I remember him from back in 2002 when I first started visiting this site. I was only 14, but the way I remember it, he knew the answer to every question, his games were amazing and he was .... "the guy".
Does anybody know has become of him since his Klik days?
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Even if something is "common knowledge", it doesn't mean that everybody knows it. It is likely that a person would know it, but it is not certain. I guess I was just one of the few who didn't know. Heaven forbid! Lock me up officer!
Originally Posted by The Cecilizer I thought it was common knowledge at this point that Ashley Gullen aka 'Tigerworks' aka 'Ashleys Brain' was the man behind Scirra and Construct.
The only way it would be common knowledge is to assume that everyone here is a man. How many of us actually talk to each other using voice or webcam, much less actually talk about our gender? Unless someone actually dives into it, upon finding out someones name is Ashley, the natural reaction is that it's a female. Especially for people who never got to personally know Tigerworks more than a few casual messages or community chats.
I learned Ashley was a guy in a comment thread on a news post here long ago. I personally have seen it come up a few times, mostly when someone who dosn't know Ashley sees Ashley post.
back when bashing construct was all the rage there were so many threads about the guy. his gender came up a few times as jon said. i guess if you weren't active during that time, you wouldn't know. it's just one of those things we've already hammered out.
I remember that guy. He was awesome. I learned a lot from the examples he used to post on the clickteam forums around the time when I first started using TGF 1.
Yeah see, I wasn't too active around the time Construct hit. I was really active just up until that point, then kind of on and off after. I remember there being a lot of back and forth, is he a male or female because at first it was assumed "Tigerworks" oh, just another male. Then the name Ashley came up... "oh wow, must be a girl" but then being told again that it's a guy was like "Wait... what?"
Honestly though, now that you brought it up... I do vaguely remember being corrected by Ashley himself, that he was a guy. It's still not common knowledge, but I was aware of it... I just forgot. My bad!
I'd say with just a brief look at the website and download of the newest version, it's coming along a lot better than MMF2. Seem's a lot more polished now. Seems more tailored toward the vastly cross platform HTML5 format too.
Originally Posted by Silveraura it's coming along a lot better than MMF2.
What does that mean?
The two are totally separate programs! One does HTML5 apps and one does everything else!
It's like comparing paint to Windows 7, respectively.
They're both great applications, but they both do completely different things!
Although if I were making something with HTML5 I'd definitely use Construct over all the other programs I've seen since it mimics MMF so much, so it's what I'm used to.
He seems to be taking a little more care in keeping his software and above all, the website, community, and all around atmosphere a lot more up to date and friendly. Especially the polish on the software, it seems to have come a very long way since the Construct we remember.
Multimedia Fusion 2 defiantly feels a lot more powerful, especially since it's more tailored toward Windows Application design, taking advantage of hardware instead of adopting web standards. But anyone with half a brain should at least admit that it's still got quite a few kinks that remind us of it's origins in Klik & Play.
Which would I use? Multimedia Fusion 2... but like everyone else here, I think that's a strongly biased response seeing as though it's what we're all familiar with and have been using for years. We know it inside and out.
However if I were to stand on the outside looking in, which having started shifting to C# is becoming easier, I'd have to say that to a newcomer, Construct 2 is defiantly the program they'd run to. It just looks more inviting, less sterile and oddly enough... more professional in some ways.
It does have a nice package and it's come a long way. Like I said if I ever feel the need to make a game with HTML5 then I'd prolly use it over it's competitors.
I take function over form any day though. Just because it looks pretty doesn't mean it's better.
I also can use other programing languages, but it takes a whole lot more work than it would to accomplish the same thing in MMF.
I guess you can cite cross compatibility and portability as a reason to use traditional programming over MMF, but if you don't care so much about that then it doesn't matter since it's a tradeoff you're willing to make.
I'm not biased, I can plainly see the abilities of both and have made my decision accordingly. If something better comes along I'll jump ship.
Traditional programming is leagues ahead of and miles better than MMF2 or Construct will ever be. However depending on your needs, even if it's not cross platform, or your willingness to put effort into a project, MMF2 is a fantastic tool to help you meet the middle ground.
The speed differences between MMF and say C++ are negligible depending on what you're trying to accomplish.
Some things are just not possible for a single developer to pull off on their own without some of the groundwork being laid first.
I'm sure you use an engine when you use C# am I right? Using classes, and libraries and such are practically the same as using something like MMF with the difference being the fact that MMF is an interpreted runtime based solution rather than being compiled to directly to assembly machine code as C++ is.
But as I said it all depends on what you're trying to do. For some things the speed difference will not ever be noticeable.
Your average consumer doesn't care what you used just as long as the final product works.
The only people you'll be "impressing" by doing something the hard way (like a 3D engine in assembly?) is other programmers.
But the availability of scripting alone is what makes it significantly more powerful. Right now, MMF2's scripting is severely limited to what few plugins are available. Don't get me wrong, MMF2 is an incredibly powerful piece of software, specifically because it uses real programming logic in it's event editor. This makes scripting next to almost unnecessary... until you know what it's like to script, and you find out how much easier it can make a lot of processes.
If MMF2 had scripting and more importantly, support of a company that actually wanted a lot of commercial attention instead of a content community, it could start really filling in the world of possibilities that are still left for it.
But as of right now, even the extra compilers we have, prove that the software wasn't designed with them in mind because a huge chunk of the software's extensions and features get disabled when you switch to anything but the Standard or Hardware Accelerated compiler. The software has a lot of drawbacks that limit it to the potential success of engines like XNA or Unity. The only saving grace is it's intense easy of programming without needing to code. Fortunately, these two are mutually exclusive and one can be fixed without sacrificing the other. Clickteam just doesn't seem interested though.
Over the past decade, I've seen so many new game development engines sprout out of no where and get intensely popular. To the point where people routinely create and release games into the commercial marketplace. We're currently at the apex of an indie boom and yet not a single word of Clickteam or MMF2 is ever mentioned anywhere but closely associated communities or websites. And when it is, it's touted as a big deal. And it really shouldn't be... Clickteam was way ahead of their time and now that that time has finally come, they're still no where to be heard, in terms of real commercial success.
It's like a local cookie shop saying that they're successful even though hardly anyone three towns away knows of their existence. They might have cookies that compete with or even destroy Oreo, Chips Ahoy, or whatever, but that doesn't mean anyone more than a shouts away, cares.
I know what it's like to use transitional programming languages in particular C++ and assembly. I've also used Python, PHP, and JavaScript on some occasions as well.
I'm really not so sure what you're talking about though, what do you mean "severely limited?" You can add functionality yourself with C++ like all the other extension developers are doing. I have extensions that do everything I would want though so I don't have a problem. What exactly are doing in Unity or XNA that you can't do in MMF? (besides 3D)
It's like you said, scripting IS unnecessary. It's not the lack of scripting that causes the kinks left over from K&P, it's the kinks themselves. Whether you abstract away the scripting in an event editor or force the user to type it directly the kinks will still exist since it's part of MMF's runtime.
Trust me, I know what it's like to script, and program. That's why I use MMF in the first place. Psh!
The exporters are fine. Trust me the function the same as Unity and the others' exporters. The application still has to be tailored for the target platform. I know this from experience with Unity. I'm not sure how you formed the idea that all the others were somehow immune to cross compatibility issues, they aren't.
Yep, I'm sure MMF could be more successful, or should be. Adding scripting won't accomplish that though I can guarantee that.
And bad example with the cookies, Oreos are obviously the best.
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Edited by UrbanMonk
