Aaron C-T

@1LT Worm: The mobile version of Max and the Magic Marker is kind of like that. You've got two clearly separate left/right arrows and then the jump button. There are action buttons that pop up, but only when you need them. Haven't played much more than the demo, but it seemed to work really well.

Ever since my Xbox 360 red-ringed the few games I've played/demoed have been on my phone. I know that you're probably not exploring touch screen controls in your own games, but I think it could be an interesting discussion. Have you ever played a game with a decent setup? What do you think does and doesn't work? How would you try and re-imagine platformers like Sonic or Cave story to work on touchscreens?

Both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 had "darker" stories but were pretty well received. Except, of course, that doing things like forcing multiple long loading screens within the same NPC conversation is inexcusably bad design. I don't play games to imagine how the mechanics could've been if they weren't trash. That's about as useful as say a song would be great if only it was good. If anything, knowing it could've been better only makes it worse. It makes it abundantly clear that they ultimately didn't care about deliver a decent experience. The game was piggybacking off of a formula they had developed on their first proper 3D outing years before. They not only had more experience- they practically had a blueprint of how to go about it and a list of the things they should/shouldn't do.

I was referring to Sonic Team's seeming lack of quality control/common sense at times. The boosts/grinding thing is admittedly just preference. What little I played of Unleashed felt like I didn't have to actually confront enemies since I could blast through them, like you could replace them with a crate and it'd hardly be different. And there's nothing inherently wrong with grinding, but they do it a lot. I actually have a cheap copy of Generations I bought on Steam, but I want to give it fair shake with a gamepad so I've yet to play it. Not sure how great of an experience it'd be on a keyboard.

I kind of feel like Sonic has become too focused on just going fast. Between the grind rails and the boost mechanic they've been going with I just feel like it's a bit too automated. I definitely agree with slowing him down, as I miss the focus on platforming. But I haven't played Generations so.. @Serephim: If vanilla is the only ice cream flavor there is, you like ice cream or you don't. The more flavors of ice cream there are, the greater the chance that you prefer very specific types. I can't take the notion that they've been "expanding/innovating" seriously. That makes me think of artsy companies like Team Ico that focus on pushing their boundaries and delivering great experiences. Looking back at some Sonic releases, that just hasn't been the case.

I've seen this sentiment expressed a lot and I couldn't agree less. It's not as if these groups of fans just sprung out of thin air. It's entirely their own fault.

That's exactly what trapped me. I hated that game and never bothered to finish.

You'll probably want to check out Codecademy.

I can see I'm in the minority here, but I actually REALLY like the color from the second one. The hand drawn style is great, and nice touch having no shading on his opposite limbs.

@P3DR0: That water's absolutely gorgeous.

The license for the wrapper itself only applies if you make a ridiculous amount of money in one year. But I think they mentioned that it might be something that'll require a license in Construct.

True. Apparently one of the main concerns a lot of people have with Construct 2 (and certainly one of mine) seems to be getting addressed, in the form of an .exe wrapper.

The cost of the iOS functionality is about $100+ a year. And I'm guessing that Android support will probably have a similar fee. ::shrug::

Thanks guys! I've decided to give Construct 2 a shot. Between the app stores popping up in major browsers, the ease of use Construct 2 seems to have, and the low cost barrier it seems like the best bet for me. Given the cost of using something like MMF2 on a project I'm not 100% sure I'd be able to complete seems a bad idea, especially with such a seemingly future-proof program like Construct 2 out there and it's myriad of possible platform support. @Mr Lange: I was actually considering Construct initially up until I realized that projects couldn't be brought into Construct 2 later/it doesn't seem to have the fancy export options coming to MMF2. @DW: No, sadly, but I think I'll truck on with their free version for now. @Candescence: Thanks, I was curious as to how fast things were moving along (since they're apparently just a two-man wonder team). Good to know. @Asuma: Yeah, that was a big hangup for me to, but I think HTML5 will be everywhere eventually and it's not as if I'd finish this anytime soon (if I indeed finish at all ).

I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding which of these to dive into. I haven't used MMF2 in years and I haven't used Construct at all, but from what I've seen of Construct 2 it looks like it's to get started making things and have them running well.I'm only intending to work on a small testing area initially in my free- but I'd kind of like to see how it goes, and not have to switch later on if I decide to go well beyond that. I was planning on Construct 2, largely because it's free and can export to the Chrome Web Store (which, at least in theory, seems pretty cool), but that's about it- there's no standalone files. MMF2 seems like it offers more freedom over the end result but it's rather expensive and if you're looking to get it on any device at all, you're looking at double the cost. At this point, I'm still leaning toward Construct 2, because I'd imagine more export options would be added over time. Thoughts?