What the hell, Construct 2...
Let me first make it clear that I'm not writing this because I'm struggling with the progress of my current Goldroids project, far from it. I was doing great for a while there. Graphics was pouring out of my finger tips. Start screen/Level/MiniGame were all starting to come together. And then, Construct 2 decided to go "all lights out" on me. WTF?? Every layout I try to view/open in the editor is just... Black... If I click around inside the black area, I can see the properties for the different objects change in the properties window on the left hand side of the screen, so everything IS there... But I can't really DO anything... The event windows shows up as they should, but I'm really stuck until I can actually see what the hell I'm doing... See picture below...
I actually have run into this issue once or twice before, but either very early in a project, so I've just created a new project to continue, or - by some "magic" - the bug has disappeared after a while.
This time I'm 3-4 weeks looking at a black layout, and no matter what I do, the issue won't go away...
Choices
So, what to do... I have most of the graphics I need for Goldroids ready, I really just need access to the Game Editor to continue...Bang, YoYoGames hits us with a beta of GameMaker: Studio 2... My "I-Need-To-Test-This" OCD goes into overdrive - since I'm still awaiting the beta/alpha of Spark (for a year now...) - and I manage to get a spot in the beta period (open to all now).
I did try the legacy GameMaker: Studio previously, but I didn't like it - it just looked strange - so I gave up on that one. At first glance, GM:S 2 looks way better. So I decide to take it for a test drive.
It's actually very easy to use - once you get into it. I've even done some (easy) GML programming in the test version of Goldroids I'm currently playing with. I really don't like coding - at all - (being a oldschool Graphician, and all) but GML is really easy enough that even I understand it. See picture below...
Now, will I continue to use Game Maker: Studio 2? That's the big question. There are so many things I like about it. Easy to use, sprite/animation editor, tile editor, Drag and Drop and GML programming - or both at the same time.
Well, there are a few issues - as always. Seing it's only a beta, there are several limitations at the moment, and you are not able to make anything executable. I don't like the fact that you can't assign collision polygons to individual tiles in the tile map. You end up using invisible walls for collision detection all over the place. Yes, I believe there are ways to do this in GML, but then we're talking waaaay above my level of understanding :)
The biggest let down is really the price. Not having a license for legacy GM:S, I don't get the 40% discount for an upgrade, and you need to buy several modules depending on which platform you plan to work with. We're talking hundreds and hundreds of dollars just to get the desktop/mobile modules, and that's really just a showstopper in my book.
I appreciate that, in order to make a business out of Game Design, you need to spend some money for the tools you have to use, but when will this ever be anything else than a geeky hobby for me? The USD 15 I've made in the App Store over the last 3-4 years sure isn't paying any bills, I'll tell you... :D
Also, it's currently Windows only - with a beta for Mac planned for beginning of 2017 - and it's not the best environment to work inside a VM on an tired, old MacBook Air.
I guess I will just play around in Game Maker: Studio 2 for now, and hope Spark Game Engine for Mac will be released soon...