Will Construct ever be able to target consoles?

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  • Some stuff is just way too different to have both PC / Console working at the same time without a big team and very very deep knowledge of console development!

    Also, consoles are 100% C++, and as Ashley also mentions the JS/Web options are been slowly been removed/deprecated =/.

    For example, one of the more common issues we see when porting is saving, due to consoles restrict a lot the way to "save" so we either need to fully re-do the saving code or adjust it so it complies with console rules.

    As said in previous posts, our technology supports PS4/PS5, XboxOne/SeriesX, and Nintendo Switch so, if anyone needs porting feel free to write :P.

    ratalaika sorry I didn't see your post before. So it does sound majorly complicated to port C3 to console. Do you have to do some sort of JS to C++ conversion? Are updates to the game still done in C3? then you have to go through the port all over again?

  • Also note about exporters: The adage "if you build it, they will come" has to be taken in consideration. People don't use console exporters for Construct because there's only 1 (Xbox One) and the only thing I've heard about that it is, the framerate/performance is abysmal. I don't think it's fair to say: people don't use a low quality thing so therefore why would we invest in other similar things? I'm not suggesting native exporters, but I would love any kind of help on how I could take a path to porting to console on my own.

    Well you say it yourself, you have absolutely no idea how/what to do..

    You need to port your js into c++. This is what the companies can help you with.

    Then you can do the release on your own if you believe you can, or let them help you with that as well. It is a lot of knowledge, which they have gathered for many years. But you request tutorials on how to convert js into and c++ and guides how to release for every platform...? It is a lot you ask for

  • fredriksthlm no you misunderstand. I'm not saying I want step-by-step tutorials, but even a blog post or some lifecycle example would be great. I don't even know what is possible so its very difficult for me to plan.

    So you saying it HAS to be converted to C++ is news to me!

    Years ago I had a job where I was hired to convert old Fortran code to C++. But I had to do it manually, line by line!

    But if the answer is I have to work in C++ for my current game, then I would say then that is a bridge too far for my purposes. It seems like a nightmare

  • I guess one of the best examples for porting HTML5 to date is something like crosscode. Here´s 1 1/2 hours of a dev talking about the process.

    youtube.com/watch

  • WackyToaster wow that is interesting, I have to finish watching it, but it does sound like you need someone to convert from Javascript to Kha, Haxe or C++ or whatever.

    I guess I always figured the output from Construct wasn't "normal javascript". I did a gamejam in 2014 and I worked on a team where I built out level design and some other things using construct2 and they took the HTML5 export and coded in game logic etc. There were a couple of them and they were saying how weird Construct formatted and did stuff, I guess it was really hard to use. So since then I assumed it wasn't really user friendly since it didn't really need to be.

  • The existing Xbox One support is based on JavaScript UWP apps, and as far as I can tell Microsoft are actually trying to slowly phase those out. So with such little usage, an apparent lack of on-going support, and the apparent failure for this option to even enter the conversation, I'm more inclined to remove this option and allow everyone to use third-party porting services instead. I would guess our efforts would be much better spent helping make life easier for the porting services - but so far they seem to be getting along fine without needing much from us.

    Oh man, I hope not. I've been developing planning to export to Xbox. If this is the road you go please give a heads up well in advance before sun-setting. Good games take a long while to make, which may be why you haven't seen much usage.

  • I guess I was hoping there would be a path for a Construct user to implement their own game on a console. But rather you seem to imply that Construct users should just hire third party people to help get their games on consoles. I would rather do this myself, but I literally don't even know where to begin or if it's even feasible - is this something I could do?

    In short, no, it's not feasible for an individual Construct user to do. You'd need a small team of C++ experts with console development experience, an in-depth knowledge of the Construct engine, and probably a year or two of full-time work to develop an engine. The porting companies already have all of that and already spent a couple of years developing existing C++ codebases that are ready to go now. So it's far easier to get them to use their existing codebase and expertise.

    Good games take a long while to make, which may be why you haven't seen much usage.

    It's been supported since 2017, so over 3 years now. I'd expect to have seen results by now. Don't worry, we will definitely have a phase-out period if we do remove it (as we do when removing any feature), but I'd advise to plan on using the porting services instead anyway, which is more or less the de-facto approach now anyway.

  • Mathias from MP2 Games here! Wanted to chime in since Chowdren was mentioned :)

    MP2 partners and co-develops games with several Construct devs, where we bring in a lot of technical expertise for e.g. porting. For the devs we are working with, they are able to do amazing games exactly because they don't have to worry about porting and other technical details.

    I don't think most Construct devs would be happy with a generally available exporter for consoles. In our experience, most games will require adjustments and sometimes low-level knowledge before they will run great on consoles. If Ashley & team also had to concern themselves with support for this, I don't think Construct would be the amazing tool that it is today.

    Chowdren is also an advanced piece of software, and it has taken years of development and R&D to get to this point. Chowdren is unique in its approach where it compiles the entire Construct project (including events and scripts) to C++, and does complicated transformations like effect stack merging. If Ashley & team had to manage the same amount of complexity without limiting themselves to a feature subset, I don't think they would be able to move fast on features that users actually care about.

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  • Chowdren is also an advanced piece of software, and it has taken years of development and R&D to get to this point. Chowdren is unique in its approach where it compiles the entire Construct project (including events and scripts) to C++, and does complicated transformations like effect stack merging.

    matpow2 welp, sounds expensive! but I'm definitely interested. I'm still about 6-10 months away from release though.

  • Mathias from MP2 Games here! Wanted to chime in since Chowdren was mentioned :)

    MP2 partners and co-develops games with several Construct devs, where we bring in a lot of technical expertise for e.g. porting. For the devs we are working with, they are able to do amazing games exactly because they don't have to worry about porting and other technical details.

    I don't think most Construct devs would be happy with a generally available exporter for consoles. In our experience, most games will require adjustments and sometimes low-level knowledge before they will run great on consoles. If Ashley & team also had to concern themselves with support for this, I don't think Construct would be the amazing tool that it is today.

    Chowdren is also an advanced piece of software, and it has taken years of development and R&D to get to this point. Chowdren is unique in its approach where it compiles the entire Construct project (including events and scripts) to C++, and does complicated transformations like effect stack merging. If Ashley & team had to manage the same amount of complexity without limiting themselves to a feature subset, I don't think they would be able to move fast on features that users actually care about.

    I've been working on Super Ubie Island 2 and getting really close to release and my target is consoles. I've reached out to the Chowdren team a few times but I think they have a max capacity of how many projects they can work on. So i feel stuck. a lot of companies have told me they'll have to remake the game in Unity in order for it to run on consoles.

    When I started working on Ubie 2, I had a lot of developers ask why I'm still using Construct when it doesn't support consoles. So I can only assume that most devs that tend to target console release have chosen other tools. But I'm not 100 percent on that, of course.

    I do wish there were options out there but I feel stuck.

  • NotionGames thanks for sharing this. That is a unique position that any number of us could someday be in! Whenever you rely on a 3rd party company, nothing is guaranteed.

  • To be honest, it's concerning. Once I've finished the current project I'm working on, I'm planning to do another one that targets consoles.

    But choosing Construct 3 without knowing if exporting on consoles will be available once the project is finished is problematic.

    Now, I don't doubt the efficiency of Chowdren matpow2. It seems to be a really cool piece of software and I'm strongly considering it. But the problem is that third party are unreliable by nature. What if the company folds? Or is unavailable for various reasons like it's the case for NotionGames? (being overworked, focusing on their own games, too many projects etc etc)

    I don't suggest Scirra should develop an in-house export option. It's too much work. But having a clear list of third parties companies, or an official partnership with Chowdren, or some kind of a clear pipeline for console export would help reassure developers.

    Nobody want to create a game only to get stuck with something unusable after all that hard work.

    And if Construct 3 wants to really solidify as a true professional engine in the long run, that's something they should address somehow.

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