Switch to Construct?

Hey,

I am a advanced user of the program Game Maker, and I am considering switching to Construct.

I don't know much about Construct, apart from that it is open-source (big plus), and it is a game maker

Looking around briefly, there seems to be no multiplayer support, is this true? I use Game Maker a lot to make multiplayer games - using 39dll.

Also, the community does not seem very active, compared that is to the GMC.

So, in short, I would like to know what the pros and cons would be of switching from GM to Construct.

Thanks in advance

For obvious reasons, I won't list common features.

Pros:

• more freedom (you can do things that you can't do in GM)
• free (you said it yourself)
• powerful (it can run stuff smoothly where GM would choke, turn blue and purple and then keel over)
• easy to learn and get started
• very easy to prototype games
• one of devs is a kangaroo lover

Cons:

• still in development (not finished, though it can be used to make and release games with, but it is nearing the release) - expect stability issues, bugs and stuff
• still difficult to develop a major stable project
• still has some annoying limitations (that are being addressed in Construct 2)
• wonky scripting support
• the other dev is not a kangaroo lover

All in all, in my opinion Construct is an excellent introduction into game development, however for more serious projects I'd wait until the final release (soon!) or even Construct 2 (which won't be any soon).

If you ask me for opinion on switching to Construct, well, it certainly wouldn't hurt to give it a whirl to prototype a game or couple. You might be surprised, who knows? However, be aware that while it may be easy to get into Construct, it is hard to master it as with everything else. As of now, I've yet to see a complete major game made in Construct.

That may change with the final release version, however, as everyone is pretty much putting their major projects on hold until then.

I used Game Maker for years.

Construct is:

easier:

more intuitive, even for beginners. Elegant events sheet. Construct have a nicer level editor, since you can position, rotate and scale instances as you want. In Game Maker, you can't.

faster:

Faster executables files, since Construct compiles exes, Game Maker interpret at runtime. Faster 2D engine.

better:

Construct uses DirectX 9.0c, Game Maker uses DirectX 8.1. Construct have shaders, and you can even make them. Construct expansion is virtually infinite, since you can make as many plugins as you want.

construct:

You can make games with Construct. In Game Maker, you can't.

Then again, it's Open Source. It's a great game making tool. It's free. It's powerful. It's so good and it isn't even on 1.0.

Okay, no online. Someone is making a plugin for it. Remember: Construct is free, Game Maker costs 15-16$ and it's old, slow and dirty.

Good luck

p.s.: Game Maker Community existed for 6-7 years. This community, since 2007 if i'm correct, so 3 years.

You can make games with Construct. In Game Maker, you can't.

Don't start a war

Let's be honest, there aren't very many quality games Construct can showcase yet, while GM has quite a collection.

Let's be honest, there aren't very many quality games Construct can showcase yet, while GM has quite a collection.

Exactly, construct users shouldn't be throwing stones until there's something to back things up with. Last thing we all need is a huge feud between the two camps, we should all be friends.

But should you try Construct? YES! YES! YES!

(we're not biased, either )

> You can make games with Construct. In Game Maker, you can't.

>

Don't start a war

That was a joke Also, I can say that based on my experience with Game Maker, and Construct fit way better my needs.

Construct is fucking a.

Nuff said.

Remember: Construct is free, Game Maker costs 15-16$ and it's old, slow and dirty.

Not if you know how to use google....................

I would say this community is very active for how many people are in it. Also, it isn't the QUANTITY of the community but the QUALITY. The quality of the Construct community is impressive from what I've seen. Very friendly people.

Besides the technical specifications of Construct being better than Game Maker (some of which have already been mentioned), you will always OWN your games with Construct. With Gamer Maker, you have to buy a new version if you want those new features. If you don't buy the new version but still want SOME (only some because you don't get everything if you don't pay) of the new features, then you get a big banner that said you used Game Maker. For me, that was a big deal. It didn't feel like I'd actually own my game.

So Construct is faster, stronger, and is getting improved all the time while still being free as in freedom AND price. GameMaker is old (older DirectX and lack of features), slower (VERY slow), and makes you pay again and again if you want anything improved. Sure, Construct doesn't have as many finished games to show off, but there will be, oh yes, there will be!

My two cents:

One thing I do miss about Game Maker over construct, among other minor things, is that you can explicitly control how to handle drawing events for objects: where as you can draw another object, or clones of the object, or nothing at all...

My two most missed applications of the above feature are one:

-Pasting a grass sprite (for example) and it draws randomly sized and colored copies around itself. You can quickly make entire fields of grass this way, or apply the same technique to make an epic explosion look soo much cooler...

Idk, the main thing I liked about GM was how tight it was with GML. It just worked. (And the syntax was close to C based languages, the learning curve is next to nothing)

But.... The loading screens (no matter how short) are nothing short of downright tacky (Especially if you are like me and tried to develop a semi-professional feeling application with it). And then, there is no native support for windows forms, and GM is beginning to seem more bloated with every new version (considering the runtime alone is 2.53 megs).

The real reason I made the switch: Rapid prototyping. Seriously, this gives a whole new meaning to the word. If youve never participated in an one-hour game-making compo, or have never even heard of such a thing, then youve never heard of this program (or its lame cousin MMF/TGF). And considering I dont have tons of free time anymore, Construct just makes sense.

Use construct, because it doesn't have that annoying preloader that game maker has that runs everytime you run your game. It takes like 10 -15 seconds to load each time! It doesn't sound like a lot but it gets annoying when youre just trying to change minor things like the jump height of a character.

My two cents:

One thing I do miss about Game Maker over construct, among other minor things, is that you can explicitly control how to handle drawing events for objects: where as you can draw another object, or clones of the object, or nothing at all...

My two most missed applications of the above feature are one:

-Pasting a grass sprite (for example) and it draws randomly sized and colored copies around itself. You can quickly make entire fields of grass this way, or apply the same technique to make an epic explosion look soo much cooler...

Idk, the main thing I liked about GM was how tight it was with GML. It just worked. (And the syntax was close to C based languages, the learning curve is next to nothing)

First of all, I'm sure you can do something like that with the grass in Construct.

Second, GML can be a very confusing language to read and work with. Also, GM does not compile code for the computer. Its .exes contain a an interpreter and the actual sheet of GML code. It has to translate everything for the computer constantly. This makes it much slower than compiled languages like C++.

Just thought those were worth stating.