Happy New Year Gamefroot users. We’re keeping real busy at this end and will have lots to share with you over the coming weeks as we start to navigate 2022.
To get the 2022 ball rolling here’s a quick look at what to expect over the next couple of months:
- A new art pack made to support Aotearoa teachers and students make games based on local stories and contexts, tailored to fit in with the New Zealand Histories curriculum. That said, the pack works for making all kinds of games, and we can’t wait to see what you do with it!
- A new shape tool. You asked for it so you’re getting it. Starting with rectangles, very shortly you’ll be able to drop programmable shapes into your level for your prototyping pleasures.
We’re already enjoying this behind the scenes and have made a mini-game where a rectangular playable character made out of a rectangle has to avoid deadly objects that fall from the sky – also rectangles. How fun is that!
- Javascript editor. In the not too distant future people will think of Gamefroot as where Visual programming and Javascript collide.
The work we’re putting into place will allow power users to manually write their own Javascript. This will be of great benefit to game developers that are confident with Javascript or who want to learn Javascript.
It will also be of benefit for teachers that are looking for ways to engage their students. As an example we will provide a learning pathway where students start making their game with code blocks but will be using a combination of real javascript towards the end.
- New and improved groups / classrooms functionality. Users that have upgraded their account will unlock the ability to add groups / classrooms, invite people and manage users.
This area of work also includes tutorial progress and micro-credentials. These are just around the corner. Users that have micro-credentials will soon have evidence of their skills and achievements and they will be able to share those with others.
- The usual! A portion of our time is always spent making Gamefroot better and 2022 is no different. You can expect more bug fixes, faster loading times and user experience improvements as we continue to evolve our platform.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got plenty more to share with you ranging from new additions to the marketplace, updates to pricing, and more interactive fiction tutorials and updates. It’s going to be a fun ride! Stay tuned and keep coming back. Dan, Gamefroot Co-founder