Biim Games's Forum Posts

  • ok thanks for the suggestion but for some reason I'm using construct as a game engine and it's that I don't know how to program although lately I've been interested in learning gdscript but thanks for the idea anyway, and one last question, what if I bought a construct 3 license on February 29th would I have to pay for it on February 28th? (I'm just asking out of curiosity, not that it makes you do it), it makes me very angry to see how lately what is "yours" is no longer yours so to speak, since you're only buying a license to use that product at any time the company can take away that license from you, and hopefully the problem you have with your netbook is solved bro and that you get the most out of it. 👌

    I don't create plugins either, but rather than change engine, I try to create inside C2/C3 events functions that can simulate a new behaviour rather than create a new plugin. Not for everything is possible, but in most case it works and it's still better than start from scratch with a new engine where you might find anyway other issues.

    About the license, I don't know, but I guess that it would have to paid the 28th at the end of the day, so it would be still like having paid it the 29th at the end of the day. The day after is still the 1st of March in both cases.

    Yeah, the owning part is something that only in rare case I give up as idea, aside for C3 license, Dropbox and my website domain I don't have any major subscription where if I stop to pay i loose everything. This of course for the digital part of the world, on the rest of the things like utilities as electricity, water and such, I'm working on them.

    Anyway, going back to Windows XP, that's another issue about things, something that was still working was forced to end so Microsoft could make more money. The whole push for advancement leaving things behind, makes me always thing about the waste of resource we are pushed to do. So again, if I can still use C2 on my old netbook, I'm happy to do it :)

  • I totally agree with what you say about subscriptions, I also continue using C2 although I also tend to use C3 to try out new things that come out. In my case, I tend to use third-party plugins from time to time such as Canvas or Rex_waitevent and Litetween, I normally use Rex's since they don't give me as many bugs compared to the others I have, and apart from that, I get anxious for some reason thinking that if one day Scirra and its servers close and we're left without C3.

    Yeah. With plugins the only good alternative would be to make them by yourself, especially if you can make them for both C2 and C3, so you are able to manually port your games to C3, recoding the plugin part.

    About subscription, the future can be better or way worse. If people don't wake up quickly, private property will be gone soon. I understand that companies as Scirra must survive, but I will be happy to support the company every year, but be sure that for any reason if I stop to pay, whatever I paid so far I can still use. So for C3, no more new stuff, but still able to use indefinitely the features I got with my last payment. That's also the reason why I try to don't buy anything on Steam, but buy only games from itch.io or GOG.

  • Well, that's fine, and don't use plugins in C2 or any other third-party plugin? And in terms of the interface, which of the two do you like best? (I'm referring to C3 or C2)

    Unless a client asks me to use a third part plugin (that I usually strongly suggest to avoid), I don't use anything that is not vanilla C2.

    I do have a couple of additional plugin in C2, but so far I try to don't use them to avoid compatibility issues.

    About the interface, I prefer the old one, though C3 has now lots of great improvements, like suggestions when typing, options to zoom in and out tilemap window, enable/disable collision for single tile of the tilemap, etc.

    On the other hand, some things in C3 are missing, like for example the possibility to call the functions using a string instead of selecting all the functions available. That slows down sometimes process that could be automated, like make a loop and call the functions in the loop like "Function " & loopindex could do.

    Of course C3 is still growing, so as the time past the balance will go towards C3 more and more in the future, however, despite my great support for Scirra's team, I'm really against subscription policies, so I prefer to own things rather than renting. That's why my projects are mostly done in C2.

    Our world is already going quite bad following the "You will own nothing and will be happy." idea imposed by the WEF, so I try to keep myself alive as best as I can at 360 degrees, trying to avoid mid and long term problems. That's why I am also transitioning to Linux.

  • but you can't run construct 3 on the netbook? and if you can't, are you sure that with construct 2 you can do the "same" as with construct 3 despite its limitations?, in my personal experience something similar happened to me with a laptop that I had, I also wanted to use construct 2 on it but it gave me an error so I decided to install clickteam fusion which for some reason works very well even with many objects in its preview (I was using the latest version obviously the free one just to test since I don't like that engine)

    That netbook is something I had since 2009, I doubt it can't do much with Construct 3. Also, I prefer to don't connect on the Internet with that one. I can use the remote preview just to load things on the other devices, but if I can connect to a LAN, I will probably do that without using Internet at all.

    About what I can do with C2, normally I use C2 even if I have C3, then move to C3 only if I have to do things that I can't really do with C2, like exporting for mobile. Most of my tests and prototypes are done in C2, it's a safety measure. If the Internet connection is down for long time, Scirra server can't be reach or worst case the company closes down, with C2 I am still able to access and edit my projects, while with C3 everything will be lost forever, unless a standalone version is released by Scirra in the unfortunate event that they run out of business.

  • Sorry for the late reply, I am busy with house renovation and my old netbook was in another location. I just access to it a couple of days ago and this is the result:

    - I could successfully install C2 release 275. Above stable versions cannot be installed.

    - Latest NW.js I could install is the version v0.44.0 (Chromium 80) of 5th February 2020.

    - Installing NW.js 0.44 (and few earlier versions), fails to install latest DirectX. I think the url it tries to grab does not exist anymore.

    - The preview works on Firefox, but due to my little netbook computation power and perhaps weight of the browser (I believe), even the platformer template runs at 2 to 7 FPS.

    - NWjs preview does not work instead. I can export the project in NWjs, but once launched the 32 bit version I get the same error of the preview.

    I have installed DirectX End-User Runtime and Firefox ESR, the latter is the last update available for Firefox 32 bit version 52.9.0, but that does not solve the problem of the NWjs preview and neither improves browser performance (tested on the same platformer template).

    The error message I get with NWjs is in Italian, but on the Internet I found other people have the same issue with other software, that translates as: "The procedure entry point could not be located in the dynamic link library kernel32.dll".

    For what I can understand, that's the limit of XP architecture and basically NWjs in those latest versions doesn't work on XP.

    Possible solutions could be to try to go back to earlier NWjs version and maybe install Chrome or other browser that might be a bit lighter weight.

    Just to add more info, C2 'About' section mentions that is rendering with OpenGL 1.1.0, GDI Generic (no shaders) and recommends driver updates...

    Overall, it's not great, but I can still use the netbook as emergency backup for little projects, especially for turn based game mechanics an such that does not need fast interactions.

    Now, about the good part. Since the remote preview works, if there is an Internet connection available that can be shared, you can still use your mobile, tablet or other device to test your game. That is still something positive and useful as temporary backup and it's easier to work with keyboard and mouse instead of using C3 on mobile, that I could never even use to write a single line of code...

  • Thank you Ashley, I have found a similar issue reported on May, this year, so for now I add my comment there instead of opening a new post.

    In case you or anyone else want to follow up the topic, it's here:

    https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js/issues/8184#issuecomment-2308648756

  • clickfusion I just started using Linux, but I don't use Mint distribution.

    I had a similar problem and I sort of solved it, you can check my post hereç

    https://www.construct.net/en/forum/construct-3/general-discussion-7/issues-c2-c3-game-exported-183236#forumPost1111629

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  • Ashley I did a bunch of export with all different NW.js until I find the breaking point. With NW.js version 0.84.0 (Chromium 121) the export works fine, from version 0.85.0 (Chromium 122) the export doesn't work anymore.

    I know that the Linux players are not so many and developers using C3 are probably just a bunch of people, but if you would like to give it a quick look maybe we are lucky enough to solve the problem with latest NW.js versions.

    Thanks :-)

    By the way, I have also noticed that the export has a favicon and taskbar icon with C2 icon and not C3, this because the template has still the old C2 icons in the project. Not sure if you care about updating those or leave it as nice memory of the past.

  • Thank you Ashley for the reply.

    I did try to uncheck 'Ignore GPU blacklist', but it didn't work, so I tried one by one to uncheck other things, use PNG and JPG and so on. In the end I got the idea. C2 export works, so something new that is on C3 doesn't work.

    So, I checked the latest C2 version of NW.js and it's the v0.54.0 (Chromium 91) [Requires C2 r217+] dated 27th May 2021. I then exported C3 with all options as default, including checked 'Ignore GPU blacklist' and the exported Vertical Shooter Template worked without problem. On the contrary of C2 export, I can even resize the window without problems!

    Now, the only thing left is to try to export from the second latest version and going backward to 0.54.0 until I find a working NW.js.

    The question left is now this. Is an issue that goes case by case with Linux depending on the individual computer and distro, or is the issue related to C3 in how it interacts with NW.js regarding to Linux?

    By the way, I am totally new with Linux, so I will try to avoid solutions that might lock me out of the system :-P

  • Jase00 I am not using a PI, I am using a Tuxedo laptop with the following specs:

    Operating System: TUXEDO OS 3

    KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.3

    KDE Frameworks Version: 6.4.0

    Qt Version: 6.7.0

    Kernel Version: 6.5.0-10043-tuxedo (64-bit)

    Graphics Platform: X11

    Processors: 24 × Intel® Core™ i7-14650HX

    Memory: 67.1 GB of RAM

    Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU/PCIe/SSE2

    About C3 editor, actually I didn't tried yet, I saw that it was opening and I didn't check more. At the moment I can't login on my account with the editor, however I have no problem here on the forum.

    Sample projects are loaded on C3, but the preview doesn't work.

    The C2 and C3 exports (NW.js) that I have tried to run have been created with my Windows laptop, then the exported files copy and pasted on Linux and the result are the ones on my post.

    About the PI, I am not using, I just mentioned it as that was my only little previous experience with Linux. Don't worry about this info, it's not relevant to the issue I'm having, sorry for the confusion and thank you for the reply :-)

    EDIT:

    I can now login inside the editor and run the preview.

    The issue with the exports are still the same.

  • Anyone uses Linux?

    I'm starting to transitioning to Linux, so by this chance I have an opportunity also to test Linux export from C2 and C3, thing that I wasn't able to do earlier.

    I did try to export with C2 and C3 the Vertical Shooter Template. Now, with the C2 I have no problem, it runs smoothly in Linux, unless I maximise the window, in that case the view is messed up as for screenshot. Not sure if changing screen setting on the project I might solve the problem, is an issue with Firefox on my Linux distribution or is the export itself having problems.

    With C3 export instead, the game window opens and closes straight away. I can't even see any image before it closes. If I try to right click the file and run it in console, the result is the same, but I have a long list of logs about the crash that I don't know how to read. I can copy and paste it, if needed, but it's quite long and seems sort of repeating itself.

    This is just the beginning of the console log error:

    [8579:8579:0816/123632.706808:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.kde.KWallet.isEnabled: object_path= /modules/kwalletd6: org.freedesktop

    .DBus.Error.NoReply: Message recipient disconnected from message bus without replying

    [8579:8579:0816/123632.706834:ERROR:kwallet_dbus.cc(112)] Error contacting kwalletd6 (isEnabled)

    [8579:8579:0816/123632.706983:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.kde.KLauncher.start_service_by_desktop_name: object_path= /KLauncher: o

    rg.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.kde.klauncher was not provided by any .service files

    [8579:8579:0816/123632.706986:ERROR:kwallet_dbus.cc(81)] Error contacting klauncher to start kwalletd6

    [8579:8579:0816/123632.771963:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.kde.KWallet.close: object_path= /modules/kwalletd6: org.freedesktop.DBu

    s.Error.NoReply: Message recipient disconnected from message bus without replying

    [8579:8579:0816/123632.771976:ERROR:kwallet_dbus.cc(502)] Error contacting kwalletd6 (close)

    [0816/123632.785725:ERROR:elf_dynamic_array_reader.h(64)] tag not found

    [0816/123632.785762:ERROR:elf_dynamic_array_reader.h(64)] tag not found

    [8610:8610:0816/123632.946977:FATAL:resource_bundle.cc(363)] Check failed: g_shared_instance_ != nullptr.

    Anyone has an idea about what should I do to run the program on Linux? Sorry if it's a stupid question, but it's my first time using aside few interactions with the Raspberry PI where I did really not much with it.

    Thanks!

  • You are welcome and good luck with your project! :-)

  • There is no way to protect your code to work with freelancer, but you can put some efforts in reducing the risk. I understand the issue since I am a freelancer and sometimes potential clients are concern about their code to be stolen.

    Here my advice:

    1) Work only with freelancer that have a good reputation and that can prove they have the skills to help you. If they are more skilled then you, they don't need to steal your code since they can for sure make the game all by themselves and probably better. That's why you ask their help in the end, right?

    2) If you need a specific function, just ask to make a standalone program. You can just copy the Event Sheet(s) provided into your game and adapt them.

    3) If solution n.2 doesn't work for you, then create a new project, recreate the issue you need to fix there with placeholder art and audio, and ask to fix the issue in that test program. You will then copy and adapt it to your game.

    4) If solution 2 and 3 are not suitable for you, then make a copy of your program and remove from it all the things that are not related to your issue, make sure the issue is still happening as in the original program and then send it to the freelancer.

    For example, if you need a level selection layout, you can simply remove all the event sheets of the game, leave just the layouts with their name, but empty of all the art and objects and give the skeleton of your program to the freelancer that will create the event sheet and layout for level selection.

    5) This might be slower and therefore more costly, but it's a solution sometime I offer to clients as well. Pay the freelancer per hour and go on video call, share the screen and show the issue and the part of code where you think the freelancer might find the problem. The freelancer will takes a bit of time to study the code and trying to figure out where the issue is, depending on the skill of the freelancer and how much your code is organised, long and complicated. Then together you will fix the issue step by step.

    Those tips should give you a good amount of protection, if you are looking for a freelancer you can get in contact with me, I am a bit busy with reforming my house at the moment, but I could be able to help you depending on what you need.

  • Have you checked these games made with Construct?

    madewithconstruct.com

  • Hi StraGeoStudios,

    I built that system for one of my clients, but he wanted to use Articy as interface for setting up all the dialogue choices. Then from there a file was exported and my code would read the file and create the dialogue in the exact way you need. Multiple choices, go back to a previous dialogue point, keep tracks of choices already selected so alternative choices can be shown and an outcome system that you will customise to your code to do whatever you need. The outcome will be an open end so you can use it for change variables, story, levels and whatever you need.

    The system also allow to play SFX, Soundscapes and Music when a certain dialogue start, you have also a choice for change characters' expression and such. More actions can be added depending on what you need for your game, but overall, the output field already gives lot of flexibility, like for example we used it also for spawn enemies at a certain point.

    If you don't want to use Articy, you can type directly in a txt or xls file the data needed.

    Here one example of the file for a dialogue:

    Dialogue N\Index\Action\Character\Position\Text\Choices\Requirement Type\Required Item\Choices Index\Outcome\Music\Soundscape\SFX\Expression| 1\0\Start\Anna\Right\Hi, this is your first dialogue!\\\\1\+~Array_Quest_Items~Map\SC TOWN\|\Empire_Game_Animal_Nature_Pig_Hog_Livestock_Grunt_Snort_Noise_Farm_Field_Ranch\Neutral| 1\1\Goto\Anna\Right\Now, you will have to make a choice to progress in the game.\\\\2\\\\\Neutral| 1\2\Choice\Anna\Right\Do you want to eat pizza or pasta for dinner?\Pizza~Pasta\~\~\3~5\\\\\Neutral| 1\3\Goto\Hero\Left\I would love to eat a pizza!\\\\4\\\\\Happy| 1\4\Goto\Anna\Right\Great, it's a while I'm not eating pizza! Let's go!\\\\7\\\\\Happy| 1\5\Goto\Hero\Left\I know a good place where they serve big plates of pasta that are tasty and cheap!\\\\6\\\\\Happy| 1\6\Goto\Anna\Right\Sounds great! Let's go!\\\\7\\\\\Happy| 1\7\Choice\Anna\Right\Where do you want to go after dinner? Cinema or Bowling?\Cinema~Bowling\~\~\8~11\\\\\Neutral| 1\8\Goto\Hero\Left\I don't know what there is at the cinema in these days, but we can go and have a look.\\\\9\\\\\Neutral| 1\9\Goto\Anna\Right\There is a new adventure movie I would like to see it's called "Adventure Movie".\\\\10\\\\\Embarrassed| 1\10\Goto\Hero\Left\What a weird name, but let's go to watch it if you think that's nice.\\\\13\\\\\Surprised| 1\11\Goto\Hero\Left\I never played bowling, but that's a good chance to learn it!\\\\12\\\\\Embarrassed| 1\12\Goto\Anna\Right\I am not an expert too, but I can teach you the rules.\\\\13\\\\\Happy| 1\13\Goto\Hero\Left\That was a great night Anna. Thank you very much!\\\\14\\\Light_Fire_3\\Happy| 1\14\End\Anna\Right\It was my pleasure, let's meet again soon!\\\\\\\Stop\\Happy| 2\0\Start\Anna\Right\You don't have a weapon, I have an Iron Sword and a Shooting Iron. I can give you one so we can fight together.\\\\1\\SC HOPEFUL\\\Neutral| 2\1\Choice\Anna\Right\Which one would you like to use? Iron Sword or Shooting Iron?\Iron Sword~Shooting Iron\~\~\2~4\\\\\Neutral| 2\2\Goto\Hero\Left\I don't know how to use a Shooting Iron, so the Iron Sword it's a better choice for me.\\\\3\\\\\Neutral| 2\3\Goto\\\{ Iron Sword added to team inventory }\\\\6\+~Array_Weapons~Iron Sword\\\Empire_Game_Foley_Impact_Metal_Junk_Hit_3\| 2\4\Goto\Hero\Left\I am great with Shooting Irons, I'll be more useful with that.\\\\5\\\\\Neutral| 2\5\Goto\\\{ Shooting Iron added to team inventory }\\\\6\+~Array_Weapons~Shooting Iron\\\Empire_Game_Foley_Impact_Metal_Junk_Hit_3\| 2\6\Goto\Anna\Right\Ok, let's go.\\\\7\\\\Empire_Game_Animal_Nature_Horse_Noise_2_Neigh_Whinny_Vocal_2\Happy| 2\7\Goto\\\{ While walking on a plain... }\\\\8\\\Thunderstorm_Loop_3\\| 2\8\Choice\Anna\Right\Hey that hell bird stole the map from my hands!\Oh no we'll be lost!~I'll take it down with the Shooting Iron!\~Array_Weapons\~Shooting Iron\9~10\\\\\Surprised| 2\9\End\Anna\Right\We are in trouble now, it will take much more time to find the temple ruins!\\\\\-~Array_Quest_Item~Map\\\\Sad| 2\10\Goto\\\{ You manage to kill the hell bird and recover the map! }\\\\11\\\\Empire_Game_Foley_Metal_Safe_Movement_10_Roll_Slide_Drag_Soft_Quick_Sharp\| 2\11\End\Anna\Right\What a great shot! We could have been in big trouble without the map!\\\\\\\\\Happy| 3\0\Start\Anna\Right\Mmm, I'm not really sure what's the best way to progress from here.\\\\1\\Stop\SC_Beach_RIppling_Loop_2_Short\Empire_Game_Animal_Nature_Horse_Noise_2_Neigh_Whinny_Vocal_2\Neutral| 3\1\Choice\Anna\Right\Where should we try to ford the river? North or South?\North~South~Let's check the map to see if there is a bridge somewhere nearby.\~~Array_Quest_Item\~~Map\2~3~4\\\\\Neutral| 3\2\Goto\\\{ It takes 30 minutes to find a way to cross the river }\\\\6\\\\\| 3\3\Goto\\\{ Luckily after only 10 minutes you find a way to cross the river }\\\\6\\\\\| 3\4\Goto\Hero\Left\Look, if we go a bit south, there will be a bridge and we can cross the river safely.\\\\5\\\\\Neutral| 3\5\Goto\\\{ Near the bridge, you find your old friend Brian that happily joins the party! }\\\\6\+~PC~Brian\\|\Empire_Game_Animal_Nature_Horse_Noise_2_Neigh_Whinny_Vocal_2\| 3\6\End\Anna\Right\Ah, finally we are arrived at the temple!\\\\\\Stop\Stop\Stop\Happy| 4\0\Start\Anna\Right\This is the gate of the temple. It seems the only available entrance, but it's locked.\\\\1\\SC TOWN\\\Neutral| 4\1\Choice\Anna\Right\How should we get in from here?\Try to knock down the door~Try to picklock the door~Use Brian's Levitate spell to access from the collapsed roof\~~PC\~~Brian\2~3~4\\\\\Neutral| 4\2\Goto\\\{ Taking the right timing, all of you kick the gate at the same time and manage to knock down the door. }\\\\5\\\\Empire_Game_Foley_Impact_Metal_Junk_Hit_3\| 4\3\Goto\Hero\Left\Let me picklock this gate, it seems an easy job…\\\\5\\\\Empire_Game_Foley_Metal_Pulley_Wheel_Bar_Spin_Twist_Whirl_Mechanisms_Gear_Turning_10\Neutral| 4\4\Goto\Brian\Left\Everybody come close to me and hold on me, we'll levitate on top of the wall and get down on the other side.\\\\5\\\\Empire_Game_Foley_Metal_Safe_Movement_10_Roll_Slide_Drag_Soft_Quick_Sharp\Neutral| 4\5\End\Anna\Right\Yeah! That was easier than I thought!\\\\\\Stop\Stop\Empire_Game_Foley_Metal_Pin_Drop_On_Concrete_Ring_4\Happy|

    I don't have an interface to write the choices, just relying on .txt or Excel, because the client wanted to use Articy, but I am able to build an interface too if you don't want to use Articy.

    If you are interested in using Articy to export the file for my system, then we need his assistance for the job he did in Articy to get the export right.

    Let me know if it's something you might be interested in.

    I'll ask my client if it's possible to share a video about the dialogue if you are interested to see it in action.

    EDIT:

    If you copy and paste the code bit it will look confuse due to how it is formatted here in the form. If you want to see how it works, once pasted in a text editor, press enter to create a new line after each |. The symbol is identified to set up a new line.