dl.dropbox.com/u/29072735/forcedscrollplat_test.cap

Here is an example of auto-scrolling. It's horizontal, but here's what you do.

Look in the Event Sheet "Camera", and see how the auto-scroll is set up.

Basically, you have a private variable "ScrollSpeed", and have the System scroll to Y + global(ScrollSpeed)*timedelta.

So basically switch where it says from ScrollX to ScrollY and it should work.

I'm sorry; I was going off of my knowledge in Construct Classic, which has that action.

Looking through my C2r92, it doesn't have an action "Exit Application"

Because, now that I think of it, a Construct 2 game is not an application - it's a browser-based type of thing.

So I don't quite know how you could 'exit' a browser-based game.

You could have an event that takes your game back to the main menu or title screen layout, though, with the system action "Go to Layout."

So I'm sorry for that.

For quitting:

On AnyKey pressed:

System: Exit Application

That's the basic gist of it.

Making a working pause button is trickier because you have to set up a time scale, and have your events correspond with said time scale, to pause it. I would recommend reading up a lot on the delta-time stuff to get a better grasp of what you want to do.

Because to pause a game, you need to set the time-scale of the game to 0 (time-scale at runtime is at 1.0). You just need to make sure that the rest of the game's objects and events are running on that time-scale, which is a process I am not 100% sure how to accomplish.

Of course, I might be speaking of outdated knowledge since I haven't picked up the latest version of C2 for a few months. I don't think any magical pause plugin has been created, though.

Reminds me a lot of Sega's "Typing of the Dead"

<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m61ky17wqt1rodbx4o2_1280.jpg" border="0" />

But hey, a good idea is a good idea regardless!

Note:

There is no indicator of how to get back to the main menu when you go to the "How to Play" section. I had to refresh the page to play the game. Might be something to think of fixing or at least add a text prompt "Press X to get back to menu" or something of the sort.

Looks like you just did, ha ha.

The best thing, I think, would be to play a whole lot of arcade or arcade-style games, and see how they work, see what makes them fun (or not), and go from there. With MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), the possibilities are endless, and an entire generation of gaming can rest in your laptop with no real effort.

Remember that the thing with shooters is that the longest shooters out there are from this generation and previous, and even then they are only forty minutes to an hour long. The more refined your game is (see CAVE's latest arcade ports, such as the now very-cheap Shin Akai Katana and their upcoming DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou on the 360) the shorter it will be - anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes.

Psikyo's Dragon Blaze is only 15 minutes long, but hot damn is it some of the most glorious fifteen minutes of gaming out there!

When you are making an arcade style game, it needs to have the right type of pace. Notice in all the examples you've listed, things are always clipping along nicely. There are quiet moments here and there to catch your breath, but there's no "filler" or if there is it lasts at best 2-3 seconds and that's once a level. Modern game design seems to dictate that you need lots of hours of content in a single play to have a meaningful game (and often this content is boring padding), but the old shooters are about short play times, with lots of replay value - competing for score is addicting.

Split games are a mixed bag. In a shooter sense, the NES game Guardian Legend is a pretty cool hybrid of zelda-adventure and shmup. You have Wonder Boy III on the arcades and Genesis that is a cute, fun platformer with annoying and frustrating levels. If you're going to do a hybrid, make sure they both work damn well, and that they compliment one another.

As for weapons, in an arcade-style game, the player-character is everything. The entire game must be designed around how the player-character moves, reacts, and fights. So the player and weapons need to be designed first, often. An overabundance of weapons can complicate things really fast. Originally the developers of R-Type were going to have your Force Pod attach to the top and bottom of your ship as well, but that made things far too difficult. A well-crafted simple system is better than a mediocre system bustling with features.

As for level length, my thoughts about game length in general should apply. Basically, you don't want to bore the player with long stretches of un-fun or un-challenging segments. A minute shooting asteroids slowly drifting towards is a sure-fire way to lose the interest of a player.

Again, this is where playing some of the classics and making some observations is handy. In the Taito masterpiece RayForce (Arcade, Saturn, PS2 in Taito Legends 2) each level lasts about four to five minutes, but a lot is going on, and the later levels are longer and more challenging. In a game like Strikers 1945 by Psikyo, a level can just be a few waves of enemies before a boss encounter. Don't feel too tied down by level lengths - a good game that takes 10 minutes to beat is worth a whole lot more than a boring, meandering 10 hour game.

Some recommendations:

• Anything mentioned in the above post
• Darius Gaiden (TAITO)
• Twin Cobra (TOAPLAN)
• Batsugun (TOAPLAN)
• Radiant Silvergun (Treasure)
• Salamander/Life Force (Konami)

Size and Position:

Is Object On-Screen?

If yes, Action.

As usual, I would not have thought to use the abs() system expression - really the Achilles heel of my Construct knowledge.

Thanks for the help! I didn't think you could shrink down 4 events any further, but I guess that shows what I know! : p

First, this is the Construct Classic forum, for answering questions about the original Scirra Construct game-maker software. Construct 2 is a very different beast despite reusing a lot of the same language.

Secondly, couldn't you try:

On Space pressed

For each Object1

Spawn Object2

and then tweak where the Obj2 goes from there?

dl.dropbox.com/u/29072735/labgame.cap

In this small example I'm working on, the player character is chased by robots.

To achieve this, I have the robots move like so:

RoboX >= PlayerX

Set Speed to 0 - Speed.Value

RoboX <= PlayerX

Set Speed to Speed.Value

I want to keep them on specific platforms. So I place little boxes called Borders on the edges.

RoboX >= Border.Left

Set RoboX to Border.Left - 4

RoboX <= Border.Right

Set RoboX to Border.Right + 4

But that does not work.

Now, I gave the Robos platform behavior for walking around - I've tried Custom Movement but it seems to run in to the same problem.

I suspect that the issue might lie in what the Robos detect is Border.Left and Border.Right, because it seems that toggling one or the other yields the same results as having both conditions on. Perhaps something with the set Horizontal Speed to Speed.Value? The possibilities are endless :p

There is the possibility that even in the space of 4 events, I've complicated this more than necessary. Basically, I just want the game's enemies to stay on their own platforms, hanging out on the edge until the player moves past them, changing their direction. They're always following the player.

My hope is that without the background processes running, the device as a dedicated gaming console can be pretty up to snuff. Though I've heard arguments both for and against the Tegra 3 chip.

However, I am somewhat skeptical as to the release of big-AAA titles on the system. The people clamoring for Skyrim or Assassin's Creed on the machine are delusional.

While I am happy that the kickstarter succeeded I am taking a wait-n-see approach to see if they deliver. 60,000 consoles are a lot to produce by the time March rolls around.

The thought of Construct 2 with required DRM (aka the bane of the game industry) is so unpalatable that I think it would make me stick with CC.

Great misleading title btw.