Hello!
I'm currently evaluating my game engine options for creating an old-school SNES style of game, and Construct2 was recommended to me. However, I want to be sure that my purposes for use comply with the license and the terms of use.
The game that I want to create would be like a 90s Zelda or Final Fantasy game. The player would control one character sprite at a time, move within 4 directions via arrow keys, access an in-game menu via a key such as "Z", interact/speak/select options with a key such as "X", and cancel interactions or dismiss text by pressing a key such as "C".
There wouldn't be anything as complex as a battle system or inventory. My focus would simply be on the player moving the character sprite around a gameworld (from a top-down view), having conversations with NPCs, and making a few selections from choice windows. The complexity would be limited to those mechanics, conditional branching that would determine what the NPCs said, and "scenes" involving sprite movement that occurs while the player's controls are disabled. It's more complex than a game like Pac-Man, but less complex than a full RPG or adventure game.
I would probably use a total of around 50 "maps" - consisting of an overworld map, roughly ten "town" maps, 20-40 "interior/floor" maps, and a few scene-only maps.
The "NPC speech" boxes would consist of the text and a small portrait of a character's face. I would also include "bubble" symbols over sprites' heads (such as !, <3, etc), and perhaps a few images that would display on screen when triggered by an interaction and be dismissed when the player hits the "C" key.
I would want to bundle groups of sprite movement and display text into "scene event" groups that would be activated or skipped according to conditional branching (based on a variable's numerical state or a player-set on/off switch of some sort).
For example, a player could hit "Z" to open an in-game menu, press the down arrow key a few times to highlight "Replay Menu", press "X" to see a list of enabled "scene events" (enabled by a variable being set to a value of "3" due to the player interacting with a sign or something), press the right arrow key to highlight "Scene 2", and press "X" to have the sprite movements, text displays, etc from that "scene event bundle" play out.
[Licenses] Right now I'm just in the pre-production phase. My intention is to develop the mechanics and resources that will be needed for the game, and then provide a sort of "teaser" release. I intend to do so via a Patreon page so that people can "tip" if they want me to continue working on the content and to prioritize it over other things. My intention is to keep working on the game even if no one becomes a patron. I haven't decided whether I'll release the game for free or if I'll eventually release it for sale as a low-cost game.
As I understand it, I'm free to develop ideas using the Free version of Construct2 as long as I only show off my work privately in a way that isn't at all connected to revenue or donations.
As I understand it, my other intentions are compliant with the Personal Edition license until received donations reach $5000 (not including tax, etc.).
I'd like confirmation that my understandings are correct.
[Terms of Use] This is the area that I'm less clear on.
The project that I am planning would include descriptions of sexual acts, and might include drawn depictions of nudity and sex (perhaps pixel art or animation-style images). None of the content would be at risk of being regarded as "obscene" in court (i.e. there won't be any violence/abuse/underage content) - but it would be regarded as pornographic (i.e. intended to stimulate sexual arousal).
I've checked out law in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK to be sure of what is restricted. (For example, I looked at Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 and the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill 2013–14.) My planned content is intended to comply with all current laws - though Australia's recent trend toward extremely restrictive laws about sexual content might result in people who live there being unable to download it in the future.
I am considering including text (erotic dialogue and descriptions; certain), sprite animations (pixel art of nudity and sex; possible), drawn images (nudity and sex; possible), and 2D images made from 3D rendering programs (nudity and sex; possible).
If only one or two of the types of content above would be acceptable as components of a game made with Construct2, I would put aside the others for the sake of having an easy program to work with. My skills and interests are in the stories told through text, sprite movement, simple 2D animations (like thought bubbles with symbols in them), and character face-portraits - not in full-screen art or full-body character animations.
Which of those types of content be compliant with the software license's terms of use, if any?
As I understand it, I wouldn't be able to use any of the royalty-free resources in a game that includes the kind of content that I'm planning on creating - but as I understand it, that's a separate issue from using materials that come with the Construct2 software itself (such as the tilemap example resources) to create a game that includes depictions of sex.
If I'm wrong about the royalty-free resources, which of those types of sexual content would be compliant with terms of use for resource packages, if any?
If I'm wrong about any resources that are automatically bundled with the Construct2 software being availabe for use in a game that includes erotic content, then would I be in compliance with the license if I created a game that only includes content resources that I created myself?
Thank you for the clarification. :)
Edited to provide more clarity about the game project.