i am surprised that families don't have more votes.....

i have found that coding a project of any size is a major pain in the rear with out them

you need families for reusable code which is essential to medium to large projects.

behaviors can be easily be replicated with events (most of them anyway)

families cannot be replicated however.

not to mention you can use families to easily replicate the more complex behaviors as well as a lot of other features

besides families, we need animations!(for obvious reasons)

even if the plugins "break" it is not that big of a deal!

if anything breaks then it will just be the part where construct interfaces with it

all of the code its self will be reusable (unless the language changes )

basically it would be changes so minor that it would be only a few minutes to fix them(unless it is a big plugin, bigger plugin = more time to fix it)

due to the fact that construct is currently so limited, you really need to write your own plugins to really access its true power!

if they break then fix them

thanks Ashley! that helped

now that the expressions are working, I'm almost done.

i just need to add the conditions and then it will be ready for upload

construct2 is great! i have been running it off a flash drive at school! the portability function is awesome! (i wrote the plugin using like 4 computers)

quick question though.

how and where can i upload these things???

also, would it be possible to submit plugins to be distributed with future releases of construct2? or would you like to rewrite and distribute them yourself? i ask because i love construct and would like to help out in any way possible

i use windows 7 ultimate 64bit

for those of you who are too chicken to get windows 7 know this

before i was adamant about sticking with xp, then i used win 7 at school

i loved it, i quickly installed it on MY old computer (2003 intel celeron D 2.6GHZ processor)

and much to my amazement it actually ran FASTER with windows7!!!!!!!!

not to mention i have had less problems with windows 7 then with win XP

windows 7 and vista are almost NOTHING alike

if you were disappointed with vista you will be thrilled with windows 7

luckily i just learned JavaScript

JavaScript and java have simalar syntax so i was able to pickup about 95% of the language in one day while the commands, object structure, varibles, and inheritance are all different, the basics are the same.

lucky for me and anyone who wants to write plugins, is that JavaScript is VERY easy to learn

like i said, it only took me like half a day! (because I know another language(a harder language at that)) some one who has never learned a language could pick it up in a few days or less

any way i have been writing plugins for construct2

basically i have to wait till construct2 catches up in order to make my 3d engine plugin

but until then i will try to port the current contruct1 plugins to construct2 (the simpler ones for now)

thanks, that works(I'm still used to Java which you cant do that)

the way i figure it, the more plugins that i "translate" the less you have to do

i seem to be having another problem though

i tried replacing the pieExp expression but i am getting an error

Assertion failure: Cannot find object expression: Date.getmonth

my code is

[edit time]

AddExpression(0, ef_return_string, "getmonth", "Tutorial", "getmonth", "returns the month it is now. jan = 1 feb = 2 ...ect"); //same as the pieExp eccept i replaced it with getmonth

[runtime]

cr.plugins.DATE.prototype.exps = {};

(function()

{

// Get prototype for the expressions object that stores expression methods for an instance

exps["getmonth"] = function(ret) // all expressions take a 'ret' parameter

{

// Call set_string, set_int or set_float on the ret object to return a value

// The value returned from this function is ignored!

// If your expression has parameters, they follow on after 'ret', e.g.:

// function(ret, x, y)

ret.set_string( this.month);

};

oh i called the expression with the set text thing like this:

"month is: " & Date.getmonth

this worked with the tutorial stuff and have already edited actions with this with major success

can anyone tell me where the problem is?

EDIT: after i replaced the modified code with the original tutorial code

the problem still exists, im thinking that the problem might be in construct or the file is corrupted somehow

i guess somehow construct2 is not reading the info from that part of the runtime file

can some one confirm this

oh other than the expressions not working...... the rest of the plugin is coming along swimmingly

also, would it help if i uploaded the whole files?

hi

I've been using construct for a couple of years now and have been wanting to write plugins

i know Java so learning JavaScript was quite easy for me

however i have never wrote a plugin before and have questions

first i am trying to replicate construct1's date plugin as practice

what i want to know is, where in the code do i place the object's variables/objects

like

var now = new Date();

i need to be able to store this and be able to call it back in the methods(functions but I'm too used to calling them methods(Java))

does anyone know how to do this?

am i too unclear?

that is doing it the hard way

i originally thought about doing it that way but abandoned the idea soon after due to complexity

my engine uses only a couple of sphere equations to position the objects properly on screen

other than the equations being a pain to type out as to their length but it is rather simplistic otherwise

however, my engine does not support the animations

eventually i want to turn this engine into a plugin so everyone can use it

... too bad i cant do it in Java because i don't know c++

3d in construct IS possible but it is "difficult"

and really it is only simulated 3d (but not really)

the 3d object in construct allows for X Y & Z positioning as well as rotation however it does not support animations

also you cant really use ANY behaviors ( more specifically related to movement)

you have to program EVERYTHING and i mean everything from scratch

by default it allows easy forward/ backward movement in a "3D" world (up and down too)

but what is the fun in going forward and backward? not much!

the hard part is coding how to turn around

basically, in construct, the camera DOES NOT MOVE (well it does scroll in 2d but that is irrelevant)

in 3d it will ALWAYS FACE THE SAME SPOT! in 3d games the camera usually faces the player right?

therefore THE PLAYER CAN NOT MOVE EITHER!

this means the ENTIRE world has to move instead!

this makes things a lot more complicated mathematically

back to what i was saying about turning

the whole world rotates around a focal point(usually the player)

so when the user hits left everything must rotate right and vice versa

when it comes to moving the camera it becomes a beast of a different nature

then you need to set a new focal point and or viewing angle

biasicly, any type of 3d without the 3d object is impossible and that object does not have enough options to make a good game

for example you cant animate the models

nothing like having the player move but the character does not walk!

due to the release of construct 2, it would be better to wait til the developers port the 3d object

and add some of the "missing" features

this will take some time

but as a definitive answer to your question, yes! but this breaks a lot of construct's features due to how you have to simulate things

also as a side note, there are other ways (easier) ways to simulate it (less math) but takes like at least 3 to 4 the cpu

as for level design... it is near impossible to do in construct's UI

I'll have to setup a custom program to design them however there are problems with that!

the 3d object would have to let you change the model/set the model at runtime which is not currently supported

anyways

while the cap file is still in early development, i will be glad to help with and share my knowledge for 3d apps

And regarding mac...i hate anything that has that rotten half eaten apple logo

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

as for installing Linux, what is so hard about it?

you just burn it to disk and stick it in the computer when it boots and click install. it will ask you a couple of questions (like what do you want your user name to be?)

as for the for the command line stuff.... Ive been using ubuntu for two + years and have only had to use it once (when i tried to install construct on it). Linux's command line stuff is a lot simpler than Windows's.

User interface? Market share?

that is not what i meant. i was more or less talking about the "behind the senes" stuff

there is a reason why most web servers and ALL super computers run on it!

in all of the time i have used it and all of the different versions i have used it only has crashed once and that was when the hard drive failed. (and Linux warned me weeks in advance that it would happen soon )

and as far as inter face goes in my opinion it is only second to that of Windows 7

another advantage is that you don't ever have to worry about viruses!

you might try to say that about mac as well but it isn't true. there just aren't as many mac viruses (not worth the hacker's time) and most viruses are asymptomatic now a days so you wouldn't know (because you probably wouldn't have an anti-virus)

Linux on the other hand, even if a virus got on the machine and the user was stupid enough to run it( and it miraculously ran) Linux would throw a hissyfit when it would try to do ANYTHING

(only Linux is allowed to modify Linux( for example it wont let windows touch it with a ten foot pole)) basically the only thing the virus could ever touch( and with very great difficulty) is your home folder(Linux's equivalent to my documents)

Have you actually run Construct under Codeweavers Game version of Wine?? I never said "I know it will work".. I just believe it should. Obviously those are two different things which is why I need to actually test it out. I can believe there would be some bugs though...especially considering Construct is already buggy.

... the developer's of that version even come out and say that directX9 applications are EXTREMELY buggy and may crash... often! and don't even try to use any DirectX10 or 11 software due to the fact that they say it is not compatible at all!

now maybe if you were to down grade construct to DirectX8 (preferably 7 or lower for best accuracy) you would have better luck! not to mention the original wine (ever the game version) the developers blatantly come out and say that construct (yes by name) does not really work( they mention that you MIGHT be able to at least start it) they pretty much say don't even try(stupidly i did and wasted my time)

and lastly they are trying to use COMPUTER software to emulate COMPUTER hardware functions(you can easily emulate non-computer hardware as it is not as complex as a computer's)

hardware emulation can be very buggy and SLOW( it can take as much as 100 times the CPU to get the same speed!) i say hardware emulation with mac because apple tends to put the OS on computer hardware custom made for their OS (they can't even use the same RAM!) this presents other problems not found in Linux(as it uses the same Windows hardware)

the fact of the matter is that DirectX is HARDWARE acceleration, meaning your graphics card must be compatible with it and since a lot of Macs use that custom hardware that probably(depends on the GPU that apple decides to use on that model) wouldn't support directx, hardware emulation is required(that's why DirectX emulation is so buggy) for example, why should Apple use hardware that supports stuff that their OS does not?

basically in Linux you only have to emulate the software as Linux can use your GPU's native DirectX9 functions while Mac MAY not (i say may because it depends on the computer its self)

also as old as DirectX9 is, it is still too new and powerful to emulate the hardware accurately, let alone at full speed! (note that the speed will depend on your CPU speed!)(not to mention some of the "new" computers i have seen at Walmart, even the expensive ones, are slow and several years out dated )

also take into account that Microsoft doesn't want you to be able to run your windows programs on an other OS because they want you to use windows(which is cheaper by the way especially in maintenance costs(however, Linux and most Linux software however, is free! ) so why use Mac in the first place?) so Microsoft will go out of their way to make stuff like DirectX extremely difficult to emulate

even if you do a dual boot or virtual machine like i said it will not help you if your Graphics card does not support DirectX9 or above any way! although they are your best options for now, it might be best to wait and hope for construct to be ported to Mac

and that doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon( maybe construct 2 at the soonest but i think 3 would be more likely unless something inspires the developers to start from scratch and recode construct with OpenGL support sooner) also take into account that construct is open source so you could do it your self if you want it on mac that badly

soooo...... i just would not bother with programs like wine for construct because construct is just one of those programs that makes even the best DirectX9 emulators crash and BURN

so try dual boot or virtual machine and if those both don't work then just go out and buy a windows machine(note both of those options will most likely work if you are using a Linux machine because they USUALLY use windows hardware)

...you're kidding right?

wine?!

1, CONSTRUCT IS INCOMPATIBLE!!!!!

if any of you have ever dealt with wine you'd know that construct has LOTS of random crashes when you try to run it.... most of the time you cant start it. not to mention you have to apply A LOT of patches for directx through terminal(Linux's version of command prompt... it was a pain in the butt)......

now mabe if construct supported OpenGL *crosses fingers* it might be possible.

however, when ever i hear the developers talk about mac and Linux support it's only being able to run your games on them.

2, MAC!?!?!?!?!?

I'd rather have Linux support. Linux beats windows and mac in every category. really one of the only reasons i kept windows XP was for construct (and a couple of other programs) but then i got windows 7.... ( win 7 ftw)

basically the way construct is designed this is not possible thank you directX.

but this poses a nice little question. why doesn't support OpenGL and directX?

that would fix a lot of problems(not to mention that OpenGL runs faster on my comp and directX uses OpenGL to work!)

3, it's a nice thought but at this point is not feasible. they would probably have to start from scratch and have to rewrite construct and i dont think they want to do that any time soon

now if your computer's processor supports virtual machine then its a different story.

also i don't know if mac supports this(win 7 pro(i think) and ultimate(i know this for a fact because i use ultimate) do)

basically virtual machine is a new technology that lets you run two or more operating system at the same time.

with this you could effectively run mac and windows at the same time

or ... or you could do a dual boot setup and you can choose which operating system at start up like i do. you just partition your hard drive and install your second OS on the second partition