Houston Game Dev
GameBuilder Studio
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GameBuilder Allows users with little to no experience put together a game through a visual interface.
A large amount of people versed in Flash animation will appreciate something such as GameBulder Studio which makes it fairly easy to get up and get started. I was fortunate to be able to ask Houston Software Developer, Lavon Woods, of GameBuilder Studio some questions.
Can you explain more about GameBuilder Studio and how it can be of interest to developers in Houston that want to get started with game logic and visual design?
GameBuilder Studio is a visual game creation tool built to make it easier for creative professionals and aspiring game builders to create and deploy their cross-platform 2D games everywhere. It is a multilayer-ed tool comprised of a visual interface top layer and generated code layer. So if you are a designer and you want to bring your game ideas to life you can create your assets in Photoshop or flash and bring everything to life in GameBuilder Studio just using a drag and drop workflow. If you are a developer you can leverage GameBuilder Studio the same way and/or add any custom code for a custom UI layer or networking code to the underlying generated AS3 project that is created when you build your game. If you are coming from the AS3/flash community you will most likely feel at home right away as GBs is built on the popular cross-platform Adobe AIR SDK for cross-platform deployment to iOS, Android, Browser via flash, and now the Ouya console.
What games on the mobile markets are currently using this system?
There is an iPad game called Hungry Hero that is currently on the iPad store. We have re-created it in GameBuilder Studio as a proof of concept. The project source is available for free and we created a 14+ video tutorial series on how to create it as well.
We are working with a production studio on a multimillion dollar animated film to bring an online multiplayer kids game (Star Guardians) to market built with GBs.
early shot of Star Guardians built with GameBuilder Studio
We are also working on an in-house mobile title that I can’t talk much about at the moment. But GBs is now at the point where the beta has been opened up to everyone and needs game developers/designers to give the tool a try and create something cool.
What is the current level of support provided by?
We try to support everyone via email as much as possible, but priority email and Skype support is given to our paying customers. There is also a community driven support forum available at http://support.gamebuilderstudio.com where users can post bugs and issues they may run into and get help from each other. There is a tutorial section, engine documentation, and a video tutorials page as additional learning resources for those that would like to increase their knowledge on the platform.
The product looks very interesting so far! Anything else you would like to ad?
GameBuilder is now nearing a feature complete v1.0 launch. Now is the phase of our growth where we will be producing titles with the GameBuilder platform and partnering with other developers to push the limits of the tool. It is no easy task to undertake something of this magnitude going up against the big boys without any significant outside financing. It has been bootstrapped for the last 4 years and starting to raise some eyebrows. The excited users that send in messages like this:
“When I saw this application I about spat my spaghettios all over the monitor. I’m like “wow…seriously? Why doesn’t everrryyyyybody know about this thing?” ” – Anonymous GBs user
let me know its really tapped into something.
Thank you very much for taking the time to tell us about GameBuilder Studio!
No problem. I am building GBs because of my love for games and wanting to share the possibilities of what can be built into games today with more than just developers. I hope people can appreciate all the hard work that has gone into the tool thus far, can see the vision for what it has the potential to become, and give it a try. You will be surprised at how easy yet powerful it is.
TRY IT NOW for the great price of Free!!
Space Nerds in Space
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When Stephen Cameron joined up with TX/RX Labs, Houston’s Hackerspace he fired up development for Space Nerds in Space around October 2011. Stephen actually started prior to that in 2010 working on just the network functionality for about 2 months.
Space Nerds in Space is a game that is completely free and independent of a game budget, but also a game that has been built purely on the ethos of not attaining a profit during its inception. Which might appear at first to give it some disadvantage, but in reality it gives it a huge advantage. Forces of monetary expectation haven’t touched this gem of a person to person interactive multiplayer game. Often games get canceled, mothballed or hide behind a paywall of corporate money & expectations. Space Nerds in Space is not a game that could have been, It actually exists!
Each player has a specific station they must control. So someone controls the Navigation to steer the ship, while someone controls the Weapons system to blast off lasers to defend the ship. Another person might be controlling the Engineering room while the person controlling the Science station looks for intel on planets, space stations, enemies, and the dreaded but fun Worm Hole. All of this is orchestrated by orders given out by the captain of the ship.
Actually not knowing how to play is the funnest part, because I found myself waiting on my orders from my confused and multitasking captain who is trying to reign all the actions into order. (A feat not unlike herding cats.) It is best played with crew members who are sympathetic to your newness of the game and do not start warping into space or firing at everything right off the bat. Obey your captain! However when chaos does descend upon the group, that is when most of the laughs occur!
I really had a great time playing this. And I am all for Stephen’s master plan for the game… there isn’t one! He works on it when he feels there is a new idea he would like to implement. It almost seems as if game flaws become opportunities. The code and methods are shared and openly discussed around the lab, although don’t expect many comments in the code! But do expect more of the multiplayer vector goodness that is Space Nerds in Space!
Nothing more I can say can inform you better than watching the entertaining documentary, Space Nerds In Space.
I had a really a great time. If you’re ever at TX/RX Labs on the Open House Fridays, be sure to try and track down Stephen to ask him about this game. There might be enough brave people around to command a space ship for Space Nerds in Space!
(!)
Marketing your GAME
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Every developer needs to market their game. It can be a full time job and often, like explained in this video, it has to be done on the fly and part time by a few or one individual. Whether it is your full time job or you are juggling between development time or if you have a full time dedicated person, this video will help you with the ideas of getting the game idea out there, interacting with your target audience, and presenting the product.
Houston Game Developer Eric Kinkead was invited to the Dallas Corona Geek Meetup to share thoughts on this.
You can check out the full video here
You can go here for a .PDF of the power point presentation.
Please feel free to repost and share this video with your developer friends.