Sometimes I'm under the strong impression I do possess psychic powers, in spite of the fact that there has never been any evidence to back up such a bold claim. If you go to church you might be able to empathize on a superficial level at least.
I'm bringing this up, because over the course of the last week, I have been checking out ways to monetize HTML5 games. One of the most intruiging options at this point in time is putting your projects on the Google Chrome Web Store. Also the documentation doesn't make it seem all too hard to do so, even for the likes of developers with very rudimentary coding skills.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Wrath of the browsers
Almost half a year has passed since my initial HTML5 performance test. Most browsers have seen various updates and Construct 2 has improved a lot for sure. Time to give this another whirl.
The good news is that the average fps count has risen from a measly 27.6 to 39.8, which means a considerable improvement of 44,2%. Not bad at all.
Let's have a look at the cold hard facts:
Apple's Safari gives quite the phoenix out of the ashes performance and rises from a non-existent framerate the last time to the bronze medal, beating Firefox by 4 fps. While the Mozilla browser can improve and is about one third faster than it was with version 4.0, I still hoped for Firefox to make the leap to the top this time.
The good news is that the average fps count has risen from a measly 27.6 to 39.8, which means a considerable improvement of 44,2%. Not bad at all.
Let's have a look at the cold hard facts:
Apple's Safari gives quite the phoenix out of the ashes performance and rises from a non-existent framerate the last time to the bronze medal, beating Firefox by 4 fps. While the Mozilla browser can improve and is about one third faster than it was with version 4.0, I still hoped for Firefox to make the leap to the top this time.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Buy Construct 2 now!
As announced the new release 51 of Construct 2 introduces the licensing model, which comes as cheap as 32$ for the standard edition. Needless to say that I grabbed one right away. And while some people might decide to hold out and wait for future developments (the cry for an exe exporter is still everlasting), I think it's a nice way to show your support for the great guys over at Scirra by becoming an early adopter.
Not to mention a bunch of really cool new features in the current C2 version, most notably the wait action, which lets you create delayed actions easily. Also great is the added slope-handling of the Platform movement and the arrival of unbounded scrolling. I'm not even getting into the plethora of bugfixes.
On the downside one could argue that there are now limitations that come with C2, if you decide not to buy a license for now and use the free edition. You'll be limited to 100 events and 4 layers, which should still be enough to do a fair amount of prototyping and beyond.
If you have a little cash lying around, I'd make the case that you could find a worse investment than Construct 2. It might still lack in terms of features, but useability and stability of the software already promise a bright future, which will see it surpass Construct Classic easily. Also HTML5 will gain importance rapidly, one recent sign being Google using the technology for games in their social network.
Still undecided? It can't hurt to head over to Scirra and check out the different versions they are offering. Oh, did I mention that C2 comes with graphics and audio assets now?
Not to mention a bunch of really cool new features in the current C2 version, most notably the wait action, which lets you create delayed actions easily. Also great is the added slope-handling of the Platform movement and the arrival of unbounded scrolling. I'm not even getting into the plethora of bugfixes.
On the downside one could argue that there are now limitations that come with C2, if you decide not to buy a license for now and use the free edition. You'll be limited to 100 events and 4 layers, which should still be enough to do a fair amount of prototyping and beyond.
If you have a little cash lying around, I'd make the case that you could find a worse investment than Construct 2. It might still lack in terms of features, but useability and stability of the software already promise a bright future, which will see it surpass Construct Classic easily. Also HTML5 will gain importance rapidly, one recent sign being Google using the technology for games in their social network.
Still undecided? It can't hurt to head over to Scirra and check out the different versions they are offering. Oh, did I mention that C2 comes with graphics and audio assets now?
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
It's not even a game.
Without a doubt Construct is best known for being a game maker. Due to Construct Classic's versatility, it's also perfect for other tasks. Like little or not so little apps. Let me prove my point with three pieces of Construct-made software, which recently appeared on the official Scirra forums.
'Boom' lets you procedurally generate trees in all kinds of variations. You can actually watch the thing grow from the stem up to it's beautiful blossoms. Tulamide did an awesome job with this! Very cool to look at and can actually turn out quite useful for some unique game assets.
'Boom' lets you procedurally generate trees in all kinds of variations. You can actually watch the thing grow from the stem up to it's beautiful blossoms. Tulamide did an awesome job with this! Very cool to look at and can actually turn out quite useful for some unique game assets.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Networking is here!
For the longest time people have been asking about networking in Construct Classic. All these aspiring developers of the next great MMO can rejoice now, as Scidave did release the first alpha version of his plugin fittingly named 'Network'.
Although this is still an early release, working online games are already very much possible with this. I tried one or two sessions with Scidave's test game 'Net Shooter' myself and was impressed. While there are still some quirks to be worked out, hosting a game and making connections is a breeze.
Since there isn't built-in lag compensation or prediction, the man himself only recommends this plugin to use for not too action-oriented games (turn-based or similar). That shouldn't stop creative minds to come up with their own methods to make up for these lacking features.
Go gather all information and grab the plugin from the official thread.
Although this is still an early release, working online games are already very much possible with this. I tried one or two sessions with Scidave's test game 'Net Shooter' myself and was impressed. While there are still some quirks to be worked out, hosting a game and making connections is a breeze.
Since there isn't built-in lag compensation or prediction, the man himself only recommends this plugin to use for not too action-oriented games (turn-based or similar). That shouldn't stop creative minds to come up with their own methods to make up for these lacking features.
Go gather all information and grab the plugin from the official thread.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Effects galore
Now that the steam summer sale is over, I feel like I can breathe again. All those sweet games so damn cheap... but I disgress.
Heading over to the Scirra forums I found to my surprise almost a dozen new effects waiting for me to grab. Responsible for this influx are two users who go by the names of Animmaniac and Shinkan. Thanks guys!
Here's a photograph of me smoking a cigarre with all the effects applied (it's hard to get a picture where I don't smoke one).
If that doesn't get you interested, then I don't know what will. Here you have a list of all the effects which bring you directly to the official thread on the Scirra forum when you click them:
Heading over to the Scirra forums I found to my surprise almost a dozen new effects waiting for me to grab. Responsible for this influx are two users who go by the names of Animmaniac and Shinkan. Thanks guys!
Here's a photograph of me smoking a cigarre with all the effects applied (it's hard to get a picture where I don't smoke one).
If that doesn't get you interested, then I don't know what will. Here you have a list of all the effects which bring you directly to the official thread on the Scirra forum when you click them:
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Scirra.com redesign
For a few days now you can enjoy the completely redesigned Scirra website, which keeps the green color scheme, but has a much cleaner and more professional look to it. Definitely an overdue step in the right direction regarding Scirra's future business plans with Construct 2.
Most importantly the new site now properly integrates the forum, forming a single community-friendly entity. There are more interactive features like a blog you can comment on and a special section to post indepth tutorials. All that's complemented by a reputation points system, which is supposed to reward you for contributing. A nice little touch, which will hopefully encourage good content rather than wake some of the spam devils.
As expected there are a few minor quirks to be worked out, some of which already have been addressed, like the too big font in forum posts. Also it seems to take some time to spread the word about gravatar.com, which is now the service used for displaying the avatar image (many reputable sites use it, this is not evil ;).
Overall I'm quite happy with the new face of Scirra and the efforts that are made to make the site a better community. They promise there's more to come and with Construct 2 dropping new builds left and right at the moment, it surely seems this will gonna be a good summer for all users!
Most importantly the new site now properly integrates the forum, forming a single community-friendly entity. There are more interactive features like a blog you can comment on and a special section to post indepth tutorials. All that's complemented by a reputation points system, which is supposed to reward you for contributing. A nice little touch, which will hopefully encourage good content rather than wake some of the spam devils.
As expected there are a few minor quirks to be worked out, some of which already have been addressed, like the too big font in forum posts. Also it seems to take some time to spread the word about gravatar.com, which is now the service used for displaying the avatar image (many reputable sites use it, this is not evil ;).
Overall I'm quite happy with the new face of Scirra and the efforts that are made to make the site a better community. They promise there's more to come and with Construct 2 dropping new builds left and right at the moment, it surely seems this will gonna be a good summer for all users!
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