So What Is Your First Impression Of C3?

I'm using Mac. Layout editor keep blank after adding some runs. I can't see my sprites anymore in Layout.

I think I understand that feeling. When I have C2 open I also have a paint program, audacity and other programs open at the same time and I am shifting between those constantly as I develop a game. I may have a C2 game design in progress and have that open for days while I work on it here and there between other projects.

I use my browser for running my own business so I have email contacts constantly and I will probably have a youtube live feed going and and may be researching materials in other tabs at the the same time so having yet another tab for developing games throws off my work flow and I closed the C3 tab by accident twice and if my internet connection drops there goes my game progress.

exactly... I just don't want it there distracting me, with bookmarks, address bar, tabs, Enhanced Steam all blinking at me etc... I use Google Docs, but if I'm making a large document with lots of editing/formatting I want Word. I guess it's just what I am used to... but it feels wrong.

I hope we can get another few years out of C2...

I felt it is more like C2 in browser and not much different (more like iPhone7 release after iPhone6 )

May be we need to see more possibilities through templates / examples in future that are much more enticing and drastically different in C3 and that C2 cannot do...I mean something more than just a mere enhancement of an existing C2 feature...

I'm using Mac. Layout editor keep blank after adding some runs. I can't see my sprites anymore in Layout.

If you have a specific bug issue like this please report it in the C3 bug section and provide the necessary system and platform info so Ashley can address it.

Yup, C2 in a browser and 99$/year

It is indeed impressive to create a fully functional advanced game creation tool that is browser based. This has some advantages, as multiple platforms support and since Construct only exports html/js it will have a better integration of the IDE.

The good:

• Works better then expected even on mobiles
• Some useful new features, that can't be tested/previewed in beta ...
• All the good parts that C2 had

The bad:

• Browser based
• Dependence on other services/servers
• Pretty much anything else

My advice for Ashley and Tom: If this is really the direction you are going, then focus on web platforms/portals (and maybe mobiles). The Newgrounds (and AirConsole) announcement shows the potential of Construct for html5 games.

I don't think any developer would want to start a big game (spend a few years) in a browser based not-yet-finished-html5.

Also, I like the new website, nice and clean

Just read through some of the many bug reports for C3.

There were about 6 pages of bug reports the first day but from what I see Scirra has closed about half of them with the same response that is should be fixed in the next release or can't do anything about it or your computer is the problem not C3.

I thought Scirra said they had internal bug reporting built into C3 so they could get accurate bug reports to fix problems?

Anyway, the Scirra response to most of these C3 bugs seems to be the same as we got with bugs in C2. That does not bode well for getting problems fixed anytime soon.

Just my observation.

Thanks your comments... I´l still in C2 with my projects for along time... C3 needs more time to transform in a solid app

> Since yesterday I´m running my two principal game dev projects (AscDungeon and OrcLeader) in C3 and my first thoughts are:

>

> - It´s a Tech demo IMHO, with a lot of restrictions, or unfinished resources. Really, I´m C2 heavy user, and I´m really dissapointed with this version. More restrictive free version, and a lot of dev friends are pissed off.

> - Didn´t like the "browser version" (pop-up windows sux). I´m not run my C3 in mobile devices, I have a big screen and love it.

> - Crash 2 times when I running in a slow internet connection (I tested for see what happens)

> - I lost a lot of things when when I pressed back button in my Iphone.

>

> It´s very negative in a first momment. I´m really waiting the next weeks...

>

I agree, But. Give it another 6 or 12 month and it will be getting closer to current C2 level But Anyway sarcasm off, its just needs more time. Its pretty much Alpha testing. I would not even consider to make serious project in C3, at this stage.

As for the Browser, well if it works I dont care if its browser or not but seems this will bring so many issues cause of the Chrome wrapper. Actually is there any other engine like this that uses Browser ? If not maybe there is a reason for this, and thats why all big players on market have Stand Alone Versions for Mac and PC.

Technically, Construct 3 is quite impressive. I see people going on about how it looks, failing to acknowledge the Scirra team are the first out of the event-based game maker tools to create a browser editor. Even more impressive is they're not using any frameworks or libraries, it's all just vanilla Javascript with CSS and HTML. A lot of work has gone into this and I think it's fantastic.

It definitely needs some work and absolutely needs some "wow" features missing from Construct 2, to warrant spending $99 a year on Construct 3. I think Scirra knows they need to beat Construct 2 in features, ease of use and other aspects. If Construct 3 offers native exporters for iOS and Android without needing to use horrible third-party solutions like Cocoon or Cordova, I am definitely sold and will day one purchase. That alone would be a worthy upgrade feature.

Technically, Construct 3 is quite impressive. I see people going on about how it looks, failing to acknowledge the Scirra team are the first out of the event-based game maker tools to create a browser editor. Even more impressive is they're not using any frameworks or libraries, it's all just vanilla Javascript with CSS and HTML. A lot of work has gone into this and I think it's fantastic.

It definitely needs some work and absolutely needs some "wow" features missing from Construct 2, to warrant spending $99 a year on Construct 3. I think Scirra knows they need to beat Construct 2 in features, ease of use and other aspects. If Construct 3 offers native exporters for iOS and Android without needing to use horrible third-party solutions like Cocoon or Cordova, I am definitely sold and will day one purchase. That alone would be a worthy upgrade feature.

So if they can now fix the export issues that have plagued C2 why not just fix those issues in C2 since so many people have paid for that license already and have been waiting for those fixes that were promised?

That's a good question actually. I think they just want to move on to their new "tech" since they can build it around their own exporting system rather than try to do some cumbersome half-rewrite of C2 to add that functionality. Maybe, I dunno really. I was on board with the subscription until testing it out. Now I can't justify it at the moment. The browser engine tech is pretty cool in its own right, and I could see it in 10 years being a lot more advanced. But in the end, it's still HTML5. Their target audience is clear, and Newgrounds makes the perfect match for this engine. Outside of that, wrapper heaven is not gonna cut it.

the Scirra team are the first out of the event-based game maker tools to create a browser editor.

no I think that was Scratch, been out for a few years now.. pretty sure that runs in Flash.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

Just read through some of the many bug reports for C3.

There were about 6 pages of bug reports the first day but from what I see Scirra has closed about half of them with the same response that is should be fixed in the next release or can't do anything about it or your computer is the problem not C3.

I thought Scirra said they had internal bug reporting built into C3 so they could get accurate bug reports to fix problems?

Anyway, the Scirra response to most of these C3 bugs seems to be the same as we got with bugs in C2. That does not bode well for getting problems fixed anytime soon.

Just my observation.

Hahahaha, nothing new here, check your graphic drivers, they are in fault, not C2 or C3!! Of course not!

I have only been using C2 for about a year, so transitioning to C3 has been easy for me.

I have a had a couple crashes but LOVE the error message that allows you to save before reloading. Nice touch.

All of this said I have given up on developing with it because of the "preview once, yes, preview twice, no." bug, which means that I have to reload the project after every preview. If I don't, the preview simply doesn't start when I click on the play button (or debug button). With that, it is just too time consuming.

[EDIT: If you go into Menu|Settings and change the drop down "Preview With" from "PopUp" to "Dialog" the preview issue is gone. Hooray! (Yes, I had already turned off blocking popups in chrome, so it isn't that)]

All in all, this is certainly worth 99 bucks/year to me. Especially with native mobile app compilation.

Thanks to Scirra for their hard work!

Sean

I have done a more complete tour since the last time, and I begin to love it more and more, you can take, as has long been expected, my money too. Impatient to discover the full version and all the features (still a few blemishes about standalone windows native version, the absence of multi-layer TMX support on tilemaps, amongst other things, but we will come back to it in due course).

I have tried to test the first beta on my IMac. Just skimming through the UI and loading/running examples. Based on this and the info we got during the blog updates, these are my thoughts...

1) I had concerns about Chrome compatibility and for sure, my personal concerns were valid for myself. I needed to upgrade my chrome version to run it. After that it ran, but then, this update might have broken a different web tool. Will see. Makes me feel uneasy.

2) My Imac is not WebGL2 compatible. Even recent Macbooks pro aren't. I forsee a lot of problems comming from that and juding this by the past, I know already the reaction we will get.

3) On My IMac which runs OSX 10.11.x it lags sometimes. You can see that Chrome hogs the system fully. Definitely doesn't feel as fluid as a native app.

4) Some examples wouldn't run, so this version was deliberately shipped with incompatible samples. This feels more like an early alpha than anything.

5) I dislike the change in the pricing model. Definitely a technology change which brought Scirra in a better position regarding chross platform development but C3 is just that. There is no added value imho. Also the pricing models treats developers from different countries unfairly as for the same usage, some have to get the business subscription where others can use the personal one. And judging from the my past experiences of using subscriptions, they went up/up/up in price over the time.

6) The announced free version with its 40/50 event limit will be barely a demo imho.

7) I LOVED that C2 was portable. Put it on a Stick and run it basically everywhere. Not possible with C3 so far. My job flags its website as a gaming site and so it isn't reachable. I wonder if schools will have similar problems with their closed network systems. Maybe Scirra will have created a bigger problem for themself here if they target the education sector.

For me, these are to many issues which I don't wanna deal with. I want to use a software, not fiddle with the system it runs on. It simply has to work. If it doesn't run easily on OSX, it shouldn't be there. Also I want to be treated equally as a customer, which I won't be. I don't see why I should pay more for the same usage. Adding to this my previous negative experience with subscription models, I will pass C3.

Anyway thanks for Scirra to let me have a look. Good luck.