As part of my new adventure as a full time interactive designer and developer, I have decided to start on a new series of interactive games designed for educators, libraries, museums, communities, and families to engage with anyone who has an interest in tech and games. This series is meant to be physical interactives that combine some physical aspect (drawing, cameras, blocks, scanners) that can be used to create a digital experience. The first release is a draw-your-own platformer game that promises fun and creativity for all. All while using easily accessible components, a computer and a scanner! And of course, this is all free!
The current status is that this is a demo of the entire process to make sure it all works, the next steps are to make it look better, create documentation and make sure everything works as expected.
In this activity, players can unleash their imagination by drawing their own platformer levels. Using different colors, such as black for platforms, green for the starting position, red for the goal, and orange for collectibles, you can design your own unique challenges. Once you are done you can then scan in your level and play it!
Players must race against the clock, with only 45 seconds to collect all the items before reaching the goal. If drawing isn’t your thing, you can still enjoy the game by playing on another players map that they had drawn and scanned in.
I’ve made sure the game is easy to play with keyboard controls, controllers, and joysticks. Plus, our moderation tool lets you manage maps before they’re added to the rotation.
Perfect for schools, libraries, museums, and homes, our game requires minimal equipment and teaches basic game design principles in a fun and interactive way.
Above is a picture of some levels created at an event at one of my local libraries, we had close to 50 levels drawn at the event!
If you’re interested in trying it out or have any feedback, feel free to reach out to [email protected]. I am working hard to polish the game and plan to release it for download with full documentation in the next month or so.