What next for Construct 2?

> Candescence

>

> Tile map supported -- TMX importer And a demo

I'm aware of it, but it has some limitations that I really don't like, such as having to input the data manually into an action rather than reading it off an XML file, and only showing the actual tile map at runtime rather than in the editor as well. Among other things.

It's neat, but it's not very practical at all, IMO.

The string comes from a XML file created by Tiled Map Editor.

However, tile map editor can not create hex tile map.

Ashley: Sounds reasonable. I'd especially like to have "Else", "Or", and official Function conditions. No offense to Rexrainbow and his Function plugin (which isn't bad), but there is certainly room for improvement on that end.

In fact, there's a custom Sonic-style engine using just events that I'm trying to port over from Classic, but I'm running into problems due to the lack of Else, While and certain function-based features. If you'd like, you can use the .capx as a testing bed for the new event sheet features. It's an open-source engine anyway, so go nuts. :)

inkBot: Actually, with tile map functionality, IMO, I'd have the tile map load in the layout editor proper, and when you double-click the tile map, it shows a different set of tools for tile map editing.

And, since we're talking about tile map features:

• Having tile sets as "objects" with their own variables, behaviours, able to be assigned to families, etc. Good for being able to place solid tiles alongside non-solid tiles in tile sets, and stuff.
• Being able to change tile maps at runtime, and save the changes to a new file so the original tile map is preserved.
• Being able to place objects in the tile map editor. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V is nice and all, but being able to place stuff with just a click would be lovely.
• And all the other stuff I described in my tile map topic.

Shame it's lower on the list, though, according to the poll.

rexrainbow: I am aware of that, though it doesn't really change the fact that it has to be inputted manually rather than read from an external file. Though I suppose it can't be helped until the devs develop a way to read from an XML file.

Speaking of which, Ashley, we need an XML plugin, ASAP! XD

So I think it would be best to wait on that for a while, especially since its a big and complex project. So event sheet features looks like the best place to start for now.

Good call. This is a better order anyway, since more event sheet features will also allow for more varied, more complex online games later on. I think most people want that anyway, even if they don't know it. ;)

:D

My vote was Multiplayer :p

But Then you guys need to develop all kind of server software for us 2 i suppose xD

My vote for "Better monetisation options",

but I didn't mean that I want many other export options.

It's aways about money.

We know the standard license of C2 is $79 now, and let's see GameSalad:

http://gamesalad.com/creator/pricing

The difference between free and <font color="red">$299/year</font> are IAP and iAds.

I am not working with Appmobi yet, but it seems also has IAP and iAds service?

If C2 can integrate with them, with better feature than Salad, C2 will deserve more than $299/year.

Appmobi reminds me the Facebook plugin. Yes we can make a Facebook game to show ourselves.But when there are so many single-player or multiplayer paid game there,it's a pity we C2 users have FBplugin but can't get anything back from there.

I think, I guess C2's future will be on HTML5 mobile web games.

Maybe we don't really need some options new, but just more deeply integrate with Appmobi and Facebook.

========================================

As for a web game, maybe a medium scale casual game,

once-loading takes too much time for players to wait,

they'll just lose patience and go to play other games in 10 sec.

If I'm not wrong, are the techniques like "Separate Loading" still on the Todo List?

Yes, it's about money, too.

========================================

I'm not sure if the Socket-related function was complete, how useful could it be.

If we can only use that to connect something, and still have to coding to death on server,

I don't think people who vote "Online multi-players" will really want it.

Agree with Ashley's "later" decision.

========================================

Misc:

-Audio still make me can't sleep well......but it seems browser's problem. ...hard time.

-Anchor still very hard to use for UI placing. Recently I use pin to replace anchor.(At least I can live with pin/unpin to a center object).

And still money. Money is the most important.

Making games is nothing but fight, fight with the social pressure, fight with your critics.

If more C2 users have more chances to make money, they will bring more followers back;

if C2 can only draw users who just for fun, it will be a disposable toy, not a valuable TOOL.

Sincerely.

I should have mentioned - online multiplayer depends on WebSockets, which is pretty much just Firefox and Chrome on desktop at the moment. So at first it wouldnt work on mobiles, tablets or IE. So I think it would be best to wait on that for a while, especially since its a big and complex project. So event sheet features looks like the best place to start for now.

Online multiplayer also depends on having a powerful socket-supporting server at the back end - look how Mozilla had to add extra server cxapacity for BrowserQuest.

So I'm delighted to hear that "event sheet features looks like the best place to start for now".

And thanks immensely for engaging so directly with the Construct 2 community, Ashley!

My vote for "Better monetisation options",

but I didn't mean that I want many other export options.

It's aways about money.

We know the standard license of C2 is $79 now, and let's see GameSalad:

http://gamesalad.com/creator/pricing

The difference between free and <font color="red">$299/year</font> are IAP and iAds.

I am not working with Appmobi yet, but it seems also has IAP and iAds service?

If C2 can integrate with them, with better feature than Salad, C2 will deserve more than $299/year.

Appmobi reminds me the Facebook plugin. Yes we can make a Facebook game to show ourselves.But when there are so many single-player or multiplayer paid game there,it's a pity we C2 users have FBplugin but can't get anything back from there.

I think, I guess C2's future will be on HTML5 mobile web games.

Maybe we don't really need some options new, but just more deeply integrate with Appmobi and Facebook.

========================================

As for a web game, maybe a medium scale casual game,

once-loading takes too much time for players to wait,

they'll just lose patience and go to play other games in 10 sec.

If I'm not wrong, are the techniques like "Separate Loading" still on the Todo List?

Yes, it's about money, too.

========================================

I'm not sure if the Socket-related function was complete, how useful could it be.

If we can only use that to connect something, and still have to coding to death on server,

I don't think people who vote "Online multi-players" will really want it.

Agree with Ashley's "later" decision.

========================================

Misc:

-Audio still make me can't sleep well......but it seems browser's problem. ...hard time.

-Anchor still very hard to use for UI placing. Recently I use pin to replace anchor.(At least I can live with pin/unpin to a center object).

And still money. Money is the most important.

Making games is nothing but fight, fight with the social pressure, fight with your critics.

If more C2 users have more chances to make money, they will bring more followers back;

if C2 can only draw users who just for fun, it will be a disposable toy, not a valuable TOOL.

Sincerely.

+1

I have a GS membership and it's a great engine. But you can make the same game faster with C2. The process is much more streamlined and I personally prefer it. In game purchases are really important monetization feature and game mechanic. You can't just add on IGP.

The GS license used to be 2k if you can believe it and people paid for it because you could make the money back. I think that if there was a serious avenue to make money back with C2 more people would buy it and that would be great for Scirra.

My vote for "Better monetisation options",

but I didn't mean that I want many other export options.

+1 more.

* lobbying to get HTML5 equivalent to FGL

* lobbying to get big ad companies (which only support flash atm) to support html5

A lot of lobbying to do <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />.

Cheers!

hearing more opinions and ash as well,

i agree, that multiplayer is too big to take on at this time. in lieu of that choice, i would definitely choose 'event sheet features'. having 'else, and and or' would go miles in making the event sheet programming better match traditional programming logic, which would make the transition of newcomers with 'programming' experience even easier. it would also make c2 a prime candidate for game design and programming classes.

so i gracefully back down to wiser opinions...lol.

i don't know if the poll is tracked 'per user', but if so, change my vote to 'event sheet features'.

Not sure it's already available out of the box, you can certainly achieve this manually in all engine, but I would love to see a Class for polygon tessellation, advanced textured polygons rendering (strip, border, fill Local/absolute, etc.), fast polygons Math (culling, averages, trigo, etc.), directly linked to box2d edge chain.

Well you got the idea: A completePolygons Class

(not simply tris, quad or concave).

Also : a native exporter like in construct 1 for speed reasons :)

Candescence

XML parser plugin is easy to make, you can put this request on "Plugins for Construct 2" entry. Or PM to —

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rexrainbow: I am aware of that, though it doesn't really change the fact that it has to be inputted manually rather than read from an external file. Though I suppose it can't be helped until the devs develop a way to read from an XML file.

--

BTW, tmx importer plugin can parsing *.tmx file which is created by Tile Map Editor. So

1. *.tmx is a XML file

2. tmx importer plugin CAN PARSE *.tmx (XML file).

I'm not saying Tile Map Editor is the best editor. It's just another tool to make/load tile.

After loading tile map, it has a lot of logic to do. So it is just the first step.

better performance when export to appmobi in a native iOS or Android App.

I voted multiplayer - though the gui on the animations - if this is something you're planning could be integrated a little better.

Adding keys to skip back and forth between frames, deleting the blank frame when importing the sprite strip and perhaps a preview of the sprite all in the same window would be very cool.

<img src="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/097/2/0/gui_thing_by_johnnysix-d4vd59a.png" border="0" />

Ashley - ninja edit #3 - Would percentile scaling be possible? My maths is up to par as I work in finance, but it'd be a real timesaver if you could both lock proportional dimensions of height and width and be able to flip between pixel or percentile scaling.

What JohnnySix said. The animation editor needs to be one whole window, rather then separate. Windows get overlapped and lost that way.