Construct Users, Let's Stick Together and Make Something Gr8

I am here quite regularly and read almost all the posts. I am noticing a lot of people criticising the creators of Construct for some or the other reason since the launch of Construct 3 (I honestly feel some of these users are literally created by the competition to bring C3 down). I have a small message for all the users who have enjoyed Construct Classic/2/3.

First, I'll talk about the subscription issue. I bought my C3 license today. Paying yearly for C3 makes me feel a lot more secure, it makes the game engine more sustainable as it offers enough funds to the creators to keep improving the product. I love the product and don’t want to see it going obsolete and honestly, the one-off payments will not help the cause. I just want to see Construct continue as the perfect tool for non-programmers who want to make games.

Secondly, what's wrong with a browser-based product? It offers plenty of flexibility and opens up the doors for people using all kinds of hardware systems. The browser-based product seems so light, I can even buy an entry level laptop and work on my projects while I travel. This also fits well for most individuals like me who want to create a game but can't invest a lot of money in the process, I am sure there are plenty of Construct users like me.

I agree with some criticism, and it is required to make the product better (for e.g. people asking for a Steam Plugin). But we need to be a bit constructive and make sure we are encouraging the creators to create the best version of the product; every game engine will have its own flaws and limitations. The limitations of the product actually push me to simplify and be more creative with my work, and that is something that I need to do as an indie developer. The games in the 90s and early 2000 are some of the best I have played, and they were made with systems/engines with tonnes of limitations that pushed the creators to improvise.

Any game engine needs an active and cooperative community to survive. If any of you guys think that the creators have made a wrong move, at least wait for a while before you go ahead and pass your judgement. If you think they will fail, give them that chance to fail. At this point, it’s almost like people are writing-off C3 and the vision of the creators without giving the product a chance. I really want people to wait until early to mid 2019 before we even come to a conclusion. As a fellow Construct user, I would request you guys to stick around and provide constructive inputs to make the product better. It’s fine you don’t wish to buy C3, but it would be super cool for all of us here to stay and help each other in creating some great stuff. I had used C2 for a year and although I didn't make anything as good as I wanted to (cos of my lack of knowledge on gaming psychology at the time), I personally don’t think there is a better tool around to make games if you are a non-programmer/hobbyist. I have tested C3 as well and am quite happy with it, I have my fingers crossed for C3's future.

+1

I agree with some criticism, and it is required to make the product better (for e.g. people asking for a Steam Plugin).

There is an official Steam plugin for C3: https://www.construct.net/tr/make-games ... greenworks

+1

> I agree with some criticism, and it is required to make the product better (for e.g. people asking for a Steam Plugin).

>

There is an official Steam plugin for C3: https://www.construct.net/tr/make-games ... greenworks

I am aware of that, I just pointed that out coz I thought it was justified when users were complaining about the steam plugin a while back:)

PS: Sorry for the long and boring post, finding it tough to concentrate after I suffered a head injury recently. Will try to edit it out if possible.

PS: Sorry for the long and boring post, finding it tough to concentrate after I suffered a head injury recently. Will try to edit it out if possible.

No need to apologize. After seeing so many negative posts from disappointed users, I'm sure it's refreshing for Ashley, Tom, and the rest of Scirra, to see something positive being said about them.

For the most part, I do agree with you. I, personally, am not complaining about the subscription price. I also understand some of the criticisms that are directed at Scirra too. I don't necessarily agree with all of the criticism, but I do understand why some people are complaining. People tend to make their voices heard when they experience something, in their opinion, is unjustified and wrong.

But, kudos to you for saying something positive. Hopefully, some people will take your suggestion and wait it out and see if it's the right path for Scirra. I certainly will. I enjoy working in C2/C3 and certainly hope the best for Scirra in their success.

(...) I'm sure it's refreshing for Ashley, Tom, and the rest of Scirra, to see something positive being said about them.

I am very positive.

I love Construct and sometimes i agree to some criticism but i mean we all know by now where some of the shortcomings of the engine MIGHT lie and, look, it's the same with every engine. I mean i talked to a developer recently who said he only just started finally using Unity, because mobile performance used to be a headache there... familiar? Now imagine trying to optimize a Unity project vs a Construct one.

I kinda feel bad sometimes about the tone with which the developers are being talked to. Sure, it's everyones right to voice their concerns or critique but the argument of being passionate or emotional about something doesn't justify being a dick to people. I'm passionate about a lot of things in life but never feel the urge put anyone down or being sarcastic about it. I think some users sometimes forget that there are still human beings behind this product and it's not a huge corporation where an army of social media managers are replying typing stock answers and then forget about it.

Problem i see is that the great, very personal relationship we have as a community with Ashley and the other people at Scirra might sooner or later really be damaged by this. I mean if all they ever get is dissing about the same three things each and every day i, as a dev, would feel less and less inclined to engage with my customers and leave that to other people.

I also don't understand how many "C3 subscription suckz" threads you really need. I mean the concerns were voiced and heard and in this case, Scirra made their position clear and i can absolutely understand it and feel the same as the original poster: having a subscription model of $99 (which really isn't that much) ensures sustainability and if Scirra has proven one thing it is that they have a really high turnaround rate with updates etc. especially if you consider that there are basically three programmers working on the software.

I also understand the value of a browser based product. Again, it ensures more frequent updates and faster development cycles. Being a small company, Scirra has to be smart about how they ensure to keep up with development and going with one code base that runs on every system via the web is a very good strategy.

I, for one, have a very good relationship with the devs, they've always been very friendly and helpful whenever i had problems. After using C2 for two years i was one of the early adopters of C3 and reported a lot of bugs in the early days. Most of them were fixed in less than a week. Ashley even took the time to look at a .c3p file of mine... Try that with any other engine developer and you'll probably land in the spam folder.

Sure, HTML5 sometimes has its quirks. But really, by now we all know what we're getting into. And i really must say, if Scirra sais they are working on something, i'm always confident that they will release it which isn't a given either. New Construct editor? It came out. Steam Plugin for C3? There it is. Addon Database? There you go. New C3 runtime? They're even further ahead than anticipated. I just don't want them to be discouraged by their community to the point that they say to themselves "You know what, why do i even work so hard, might just as well only do what's necessary since no matter what i do it won't be appreciated."

It just saddens me and maybe it's selective perception but nowadays i feel like 80% of posts on this forum or Discord are negative and about the same thing over and over again. Being an admin on a few Discord channels myself i even thought about opening my own, safe haven Discord for Construct users (i would've called it ConstructIVE ) but i think that might not be the right path either since it might seem divisive among the community plus i don't want to get critizised of being naive and undermining anyones criticism etc. etc.

Being in the adventure game community i'm also part of the AGS discord. An age old software that has a lot a LOT of shortcomings but even there i don't experience THAT kind of negative behaviour. People are aware of the shortcomings of their tool and of course it is being discussed from time to time but not like CONSTANTLY and most of the time, everyone is really positive about their program of choice.

Now do me a favor and just google engine X + performance on platform Y. You'll find, that a lot of them have similiar problems as we do sometimes as well. Game Development in it's very nature is hard and there is a reason, big gamestudios are often developing their own engines than just using Unity.

Anyway, so much for my rambling, i just think anyone who really can't live with the way C3 is heading is always free to use another product, luckily, there are so many options today that you're really not bound to one engine. I mean i could even imagine myself maybe one day, with my third or fourth game, switching to another engine but i think C3 will always be part of my arsenal whether for prototyping or gamejams or something similiar. Plus it has the best feature of them all: it actually enables me, a non-programmer, to make my own game using very advanced concepts, with which users of code-based engines are struggling with even after years of use. So that's kind of the magic of C3. For me it's just the choice of doing ANY game at all vs. having a few more export options. Easy choice.

Thanks for the positive words everyone, and yes it is a good boost to everyone at Scirra when we see posts like this! I really appreciate it.

I think in the past we've given a bit too much oxygen to non constructive posts - it's something we're starting to put a stop to at an earlier point in such threads as it doesn't do anyone any good. Again though I have to say, constructive posts are always welcome.

We enjoy engaging in the community, so no plans to stop that! In fact with since Laura joining us we're making much more of an effort to be connected.

Everyone in the team is working really hard, and has been for years. We've always been hesitant to give dates for releases/features as we don't want to over promise - but we always do deliver and I'm happy some of you recognise that. We've always also tried to be fair when making adjustments to our services/products to existing customers. Sometimes we make mistakes, but we always try our best to correct and learn from them.

There's lots of exciting stuff on the horizon (new runtime performance numbers look extremely exciting), and on the website front we're having a new full time dev join us at the end of April so there's plenty more to look forward to this year.

Tom you're welcome. I think what get some users worked up sometimes if when they get the feelings like their needs aren't really taken seriously or brushed off. With more and more middleware supporting more platforms like the Switch prepare this feature to be asked a lot more. Getting an answer like "most users don't use our console export" can be taken the wrong way sometimes... I really would love to See C3 working on the Switch and it seems YoYo on their part were buttering up to Nintendo quite a bit so i would suggest strongly, that you guys try to get Nintendo to the table (if you haven't already anyway ).

Thanks for all your hard work as it is though!

Lancifer

Tom

joelmayer

mumu64

Thank you so much for your response guys. I wish to see more positivity here, not saying to just say nice stuff about the product, but being a bit constructive and not being overly repetitive with the criticism can certainly help. Also, it's great to give credit where it is due.

Thanks for the post, it's always nice to see positive feedback too

We always knew it would be tough moving to the subscription model but I'm still convinced it's absolutely the right thing to do. Remember I was the sole developer of C2 for its entire lifetime. We already have 3 developers on C3 and we're moving quicker than ever, and I think people are starting to notice that too. I'm sure it will gradually become clearer just how much more we can do with a more sustainable model.

I don't think we'll ever please everyone. Naturally everyone wants the lowest possible price with the most features and longest product lifetime possible. We have to balance the price with our ability to actually do all the things everyone is asking for!

I think as users it's worth remembering: everything is a trade-off. For example, to use an old example, we could make native engines, but it's such a huge amount of work it would mean cutting several other platforms entirely, and not getting round to a whole set of other features. I think people often assume they can have it all: "make a native engine and support all the other platforms you already do and all the features you currently support and more new exciting features in future too!" It's simply not possible! If we did it, there would be massive repercussions in all sorts of other areas. I think if you're not aware of this and you have unrealistic expectations you might end up thinking we're lazy, or ignoring customers, or making dumb decisions. I gotta say, being accused of ignoring people or not listening is particularly galling when you have 25,000 forum posts and you are directly in communication with the founder of the company. Where else do you find that?

Anyways, we're gonna keep on working hard to make Construct 3 amazing, and we've got some exciting plans for this year! I'm looking forwards to it

I admit that I am one of those who criticized Scirra for its annual payment, and I did not like the idea of having the program in a browser.

Now I have my C3 license, and I'm in love with the browser, I do not want to know anything about the desktop version.

Cheer up the guys from Scirra, Construct 3 has a great future, follow the right path, there are many of us who support you.

(...) I wish to see more positivity here, not saying to just say nice stuff about the product, but being a bit constructive and not being overly repetitive with the criticism can certainly help. Also, it's great to give credit where it is due.

Things I like (not a definitive list)

• the look of C2 and C3 (also thanks to Paulo Ricardo Reinehr))
• the C3 editor works fast (even on my old laptop)
• a lot of useful updates for C3 (and C2)
• I feel decisions by Scirra are carefully thought out
• communication by Scirra is done in a clear and neutral to positive way (contrast: the founder (chewbacca avatar) of Slightly Mad Studios is acting like a maniac on the Project Cars forums)
• questions get (I think always) answered by the community

Of course I see room for improvement. But what I mainly see are positive things.

Great guys and ok we love Scirra but please keep cool...

We need a real great pro IDE native too! (not tool)

People satisfied with a product are generally busy using it instead of writing about how happy they are with it. The others, not so much. People are more likely to speak out/write a bad review when disappointed in a product rather than when they are happy or receive a product as expected.

In general though, user criticism can be a fair indicator of what at least some people have found lacking, and a lot of times its not just a matter of the majority or minority of users that makes a problem worth addressing. Just because most people have accepted something the way it is doesn't mean it can't be improved. Whether or not it is worth the time and resources to do so is up to the developer of course, as they always have to balance the priorities of anything they work on at any given time.

Complaining about the price or pricing model is literally pointless though. There are uncountable examples of irrational pricing injustices in this world (Construct is not one of them), and no matter how much you complain about it, the price is STILL always going to be set by the one who offers the product. Complaining here on the Construct forum about the price simply reinforces the fact that they have created something that is desirable to that person, otherwise the complainer would simply have left for a competing product, of which there are plenty.

Anyways, thanks Scirra (Team Construct?) for your hard work. As always I'm blown away by your dedication to continually improve evolve Construct rather than just release a product and let it be. More so than that I admire and am envious of your ability to interact with the community so regularly and in such a close manner without going completely insane.