Just a nod to say this helped me enormously with loading the file for the array - the manual entry on Arrays doesn't even hint about needing the Ajax plugin to load the file and my array was always full of zeros.

For what it's worth, I've found moving to C3 has been a breath of fresh air. I am sure the convenience of being able to simply open the project on my lunch break at work in a browser will actually encourage me use it more.

I really liked C2. I like C3 more now I've taken the step.

Completely appreciate the economics for Scirra behind the subscription model too.

Psychologically, it may be an age related thing that was putting me off a subscription service (I'm probably older than most of the users). If, as The Mnk mentioned it was an annual release with a version upgrade cost, weirdly, I don't think that would bother me - but it's pretty much the same thing except you can keep using the older model if you wanted.

Thanks Kyatric, that was super-helpful!

I've gone with itch.io for now as I already had an account from making purchases. Looks OK so far.

Good to hear as well that a new Scirra Arcade is in the works.

So I have a hobby game in development and I've now switched to C3. I'd like to upload it for friends/work colleagues to test and give feedback.

I believe that C3 isn't supported on the Scirra Arcade (I presume this is dead as an option going forward given how long C3 has been out now).

I can't run as a live preview as I won't be online when others are possibly looking at it.

I don't have a webserver anywhere to just drop it on.

Where would you recommend?

Many thanks.

I'm also running dual screens, I wonder if that's a factor...

Right, I can isolate the conditions.

I have a 1080p laptop screen set to 125% scaling and above it physically and logically a 2560p set to 100% scaling.

The issue only happens;

• The laptop (or other lower screen on my main computer) is set to scale x%, when it's 100%, the C3 preview window works normally (but my laptop screen text is then too small to be realistically usable).
• C3 is on the upper (100% scaled) screen, but is the same no matter of the placement of the window e.g. fullscreen, full height docked window, free window - the C3 preview always launches above and to the right, half offscreen if the window is full height.
• The C3 preview window is the only application, popup or new window that exhibits this behavior.

I'm guessing this isn't affecting most people then!?

I'm also running dual screens, I wonder if that's a factor...

I've recently made the switch to C3. One thing I've found is the preview window always spawns above and to the right of the editor/browser window.

This is driving me nuts as it's partially off-screen and I need to use a smaller browser window all the time in order to get the preview within my display fully.

Can I control where the editor spawns it's window?

I have the same issue across a desktop and a laptop so I know it's not computer specific yet can't find any other posts about it, which I'm surprised about.

Using Chrome Version 73.0.3683.103 (64-bit) currently on my laptop.

For me, I've decided I should just use up my discount voucher for the first year and see if I use C3 enough during that time.

When I get to year 2 I can make a decision then if I renew or move back to C2 or I could even be doing something entirely different at that point.

I can sympathise with this point of view, but from a bluntly realistic perspective, I imagine that the majority of Construct users are infrequent, hobbyist devs who use the tool every now and then (I'd love the data on this, it's something that Scirra track).

With this in mind, they'd lose an awful lot of money if they swapped to monthly payments. It would be very easy to imagine a situation whereby the majority of users would by a handful of month subs a year, which would cost Scirra about a 3rd of their revenue from an annual sub model.

So the compromise then would be to dramatically increase the monthly sub cost; which wouldn't work for their market (entry level game dev and education).

The current model simply makes sense - it's a very low price compared to other services. There might be a middle ground for a sliding discount i.e

1 month = £18

3 month = £40

6 month = £55

1 year = £79

However I'm confident smarter minds than mine have considered and dismissed this; it's likely too complex, and as stated, the annual price is competitive enough.

I don't disagree really with anything you've said there except I note that many other services (I'm assuming game engines here?) can be had for free or free for hobbyist situations (Unity/UE4/Godot etc) and Gamemaker 1/2 are very competitively priced with a one off purchase (I did buy and try both and wouldn't have done that tbh if I could have just bought C3 instead).

However, I've tried the others and I prefer C2/C3 and appreciate the whole ethos of Scirra.

A suggestion specifically from my perspective;

There's a free option for C3 and that's really great but I find none of my basic projects fit within the model because I tend to need a minimum of 3 layers. Background, foreground and hud. The other restrictions are probably fine for me unless I find something I want to take further, in which case I'd be happy to pay for a subscription because I'd be using it more at that point.

I'm not asking for 3 layers on the basic free model either, if there was an extra option to open up the free version further (this model already exists for registered accounts) to small users for a one-off price. Let's call this another 'tier' in the free model rather than a different pricing model for the full version. "Freemium"? "Free plus"? (I realise you have to be careful how you name things these days!) "Basic"?

That's something I'd be happy to support because I do want to give Scirra some money, it's just subscriptions don't really work for me.

I find myself really torn too by the pricing as an occasional hobbyist.

I bought C2 and was happy to pay the money to support the company because over time it's allowed me to tinker with ideas. I would like to continue to support the company with C3 but find it difficult to justify pulling the trigger because I'm such a low usage/occasional user of the product.

I do have a discount voucher for the first year, this is true but I feel like the annual licencing (which is probably very fair for heavier users) a roadblock.

In the end I'll never likely make money from using it and an annual subscription that I might only use for a month a year is a terrible waste, as much as a like the C3 product. :(

A per month option would be OK as requested above, (I'd buy the 1st year no problem then) or a one off purchased like C2 would probably be a preference - even if it was only for smaller or non-commercial projects, but less restrictive than the free one...

I found the starter version less stable on Steam (about 6-8 months ago) so I bought the direct version from Scirra.

I'm a big fan of Steam for games but as jayderyu mentioned, you're better off with separate tools, plus that supports Scirra more and they really do deserve our support.