LLast week, I found myself on a crowded train from Frome to London, feeling suffocated. To pass the time, I decided to create a game on my phone instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media. The game was a simple one where players had to identify Big Ben and his tower in a photo of the Palace of Westminster. Surprisingly, the game was very engaging, and before I knew it, the journey was over.
The app I used to bring my game to life was Downpour by Lonely Programmer vs. Buckenham, which was recently launched on the App Store and Google Play. This intuitive program allows you to build games using your own photos. Simply create a collage of images, add text, and save it as a page. You can then link multiple pages to create your game by adding transparent hyperlinks on the screen. For example, if a player touches the tower of Big Ben in the Westminster photo, a message will appear congratulating them on their success. It’s a fun and creative way to create games.
Once you’ve created your game, you can upload it to the server for other Downpour owners to discover. Alternatively, you can extract it as a URL and play it online by pasting the URL into your browser’s address bar.
There are already many exciting Downpour projects to explore. People create games about their pets, challenging players to find them in photos. Some even create complex adventure games. Buckenham came up with the idea for Downpour while trying to turn hand-drawn illustrations into a game. She realized the struggle of making them interactive and decided to leverage the power of smartphones to create simple and engaging games.
Buckenham has a diverse background in game development, having worked on projects like Pokémon Go and Ingress. She believes games are part of a broader creative landscape and draws inspiration from other game creators. Downpour reflects this creative chaos, allowing users to express themselves through unique and quirky games.
Downpour embraces the messy and playful nature of creativity, allowing users to experiment and disrupt traditional platforms. It leverages smartphone behaviors to make game creation accessible and fun for everyone. Buckenham hopes that Downpour will inspire users to explore more complex tools and create unique gaming experiences.
As Downpour gains popularity, it will be fascinating to see the creative and personal ways in which people use the platform. Buckenham looks forward to seeing the diverse and innovative games that users will create and hopes to continue facilitating self-expression through technology.
“I really enjoy seeing the unique and beautiful things people create using Downpour,” says Buckenham. This powerful tool allows users to bring their ideas to life and share them with others, creating a rich and diverse gaming ecosystem.
Source: www.theguardian.com
