I reviewed "Construct 2"

Hello, you beautiful people!

I recently finished making my game (which you can download for free on the Play Store here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bds.kuatia).

I also write for a couple of video game media outlets, so I decided to do a piece on Construct 2, why I decided to use it, and how it went.

You can read the piece here: http://www.infinitefrontiers.org.uk/2017/06/23/feature-construct-2-game-making-masses/.

I'd love it if you could read it, comment on it, give me feedback, share your experiences with Construct 2 and its community, thoughts on the new subscription model for C3, etc.

Thank you for all your help!

-Marcos.

I just woke up and just read it so I may not be as constructive as I could

The review isn't bad, it hits the points it needs to while talking about an experience, I think you also got the process of creating this type of game pretty well even though that isn't the point of the article.

As for my experience with c2, it's simple, yet powerful, but somehow lacks key features and has other features not that crucial, which can be a pain, good thing the community fills the holes, and even tho I don't use 3rd party plugins in most cases (because I'm not looking to make money so I can learn anything that can be done and it's clunky to use them in c2), in c3 the situation should get better.

However the community is full of non professional people just looking to make games, with in the past some money milking people that I can't call professionals either (talking about people admitting they were making trash for money), what that means is that c2 was a niche engine and if it continues it can be the same for c3, but that could change if C3 doesn't hold back as much as C2 on some parts for bigger games, or if third party plugs are easy to buy and use and maintain, otherwise community is really helpful (except for the trolls but you gotta have those).

Subscription model isn't a big deal as it's cheap in that case, that's not the deal breaker for me, lack of ways to monetize html5 games and being not as clear that it exports only to JavaScript could be deal breakers tbh.

I hope I wasn't too sleepy and that this post made sense

Hey Aphrodite (damn cool nickname!)

Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad you didn't dislike the review.

Thanks for sharing your experience with C2 as well! I think someone like you, who's been around here for quite a while has experienced more than most. I think that sadly also translates to more bad experiences.

I completely agree that support for monetization, third party stuff and the like are things that could definitely be improved.

I also wish we could export to more home consoles but as that's a restriction imposed by the consoles (and using JS as the base for C2 and C3) I don't see that changing soon.

It's interesting to see that the subscription model won't affect your decision of whether to use C3 or not. I know it's affordable but a lot of people (including myself) prefer a one-off-payment, own-forever model. Sadly subscription models are much more profitable (hello there Adobe) and it's the way the industry in general seems to be going. It also helps to placate piracy somewhat.

Thank you again for your kind words and for sharing your experiences.

Would you mind sharing links to your published games? I think it'd be cool to do an annex to my piece with some cool things made with C2.

Cheers!

The thing is I'm the kind of user who is using the engine for fun and doesn't actually make games with it (not finished one that is in most cases), I still did some things not for myself with another user (KFII I think is his username here):

this thing : http://www.thepoke.co.uk/Channel4_2014/ I used C2 with someone to convert to html5 the flash version of this: http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2010/11/25/pla ... generator/ for some reason, I cannot find back the page where they are using the html5 version tho

EDIT: found it http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2014/02/25/lea ... generator/

and other things like that, I also did a minigame with an extinguisher called extincteurs on facebook, which does not work anymore thanks to dropbox but if needed I still could find a way to reupload it I guess, even tho facebook will not work with it

EDIT: done: http://extincteur-fish.bitballoon.com (it's in french and facebook does not work at all as I said).

And I had an abandonned project which is totally not approuved by sega : http://alex-kidd-2-abandon-ver-61.bitballoon.com (arrow keys to move, X and C to puch and jump) with graphics made by Watain or shamelessly ripped off the original (as it was a work in progress not everything was done at the time, I know it isn't legal to do fangames so do not lecture me please.)

and the rest is not worth talking about, or is templates or works to help people, I don't think it'd be helpful to you but if it is I can search some.

Hey, Aphrodite, that's awesome! Thank you for sharing! It's interesting to see that you've been around for so long and have obviously a very good grasp on the engine, but have never completed a project from start to finish.

I was not gonna lecture you at all on the fangames thing. I think it's cool to practice on something you like, kinda like doing covers when you're a musician.

I'm never the guy pointing people to moral standards to follow, though, haha. I'm nobody's judge.

That SEGA thing is very interesting. The platforming is quite well done and there's some interesting work on the worldmap, too.

Do you think you'll ever do a game from tip to top?

What's the appeal for you if you don't make finished games?

-Marcos.

I simply like to do mechanics, I did complete some games in the past with other things than C2 (I'm thinking of Squiddy which is a simple rotation based game for exemple on pico-8 that was based off a C2 prototype), I might port one of them one day. But real life always catches up so I don't have as much time as before.

I also have some random mechanics simply waiting to be used (like a shmup flappy bird, an actual shmup and so on...)

I always loved making games actually, I should maybe do templates and give them actually, as that would mean working on the mechanics while helping others.

I think that'd be a really good idea, Aphrodite! I know I find templates really useful, and that's one of the things that won me over with C2. My game is based off a template!

You work with Pico-8? That's interesting! I have a PocketCHIP! I'll look for Squiddy and download it.