linkman2004: Thank you very much. This is exactly what I was looking for.

SoldjahBoy: Thanks, I was inspired by this. I'm trying to apply the same realistic space ship control and physics to a 2D game and maybe make a shoot em up (or just some space simulation or racing game of some sort). In fact, I always found it kind of humorous how in various shoot em ups, a spaceship designed like an airplane (like in a video game like Gradius) with only a single thruster on its back is able to freely move about space at lightening speed like it's nothing. I've always wondered how a shoot em up game would play if the laws of physics actually did apply to the game.

I want to add particle effects to a spaceship; to add a trail of fire and smoke for the thrusters. In MMF, I can do this quite easily. I just create a round red/orange (or in this case, blue) firely looking circle object, set it to ball movement, then set the direction I want it to go and make it destroy when it decelerates. (Also set it transparent or use an ink effect for added effect.)

There doesn't seem to be a way to do this in Construct. The ball object doesn't have a deceleration slider nor can you choose what direction it goes (well, you can choose the angle, which is kind of the same, not really).

I'm stumped as to how I can make cool particle effects. It's something that I used to do so easily in MMF yet in Construct it's completly different and I can't figure it out.

Here is my current cap file:

http://machriderx.googlepages.com/space.cap

This is pretty much what I'm trying to do (forgive the crudeness of this MSPaint drawing, btw. Also as you notice, I haven't shaded in the sprite yet):

<img src="http://machriderx.googlepages.com/thrust.jpg">

Ah, it was math related. I wish Math wasn't my weak point. No wonder I was stumped. Thank you so much, Ashley. I guess I really need to brush up on my Math skills, heh.

http://machriderx.googlepages.com/spacesim.cap

I'm trying to make a physics based spacecraft movement but I can't seem to figure out how to thrust the "spaceship" towards (or away from) the direction it is facing. Right now, it is just moving straight up or down rather than the direction the ship is rotated towards. I tried to use coodinate of bottom edge and top edge, but that didn't work. I tried to add detectors and add force to those but that did nothing. Argh, I seem to be missing something, something very simple, yet I can't figure it out.

Yeah, it's been suggested by me. I just thought I'd ask now that there is someone taking requests.

But actually, I have a better, simpler, much more plausible and practical thing to suggest.

Rich, could you please make a joypad object? Just a basic joypad object would be great. One that supports dual analog sticks (for games like Geometry Wars) would be even better. But even a basic 4 button joypad object would be great compared to the nonexistant joypad support that exists now.

Perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask for a plugin that can load 3D models (such as md2 files, etc.)? Would that be possible or does that sound pretty unreasonable? I've always wanted to make a 2.5D platform game.

Nothing said has been dumb. As you gain experience, you start learning tricks that just sorta "click." That little bit of math that makes the size smoothly transition? Learned that in high school. The "additive value rotation" I learned from Clickteam software (don't know why I didn't mention this method when we had that "change button color" thread). The use of layers to create a composite sprite is brand new, and something I learned offhand from one of Ashley's tutorials.

When trying to do something outside the bounds of current objects and functions, it's not a 100% creative process. You don't dive in with a box of Wheaties and hope the answers just come to you. Most of your problem solving will likely be in a reverse order, starting with the idea of what you want something to do or look like in the end. Like this: I want a circle object with these features. How can I make the circle? How can I then give it a border? Maintaining that border, how can I animate it using only the math I understand? How can I make it as expandable as possible?

Once you have your plan, then it's a matter of steps. From the bottom of your list on upward, you build your program until it resembles the thesis at the top of your list.

This has been a longer reply than I intended. I think I've made my point, so I'll leave you to decide whether or not I'm full of myself.

Hahaha, not at all. That's great advice. Now I know what I need to brush up on and a little bit of the kind of thought process involved in solving things. Math has always been a weak point for me, so that's probably why I don't realize these kinds of things unless someone actually shows me. Maybe if I get better at math, the rest will come to me naturally. I also need to try to be more patient and not give up so easily, but I guess that comes with experience. Anyway, thanks for the advice. What you just posted is very helpful and I assure you that you aren't being full of yourself.

I see. Actually ignore what I just said, that was a dumb comment. This is actually really useful. Thanks. I think i still have a lot to learn. I don't know, I can never seem to think of things like this. I'm not sure why I can't ever figure out such awesome and innovative ways to do things. I guess I'm used to MMF and everything having some sort of extension to use for it.

I guess from now on I should ask if something can be done before I ask if there is an extension that can do it.

Wow, that's amazing. I guess there is a solution to everything, or at least a temporary one. Maybe I lack experience or I'm just not as creative when it comes to solving problems but I wish I could think of this type of stuff. I never thought of doing it that way before.

This is really good though, although it is a bit event intensive, but still very good. I like how smooth it looks. I still think a circle object would be good though to simplify things and for efficiency but this might work. I have to try it out and see.

I tried that, it looked really ugly. The circle gets really blurry when scaled down and the results in general are not very pretty (quite an eyesore, in fact). Parts of the circle even begin to disappear as you scale the sprite down far enough.

A circle object would provide much better results. It be A LOT better looking (due to being dynamically resizable), in addition to being much more efficient.

Yes, I need to change the diameter, a lot. I would like weapons to be upgradeable in my RTS (according to what stat points the user upgrades them to). That is why I need a circle object that can draw (and redraw) itself correctly and dynamically like the box object does. Otherwise I would have just used a static sprite object instead.

No, no, no. I'm talking about the box object, NOT the 3D Box object. I need to an object that can draw a circle like the Box object draws a square.

If you're still confused, here:

<img src="http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7492/thislu7.jpg">

<img src="http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2121/this2ut4.jpg">

I'm talking about this.

A circle version of that would be great for showing the attack radii of various weapons in an RTS game.

It's a pretty simple feature request. It shouldn't be too hard or take too long to do and could easily be added within the next update or so.

I would like to make a quick feature request. You know the Box object in Construct? I was wondering if you could possibly add a Circle object as well.

I was trying to make an RTS and one thing I was trying to do was make a green circle showing the attack radius of a bomb/nuke type attack. An object that can draw a circle (like how the box tool draws a box) would work wonders for this kind of situation, but as of right now, it doesn't exist.