New this build: positioned sounds in the Audio object, a new Scirra Arcade hi-scores plugin, a new layout editor feature called selection wrapping, and layout view alignment tools!
Positioned sounds
This is another advanced audio feature based on the Web Audio API (currently requiring Chrome, node-webkit or iOS 6+). Unlike previous incarnations of Construct, this is based on a true 3D audio engine instead of just panning and volume. This means it's possible to have very subtle changes in the sound in an attempt to mimic sounds coming from above or below the listener. It also means it's set up a little differently: you set the listener at a Z position above the layout, simulating the player's head in front of the screen, and panning and volume are calculated according to the position of the sound relative to the listener in 3D space.
You can also play a sound at an object. This means during the playback of the sound, the playback position follows the position of the object. It even tracks the velocity of the object, and can produce doppler effects (like the descending pitch of an airplane flying overhead). Finally you can also play directional sounds by specifying a cone: an inner angle and outer angle that specify the level depending on whether the source is pointing towards the listener or not.
Positioned sounds are an easy way to make the audio in your game more immersive: just play back sounds at objects or positions, and everything is calculated automatically. If the Web Audio API is not supported, the user just hears unprocessed audio (at full volume and central pan).
Scirra Arcade plugin
This is an experimental plugin to make hi-score submissions to the Scirra Arcade. It also optionally allows you to list the scores in-game, although they should be displayed on the Arcade page itself as well. We don't claim this to be hack-proof - it's just for a bit of fun, but we'll see how it goes.
Selection wrapping
This is a new layout view convenience feature. Normally stretching and rotating objects with multiple objects selected makes each object change independently. This is sometimes useful, but is not always convenient if you want to do something like grab a bunch of objects and rotate them all around the mid point. Now you can simply hit Enter to "wrap" the selection with another big selection box. Now you can stretch and rotate the selection as a whole! The image below demonstrates an ordinary selection on the left, and the wrapped selection on the right:
Notice how the resize handles are around the entire selection now. By grabbing a corner and holding Shift to proportionally resize, we can easily make the whole arrangement bigger while maintaining relative object positions:
Without selection wrap, each object just gets bigger and they start overlapping each other. You can also use the angle handle to spin the whole selection around the mid-point. You can also click a selected instance to move the handle there, and rotate the selection about another selected object. This should be useful for advanced level design.
As an extra bonus, the new layout view alignment tools allow you to quickly position, align and space the selection. The feature is in the context menu when you right-click a selected object, under the new "Align" submenu. For example, you can align all the bottom edges and then space horizontally, to quickly get a tidy row of sprites or buttons. Note the alignment is based on the specific instance you right-click, e.g. aligning bottom edges will align all with the bottom edge of the particular object you right-clicked.
Happy testing! Please be sure to report any issues to the Bugs forum. There have been a lot of new features over the past few releases so please stay vigilant for issues in the new code.