Hey everyone,

for my next Project I want to step into HTML5 game development. I want to create a 2D game and came across Construct 2 which looks pretty neat.

-Cross Platform

-Simple editor

-Javascript SDK for custom additions.

For my game I also want to implement multiplayer functionality.

The requirment is, that two players should get matched and then duel against each other.

Anyone got experience using Construct 2 and maybe also created a multiplayer game with it?

I'd really like to hear some opinions.

Best Regards

Olaf

I've used Construct 2 a bit, but haven't yet tried the new multi-player functionality which was actually only added in one of the recent beta releases; given their release history however there should be a stable release soon, which will include proper detailed documentation of this functionality.

If you haven't already done so, you might also ask in the Scirra forums. The community is passionate, friendly, and helpful, although they can sometimes be a little biased in favour of Construct 2 if you're trying to compare it to alternative options. You should also definitely download and try the free version before making a decision to purchase.

It's a really good editor; incredibly easy to learn and work with, and quite capable of producing some very sophisticated games. If you're used to programming the visual "event" editor may take a little getting used to, but is very expressive and in combination with the plugins and behaviours should let you do most things you might want to try. The JavaScript SDK is relatively simple to use, and you have access to all of the official plugins to provide example code.

Updates to the software are very frequent, with a new beta version released every couple of weeks, and a new stable version after every 3-5 beta versions. New features are added constantly, and improvements are regularly made to existing features. Performance has improved drastically over the last year.

If you're targeting the web browser it's an absolutely fantastic option.

However, if you're targeting other platforms, do your research before purchasing; deployment, capabilities and performance are improving all the time, but, exporters for other platforms rely on third-party wrappers; sometimes these can involve a bit of work, and occasionally some minor features are not available on all platforms (this is noted in the documentation when it is the case). Simple games can run well on mobile, but more complex games can be difficult or impossible to optimise for acceptable performance. Exporting as a desktop application can also be tricky, with potential performance issues when running full-screen.

Because it provides a large, capable engine, there's also a certain amount of bloat; absolutely worth it if you're making good use of the features, but perhaps too much overhead for very simple games -- exporting a simple Pong game as a Windows application gives you a file-size of 20mb+ for example.

As expected, additional costs may be incurred for certain target platforms, although this is not Construct specific and applies to alternatives as well.

All round, I think it's an excellent piece of software, and potentially a great option, and I would definitely recommend it -- just be sure to do some basic research and ensure your expectations are appropriate to the capabilities of the software.

Hope that helps!

I gave up on it very shortly after I tried it. I tried to make a platformer and the character couldn't jump half the time while it was on a platform moving down (as I'm sure the system detected that it was in the air, even if it looked like it was just standing on the platform). It also got glitchy when you tried to mix in physics with the character controller. This could easily involve some lack of knowledge on my part but it wasn't a very encouraging start.

It also got glitchy when you tried to mix in physics with the character controller.

As stated in the manual entry for Construct 2's physics plugin, it is not recommended to use any of the various character controlling behaviours in conjunction with the physics behaviour, as they tend to clash and produce unexpected results; the suggested alternative is to simulate all movement via physics instead. Unfortunately this can sometimes mean a type of movement that is trivial to achieve through the use of a provided behaviour may take some work to recreate through physics inputs, but as suggested it does avoid the glitches.

Easily solvable, but definitely a limitation worth being aware of.

I haven't encountered the problem you described with jumping from a descending platform, but have seen similar issues mentioned in older discussions by other users on the official forums, so if you're working on something where this might be important it could be worth further investigation; it may be a problem that's since been resolved, or which emerges in specific circumstances.