Particles?

I want to add particle effects to a spaceship; to add a trail of fire and smoke for the thrusters. In MMF, I can do this quite easily. I just create a round red/orange (or in this case, blue) firely looking circle object, set it to ball movement, then set the direction I want it to go and make it destroy when it decelerates. (Also set it transparent or use an ink effect for added effect.)

There doesn't seem to be a way to do this in Construct. The ball object doesn't have a deceleration slider nor can you choose what direction it goes (well, you can choose the angle, which is kind of the same, not really).

I'm stumped as to how I can make cool particle effects. It's something that I used to do so easily in MMF yet in Construct it's completly different and I can't figure it out.

Here is my current cap file:

http://machriderx.googlepages.com/space.cap

This is pretty much what I'm trying to do (forgive the crudeness of this MSPaint drawing, btw. Also as you notice, I haven't shaded in the sprite yet):

<img src="http://machriderx.googlepages.com/thrust.jpg">

Just have the speed of the ball reduced every 10ms or so. Then, when the speed reaches zero, have it destroy the object. Also, it would probably better to use the bullet behavior. Hope that helps.

EDIT: Okay, I whipped up a quick example using the CAP you provided. Click Here. Again, hope this helps.

hey that's pretty cool... the particles as well as the spaceship control... it feels really... spacey!

linkman2004: Thank you very much. This is exactly what I was looking for.

SoldjahBoy: Thanks, I was inspired by this. I'm trying to apply the same realistic space ship control and physics to a 2D game and maybe make a shoot em up (or just some space simulation or racing game of some sort). In fact, I always found it kind of humorous how in various shoot em ups, a spaceship designed like an airplane (like in a video game like Gradius) with only a single thruster on its back is able to freely move about space at lightening speed like it's nothing. I've always wondered how a shoot em up game would play if the laws of physics actually did apply to the game.

Gradius would be unplayable if it had those controls. That's a great example of 'realism doesn't make a great game.'

No, you misunderstand. I'm not talking about making a game exactly like Gradius where you are constantly moving in one direction and have bullets coming at you full frontal. But rather, a game with plausible ship designs and physics and gameplay suited to that.

This game would be open ended, you can fly anywhere in any direction and go anywhere you want. It would have some shoot em up elements to it as well, such as huge bosses (but of coarse with plausible designs) and I'm going to add a turret to the ship which you can control with the mouse in order to shoot enemies with (which you can aim in any direction). The enemies in the game would also be bound by physics and have to adjust their angle of flight and position in order to get to you. And no, you won't die with one hit like in a shoot em up such as Gradius. Shooting and dodging things won't be anywhere near as frantic as a typical shoot em up but will require mostly fast reflexes in order to safely maneuver the ship and avoid what is coming at you (and aim order to fire back).

I know a typical shoot em up such as Gradius would be unplayable if it had controls like these, but I am not making a typical shoot em up.

Edit: But then again, this is all experimental. I am just messing around with various concepts at this point and just trying to see what I can do with Construct. But if I do make this game, that is how it'd play like.

Sounds like a great concept, I definately look forward to playing that in the future! I tried out your cap file, the movement is really great, feels very "space like" lol. I will say, just in my opinion, the turning is a bit too slow/resistant, or at least when in movement. Otherwise, awesome work!

Thanks, I'll try to adjust the turning speed. I was originally going to make the throttle adjustable but that ends up being a pain using only a keyboard. I guess I could just assign an adjustable percentage value for the turning thrusters and one for the thrusters for movement (and maybe assign them to a number on the keyboard and use + or - to throttle up or down, or use the mousewheel). But again, if I do decide to do that, I have to be careful. I don't want people to be playing "Twister" with their fingers trying to play this game.

This is part of the reason I begged Ashley for analog joystick support. If I had that, I could make things a lot more intricate and give a lot more control over the ship. But since I don't, I have to try to make it as controllable as I can using only a keyboard.

I read "I've always wondered how a shoot em up game would play if the laws of physics actually did apply to the game." as "I've always wondered how a gradius type game would play if the laws of physics actually did apply to the game."

Which would obviously be terrible, as gradius requires the unrealistic movement (lack of momentum, 8 directional) to be playable, especially at the harder difficulty levels. But for the type of game you're making, it would work great, and is the norm, as far as I know. Didn't mean to suggest your idea was bad.

Yeah, don't worry about it. I really was just commenting on how most sci-fi and video games (shoot em up games especially) tend to model space ships after airplanes, when that really wouldn't work, and used Gradius as an example, although I could have easily used any example, even a movie like Star Wars (the X-Wing fighters) for instance.

Yeah, don't worry about it. I really was just commenting on how most sci-fi and video games (shoot em up games especially) tend to model space ships after airplanes, when that really wouldn't work, and used Gradius as an example, although I could have easily used any example, even a movie like Star Wars (the X-Wing fighters) for instance.

HAHAHA didn't you know that George Lucas can do whatever he wants? He doesn't have to obey the laws of physics... he is George Lucas dammit!