Mr Wolf's Forum Posts

  • Q: Why isn't there an image editor like Construct Classic had?

    or - How do I get alpha channel (transparency) support?

    A: C2 is very early in development and we haven't made a built-in image editor yet. In the meantime, we launch the system default image editor. Unless you install something else, this is MS Paint, which does not have alpha support! Install another image editor like Paint.NET (free), which has good alpha channel support, and it will launch instead. We're still working on a built-in image editor which should be coming soon!

    Q: I hear a licensing system mentioned. How is this going to work?

    A: Scirra developers would like to make some money while developing C2. This in turn is supposed to allow them to work full time on C2, making it even better than they could do before by working part-time. Scirra are still considering their options on how the license can work. In the mean time, test builds are limited to 90 days. We're releasing at least once a month right now, so you won't ever be without a working build.

    However, there will be an option for early adopters (you lot) to get cheap licenses!

    Q: What are these exporters I'm hearing about?

    A: Exporters compile projects into various formats for use on different platforms. They are modular and can be made by anyone, just like a plugin. This means C2 can support new platforms easily in future!

    Q: Why is HTML5 the main exporter?

    A: The HTML5 exporter is being made first mainly because it is multiplatform, and the future of the web. Having immediate multiplatform support is meant to attract as many users to C2 as early as possible.

    Q: Will there be an EXE exporter?

    A: Yes, eventually. Either the Scirra devs will make one, or a third-party will make one. With the modular exporter system, it could be both. By the time C2 can be used for much, there will probably be an EXE exporter.

    Q: I hear HTML5 is slow. Is it?

    A: HTML5 is a relatively new standard, and some old browsers don't support it very well. However, new browsers hardware-accelerate their canvases, and compile javascript to machine code. This makes for very fast running games. They won't be quite as fast as EXE games, but it should definitely be fast enough for games. As time goes by, old browsers will be phased out and everyone will have these fast browsers.

    Q: Does HTML5 allow pixel shaders?

    A: No, HTML5 does not support pixel shaders yet. However, there are some simple effects, like additive, available for sprites.

    Q: What happened to (or where is) <some feature>?

    A: C2 is very young. Features will be added in time. We probably want to add that feature, but haven't got there yet. We're trying to nail down all the basic features to make C2 useful first, then we'll come back to flesh things out later.

    Q: Is Construct 2 still open source?

    A: The IDE is now closed source, because Scirra can't sell it if it's open source. However, the HTML5 exporter is planned to be open-sourced soon.

    Q: Can I import 0.x .cap files to Construct 2?

    A: Unfortunately not - read the last section of this for why.

  • You say that as if he owned it, when actually its more the other way around.

    Construct is open source, C2 is as well, at this point anyway, and despite the free software stigma, it's not really free.

    He doesn't get it for free, as it takes his time and effort, and even though we get to use it for free, we don't get to decide what happens to it unless we contribute.

    Although buddy40's point may come into play in selling any C2 add-ons while C2 is still incomplete enough that some potential buyers may be concerned.

  • I have to agree with Tulamide. HTML5 is a great feature, but its still just a web format. It's the replacement for Flash, not for full-fledged programs. For serious games, people are going to want to use .exe and with anything not small, .exe with external, encrypted resources.

    BTW, I get similar slowdown as Tulamide in the latest version of Chrome.

    Now for some feature requesting. I think Custom Movement needs to be very very high on the feature list. You can do so much with it so it makes sense to add it as one of the first plugins.

  • [quote:13xz7ybp]Thanks again for the responses everyone - overall it's been very positive and it's great nearly everyone's in favour of this! It's been really nice reading the responses.

    "nearly"??

    I've read all the replies from the beginning and all of us are in favour.

    This.

  • C2 needs more developers. It is a big project, like Ashley said, which is why it really needs more than one or two developers who are pretty busy with other work. I'd consider this the most serious obstacle to C2's development. C1 is/was open source, but no other devs joined the team. The same GUI library isn't being used, is it?

  • What about people who were planning big games in Construct but weren't too far along? Should they continue it in 0.x or what? I'm also wondering if 0.x will really get bug fixes when needed and for how long.

    One more thing, how difficult do you predict porting our events to C2 would be? I'm sure no one wants their events to all feel like a waste when C2 comes out. Will most of the event sheet system use the same mechanics and actions/conditions/expressions etc?

  • Awesome stuff! It's great to hear work has already been started! Any rough estimation how long it would take C2 to be complete enough to make full games? A year or two perhaps?

  • The path movement plugin has rounded paths, what about something similar for the RTS plugin? This would make movement much more natural. By setting the blocked speed to the same as the regular speed, it sometimes moves around corners in a smooth path. The RTS plugin could really be made amazing with some improvements. Maybe a MagicRTS plugin if you get what I mean

  • Hmm, I didn't think of the multiple instances of RTS. I did think of the movement angle thing, though. The problem is, I'm not exactly sure how RTS plugin works and I don't think it is as simple as that.

    From my testing, the Rotate Object option seems to affect how the RTS plugin decides its course. It doesn't seem to be only visual. Otherwise, if I changed the rotation speed, the object wouldn't choose a completely different path. It needs to account for the rotation and the speed of that rotation in how it moves through the path.

    I've also seen that depending on the settings chosen, it can be very easy for the object to go crazy or hit into things or get stuck going back and forth in one pattern or all sorts of things. Even at default settings, it isn't immune to problems. Also, if you rotate one of the obstacles, it usually causes big problems with the movement and the path chosen.

    Anyone know how the path is actually generated?

    BTW, I'm trying to use this for flying enemies in my platformer and besides it not always choosing a very good path, I can never get it to be very smooth either.

  • The cell size options for the RTS plugin are quite limited. It would be very useful to be able to set custom cell sizes.

    It would also be great to have an action to toggle "Rotate Object" at runtime.

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  • I will soon be releasing a complete guide to using Construct. Here�s a sample of the chapter topics:

      Chapter 3: Missing or broken features and how they benefit you (includes bonus section �Why Save/Load really works�) Chapter 7: Creating an MMO: It�s not as hard as you think (includes bonus MMOFPS tutorial) Chapter 9: Inventories: Don�t you wish you knew how! Chapter 12: Arrays, Hash Tables, INI: Why they�re too special for you Chapter 14: How to encrypt a save game so that NASA can�t crack it Chapter 15: Randomly generated terrain (includes bonus section �Randomly generated games: The future of game making�) Chapter 18: Make an RPG in 3 simple steps Chapter 23: TimeDelta: It wants to be your friend =) Chapter 27: 3D in Construct (includes bonus 3D game plugin)

    Stay tuned!

  • I'm just about finished eventing mine and I just noticed this

    Edit: Hmm, from glancing at your .cap, it works completely different than mine. I'll look it over a bit more in detail tomorrow.

  • Even if someone will create a platformer pathfinding plugin, I'd still like to have a plugin specifically for doing A*. It would be useful. I'm not sure how it would gather the data on nodes and their connections, but I know someone can come up with something.

  • fake it, going for some A* system would work well for sure, but its definitely way more complicated than it needs to be. keep it simple.

    It depends on the game. If you had an enemy in Castlevania that would chase you throughout the entire castle (or a pretty large area), you'd probably need A*. Other than situations like that, there might be simpler methods.

    Also, I'd like to mention, a "one size fits all" plugin would probably have issues with "fitting all." The A* would work for everyone, but everything else could vary quite a lot in how it needs set up for each game. I'm not sure how it'd work with the non-A* side of things.

    ^this

    I was talking in chat about this, and suggested Python as a possibility.

    There's tons of stuff existing for sorting, and there's probably a lot for A* as well.

    But the thing is that wont take into account your movement.

    Yes it could find this node to that easy as pie, but how would it know when to jump, and at what speed?

    There are ways to solve that, but with terrain in certain configurations, it gets tougher and requires a lot more work to set up the nodes in such areas. It's quite dependent on the layout of the level. I'm thinking A* might be the simplest part of the actual pathfinding.

    Back to "one size fits all," since everything varies so much per game (e.g. platformer behavior vs custom movement), I'm not sure how well anything but A* itself could be turned into a plugin. There'd have to be a ton of planning on what EXACTLY it would and would not do. It wouldn't be a magic bullet. Even if a plugin was made, some things are so closely tied to individual games that an A* plus doing all the other events separately would be needed in plenty of cases. It is similar to how custom movement is still used in some platformers instead of the platformer behavior, except it would be an even bigger difference.

  • Those are some great ideas, Candescence! It's actually a lot more features than I was thinking of. I was thinking of a plugin that only handles the A* search and you get numbers from (which nodes are next in order) and I was going to implement the AI part myself. Of course, if it could work as well as the Infinite Mario AI, I wouldn't need to do that ... Also, Infinite Mario AI doesn't even use nodes (which is seriously impressive,though I wonder how something like that would work in non-linear levels).

    For nodes, I think it would be great to have a way to visually connect them in the editor. As in, you could draw a line between them (like with the line object or a sprite) and the program uses that to gather all the connections data.