C2 is event only, doesn't mean you cannot do complex things with it though, plus there is a way to create plugins yourself, also most games I saw being sold are html5 games sold to web publishers (we are talking selling one time for some hundred bucks) even though some games managed to be sold to actual customers (like the ones published on steam) , keep in mind that it is a web games based engine at its core so you can end up having to optimise quite a bit.
The actual market may have changed though, I never sold any game to customers myself (didn't want to) so others may have a better knowledge about that.
Thank you, which game was it that got published to steam?
Check out some of the C2 games on Steam here: viewtopic.php?f=146&t=171657
[quote:dqhgifs0]Sorry for making this thread a bit long I just wanted to make it clear that I am not looking for easy ways to make money off of game development and that I have some well thought-out projects and I used to work in more complicated environments and was wondering if these programs (like Construct) have the same chance of success in sales, how versatile are they?
The tools you use may affect the production and implementation of your software, but it may or may not affect sales directly. For sales, this would depend more on your marketing and how you advertise your product and how your audience perceive your product, no?
[quote:dqhgifs0]What are the limitations of using Construct VS Visual Studio for example?
Visual Studio allows you to control everything down to hardware level if you wish. All those deep down compiler optimization to memory allocation and what not could be controlled to the maximum. If you are very good in programming, enjoying it and could write quick efficient codes, then Visual Studio would allow you to absolutely control all fine technical details. However, these days, with WYSIWYG engines, people could create games faster with drag and drop. If you understand C2's workflow, then you will see that it is highly capable engine. If you want to extend its capabilities with programming, you can do so as well with plugins and its SDK.
However, for those coming from pure programming background, they might feel a bit inflexible if they use pure C2. For example, if you used to write your own C++ game in pure DirectX or OpenGL, you might recall invoking all those drawing functions for each object yourself. In C2, all these are taken care of and you can't really change them (unless with some sort of external plugin...?). In addition, I used to try Game Maker myself and you could draw multiple things on screen with one object. In C2, one Sprite object is usually strictly one Sprite object. Or what about things like buffer objects that you could render to and apply fancy post processing stuff before rendering it to the screen? C2 keep all these details in its own package and you can't really touch them. C2 got its own simple way of doing things.
Some hardcore programmers might wanna manipulate all the pixels and all the rendering pipelines themselves, however if you are more of an artist type, C2 is a very good tool that takes care of all the "technical headache" for you since day one. However, if you have pride in complex programming and deep down technical details and would prefer to take care of all the technical details yourself, C2 might not be the best tool for you. Still, C2 can create games very quickly if you understand its workflow and know what are possible and not possible.
Thanks for the in-depth explanation. I guess I will explore Construct 2 but It's probably not exactly what I was looking for.
The question is actually vague to begin with.
Selling a game to a publisher ? Selling a game over on Steam ? Selling games on the mobiles app markets ?
All the three above have been done by users on those forums using Construct 2.
The software in itself is not the limit. It doesn't matter what engine you are using in the end, if in the end you manage in making a product that is worth it.
C2 is not a scripting environment. "True coders" need to either embrace its workflow, or find their way to another engine perhaps more oriented towards writing hard code as they are used to. It doesn't make C2 less capable.
Hard coding is almost not required with Construct since its scirra.com/manual/75/how-events-work event system is so versatile and capable, but again, the user has to put some time into learning how to use it.
The scirra.com/manual/15/sdk SDK still allows for hard coding if really required, but most "pros" will try to dive in that way instead of learning the event system, which is a wrong way to go about C2.
I've worked with engineers who were able to take on Construct in a question of weeks.
And if you visit those forums you can still see users who have been members for years and are still struggling with basic concept.
If you already have basic programming notions, that should help you get into C2 quicker, but you have to learn its ways.
As for selling games made with it, it depends on the game in the end, not the engine.
Games have been made and sold. You can find some in the scirra.com/construct2/games:dqhgifs0]showcase[/url]. You can find quite a lot of games made (and possibly sold) in the [url=https://www.scirra.com/forum/completed-creations_f148 "Completed creations" forum as well.
What are the stats ? Impossible to tell. Not all C2 users are aiming to sell games they make.
Some hobbyist are perfectly happy releasing free games.
Some people are still learning and making games for them.
Some people use C2 in their daily job.
Wow thanks for the links and all the details. I honestly never thought Construct wasn't a powerful tool. I was just questioning whether it is right for MY needs in terms of building a game which is possible to sell and mainly on a platform like Steam. I am sure Construct is a very versatile and deep program which can give a lot to the user IF the user devoted the necessary time to learn all of its functions. The event system looks very complex yet fairly simple to understand especially for logical people who come from a programming background. I still think that Construct is not the right tool for me though, It seems I will need to find a different engine because I don't think there's a good chance to sell games made with Construct. If anything, maybe it will be a one time fee to a certain company who wants to have ownership over the game or something of that sort.