part12studios's Forum Posts

  • newt Awesome thanks! So simple but I would have never thought about that..

  • Hi everyone,

    So it seems that now for no explainable reason when I click into my event screen and go to "add event". The window pops up but totally hidden/off screen. I've tried some windows commands I found for Windows 10 to see if that matters but nothing is working.

    You can tell the add event screen is somewhere because I hear the windows error chime when i click on the still visible screen. My next step is to uninstall Construct 2 but I'd like to avoid that to prevent any plugin screw ups, etc.

    Thanks!

    Caleb

  • that makes perfect sense thanks!

  • Hi everyone,

    So I have the unity ads plugin from cranberry. I know that plugins are kept in the /plugins folder. However he has recently upgraded his plugins to be .c2addon which I drag/dropped into the app.

    The installation worked, but I've been having some trouble with the plugin with XDK so I wanted to completely purge C2 of the plugin and start fresh to insure I have the latest plugin and just start fresh so I can properly isolate the issue.

    I don't see a "unityad" folder in the c2 folder and yet each time i open up C2.. unityads are still there. where else could it be hiding on my computer? I've never experienced this before.

    Thanks!

    Caleb

  • You should always start (i don't like this advice any more than giving it) with any cranberry plugin testing with the capx he provides. This has helped me.. the temptation to just go head first into the plugin and plop it into your game works sometimes but often it doesn't..

    The first thing people want to say is that it's the plugin.. it's broken.. but in reality sometimes how you use it in your game is just wrong. If you can replicate the same disfunction with the capx he provides then you might be onto something.. if it still doesn't work.. then maybe something else is up.

    I haven't tried that plugin.. you might also consider making your life easier by not using that plugin. There is a nice "social share" plugin that Sang Ki has that I've used with fairly good success that basically uses the iOS native share feature to post to twitter facebook or even text.. This has far lower barriers and works for iOS / Android.

  • — the main ones i've been using lately are:

    IAP

    Google Analytics

    Admob

    Share

    Screen Orientation (portrait or landscape depending)

    Those are the ones I use fairly often.

    I've started using the Unity3D ads one so far and it's going ok but I've only tested it on iOS and I think Android might be having some issues.

    be sure you downgrade your project from 5.1.1 or whatever it is now.. down to 4.1.2

    what error do you get? what are you using to build the app? what platform are you targeting first?

  • STARTECHSTUDIOS I couldn't agree more. I am not saying do away with plugins and it could still be somewhat of a "wild west" for non-standard / basic plugins that I think we could easily agree on. The big ones I would love to see made official and actively tested / supported:

    • IAP (Ashley's team is working on update this)
    • Banner/Interstitial service (they say admob works, but i've never seen it work, i use cranberry's with good luck, but another popular one that also is working well last i heard with cranberry is chartboost for better paying interstitials)
    • Rewarded Videos (which service chosen could be survey'd also, I'm currently using cranberry's unityad service with success)
    • Analytics (I'm using google analytics with basic success with cranberry's plugin, but it has been spotty about supporting specific named events vs "layout", I am open to other services)

    There are of course tons of other services out there that could still be added like Parse (I use frosty elk's, and it worked well at the time) which may not officially be supported, but still possible.

    I think 3rd party services will improve as I've said before if we can get them into the official construct store much like the unity asset store. allowing them to be accessed and control their pricnig

    I know there has been concern about pricing being viewed as unfair, but I can't agree with that. If C3 costs $200.. and someone makes a plugin that costs $100.. or hell $500.. so be it.. if Scirra doesn't feel like a vital need is being met at a reasonable value then they can include their own.. or someone else may see someone is gouging the community and realize they could do the same work for less money.. great..

    we can't expect developers who have taken the time to 1. be good developers and 2. figure out how to get a plugin to work with C2 to sell their plugins for $3 a pop and be able to adequately support their product / service.

    Cranberry is a great example..

    1. he has limited visibility, especially for no users.

    2. then people have to know what they are looking for.

    3. find his website.. use free plugins or pay to have access to all of

    4. have a paypal account to make the transaction.. all of this results in lost customers the harder it is to be found.. but it continues..

    5. THEN once he has these customers who spent as much as like $35 whole dollars..

    6. they have to figure out how to use them..

    7. likely have problems because all of this is clearly outside the realm of C2 development...

    8. bug Sang Ki who's likey only got a handful of people paying for his service.. and expecting him to drop everything to fix their problems.. that could take hours of time which pretty much makes the $35 barely worth it..

    9. and more issues in the future with these customers (I'm one of the guys who's needed his help on more than one occasion)..

    10. hear people complain about him not responding quickly to problems for the $5 an hour he's probably making for all this hard work.

    This is all pretty hastily drafted but i think you get the idea.. 3rd party developers need to have easy access to all Construct developers.. they also need to give a % of those sales to Construct.. just like Unity3D does it.. there are developers who make a living making plugins for Unity3D.. there is no reason this couldn't be the same with C3..

    Everyone wins.

  • I agree with Big Infinity. The $500 is optional and for most personal projects it's a non issue. My concern with that is for client work where someone hires me to make a game for them. Then things change some. Also I still in spite of fans of Cocoon IO, I haven't seen it work yet for me personally so I'm using XDK which has no splash screen.

    Fengist $129 is still fair and remember it's a one time purchase. however you're right it isn't a good thing for new developers, but let me also back up and say that if you're serious about wanting to do apps and you're not a programmer this is still the best option. Also I can tell you that app publishing for Xcode and other game engines have their own aggrivations and publishing to apple is a pain in the ass no matter what for a new person because it's confusing and counter-intuitive. period.

    As a seasoned C2 developer, I brought up this thread to help expose a the area that needs work still. However if you think that app development on other platforms is easier / better.. even if their publishing pipeline is more refined you have a whole other challenge of learning how to code / learn their game engine / become efficient at creating games.

    C2 gets your idea up and running faster.. and web and even pc/steam is an option and those paths to publication are way smoother.. additionally even if this were easy..

    I never got the sense that C2 is promising wealth for everyone. If you want to look for real sharks / schemes.. check out build box.. they chage $2600 for their drag/drop game engine.. much less powerful than C2.. or a 12 month $99 a month subscription... GameSalad is the same with a $300 a year subscription for pro users and their engine (like buildbox) is sandboxed without plugin support.

    C2 is not perfect.. but you'll be hard pressed to find a better easy to use engine!

    However in spite of that I'm always going to advocate improvements that can be made.. not everything is possible and not everything will happen, but if we unify in our message as the users / fans of this product, Ashley will hear us and Scirra can respond.. if we say nothing then nothing changes.

    This thread isn't meant to scare off people but if it does they were not cut out for app development because app development is not easy.. it is not intuitive. it's work.. but for most of us, it's enjoyable hard work.. but the publishing stuff does feel unstable at times and that's what this thread is for. I want to know if maybe I'm just an unlucky guy with some plugins / processes.. and look some errors have been my own thinking it was a plugin or tool issue.. but this is because there really are a lot of little steps you have to be diligent about.. and anything that could smooth this process out would be a welcome change / improvement.

    I don't expect C2 to implement my dream of an integrated publishing solution with cordova.. but what I'm looking at is C3 and how it might be possible while they are building it to consider ways to create a smooth publishing pipeline.

  • yea you should make a new project.. do a fresh export of your game.. be sure you have the iOS specific ID's for the admob.. I use cranberry's plugin even though I hear the C2 one works. downgrade the project immediately after importing your new XDK project. if you are not using the cranberry one you should try it.

    I got an email from Ashley sharing that they are actively working on testing / updating the IAP plugin to insure it's working as it should which is great news.

    Just so you know though, using Cranberry I got this game live for iOS. I'm doing Android next, hoping it goes just as smooth: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/selex/i ... ?ls=1&mt=8

    I used:

    cranberry - google analtyics

    cranberry - IAP

    cranberry - admob

  • yes it really is a problem and THE only true shortcoming of C2 and potentially C3 if something isn't done about either. I wish I could say it's not.. that's it's worth it, but it really is a problem that needs to be addressed or any new user needs to be prepared for the reality of things.

    Do I believe that it will get better? I do. Can it get better? Definitely, but I just think that the nature of this issue needs to be conveyed to Ashley and Scirra that it's not just some small noisy % of the community, but that this is the reality

    I've pushed through the challenges myself and several other developers I know have as well, but even those of use who have years of experience using it face weird quirks and upsets still and for us we have thicker skin because we've seen it CAN work, but as for someone who's new and not sure what to expect, I feel sorry for their experiences because the things we've learned just came from trial / error / forums / networking.

    The community here is amazing and the product is as well, it's just this is a major part of the process and it needs to be simplified and officially supported / tested / updated.

  • ah ok interesting. sorry didn't know what those were. that sounds cool. cranberry did one push notification service but i don't remember.. oh yea pushwoosh.. cool good to have more options!

  • — what plugin(s) are you developing? what kind of plugins are you comfortable developing? I'm sure we have some ideas but knowing what you specialize in or enjoy doing could help us know what we could ask for.

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  • I agree it's bad that C2 doesn't have IAP support out of the box*. There is no sugar coating that.. Really most of the gripes probably would be resolved by just having C2 expand it's core plugins that should be considered part of the service. At the very least. Our other suggestions would introduce more work one way or another.

    If you asked the average developer what services a modern mobile game would need and it would be:

    • ads
    • interstitials
    • IAP
    • rewarded video

    IAP and Rewarded Video are the main ones that are entirely absent. I use the cranberry Admob just because I know it works, but I hear the native one does as well with mobile/cordova, I'm just not messing with a working plugin for now.

    I do see what you mean about C3 internal plugins being a possibility. Could be interesting.

    *Update. I'm told by Ashley that it does support IAP but I will tell you every attempt I've ever made to get it to work has failed. I use cranberry's IAP because I've been able to make an IAP work with it fully without weird error messages that don't seem to happen when I use the cranberry plugin. So in my mind I don't feel C2 works out of the box with C2 because it's never worked for me. I just tried since it had been awhile and I still don't find it working like it should.

  • it's an interesting idea for internally stuff, but i don't see it being practical or easy to implement for external source files. I also don't really see what would be useful in a modular sense that wouldn't require some revision.

    What are you eager to reuse? high score system? controls? with a little knowhow you can reuse code from other projects without much trouble. I've done it before and it worked fine.

    If someone is that interested in DIY they should just learn javascript and use the Construct SDK Ashley has already made.

  • newt someone else will have to explain then i guess. no one is getting C2 to learn how to use it to access javascript code.. people who want to do that are javascript developers, not most construct 2 users. what you're really suggesting is some kind of macro / prefab system.. not plugins. plugins are really for accessing libraries.. it really is. be it vibrate.. or social sharing... or tweens.. or any number of other plugins out there.. they allow custom or pre-made / open source html5 code become something C2 users can call on and bring into their game.