[Question] Is Construct2 capable of ___ ?

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  • I have what I consider to be a simple 2D, top-down, text-based game concept in mind that I'd like to start out with as a "test run" to figure out what Construct2 is capable of, but to prevent myself from doing a lot of work (reading tutorials, checking out examples, and trying to build things) before finding out that something isn't possible, I'd like to ask a few simple Yes/No-answerable questions about what Construct2's capabilities are.

    I'll start with the things that I think Construct2 might not be set up to handle, and then go down the list toward things that I think are probably addressed in tutorials already, but which I haven't found via searches so far.

    Note 1: I'm not asking for people to supply me with finished example project files/etc for these in this topic; I'm just wanting to know if these things are possible with the base Construct2 software.

    Note 2: Many of you might want to say "Just make this in RPG Maker. It can easily do most of the things you are asking for." There are a variety of reasons why I am choosing to not use RPG Maker. I'm certain that I want to use a different engine. Right now, my only question is whether that will be C2, a similar program that I have yet to find, or Unity.

    As I stated in my other thread, it's important that the software's license allow for sexual content to be in the game. I've asked Game Maker's Support team to clarify that point for me, but it seems as though any erotic game creation would violate the terms of their license. I'm glad to know that C2 can be used to create any kind of game, as long as none of the resources in the game come from Scirra's Royalty Free Licensed Assets or free Game Assets bundle. ("including those bundled within Construct 2 and those sold in our store" Per Tom's post here: scirra.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=125073 )

    1) Protect projects such that they can't easily be decrypted, opened, re-titled, and then re-packaged.

    This is a problem with RPG Maker (the rgss files). I'm less concerned about someone being able to access image files than I am about someone taking the game (capx) wholesale (or huge chunks of it, anyway) and repackaging it. If the game as a whole is safe, then the images, dialogue, etc should easily be recognized as having been taken from my project/game. Basically, I don't want someone reproducing my game as if they were the person who created it (e.g. by stripping out my contact information and adding in their own).

    2) Providing information about how much memory/processing power a game project requires (for comparison against device capabilities).

    For example:

    Say iOS7 can only play a game if it uses less than 100mb of memory, and the current game project would require 50mb on every initial load-up, and 112mb if the player ran through the whole game in a single sitting.

    Say the typical smartphone user has 300 mhz of processing power to allocate to a game, but the current game would require 340mhz of power to run smoothly.

    3) Populating text for in-game displays (e.g. messageboxes) from a .txt/.xls/etc "master" file (rather than text being entered individually per-messagebox)

    4) Groups of in-game actions that can be called/triggered as a collection.

    For example, [Group1] might include [Fade to black] [Place tiles a-z on Map1] [Spawn player sprite1 at position x,y] [Spawn NPC sprite100 at position x,y] [Fade in on Map1] [Display textbox11] [Remove textbox11 when player presses keyboard key "__Key__"] [Prompt player for input -> Choice 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6] [Depending on player choice, display textbox111, 112, 113, 114, 115, or 116].

    In RPG Maker these are called "Common events", and can be triggered by switches and include conditional (if; else) branching.

    5) Styling images in-game. (e.g. something like the equivalent of using border radius CSS to turn square boxes into rounded-edge boxes on a website)

    6) Zelda/SNES-style 2D animated sprites.

    For example, a set of three sprites for a character waving a finger - idleNowave, leftTiltFinger, rightTiltFinger, etc.

    7) 16x16 or 32x32 tile-by-tile Up/Down/Left/Right movement controls to which sprite animations can be synced (as opposed to pixel-by-pixel movement) - and the ability to increase or decrease the movement speed (e.g. moving 16 pixels per one second for each key press vs. moving 16 pixels per .5 second per key press)

    I saw the tutorial for creating 4-directional sprite movement ( scirra.com/tutorials/413/direction-based-sprite-animation ), but what I'm asking about is a bit different.

    What I'm after might be as simple as connecting an animation transition time to a certain number of pixels, and a certain number of pixels to a single key press of an arrow.

    8) I'm putting this at 8 because it isn't about what C2 can do as much as it is about organization within C2. I saw a topic that said branching stories are a pain to create in C2 because of interface limitations. I'm guessing that's in reference to the large event flow lists. Is there a way to view events in a sort of drop-down, collapsible list and organize them by map or something? I'm thinking of RPG Maker VX Ace's per-map organization - which includes sub-levels for related maps.

    This is crucial for me, as conditional dialogue trees are the most important element of the vast majority of game concepts that I have. You could think of them as a mix between Point & Click adventure games and 2D RPGs - no battles, no equipment, no HP/MP, little or no inventory management, top-down 2D sprites and walkable maps, and a lot of conditional branching (tiles, animations, and textboxes) based on variable/switch values.

    For a different comparison, think "The Stanley Parable" - but with a 2D environment and top-down sprites instead of a 3D environment and first-person perspective.

    Things I saw forum topics about how to accomplish: Messageboxes, Autotiles, Sprite creation, Tile creation, Z-ordering.

    Edited to fix the links.

  • I can answer a few of those questions hopefully well enough to help you decide

    1.) Yes, in fact it exports in a format Construct 2 will not be able to open, and does some tricks to make code hard to reverse-engineer.

    2.) It does provide you with estimates of the memory usage of your game as you're making it, and I think you can load and unload images per each layout (level). As for CPU usage there is handy debug and possibly also profiling tools to help you optimize.

    3.) Yes, I'm not sure if there's tutorials or examples around, but I did this for Insanity's Blade for future localization capabilities. I think I loaded the text straight into a variable with the AJAX plugin.

    4.) Yes, these can be done as functions or by activating/deactivating groups. You can include event sheets inside of other sheets too.

    5.) Not sure about this one, but you can use 9-patch to do rounded boxes that scale to different sizes!

    6.) I'd say definitely, but can't remember that example. You can probably do it easy with Spriter too but it should work with just sprites + events.

    7.) Yes, that's pretty straight-forward eventing.

    8.) Not too certain I can answer this one, but you can create and import event sheets pretty freely once you have a full version of C2.

    Hope that helps!

  • I can answer a few of those questions hopefully well enough to help you decide :)

    1.) Yes, in fact it exports in a format Construct 2 will not be able to open, and does some tricks to make code hard to reverse-engineer.

    3.) Yes, I'm not sure if there's tutorials or examples around, but I did this for Insanity's Blade for future localization capabilities. I think I loaded the text straight into a variable with the AJAX plugin.

    5.) Not sure about this one, but you can use 9-patch to do rounded boxes that scale to different sizes!

    8.) Not too certain I can answer this one, but you can create and import event sheets pretty freely once you have a full version of C2.

    Hope that helps!

    It does! Thanks for the information! As much as I'd like to learn how to do everything that any programmer could eventually want to do, just skimming around 400 forums topics and the C2 manual was a bit daunting. If I can use C2 to do what I want, it might be preferable to learning how to do everything in Unity.

    I'd like to get more information/feedback from others (especially about 1, 3, 5, and 8), but your answers helped a lot. Thank you!

  • Many of your queries already have answers and examples.

    Maybe it would hep you more if you just downloaded the free version and spent a few weeks making prototypes of the mechanics you are needing. That way, you can get direct assistance when you get stuck or lose your way.

    You will then have a much greater understanding of the pros and cons of C2 and be able to evaluate it's usefulness to you much easier, and all you've lost is a little time.

    If you decide it's not for you, then you've lost nothing and can move on to a different engine.

    In the end, asking lots of questions just gets you subjective answers. You won't learn anything unless you get your hands dirty and just get stuck in.

  • Regarding Point 8:

    I'm trying to make a sim/Tycoon game and at the beginning it was a pain. It took me about 2 months (in my free time) to understand C2 in detail and rethink some parts. Right now I finally made the logic and the main part, but I'm still developing/learning.

    What I want to say:

    Yes, it is possible, but it will take a while to understand. You will have to use some tricks (e.g. temporary global variables, additional databases,...) and it happen that you will have to reprogram it. For sim/rgb I would use several json-database (I have more than 20 and still need some more) and use the plugin json (you can find it in the forum), it will help you.

    Start small. I made small programs, just to understand how to make a message, use sidebar with json, calculate with arrays or use families. I checked how and if it works then I start programming the big part (just level 1 and build the other levels on it.)

    Database, flow list, ... such thing doesn't exist. In this case: paper and pen is much better and if you are over 21: buy a bottle wine, it can be sometimes very frustrating. Like usual: with time it will get much easier.

  • Many of your queries already have answers and examples.

    Maybe it would hep you more if you just downloaded the free version and spent a few weeks making prototypes of the mechanics you are needing. That way, you can get direct assistance when you get stuck or lose your way.

    You will then have a much greater understanding of the pros and cons of C2 and be able to evaluate it's usefulness to you much easier, and all you've lost is a little time.

    If you decide it's not for you, then you've lost nothing and can move on to a different engine.

    In the end, asking lots of questions just gets you subjective answers. You won't learn anything unless you get your hands dirty and just get stuck in.

    These initial questions are the equivalent of asking a carpentry company manager "Can I do x, y, and z with wood?" rather than going to carpentry school to try to learn the answers to my questions.

    It makes more sense for me to see what kinds of responses I get from people who are in the industry than for me to meander my way through things.

    After all, the response could be "Yes, but with the kinds of things you want to do, you really should go to school to learn about how to use concrete." or "It's relatively easy to do a bit more than half of what you want to with wood, but you really should learn about metal because of some of the other things that you want to do."

  • Regarding Point 8:

    I'm trying to make a sim/Tycoon game and at the beginning it was a pain. It took me about 2 months (in my free time) to understand C2 in detail and rethink some parts. Right now I finally made the logic and the main part, but I'm still developing/learning.

    What I want to say:

    Yes, it is possible, but it will take a while to understand. You will have to use some tricks (e.g. temporary global variables, additional databases,...) and it happen that you will have to reprogram it. For sim/rgb I would use several json-database (I have more than 20 and still need some more) and use the plugin json (you can find it in the forum), it will help you.

    Start small. I made small programs, just to understand how to make a message, use sidebar with json, calculate with arrays or use families. I checked how and if it works then I start programming the big part (just level 1 and build the other levels on it.)

    Database, flow list, ... such thing doesn't exist. In this case: paper and pen is much better and if you are over 21: buy a bottle wine, it can be sometimes very frustrating. Like usual: with time it will get much easier.

    Thanks for the information and advice. I'm willing to take however much time is necessary in order to learn how to do things in an optimal way. I essentially expect game design to become my #1 use of free time for the foreseeable future.

  • You want to make an RGP, right?

    Let's say it so: a simple one 2D or 2,5D is possible. The beginning will be difficult, because C2 is more shooting/action,.. based, which also can be useful in a RGP. With many databases and a lot of thinking regarding database structure, it is possible. It might have some limits, but if you rethink and search in the forum you will find a solution. There are many topics regarding RGP

    A 3D like WoW: you are definitely wrong here .

    For 99 $ you can not aspect wonders, but it's much cheaper than having programmers and it's easier to learn than Visual Studio.

    If you want to make a multi-player-online-RGP: I have no idea if this is possible, but it would be interesting to know if this is possible.

  • You want to make an RGP, right?

    Let's say it so: a simple one 2D or 2,5D is possible. The beginning will be difficult, because C2 is more shooting/action,.. based, which also can be useful in a RGP. With many databases and a lot of thinking regarding database structure, it is possible. It might have some limits, but if you rethink and search in the forum you will find a solution. There are many topics regarding RGP

    A 3D like WoW: you are definitely wrong here :).

    For 99 $ you can not aspect wonders, but it's much cheaper than having programmers and it's easier to learn than Visual Studio.

    If you want to make a multi-player-online-RGP: I have no idea if this is possible, but it would be interesting to know if this is possible.

    I might eventually want to make an RPG, but right now I'm not trying to create something that detailed. No battles. No HP. No inventory system. No shops. It's more the top-down environment and branching dialogue (conditional trees) that I want.

  • [quote:3szfohda]3) Populating text for in-game displays (e.g. messageboxes) from a .txt/.xls/etc "master" file (rather than text being entered individually per-messagebox)

    There are several ways you can do this, some which have already been suggested. But also there are stuff like arrays, dictionaries etc. That you can use to populate message boxes and just add certain conditions to how and what to load.

    [quote:3szfohda]8) I'm putting this at 8 because it isn't about what C2 can do as much as it is about organization within C2. I saw a topic that said branching stories are a pain to create in C2 because of interface limitations....

    The tools for working on big projects are somewhat limited. Not meaning you cant do it, just that you have to be very organized yourself as things can easily get messy. And not having the best tools for navigating around loads chunk of events etc. Can make you have to spend a bit of time finding things. However improvements have been made so its getting slightly better, but at the moment I don't think its at a point where I would say that its very good for big projects, more that its possible depending on your own effort of organisation within your project.

    [quote:3szfohda]This is crucial for me, as conditional dialogue trees are the most important element of the vast majority of game concepts that I have.

    C2 is very flexible regarding how you want to do things, but there are no build-in functionality that does this for you in an easy way. But you can make one yourself by clever design of your program. At least if I understand you correctly, so you should be able to make a good system for handling such thing. I would be surprised if you couldn't, due to C2 at least.

  • [quote:2rmi3lx7]3) Populating text for in-game displays (e.g. messageboxes) from a .txt/.xls/etc "master" file (rather than text being entered individually per-messagebox)

    There are several ways you can do this, some which have already been suggested. But also there are stuff like arrays, dictionaries etc. That you can use to populate message boxes and just add certain conditions to how and what to load.

    [quote:2rmi3lx7]8) I'm putting this at 8 because it isn't about what C2 can do as much as it is about organization within C2. I saw a topic that said branching stories are a pain to create in C2 because of interface limitations....

    The tools for working on big projects are somewhat limited. Not meaning you cant do it, just that you have to be very organized yourself as things can easily get messy. And not having the best tools for navigating around loads chunk of events etc. Can make you have to spend a bit of time finding things. However improvements have been made so its getting slightly better, but at the moment I don't think its at a point where I would say that its very good for big projects, more that its possible depending on your own effort of organisation within your project.

    [quote:2rmi3lx7]This is crucial for me, as conditional dialogue trees are the most important element of the vast majority of game concepts that I have.

    C2 is very flexible regarding how you want to do things, but there are no build-in functionality that does this for you in an easy way. But you can make one yourself by clever design of your program. At least if I understand you correctly, so you should be able to make a good system for handling such thing. I would be surprised if you couldn't, due to C2 at least.

    Thanks for the information. It sounds like C2 would let me get something up and running faster than Unity, and is capable of everything that I want to do - it just will come down to how I choose to implement things.

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  • [quote:1g1acwui]Thanks for the information. It sounds like C2 would let me get something up and running faster than Unity, and is capable of everything that I want to do - it just will come down to how I choose to implement things.

    I have only tried unity a few times, so whether its faster for someone that knows how to use it, I don't know. But at least to me it a lot more confusing and so many small settings you have to change and in general I don't really like Unity user interface, think its a bit messy. But since I like making 3d, the 3d capabilities of Unity is what makes me try it once in a while...with no progress

    But you are correct that C2 is very fast to do things in. If you get a hold of just the basic idea of how it is structured, you can make things extremely fast, which at least for me is one of the reasons I enjoy using it, and also because I actually think some of the best games ever made are 2D/Isometric games, so the fancy 3D graphics are not that important. For instant Minecraft is probably the best 3d if not best game ever made I think and its graphic is not exactly top notch, but guess that's a matter of taste

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