are now named and numbered from "Layer 0". (This will only happen in new projects - old projects are not affected.) This is to reduce confusion when using layer numbers in the event system, which use a 0-based index for layers.
- [Fix] Dragging around global/local variables sometimes removed references to the variable (with an alert) even though the things that were removed were still in the variable's scope.
- [Fix] Bug with using arrow keys to move selected event in the event sheet editor.