Bloxels - How a New Kickstarter Project Will Help You Make Your Own Games
We’d all love to make video games, right? Odds are you’ve got a cool idea but no way to realize such potential. Well, one Pixel Press' Kickstarter project could be just the thing you’re looking for. It’s called Bloxels, and it lets you build a game out of physical blocks.
Primarily aimed at kids but still offering plenty of fun for adults, you can use Bloxels to build customizable games for your iOS (and Android and Kindle) devices. You simply create a layout on the gameboard, capture it on camera, and the app will do the rest. You can share it with friends, too. As one of the children testing it out described, it’s like "If LEGOs, Skylanders, and Minecraft had a baby."
The first title to be released for Bloxels is B.R.A.V.E. Squad, a top-down dungeon crawling action-RPG with arenas to negotiate and plenty of villains to take out. Intrigued by the general concept, we talked to Robin Rath, CEO and Co-Founder of Pixel Press - makers of recent hit, Adventure Time: Game Wizard, andthe folks behind the project.
148Apps: What was the inspiration behind Bloxels?
Robin Rath (RR): We grew up playing games and dreaming of one day being video game designers ourselves. Back then, there were virtually no tools for beginners, and we wanted to create a system that was ultra simple and would let you create, test and play immediately. Last year, we launched our first app that enables aspiring game creators to create their own games by simply drawing shapes on graph paper and taking a picture of it to play instantly. The feedback from our community was that they wanted something even more simple that everyone could play, especially younger kids. Bloxels means truly anyone can make their own games, since it’s as easy as stacking blocks on a table.
148Apps: What background does the team have?
RR: Our team of seven has experience with storytelling, software development, and making games. Most recently, we’ve spent the last two years working right along side hundreds of kids building game creation technology from physical objects, and Bloxels is the latest innovation using that technology.
148Apps: What future games will there be tied into Bloxels?
RR: The first game we are making is a top-down dungeon crawler with some elements of classic adventure, tower defense, and RPG built in. We have a lot of ideas of where to go next, and we’re prototyping a few of them during our Kickstarter campaign this month to get feedback from our backers - including puzzle, world builder, first-person adventure and a music maker. Virtually all game are built around a level design, so the Bloxels game board could be integrated with existing games as well.
148Apps: What support will be offered for sharing creations? Will it be online or just offline sharing?
RR: Sharing will be customized to each game, but all games will be focused on online sharing, as making games is way more fun if others can play. Our previous games used a YouTube like browsing experience. We’re also working on auto-matching type experiences built around creator and player classes and also collaborative sharing so that players can build and share creations built by groups.
148Apps: The campaign’s already doing really well. Have you got any stretch goals in mind?
RR: So far we’ve been pretty overwhelmed with the positive responses we’ve had. As we are close to hitting the goal the team have come up with a few stretch goal ideas, although right now it’s just a big spreadsheet full of ideas! The most popular questions from our backers are about more games and about opening up the software for other developers to build around (an SDK), so we’re contemplating both of those. Once we get there, our plan is to ask our Kickstarter backers for their input - watch this space.
The Bloxels campaign has until June 18 to run and is a mere $5,000 off its target. While the Early Bird specials are all gone, there’ still time to grab a game board, 250 blocks, 1 guide book, plus the B.R.A.V.E. Squad app, all for $50.
We’ll be sure to keep an eye on its progress.