Is Construct 2 right for me?

Hi, i'm completely new to game design and have started dabbling in Construct 2 recently. The reason I've been wanting to make games (as a hobby, not career) is because I have lots of ideas and want to explore my ability as a writer and an artist. I've been playing games for many years so it seems like the most appropriate medium by which I can create things.

So the kind of games I would like to make are focused on story and artistic expression rather than gameplay. Do you guys think Construct 2 is the place to start for me? I know Unity is the best game engine out there for independent developers, but I don't think it's a good idea to splash $1500 on it when I have very little coding knowledge.

Any advice would be appreciated. :)

Yes, it is. You can make your game be what you want it to be. Try to apply your ideas and make them with the free version if you're unsure. You'll see how it goes.

There is no single best platform out there for everything. Construct 2 specializes in 2D creations and ease of use (though people have also made imitation 3D apps and do develop very complex programs).

liquidsnake, C2's easy learning curve makes it ideal for you also because you can spend less time figuring out how the system works, and more time using your writing and artistic skills.

Since you rather more focus on story and artistic expression rather than gameplay, one idea is that you can work together with another C2 developer?

And, as alvarop said, the free version will get you very far. ;)

thank you for the advice.

I prefer to work alone, but would appreciate getting to know a more experienced developer for guidance and feedback.

I'm in the same boat (artist/hobbyist) and I would recommend building a test layout and figure out how the event system/sprite sheet works. Once you get a little used to it, I think you'll be surprised at how much fun their visual coding system is.

A couple of quick questions:

1) Can C2 games be put up on newgrounds? and if so, how good is the performance of C2 games on a web browser compared to games created with other software?

2) I'm working on an open-world platformer where most of the content is on the same layout, and the graphics are reasonably detailed. Is this a good idea performance-wise? Will there be issues (loading times, framerate etc.) for people who play this game on a web browser?

1) None can beat C2 html5 games with regards to performace. It rocks. Newgrounds, yip you can upload games there no problem at all. Seen a whole lot there.

2) It is completely dependant on the device used to run the game. You would never run Call of duty: Ghosts on a phone (It isn't possible)

But on a browser using a standard pc you won't have issues. Of course, that is if you are sensible about your graphics. A 1000 Huge resolution images of small game assets (bullet, sword, blade of grass) which on screen is 15,15 or similiar is overkill and will land you in trouble.

Sidenote: I love unity, but it has a very very very very very steep learning curve. I used C2 to mockup for unity and fell in love with how simple C2 is. I haven't opened unity for 2 months now - lol

Construct 2 is ideal for prototyping game ideas, that is trying them out and leveling game development up.

After you conquer Construct 2, sky is the limit for you. You can go straight C++, take up on Unity or stick to Construct 2 - you'll have enough game dev experience to do anything you can think of.

I'm mayhaps late to the party but I feel the same way about the whole game dev portion, I rather do fine by myself but I like that the C2 community is very helpful so if I hit my head to a wall there might be someone to show me the door next to the wall... so to speak.

But yeah, Unity is very complex tool in comparison to C2 - I started dabbling with Unity late last year and just practicisng with it.. Then I found C2 and have been doing a few months now with C2... only to discover that the monetization is not there yet. So now I'm most likely heading back to Unity to see if I can get things done there. But the experience I got from C2 really gave me some cool ideas and ways of thinking that I would of not gotten if I had stayed with Unity earlier. C2 really does teach how to think about 'coding'/'scripting' in a way that is beneficial and transferable to elsewhere, at least I think so.

Not sure though if C2 is the top choice for an open world -game - I'm doubting it has the juice for it. Unless you make everything super tiny so that you can fit loads on a layout... like really small stuff... 15px x 15px sprites running around I might be wrong of course.

I've making a pretty high end pseudo 3D game with Construct 2. When I started it, I was told it couldn't be done in 2D. Construct 2 proved it was up to the task. But more importantly, the software never stops being updated or evolving. I could not have made a better choice.