Windows 8 App's & Construct 2

Hi there,

i have some questions...

Today, the first Windows 8 Tablet's are released. Which Tablet should i buy?

Works the C2 Exporters better with a Windows 8 Tablet or on a Windows RT Tablet?

Can i use Awesomium to Export to Windows RT - and run WebGl with it?

Is Multitouch supportet?

etc...

KMAg

If you want a tablet that can be used for development, you'll want one with Windows 8. Windows RT will not allow you to install anything that doesn't come from the Windows Store, except through using remote debugging. So you won't be able to install Construct 2 or Visual Studio or anything like that.

If you want one for testing or just general use, Windows RT is fine. It's basically a limited version of Windows 8 that is made specifically for tablets, while the full version works great on tablets, laptops, and desktops.

As far as which specific one to buy? I have no idea. I've only gotten to know the older tablets, not the ones specifically made with Windows 8 in mind. Just know that the RT tablets are going to be cheaper, since they're made with lower power and less expensive hardware.

I don't think WebGL works in Windows 8 right now, unfortunately. Don't know if that will change in the future. Awesomium exports to an .exe file, so that won't work on RT, because, as I said, it will only allow you to run programs installed off of the Windows Store.

Exported games from Construct 2 ought to work identically on Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro devices, apart from performance differences.

Construct 2 requires a desktop, so won't run on ARM-powered devices.

Here are some videos that walk through how to configure, export and build your Scirra game for Windows 8.

youtube.com/watch

Cheers

Just some additional notes and clarification:

• Windows 8 apps use the default browser which is IE10 which does not support webGL.

• Windows RT and Windows 8 will both run your apps and performance should be relatively similar (though Windows 8 can have beefier CPU and Video depending on the device).

• If you want to run Construct 2 on your Windows machine/tablet, it will have to be Windows 8 not Windows RT. RT does not support the install of desktop applications, only windows store apps which Construct is not.

• The above also means that apps exported to .exe format will not work on Windows RT devices. They need to be built as Metro apps and published to the MS Store.

• Minimum Screen Resolution for Windows 8/RT apps is 1366x768

• You need to implement windows 8 features such as Snap View, etc... the metro plugin handles most of this for you.

Hope this helps,

James Waymire

performance should be relatively similar

General consensus is that ARM devices running Windows 8 RT are significantly slower.

I'd recommend buying an RT device so that you can cater to the slowest devices. We then run Windows 8 on a desktop and use that for development.

I test all my games on my Surface RT, it makes a great baseline.

BTW, you can go to windowsstore.com/applabs and sign up to go to a Microsoft app lab if there's one near you. This allows you to go test your app on multiple devices.

BluePhaze how are you exporting it and running it into the Surface RT? I mean, are you installing the appx or running it through a USB cable and Visual Studio?

Thanks

gfigueroa You have a couple of options... you can see if you can get the "Remote Machine" option working visual studio, this allows you to deploy and debug remotely to another machine.

You can also just do it as lan test through the browser. This should give you the worst possible performance on RT which should mean if it runs well here you are golden.

You can also export it as an html5 app and then copy the folder to your RT machine and run the index.html file.

BluePhaze Thanks!!! Will give it a try!