Newsletter

Several months have passed since the last public update of the framework. I’ve made several improvements and decisions to make the framework more reliable, flexible, and easier to use for everyone. I’ve also published my first game using it, which provided me with valuable insights on what to improve and what types of functionality I should consider for future releases. The current state of the tool has motivated me to finally make it available for everyone. I know the community consists mostly of hobbyists and students, and many of their projects are the starting point of their careers, which will eventually lead them to create great games. Therefore, I’m releasing a free, non-commercial beta version of Smart UI, with the goal of helping Construct 3 developers create amazing UIs for their games more quickly and easily. SmartUI is a tool designed for indie developers to leverage affordable tools and resources to make games. This means my commercial model will support small studios and solo devs. If a larger company wants to use it, the licensing terms will differ, and I’m still evaluating the specifics.

What does Non-Commercial use mean?

It means you cannot monetize your creations that use the non-commercial version. You can still publish and showcase them anywhere, as long as you're not making money from it. For monetization, you will need to purchase the commercial license.

What components are available in this release?

All of the 12 addons I've desinged are available, and all the functionality is usable (ACEs).

What are the main restrictions of the Non-Commercial version?

The main restrictions are: 

• Minimum Construct 3 version: r420.2 
• Minification not suppported
• Worker mode not supported
• Internet connection is always required, the framework is served from a CDN in my servers.
• HTML5 and Scirra Arcade are the only export options supported.
• The source-code is heavily obfuscated, thus it's performance is not optimized. However, it has a pretty decent performance it that state.

You can refer to the table below for further details.

When will the commercial version be released?

The commercial beta is still in development process. The release date is still to be confirmed. Follow my social media for updates.

I started a project using the Alpha version. Can I keep using it?

The Alpha version is now retired due to the decision to launch a free beta. Nevertheless, if you developed a game using the Alpha version, just update the plugins with the latest version and you'll be able to continue working with it.

Release Notes

Many things have changed since the Alpha release, most of which are "invisible improvements" that make the framework work smoothly and lay the foundation for more robust functionality in future releases.

Here’s a list of some of the improvements made for the Non-Commercial Beta version. Please note that some of these improvements may not be available in this version, but they will be included in the commercial release.

New:

• Advanced minification completed, compatible with UglifyJS.
• A "Trigger Default Action" action has been added to the SmartUI plugin to call the default action on every component. Some components may trigger a click, while others may set focus to the first valid element in their hierarchy.
• Navigation improvements to better interact with the UI. Set the navigation type that best fits your UI style.
• Load/Save state support has been completed for all components.
• DataListener Value expression now supports dot notation when accessing deep structures. For example, "myObject.field1" is a valid string to retrieve a value.
• GridLayout now includes hasNextPage and hasPrevPage conditions.
• Fade-in and Fade-out animations have been added to the Dialog behavior.
• A "CloseAllDialogs" action has been added to the SmartUI plugin.
• Animation for button-like components now holds the button until it's released.
• Multiple performance improvements.

Bug Fixes:

• Open Dialog invalid layer error handling.
• Hovering over multiple overlapping objects now behaves correctly, prioritizing by zIndex.
• GridLayout fit-scaling bug fixed; now children render correctly.
• Modal Dialogs zIndex prioritization when stacking multiple modal dialogs now works correctly.

And the list of technical improvements goes on, but let’s keep it at that for now.

Versions Comparison

Thanks for your support, and if you have any type of feedback about SmartUI, don't hesitate on contacting me.

- TristanMX / Pixel Perfec Studio