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AshleysBrain
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« on: February 06, 2011, 12:37:45 PM » |
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Hey everyone, I'm a bit of a lurker so sorry to come barging in with this, but I thought you might be interested: we started the Construct 2 public preview this weekend. Construct 2 is an event-based game creator, and I gather the previous version has been mentioned from time to time here. C2 is in pre-alpha testing, which means it really doesn't do much yet. However, it exports to HTML5, has a modular exporter SDK to support multiple platforms easily and allows third party development of exporters, and has tonnes of improvements over the old Construct. It's also "pay-what-you-want" software. It's been released early to get feedback, suggestions and bug reports. Perhaps some of you would be interested in this. It is at a very early stage, but we want to build the best game creator, and your thoughts would be appreciated!  A user also came up with a very handy FAQ which answers some questions about HTML5 and so on. Cheers, Ashley |
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Radix
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« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2011, 01:28:52 PM » |
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Tigs you should post here more because you used to be an actual  Also seeing this tonight was a pleasant surprise. HTML5 as the default exporter is a bit what but the idea of exporters as plugins is itself great and I have massive throbbing confidence in you guys. |
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mcc
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« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2011, 01:31:04 PM » |
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I was toying with this yesterday, it looks VERY promising. The "exporters" concept looks very powerful and I can think of various exciting things that could be done with it if I'm understanding it correctly. I'm unused to GM/Construct style software so I'm probably not a good judge but it looked like the IDE has a fair amount of expressive power even in this early state. (I am still trying to work out whether it is possible to do "scripting" in a more conventional language as opposed to the drop-down-menus thing. I think I saw something about JavaScript extensions?)
The fact the IDE is Windows only however makes it less useful from my perspective for the time being.
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Dragonmaw
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« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2011, 01:59:08 PM » |
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I am so dreadfully excited to use this. I'm also glad to see that it's sort of "donationware."
I've got a few questions though:
- Will we be able to import old .caps into Construct 2?
- If a plugin comes out that supports a particular filetype (say SWF) as a pay-for, and someone develops another plugin for free that does the same thing (independently), will you force them to take down their plugin?
- Will the program stay donationware forever, or will it definitely have purchase-only plugins?
- Will Construct 2 be open to the public in regards to people working on the core functionality?
- What core exporters are you looking at for the near future besides EXE and HTML5?
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Radix
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« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2011, 02:21:37 PM » |
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- Will we be able to import old .caps into Construct 2? Very unlikely. Check out the threads on Scirra's C2 subforum. |
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s0
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« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2011, 03:18:35 PM » |
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I've been toying around with this yesterday. Construct 1 is a lot of fun to work with, but its compatibility limitations have been huge turnoff for me. Good to see C2 seems to be going in the opposite direction. Looking forward to it becoming more usable. |
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deadeye
First Manbaby Home
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« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2011, 09:49:51 AM » |
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- Will we be able to import old .caps into Construct 2? There are no plans to make an official importer. I imagine it would be relatively easy for some adventurous coder to make one that simply imports your sprites and layouts, but as far as the code side of things goes there are a lot of differences behind the scenes. Variables work differently, some expressions have been changed up or streamlined, and your C1 project might rely on plugins that don't exist or are irrelevant in C2. - If a plugin comes out that supports a particular filetype (say SWF) as a pay-for, and someone develops another plugin for free that does the same thing (independently), will you force them to take down their plugin?
I hope not... that wouldn't be very sporting. - Will the program stay donationware forever, or will it definitely have purchase-only plugins? They aren't really sure yet. They may sell exporters, or may not. I imagine it would depend on how the whole pay-what-you-want thing pans out. - What core exporters are you looking at for the near future besides EXE and HTML5? In the near future they don't have any plans for anything besides HTML5. Other runtimes are more of a far-future thing, or at least for when C2 can actually do more than just push simple sprites around your browser window. |
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AshleysBrain
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« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2011, 11:08:34 AM » |
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- If a plugin comes out that supports a particular filetype (say SWF) as a pay-for, and someone develops another plugin for free that does the same thing (independently), will you force them to take down their plugin? The whole point of the open exporter SDK is for developers to be allowed to freely add support for other platforms. There'd be no legal precedent that would allow us to force them to do anything, plus we'd look like morons if we tried. It's just a risk you have to accept if you plan to sell an exporter. However, if you're selling a good quality exporter at a fair price, I can't imagine why anyone would spend all their time and effort doing all that work again, just to give it away for free. |
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deathtotheweird
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« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2011, 03:57:59 PM » |
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However, if you're selling a good quality exporter at a fair price, I can't imagine why anyone would spend all their time and effort doing all that work again, just to give it away for free.
People do that ALL the time. Game Maker is a good quality game creation software at a fair price, yet certain individuals thought it would be worth spending so much time and effort to offer their own product and give it away for free.  |
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AshleysBrain
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« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2011, 04:14:00 PM » |
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...and Game Maker still seems to be doing OK. Besides, by the time people are willing to go to all that effort, you've probably already made it, in which case, cool!
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Skofo
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« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2011, 04:42:21 PM » |
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This looks completely awesome and I'd love to use it, but I'm on Linux and it doesn't work well through Wine.  I'm guessing it's a little late at this point to try to convince you to use a cross-platform GUI toolkit? |
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If you wish to make a video game from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
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Radix
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« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2011, 01:41:18 AM » |
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People do that ALL the time. Game Maker is a good quality game creation software at a fair price, yet certain individuals thought it would be worth spending so much time and effort to offer their own product and give it away for free. Well, in the case of Construct it was MMF (hur mmfreplacement.exe). Which is why... - If a plugin comes out that supports a particular filetype (say SWF) as a pay-for, and someone develops another plugin for free that does the same thing (independently), will you force them to take down their plugin? ...since they were on the receiving end of legal bullshit once I'd anticipate their cocks being kept well out of anything similar in the future. |
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superflat
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« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2011, 03:32:01 AM » |
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Sounds very promising. I'll be taking a look for sure. Are there any plans to go x-platform in the future (I mean dev platform, not deployment platform?) If so, would it be tricky to port (heavily tied to DirectX or something?)
Also, what was the reasoning behind making it HTML5-based, do you guys feel that's the future? Did you consider making a .swf export, for example?
On a side note, are any web portals sponsoring games in HTML5 yet?
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deadeye
First Manbaby Home
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« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2011, 12:56:39 PM » |
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Sounds very promising. I'll be taking a look for sure. Are there any plans to go x-platform in the future (I mean dev platform, not deployment platform?) If so, would it be tricky to port (heavily tied to DirectX or something?) The answer to your question lies here: http://www.scirra.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=64749#p64749Also, what was the reasoning behind making it HTML5-based, do you guys feel that's the future? Did you consider making a .swf export, for example? From the Features thread: While HTML5 doesn't have a widespread adoption just yet, we're building C2 for the future, and when it does, you'll be able to share your games on the internet across almost all devices and operating systems, with a single format. HTML5 is essentially the main features of Adobe's Flash incorporated in to pure HTML and Javascript - and it'll run on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, or any device at all with a modern browser.
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C2 is designed around external 'exporters', which are written separately as add-ons (like plugins) and should make it significantly easier to port to new platforms further down the line. From the FAQ: Q: Why is HTML5 the main exporter?
A: The HTML5 exporter is being made first mainly because it is multiplatform. Having immediate multiplatform support is meant to attract as many users to C2 as early as possible.
Q: Will there be an EXE exporter?
A: Yes, eventually. Either the Scirra devs will make one, or a third-party will make one. With the modular exporter system, it could be both. By the time C2 can be used for much, there will probably be an EXE exporter. |
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superflat
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« Reply #14 on: February 08, 2011, 01:12:48 PM » |
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Thanks for the info man, I should have checked the links!
If a solid .swf exporter becomes available I think it's something I'd use a lot. This is just because I'm primarily a flash dev, but I do think that HTML5 is gathering momentum. For now though, there really isn't an equivalent sponsor market / series of portals for HTML5 games, as far as I can see.
Anyway, I really fancy a tool which takes a lot of the headache out of making Flash games, haven't yet tried Stencyl, but I'll now also be keeping a close eye on developments here...
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bento_smile
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« Reply #15 on: February 08, 2011, 08:02:45 PM » |
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I'm going to wait a little while before trying Construct 2, so it doesn't break my heart!  (Need variables!) But I am looking forward to seeing it develop.   |
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deadeye
First Manbaby Home
Level 10
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« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2011, 09:58:21 PM » |
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I'm going to wait a little while before trying Construct 2, so it doesn't break my heart! (Need variables!) But I am looking forward to seeing it develop. Ask and ye shall receive. Release 27 came out two days ago, and whaddaya know, it has variables . Along with a couple other new features (mainly just system expressions): http://www.scirra.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=8527Anyway if anyone is at all interested in getting a program that does what you need it to do and behaves how you want it to behave, I'd recommend testing it out and giving feedback. There were a whole lot of features in Construct 0.x that were added as a direct result of people just chiming in saying "hey I need it to do such and such." The devs are really responsive to input from their user base. |
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moi
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« Reply #17 on: February 13, 2011, 05:00:30 AM » |
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Does it have the exe exporter yet?
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subsystems subsystems subsystems
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AshleysBrain
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« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2011, 03:17:35 PM » |
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The preview has been running about a week. We're planning an EXE runtime in the long term. We're not that quick |
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