Game Development with Construct 2 – Templates for Windows 8
As you consider your Windows 8 game development options, have a look at Construct 2 by Scirra. It helps you create games quickly, providing a visual, no-coding-required experience supporting a number of platforms, including the Windows Store and Windows Phone. (And behind the scenes, games are based on JavaScript and HTML5!)
Getting Started with Construct 2
There’s a free version of Construct 2 available (just read the terms so you know what’s supported) and plenty of resources to help you learn:
- Construct 2 Tutorials – Absolutely worth your time. Start here.
- Construct 2 Manual– A handy reference to complement the tutorials
- Scirra Forums– Ridiculously helpful for beginner through advanced topics
Game Templates
When you create a new project, you’ll see many helpful options, from simple examples to full games with walkthroughs. Nine of these (named “Template: …”) are game starters, including platformer, driving, turret defense, and other types of games. You should try each of them and look through them to see how they work.
Construct 2 supports publishing Windows Store games, but you need to support a few things, so I’ve extended the nine included game templates with features like the Windows 8 object, a “Pause" layer, snapped view support (with game pause), touch support, and some project property updates.
Game Templates for Windows 8
With thanks to Scirra, here are the 9 templates, available on GitHub:
Download all templates as a ZIP, or get individual templates below, just click the link and choose “View Raw”, which will let you save the template.
| Game | Description | Screenshot |
| Auto-Runner (click “View Raw” and save) | Side-scroller with player constantly running, having to jump between platforms. |  |
| Driving Game (click “View Raw” and save) | Top-down driving around a track with bordering objects. |  |
| Infinite Jumping (click “View Raw” and save) | Vertical game where player automatically jumps and must reach new platforms. |  |
| Physics Catapult (click “View Raw” and save) | Fire catapult at structures with physics behaviors for impact/gravity. |  |
| Physics Puzzle (click “View Raw” and save) | Click/touch objects to remove to clear puzzle. |  |
| Platformer (click “View Raw” and save) | Jump between a variety of platforms (static, moving, one-way). |  |
| Top-Down Shooter (click “View Raw” and save) | Top-down view, move player and fire at targets. |  |
| Turret Defense (click “View Raw” and save) | Add turrets to maze to fire on targets as they pathfind to their goal. |  |
| Vertical Shooter (click “View Raw” and save) | Vertically-scrolling game player and targets both moving and firing. |  |
Publishing Your Game
After you select a template, you’ll want to customize the game to your liking with new images, mechanics, sounds… whatever you can imagine! When you’re ready to publish to the Windows Store, just follow these steps.
And with each game you publish, you can earn money with the Keep the Cash offer through June 30, 2013!
Enjoy! And drop me a line if you find these useful or have any recommendations to make them more helpful.
-Chris