Learning Construct 2

Aryadi Subagio

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781784397678
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Open Source Programming
• Index: Computer Science

Construct 2 is one of the most accessible 2D game development tools available. With its easy-to-use editor, you can create brilliant, stunning, and impressive games even if you're just starting out. Construct 2 takes care of all the technical details and lets you focus on the exciting bit, designing your game.

Packed with practical and accessible examples, this guide will empower you to become a top game developer. With an introduction to the highly effective Construct 2 interface, you will learn immediately how to make great game design documents and build in random generation, as well as popular and vital game concepts.

Learning Construct 2 will arm you with all the knowledge, tips, and tricks to make you stand out in the world of game development, producing enjoyable games quickly.

Learning Construct 2

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Table of Contents

Learning Construct 2

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Downloading and Understanding Construct 2

About Construct 2

Downloading Construct 2

Walking through the installation of Construct 2

Navigating through Construct 2

Creating game objects

Adding layers

Sorting the z-order

Layer properties

Saving your project

What is an event system?

Reading an event system

Writing events

Creating a variable

Using a license

Summary

2. Creating Your First Game Design

Defining a game

Making your own challenges in a game

Rewarding your players

Ending the loop

Examples of games for Construct 2

Drawing the flow of the game

Making game mechanics

Creating game rules

Main game phases

Understanding the fun factor

More references for game design

Game-design template

Game-design books

Summary

3. Creating Diverse Player Experiences with a Flappy Bird Clone

How Flappy Bird works

Understanding random generation

Flappy Bird game design

Making our own Flappy Bird game

Adding the layers

Adding a Sprite object

Using image points

Setting the collision polygon

Enabling the plane to fall and collide

Making it tap to flap

Using instance variables

Using the timer behavior

Stopping the rotation

Learning random generation

Making the ground scroll

Picking objects for actions

Creating random obstacles

Adding collectibles

Completing our code

Summary

4. Making a Breakout Clone

Creating the design

Designing the reward system

Setting up our layout

Using a tiled background object

Moving the paddle in only two directions

Making the ball bounce

Adding the blocks

Destroying the blocks

Setting up the power up blocks

Writing an expression

Understanding constant variables

Adding sub-events

Changing a game object's state

Adding more states

Ending a game

Losing by time

Losing by life

Calculating the score

Comparing an expression

Killing the bug

Summary

5. Making a Platformer Game

Preparing the level

Setting up the character

Moving the character

Changing the animations

Making the camera follow the player

Jumping through platforms

Moving to another level

Hitting the coin box

Learning about physics

Forces, impulses, torques, and joints

Adding a puzzle element

Moving our character with the Physics behavior

Changing the properties of the rock

Selecting an object via its UID

Joining two objects

Types of physics engines in Construct 2

Summary

6. Creating a Space-shooter Game

Setting the stage

Scrolling the stage

Creating the enemy

Deleting offscreen objects

Making the player shoot at enemies

Adding the particle effects

Storing data in Construct 2

Getting to know arrays

Understanding the elements of an array

One-dimensional and multidimensional arrays

Storing data in a dictionary

Comparison between arrays and dictionaries

Using arrays in your game

Inserting data into a dictionary

Retrieving the value in an array and dictionary

Storing data in the player's machine

Using WebStorage to store data

Making the leaderboard

Understanding looping

Using a loop in our leaderboard

Summary

7. Making a Battle Tank Game

Setting up the layout

Using a container

Pinning an object to another object

Moving the units

Adding obstacles

Making custom obstacles for the units

Creating enemies

Making the turrets shoot

Navigating through the level

Adding music and sound effects

Choosing the right file

Playing the sound

Making enemies smarter

Enabling enemy patrolling

Creating a scout type of enemy

Additional reading

Summary

8. Debugging Your Game

Bugs and their types

Solving a runtime bug

Picking the right object

Picking in sub-events

Picking unreferenced objects

Using Construct 2's debugging tool

Using the inspector

Watching the properties values

Profiling the CPU

Reading the profiler

Performance summary

Using breakpoints

Different levels of bug importance

Summary

9. Mastering the Best Practices

Applying common best practices

Backing up data regularly

Testing your game on multiple browsers

Supporting devices with touchscreen

Using the right file format

Security

Using technical best practices

Optimizing for mobile platforms

Knowing the cause of poor performance

Listing the common optimization misconceptions

Zeroing in on a frames per second rate

Understanding which part of the game to optimize

Previewing over Wi-Fi

Using your memory wisely

Avoid using large image files

Doing it the right way

Construct 2 – texture loading

Mobile limitations

Summary

10. Publishing Your Game

Exporting to the Web

Exporting as an HTML5 game

Uploading games to your Dropbox

Requirements for the Scirra Arcade

Publishing for Scirra's Arcade

Changing the icons used

Publishing to desktop

Exporting using node-webkit

Publishing as an Open Web App

Exporting a packaged app

Exporting a hosted app

Submitting to the Firefox marketplace

Publishing to mobile platforms

Preparing your PhoneGap game

Uploading to PhoneGap

Summary

Index

Learning Construct 2

Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written per...

Table of contents

• Learning Construct 2