matpow2's Forum Posts

  • FYI, Chowdren does support Nintendo 3DS. There is also some support for C3, but only when using the C2 runtime.

  • NetOne

    It's an interesting idea, but if Chowdren were an official product, people would also assume full and official support for their games. Right now, Chowdren is extended whenever a game we are porting requires it, and that has worked well for us. It allows us to get real games running on Chowdren and to produce real results, and it is clear how our work will be funded.

    For now, Chowdren will remain its own runtime. However, I will try to keep Scirra in the loop about Chowdren, in case there is something to learn from the Chowdren approach and vice-versa.

  • Since some developers have asked me about it, I've looked at what it would take to support C3 under Chowdren. Luckily, it turns out that supporting C3 when used with the C2 runtime is trivial. Here is Bunnymark, exported from C3 using the C2 runtime, and running under Chowdren:

    (video)

    Supporting the C3 runtime is a different matter, but it should still be doable. The C3 runtime uses a very nice and exciting expression compiler, but this will require some extra work for Chowdren to support. If someone has a use for Chowdren using the C3 runtime, please let me know!

  • NotionGames Thanks! I'll be in touch.

    I've updated the main post after the recent forum move.

    Also, a bit of news: I have 3 major Construct 2 games running on the Nintendo Switch using Chowdren. If you'd like more details, you can get in touch :)

  • I forgot to include the WebGL effects that are supported, thanks for reminding me!

    Right now, these are supported:

    • Warp
    • Adjust HSL
    • Overlay
    • SetColor
    • WarpMask
    • Additive
    • Brightness
    • Destination Out
    • Source Atop
    • Water Background

  • —

    Nice, I hope you get a publisher on board! Keep us updated

    Like Ashley said, there are definitely some things that can be improved in the Fake3D project.

    If you're being careful, I think you can achieve good performance with the standard Construct runtime by just changing the events.

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  • — Thanks for the Fake3D example project! It was a really great showcase of what Chowdren can do.

    (also it's a really neat idea and I hope you do something with it)

    Cryptwalker

    Right now, my focus is on Construct 2, since the people I have spoken to haven't migrated to Construct 3 yet. I've heard that semantically, Construct 3 is very close to Construct 2, so it should be possible to make Chowdren work with C3.

  • ultrafop

    To be honest, in almost all cases, I am asked to do complete ports of games. Publishers/developers are usually looking for a quick solution to get their game on another platform, and I can do that with comparatively less time/cost than others.

    That also means it's only been necessary to license Chowdren to very few developers. Every game is different, so I feel the cost is something that can be discussed on a project-to-project basis.

    In terms of features, it's difficult to show you what's working/not working without going open-source

    Chowdren was originally open-source in 2012, but in the end, that was simply not worth it.

    However, if you check the list of supported plugins/behaviors/ACEs in the original post, that should give you a good idea of what is supported. That list only shows the Construct 2-specific features that are supported.

  • mOOnpunk

    Chowdren only implements a subset of the Construct 2 runtime, and has the luxury of not having to support ALL of the games made for Construct 2. Doing this for the entire Construct 2 runtime and maintaining compatibility with existing games would take a long time for Scirra, and wouldn't be a good investment.

    The current Construct 2 runtime is great, fulfills the needs of a typical user, and is simple to extend because of Javascript. Chowdren is a great solution for advanced users, but is probably not well-suited for your typical user.

  • newt The "Fake 3D" example that was posted earlier uses "For each", so it is supported in Chowdren You can check the list in the original post for what plugins/behaviors/ACEs are supported.

    Just to emphasize a few things: Chowdren can run events especially fast, but with the move to native code, there may also be performance improvements in other areas (less overhead when interfacing with OpenGL/D3D/etc, less runtime overhead, and so on). However, most users will find Chowdren valuable because

    • It is very portable, and can be used with pretty much all console/desktop platforms
    • Game-specific changes and optimizations can be added to the runtime, yielding a great deal of control
    • It is significantly faster, since everything is native code

    I'd like to underline points 1 and 2, since a lot of focus has been on point 3 so far!

  • newt: On Android, Chowdren uses JNI / SDL.

    We released NOT A HERO using this Android backend, so you can check it out for yourself on e.g. NVIDIA SHIELD

    For HTML5, Chowdren has an Emscripten backend, which I assume is still faster than the standard C2 runtime, especially when WebAssembly is used. For Chowdren, the emphasis is on console/desktop platforms, i.e. mostly Switch/PS4/XB1 and Windows/Mac/Linux.

  • (reserving for future use)

  • Hi everyone! Mathias from MP2 Games here.

    I'm happy to announce that there is now support for Construct 2/3 in Chowdren.

    Website

    Overview

    Chowdren is a blazingly fast runtime for Construct. It supports

    • Desktop: Windows, Mac, Linux
    • Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X/S
    • Mobile: Android, iOS
    • Web: HTML5 (Emscripten)

    Chowdren automatically translates your events to C++, and uses a C++ runtime.

    This means that you can expect significant speedups when using Chowdren for your game.

    Chowdren also optimizes for several common usecases. An example of this is the use of the Function plugin, where "On function" directly translates to a function in C++.

    Chowdren has been used for several games, such as

    • Astral Ascent (Construct 3, PC & consoles)
    • Mighty Goose (Construct 3, PC & consoles)
    • Cyber Shadow (Construct 2, Nintendo Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Windows/Mac/Linux)
    • Iconoclasts (Construct Classic, Nintendo Switch/PS4/PS Vita/Windows/Mac/Linux)
    • Petal Crash (Construct 3, Nintendo Switch/PS4/Windows/Mac/Linux)
    • Baba Is You (Clickteam Fusion, Windows/Mac/Linux/Nintendo Switch)
    • Freedom Planet (Clickteam Fusion, Nintendo Switch/PS4/Wii U/Windows/Mac/Linux)
    • Noitu Love: Devolution (Clickteam Fusion, Nintendo 3DS/Wii U)
    • NOT A HERO (Clickteam Fusion, PS4/XB1/Windows/Mac/Linux/Amazon Fire TV)
    • (and more...)

    Features

    Chowdren has

    1. support for all current PC and console platforms
    2. an optimizing C++ compiler for events, layouts and objects, allowing for incredible performance
    3. a C++ runtime with a huge set of supported plugins and behaviors
    4. a smart shader optimizer & merger, allowing for very fast effects

    We used to have a list of supported Construct plugins/behaviors, but at this point, adding support for a new Construct feature or plugin is straightforward and does not require a massive amount of work.

    Get in touch

    We work with small indie teams to bring games all the way from caproj/capx to release on other platforms.

    We have years of experience porting Construct games, and we usually tailor Chowdren for the games we work with.

    If needed, we do game-specific optimizations to make sure games hit 60 FPS. Typically, we also add features such as localization support, achievements, and perform changes that would be difficult to do from Construct.

    Typically, the porting process is this:

    • The developer provides us with caproj/capx files, and we send them Windows builds for testing.
    • Once the Windows build is free of issues, we bring the game to the target platform. If the developers have a devkit for the platform in question, we send them builds for testing.
    • When a build for the target platform is free of issues, with no gameplay or compliance issues left, we will prepare it for submission.

    With that said, we would be happy to hear about your game!

    E-mail: construct@mp2.dk

    Please make sure to include a short introduction and description of your game.

    Articles