Games That Let You Make Your Games (Part I)
Maybe you are interested in making games but don’t know where to start. To begin with, some games introduce you to the process of making a game, without complicated tools. You can create your unique levels in these games to test your creativity and patience and to get to know the process of game development to some extent. In the following, we introduce five such games to you.
Super Mario Maker
Mario Maker games have been on the market for several years. These games have both a single-player mode and allow you to create your own stages in the Mario world. Of course, there is no programming in this game. Also, the UI of the game is very user-friendly, especially because of the touch screen feature of the Switch console. You can share the stages you have made or play other people’s creations. Note that this game does not allow you to create 3D platformer levels. I wish this feature will be introduced in the third Mario Maker!
Little Big Planet
This game has three main entries, naturally, we recommend the third one on the PlayStation 4 console. Fortunately, this game is not limited to 2D platforming like Mario Maker and with it, you can develop for different genres, although 2D platforming is a priority here. Here, rather than using pre-designed items, you can create the environment from scratch. The interesting thing is that you can even play the stages made in the previous versions with a better resolution. Note that this game also has a detailed and funny story mode.
Game Builder Garage
This game is also from Nintendo, but working with it is not as simple as Super Mario Maker. But the game also introduces you to the basic concepts of algorithms and programming. Don’t worry, you are not going to write any code, but with a simple visual interface, you control things like conditions and events. A detailed training section also gives you instructions to learn more about how to make games in different genres. However, the user interface of the game and even its graphics are much rougher than the previous two games that we talked about.
Dreams
This one is the latest work of Media Molecule Ltd. the game is much more complex than their other creation, Little Big Planet. You can make first-person games and The game allows you to design environments with very realistic art or even let you produce games that have old-school graphics like the first generation of 3D games. You can even create virtual reality games, but this complexity can be frustrating.
RPGMaker
You must have seen classic role-playing games. These games usually have two-dimensional cartoonish arts and an isometric camera angle, plus usually, their battles are turn-based. This software allows you to produce such games. There are many entries in the RPGMaker series, but of course, using the latest version seems wiser. Note that RPGMaker is more of a game-making tool than a real game, which is available on game consoles.