You can make some really cool things in Gamefroot’s Advanced Behavior Editor, and there are a few core blocks that you can use over and over again to make interesting things happen. Today we will focus on using message blocks to trigger other blocks.
You can use message blocks to send specific messages that activate other behavior blocks, and you can set time delays on these messages. (These kinds of messages are different to in-game messages – they only send messages to other behaviors and these messages are not shown to the player in-game.)
In this tutorial we are going to use the power of timed messages to make a spring that launches the player into the air.
Hey folks! It’s been great to see so many of you trying out the game creator this week, whether to test out the engine in a spare 15 minutes, or to create a multi-levelled platform with enthralling plot, gripping characters and challenging gameplay. Nice work to everyone who has published a game, and kudos to those of you who experimented with uploading your own tiles and images. We thought it would be cool to recognise the games that we really enjoy as you guys are making them, and share them with you on a weekly basis. So with little more to say, I bid thee welcome to the first Gamefroot Featured Games blog! What better incentive for you guys to make killer games, than to have them end up mentioned on this glorious platform and shared with the world!
So let us begin! The first game I want to mention this week is called Jumper by Robbie Waara. In essence this is a straightforward platform game; jump around, collect a few things, find the route onwards and don’t die. Unfortunately on my first play through all I did was die, then die, then die some more, but thankfully Robbie had the wondrous idea to provide the player with 10 lives straight out of the bat. Through clever placement of spike items (items that kill on contact), moving tiles and transporters, this game provides a real challenge. Not since Super Mario Sunshine have I felt such hair ripping frustration; taking the wrong transporter and ending up right back at the beginning, or losing my way entirely and falling into a big lava pool of death. However, the game provides just enough checkpoints and life to give you hope that yes, you can reach the end. So to the main flaw of this game…there does not appear to be an end point, but the game provides enough intricate game play to keep you looking for it, whether it is there or not. This game is a great example of creative design using the standard set of items and tools available in the game creator.
Next up is ScottQuest by joshn41, a quirky multi-levelled game which sees the player on a quest to retrieve science, which has been completely stolen from the world. In the first level, armed with a set of Schroedinger Duelling Cats (also known as pistols), you set off, battling your way thorough a mixture of flame throwing villains and skeleton Nazi’s. The challenge in this level comes from enemy damage, but there are also a few nice moments created using moving tiles and spike objects. Thankfully, ‘science coins’ both give you points and restore health – so the level is very manageable. Stick with it and you will be rewarded with 3 more levels, each with a different set of challenges. The last level is a boss battle featuring a jumped up Batman character with a hefty life supply. Holy Batman…Batman. Unfortunately the science-less world motif doesn’t go much further than the first few story points, but it a nice entrance into this enjoyable game, which exhibits a few personal customisations and a marvellously nerdy sense of humour.
The Secret Tomb by banksethan is another notable game this week. This plot driven game sees you, the Indiana Jones-style Adventurer, set off to find the aforementioned secret tomb! In the first level you must find 6 artefacts on your way to the games end point. Some of these artefacts include a ‘double-sided War Chest with a victorious Pharoah crushing the Nubians’ and ‘A decorated throne with a Pharoah and his wife (who is actually his sister)!’. By no means is this a difficult game, as the mummies that are scattered throughout can be killed with one hit and do not do too much frequent damage to your health; you are more likely to lose a life on a moving spike tile. However the theme is well used throughout, and although the two levels are not currently linked, the second level does uphold the same theme with creative platform design leading you to eventually find the hidden tomb. Nice effort!
So that’s it for this week! We really can’t wait to see what you guys start coming up with, once you get to grips with the engine, and once you have uncovered the glory and limitless potential that are found within an item’s advanced behaviours. Check it out, create, design, play and we’ll be back next week with to share our favourites with you!
Making games has been a dream of mine ever since I was a wee little thing playing on my Commodore 64.
Well kinda.
I think back then I just wanted to blow things up and read 2000AD comics, my first actual memory of wanting to make a game was after completing Leisure Suite Larry. I was well upset that Leisure Suit Larry 2 didn’t exist at the time so I wrote my own game – it never went anyway but it was the thought that counts. All you old school Sierra fans know what I’m talking about when I say this, but has there ever been a more engaging and awesome game then Quest for Glory? Nope. There definitely hasn’t.
So here I am years later, about to launch an HTML5 Game Creation tool that would allow me or anybody else in the world to create their own game. If you can use a web browser and if you can use mouse to click and drag – then you can use Gamefroot. The bar has finally been lowered – other people have promised it but none have been as easy as this, with Gamefroot you no longer need to be a programmer to make games!
What is awesome about Gamefroot in my opinion? Gamefroot allows you to make awesome games. It allows you to make big games, small games, adventure games, happy games, sad games, story based games, space games, sci-fi games, and with our Scratch-based user Interface for creating advanced behaviors, you can pretty much make any type of game your imagination can come up with.
The bar is stocked, the balloons ordered and the DJ is hired. But back at Gamefroot Central in Wellington, NZ the Gf crew is still cranking through the final details before takeoff. Vlad, Jesse and Abi are going through each of the games one last time and you can frequently hear someone in the office suddenly jumping out of their chair to yell “booya!” or muttering words we’d better not publish here.
Brett and Brian are still fine tuning the website and the game creator itself. They’re funny in how different they see programming, so we often hear them debating development in the office.
Dave is our go to graphics guy and he’s been helping everyone with everything, whether its creating a game monster, working up graphics for the website or grabbing screenshots.
To say things are buzzing in the office is an understatement – and it seems everyday we have new reporters in to interview Dan, or an office of kids testing games or the creator. We’re psyched that Tuesday is launch
