In this construct 2 tutorial, I’d like to emphasize a few tools that C2 offers to quickly build events up using the event editor. This article is about the process I currently work with, using the mouse as rarely as possible. Actually, with a bit of practice, you can avoid having to jump too frequently from the keyboard to the mouse. It gives you a fluid C2 coding experience, close to classic programming.
The tricks exposed in this tutorial are true for R186 and older releases. Maybe, and hopefully, in later version, various aspects of C2’s coding ergonomics will be polished further. By the way, if you like what I'm doing, you can follow me on twitter and on facebook!
1- Using shortcuts
Construct 2 offers a large selection of keyboard shortcuts to facilitate your work. In this section, I’d like highlight a few critical keyboard shortcuts that are worth getting comfortable with.
The main shortcuts for the event editor are chosen after the first letter of the functions they describe. When selecting any block in the event sheet, press A to add an Action, B to add a Blank sub-event, C to add a Condition, E to add an Event, G to add a Group and V to add a local or global Variable. Pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Following on that, the X key creates a new event containing the Else condition. There is no mnemonic quality to this shortcut, but it is easy to reach for your middle finger.
The last construct-specific shortcut I’d like to emphasize in this section is the D key. D is used to Disable any event, group of event, condition or action you currently have selected.
Note that disabling conditions or whole event blocks are two operations that can be stacked for C2: when you disable an action and then the event block in which it is contained, construct stores the two operations separately. If you try to re-enable the action only, you will not see any difference. You’ll have to toggle disabled the whole event line first, using the D key.
Replacing objects on multiple events
Construct 2 makes it easy to replace an object type by another similar object or family. You can select as many either conditions or actions as you wish at the same time and press R to Replace an object they use. You can replace an object by any object of the same type, even a family!
It is useful if, for example, you have a player and an AI that share a common set of moves: if you build a move specifically for either one of the characters at first and want to enable it for the other later, you can!
You can find all of the available shortcuts in the manual: Keyboard Shortcuts - Construct 2 manual.