A Few Questions for the Creators and Users

I am going to buy a Construct 3 license, I had bought a Construct 2 license long back and had created a couple of games but didn't publish them because I didn't think they were up to the mark. In fact, I didn't even upload them to Scirra Arcade because I didn't think it brought anything new to the table.

Construct 2 really helped me in simplifying the overall process, but I wanted to make a successful game with fresh ideas and I wasn't really happy with the limited knowledge I had. So just to build a strong base, I started doing my research on gaming psychology a couple of years back to understand what the players want. I have played tons of games, read research articles, played games that help you understand "flow" and listened to podcasts from psychologists and other leaders in the industry to make sure that I know enough before I start off again.

At the moment, I think I am ready to kickstart my game creation process for PCs. And I want my games to be more old school, either the games will be completely free or they will have a "small", one time fee. I don't want to spoil the user experience with ads and other monetization channels. And since my games will focus more on stories and visuals combined with simple gameplay, I think Construct would be my best bet. My plan is to create small games and take it VERY SLOW and one step at a time.

I just had a few questions though,

1) Lately, I have seen a lot of hate for Construct on the forums, while I do agree that criticism helps in improving the product, but I hope there are enough people who are using the engine in the long run. Because an active and helpful game community is something you need for feedback, help and just general discussion. Are there enough users who are sticking by Construct 3? I trust the developers and their vision, but I want to know what the overall situation is as of now.

2) What is the future of Construct? I have a 3-year plan for my game creation process, and I want to stick to one engine in that timeframe, is Construct doing well at the moment to survive for a longer period. Also, I want to keep advancing, how do i break the limitations of the event system? What coding language should I learn to get more flexibility once I have mastered the game engine and if I still want to move forward?

3) Since I will focus more on PCs, will have the luxury to use super large 2d maps (like GTA 1) without worrying about the performance? Or will I still have to be smart with my asset management and tweak everything to avoid performance issues. I know mobile gaming is a bit different, but I want to know if the same applies for PC.

4) I know the process of exporting a game to mobiles is a bit tricky, but is it the same for PCs and other HTML websites? Or is it comparatively simple?

5) I am planning on a few physics-based games centred around vehicles, is Construct 3 suitable for that, any examples? Also, any good resources that can help me specialise in Construct 3 physics.

Thanks a lot for your time guys, waiting for a few responses now.

1)

There probably are enough.

2)

Check the blog for the future plans. They also say they are doing well. Will C3 still be around in three years? Probably.

You could learn JavaScript to make plugins.

3)

Pc’s are more powerful but it’s still possible to need to be concerned about performance.

4)

It’s dead simple. Why not try it?

Hi,

Like you I never published a game in public. I create games in my spare free time for our 9 year old daughter.

To answer some of your questions.

1. I believe that in its present form, Construct 3 has a very good future. I admit I downloaded the local version a few weeks ago (still in beta) just for those times when I have bad internet. However the online version works perfectly, also in poor internet conditions. The local version let you save on your local disk. For the online version I save to the cloud which has an added benefit, when your hard disk fails, you still have your work. Personally, I prefer Construct 3. Those hate messages disappeared long ago. Especially in the beginning of the beta cycle with the announcement of the paid subscription, there was a lot of hatred. However, those who are really serious about Construct 3, you find now here on the community. I am very glad that the hate message period is over.

2. Together with the online version and the subscription model, Construct 3 future is secure. The subscription model gives Scirra more resources which they use for further developing this excellent tool. You can login from every computer which has internet with your account and develop your game. Also Scirra was and is very innovating, from the very beginning (I started using Construct 2 in June 2015).

3. I do not know much about it. What I do know is that you always have to be smart with graphics. You have to adjust resolution, sizes to make sure you do not hit any performance issues. A few months ago Ashley made a blog post about this. But whatever tool you use, you need to be sparefull with resources.

4. I have no knowledge about that.

5. There are very good tutorials which can help you with that. Also those Construct 2 tutorials are still very usefull. Also Udemy has many very good courses about Construct 2 and 3 which will help you achieving your goals.

Like you, if I would create a game for public use, I do not like adverts in my games. So I will choose for a one time fee instead of adverts. Many people here seems to be fan of those ad supported games, but when I hear around me, most people don't like them. Personally, I like to buy a game and then play uninterupted without ads. But that is a personal choice for the developer.

I wish I had more free time to develop games with Construct. It is really a very nice tool for creating games both indie and professional. I do not regret my choice for Construct 2 and 3.

I wil recommend Construct 3 for sure.

Hope this helps. I am sure other people can give you more valuable information.

Enjoy creating games!

I wil recommend Construct 3 for sure.

Hope this helps. I am sure other people can give you more valuable information.

Enjoy creating games!

1)

There probably are enough.

2)

Check the blog for the future plans. They also say they are doing well. Will C3 still be around in three years? Probably.

You could learn JavaScript to make plugins.

3)

Pc’s are more powerful but it’s still possible to need to be concerned about performance.

4)

It’s dead simple. Why not try it?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply guys. That was really helpful!!

I am one of the people who have been very vocal about my dislike of the direction that C2/C3 has been going on (strictly HTML5 and the reliance on third party wrappers), but that doesn't mean I don't recommend Construct 3 for most indie developers.

There's three situations I can't recommend Construct for right now:

-If you're not planning on targeting consoles, they don't usually have HTML5 support and the only really "playable" one is Xbox One

-If you're making a highly performance intensive platformer (we're talking dynamic lighting, shaders/effects all over the place, many enemies also using platforming at the same time, etc.)

-If you're making something for mobile that a browser just couldn't run well on a phone

At the same time, there's also four situations I almost always recommend Construct:

-If you're learning to make games

-If you're making games for fun, and don't want to get tied up with coding

-If you're making 2D games for playing in a web browser

-If you're teaching other people how to make games

HTML5 support and performance continues to increase over time, it's already much better now than I would have expected when I was dabbling with C2 early betas back in 2011.

Construct 3 using a subscription was a surprise to me for sure, but if you're planning to/actually do make money on your games it isn't that bad of a price at all.

I started learning to make games when I was 8 years old using tools like Construct/that came before and had inspired Construct, and if it was a subscription I definitely wouldn't have had access, so although I can't imagine how it would work I do hope for a cheaper one-payment version someday (eg: less of a limit on event count, but more limits on things like no shaders, restrict the size of screen, watermarks for Scirra around the edges/border, only HTML5 export).

I am one of the people who have been very vocal about my dislike of the direction that C2/C3 has been going on (strictly HTML5 and the reliance on third party wrappers), but that doesn't mean I don't recommend Construct 3 for most indie developers.

There's three situations I can't recommend Construct for right now:

-If you're not planning on targeting consoles, they don't usually have HTML5 support and the only really "playable" one is Xbox One

-If you're making a highly performance intensive platformer (we're talking dynamic lighting, shaders/effects all over the place, many enemies also using platforming at the same time, etc.)

-If you're making something for mobile that a browser just couldn't run well on a phone

At the same time, there's also four situations I almost always recommend Construct:

-If you're learning to make games

-If you're making games for fun, and don't want to get tied up with coding

-If you're making 2D games for playing in a web browser

-If you're teaching other people how to make games

HTML5 support and performance continues to increase over time, it's already much better now than I would have expected when I was dabbling with C2 early betas back in 2011.

Construct 3 using a subscription was a surprise to me for sure, but if you're planning to/actually do make money on your games it isn't that bad of a price at all.

I started learning to make games when I was 8 years old using tools like Construct/that came before and had inspired Construct, and if it was a subscription I definitely wouldn't have had access, so although I can't imagine how it would work I do hope for a cheaper one-payment version someday (eg: less of a limit on event count, but more limits on things like no shaders, restrict the size of screen, watermarks for Scirra around the edges/border, only HTML5 export).

Thank you for the response!!

I am completely fine with the subscription model, if the developers get enough financial cushion, they can simply focus on improving the product, so I have no issues with that, 100$ isn't that much.

I am mostly going to make games for PC, not specifically for a browser, but standalone stuff that you can just download and play on your PC. And yes, I will be using top-quality pixel art and music, I will invest a lot in that. So I just wanted to know if the engine can support large open world games, is there any top down GTA clone created in Construct??

Also, I want to stick to Construct in the long run, I will be starting from small, minimalist games and keep moving forward, so I just need to find ways to use the software with some flexibility. I need more suggestions for that as well. I am definitely starting with JavaScript to create plugins, but it would be great if someone can tell me exactly how to approach it, I want to learn stuff that complements construct, link to some training material would be cool.

Are you thinking of making a game with the ability to talk with outside world in any way? (I.e. multiplayer)

If so, you might want to learn about networking.

Other than that, Construct is pretty great out of the box for what you are looking to do. I would certainly recommend it above something like Unity for a top-down pixel art game because of the ease of the learning curve.

Are you thinking of making a game with the ability to talk with outside world in any way? (I.e. multiplayer)

If so, you might want to learn about networking.

Other than that, Construct is pretty great out of the box for what you are looking to do. I would certainly recommend it above something like Unity for a top-down pixel art game because of the ease of the learning curve.

Thank you for the response!!

I am not looking at multiplayer, there is a long way to go before I even think of going in that direction. I am just looking at some JavaScript tutorials, I mean I want to learn something that specifically complements game making in Construct, so I really need some suggestions on that. There are plenty of tuts on JavaScript, but I once I learn the basics, I want to have a clear direction. It would be great if someone can list out the key things that I need to focus on.

> Are you thinking of making a game with the ability to talk with outside world in any way? (I.e. multiplayer)

>

> If so, you might want to learn about networking.

>

> Other than that, Construct is pretty great out of the box for what you are looking to do. I would certainly recommend it above something like Unity for a top-down pixel art game because of the ease of the learning curve.

>

Thank you for the response!!

I am not looking at multiplayer, there is a long way to go before I even think of going in that direction. I am just looking at some JavaScript tutorials, I mean I want to learn something that specifically complements game making in Construct, so I really need some suggestions on that. There are plenty of tuts on JavaScript, but I once I learn the basics, I want to have a clear direction. It would be great if someone can list out the key things that I need to focus on.

For JavaScript, I recommend starting with . It took me 4 dedicated days to get all the way through the html, css, and JavaScript courses. Over the next weekend I purchased shared server space, then started working on MySQL and php so that I could do both static and dynamic pages. After 4 more dedicated days of php, I was comfortable enough with the principles of both client side (JavaScript) programming and server side (php) programming that I could start building a basic web app that gave my students the ability to interact with each other on the web. I didn’t discover Construct 2 until a year later, so I already had a year of web programming under my belt. It helped to already know how a web page was laid out when I was first learning Construct, but it wasn’t strictly necessary.

Even though I spend most of my client-side programming time in Construct, I would still recommend starting out on w3schools. Do the html, css, and JavaScript tutorials, then take the quizzes at the end. Once you have been through those, then try making a simple webpage from scratch that includes some sort of JavaScript or jquery interactivity. Then come up with your own project. Necessity is the mother of invention, and you will learn a lot more trying to build something for yourself than by following along replicating someone else’s creation in an online course.

>

> > Are you thinking of making a game with the ability to talk with outside world in any way? (I.e. multiplayer)

> >

> > If so, you might want to learn about networking.

> >

> > Other than that, Construct is pretty great out of the box for what you are looking to do. I would certainly recommend it above something like Unity for a top-down pixel art game because of the ease of the learning curve.

> >

>

> Thank you for the response!!

>

> I am not looking at multiplayer, there is a long way to go before I even think of going in that direction. I am just looking at some JavaScript tutorials, I mean I want to learn something that specifically complements game making in Construct, so I really need some suggestions on that. There are plenty of tuts on JavaScript, but I once I learn the basics, I want to have a clear direction. It would be great if someone can list out the key things that I need to focus on.

>

For JavaScript, I recommend starting with http://www.w3schools.com. It took me 4 dedicated days to get all the way through the html, css, and JavaScript courses. Over the next weekend I purchased shared server space, then started working on MySQL and php so that I could do both static and dynamic pages. After 4 more dedicated days of php, I was comfortable enough with the principles of both client side (JavaScript) programming and server side (php) programming that I could start building a basic web app that gave my students the ability to interact with each other on the web. I didn’t discover Construct 2 until a year later, so I already had a year of web programming under my belt. It helped to already know how a web page was laid out when I was first learning Construct, but it wasn’t strictly necessary.

Even though I spend most of my client-side programming time in Construct, I would still recommend starting out on w3schools. Do the html, css, and JavaScript tutorials, then take the quizzes at the end. Once you have been through those, then try making a simple webpage from scratch that includes some sort of JavaScript or jquery interactivity. Then come up with your own project. Necessity is the mother of invention, and you will learn a lot more trying to build something for yourself than by following along replicating someone else’s creation in an online course.

Thanks Bruce, that's great advice!!