Joshua's Forum Posts

  • Hey Jayjay, thanks for your response.

    1) Actually, this wouldn't be a "how to be creative" course. It would be a list of unique ideas for game themes that haven't been done a million times already, plus some extra advice on how to remix the ideas to make them a bit more unique. Basically, just a way to get a running start when you want to make a game that isn't totally generic.

    2) It's actually pretty easy to guarantee that someone will never struggle with writer's block with the way I have this structured. And it isn't really teaching "creativity" per se, although that would be pretty easy to teach too. Giving a list of successful game blogs is a good idea though.

    3) LOL! I would never advise someone to spam their game anywhere.

    I don't like the idea of combining all 3 into a single PDF, as that would be a LOT of information, and could lead to some confusion. I prefer focusing on "one problem one solution" kind of guides, which provide a better kind of focus.

    Thanks again for your feedback.

  • Hey all. I'm thinking of writing a course or two to help out game devs and sell them on the Scirra store, but I wanted to see if there was anyone interested in what I have to offer first. All I need you to do is tell me if you'd be interested in purchasing any of the course ideas below:

    1) Game Theme Series - Designed to crush "designer's block", this series of courses will provide you with unique "game theme" ideas to make your platformer/shooter/etc unique from all the other games out there. Also includes training on how to tweak the theme ideas to make them your own.

    2) Blogging Success Courses - A series of courses that cover a wide range of topics, including content ideas (ensure you never struggle with writer's block and can always craft blog posts that get a strong response from your fans) blog promotion (you'd like your blog to have lots of readers and stuff, right?), and blogging challenges (such as getting a blog designed to sell your games up and running in 7 days or less).

    3) General Game Promotion Courses - Most of the game promotion advice I see online involves PR of some sort, which is fine, except there are a lot of other ways you could promote your game, such as social media (you can promote your social media accounts with less than 30 minutes of work per day, and without spending a dime on advertising), "Unconventional" PR (not gonna lie, most people do it wrong, and there's a much better/easier way of getting PR for your game), and countless others.

    That's about it off the top of my head. If any of those things look interesting to you, or if there's a course you'd like to see made, let me know.

    Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

  • Construct Classic installs the redistributables when it's installed. I even tried installing the x84 and x64 files, but nothing has changed so far.

    Jayjay: That sucks, but I suppose I can live with it. :) Thanks for your help.

  • Yes, I am using the r2 version of CC. Originally I was using 1-2. Neither work. And the web installer is what is telling me it won't install because Windows has a newer version.

    I was able to find a "full" installer here (and somewhere else as well): directx-9-0c.en.lo4d.com (x64 Mirror #2). That did install properly, though it's hard to tell if it actually installed DirectX9. It didn't fix the problem either.

  • Hey all. I recently decided to give Construct Classic a try, and I'm excited by the possibilities it offers. I've run into a problem, though. Whenever I try to use the Run All/Layout or Debug All/Layout buttons, they don't work.

    When I click on any of the buttons, I get a quick loading screen, then nothing. There is no preview or debug window of any kind.

    The only workaround I've been able to find so far is to export the file as an .exe, which allows the project to run just fine.

    I'm using Windows 7 64bit. Tried running CC as admin and in compatibility mode, neither of which made any difference. I do have DirectX 11 installed, and have tried installing DirectX 9.0c, but the installer just says that a newer version is installed and then quits.

    Halp? O_o

  • I did a test today. I wanted to see how well C2 stacked up against "normal" game programming, in terms of ease of use and speed of development.

    I decided to do this test because I was following along in a game programming book for beginners, and an exercise was to make a very simple Breakout clone.

    The language I was comparing against C2 was Blitz Plus (B+), which is an older but still very good language. It's a high-level language (C/BASIC hybrid) which is designed specifically to make games. So, it tends to be easier to use and requires fewer lines of code to do things than a lower level language like C++.

    First, I tried using B+. The goal was to make a simple text version of Breakout. I was basically just following along and copying the code from the book (which sped up the process). It took me over an hour, and I ended up writing over 200 lines of code. And I couldn't get it to work. There were errors at compile time (B+'s IDE doesn't have syntax highlighting), and I couldn't figure them out. The source code was on a CD, and that did function correctly, but the game itself was still buggy. There were times when the ball randomly sped up, making it hard to hit, and sometimes it would just bounce up and down or left to right in a straight line, effectively causing the game to crash.

    A little frustrating, but still satisfying to get that work done.

    Next, I tried C2. I followed the first 2 video tutorials from "Cloning the Classics: Breakout" (it was all I needed).

    I kid you not, I was done in about 10 minutes (not counting the time it took to watch the tutorials). The game ran on the first try and worked exactly as it should (no bugs), and it looked better too (graphics!).

    Oh, and it only took 3 lines of code to write, if you can count the events as "writing code".

    I'm blown away by how easy and fast it was to make a game using C2. I'm definitely going to be using it for future game dev.

    Don't get me wrong though; I still think B+ is a great language. But when it comes to making game dev easy and fast, there just doesn't seem to be a better tool than C2 (for 2D online games at least).

    So to Tom and Ashley: Thank you so much for making this amazing tool. I can't wait to start getting serious with making games with it. :D

  • isual Novel/Dialogues example - LINK

    The thread about this video, the capx and the following discussion about how to make it in C2.

    More can be found about dialog systems (which is the more "coding" part of a visual novel) in the how do I FAQ section "RPG" (and globaly looking for the keyword "Dialog" in the post).

    As usual, excellent response Kyatric. Thanks. :)

  • A new idea I'm playing with. What do you think of making a Visual Novel with Construct2? Someone made a demo here:

    Subscribe to Construct videos now

    C2 isn't the only option. There is also Ren'Py (http://renpy.org/why.html), a free program specifically designed to create Visual Novels. It creates .exe files though.

    Then there's Corona SDK, which specializes in making mobile apps, but can also be used to make ebooks (http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/ebooks/).

    The obvious advantage C2 offers over either of these is that it's playable from the Internet, so no need to download anything.

    Although, you do have to "point and click" to create events, and since Visual Novels have a lot of text in them, this could get annoying (as opposed to simply typing out code like in Corona or Ren'Py).

    What do you think?

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  • I'm trying to make an asteroids type game, where you defend a planet from objects flying toward it. But, instead of a spaceship shooting weapons, you beat them back with a blunt weapon.

    I was trying to create a mace weapon effect, but that doesn't seem like that's going to work out well, since I can't get the weapon to rigidly stick to the mouse.

    Although, it could still work as a tank-like vehicle following the mouse and destroying any object it touches. Then again, I could also start over from scratch and make a platformer. Not sure which direction to take this now.

  • Does this help ?

    Thanks for that. I tried it, and it works well, but when I tried to add it to my project, everything just sorta got screwed up. I even tried copying the events and actions EXACTLY (except disabled events) in a new project. The only difference was that I was using a text object instead of a Sprite. Well, it ended up staying put in the top left corner. Then I tried changing the text into a sprite, which caused the Obj (sprite) to appear briefly then disappear.

    Here are the .capx files: http://www.mediafire.com/?fu01wkrqwdefpnc,h52p66cd3dnwe2e

    I'm so confused. How could I screw this up, even when doing almost exactly what you did? >.<

    Thanks for your help.

  • So, I've got the object attached to the mouse (every tick set object to Mouse.X and Mouse.Y), and now I'm trying to figure out a little bit of physics.

    Basically, when the mouse is holding still, I'd like the object to be "limp", that is, simply hanging upside down from the mouse. But, when the mouse starts moving, I'd like to make that object rotate, using the mouse as a pivot point, and also vary the speed and direction of the rotation depending on the velocity of the mouse and the angle of its movement.

    Is this possible? How do I do it?

    Thank you.

  • If whipped that capx up real fast. If you want I can redo it with a button and variable to show how. Or you could try and let me know... <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    I was finally able to figure it out. Thank you so much for your help.

  • Look at previous post again - I added CAPX.   You would want to set up a global variable that is triggered when text is entered into the Text Box. And not let them press the button until that variable is toggled on.

    Good idea, I'll try that. I was actually able to find a work around, but your way is better, thanks.

  • Check the value of Text (Text.text) and evaluate if "" (Blank).

    EDIT: Just saw the .CAPX file, thanks.

  • Hey all. I was struck by inspiration and have a neat game idea that I think I'll be able to make using the free version of C2 (I hope).

    I've run into a bit of a snag though. At the start, the player needs to enter in their name. It is crucial that they enter a name of some kind, and not just leave the field blank.

    How do I check to see the input of the textbox, and have the game give an error when the value is "null", or nothing?

    Thanks.