There are a lot of great ways to spend a weekend, from catching up on sleep to jetting off for a short getaway. But for a game enthusiast sitting at home bored, without a to-do list or good spring weather, what better way to spend a weekend than to create your own online game? You can build a platform title, or you can develop a puzzle game to perplex gamers.
Unless you're a coding genius, creating your own game requires some help. That's why I've put together a grouping of apps that help you build your own online game. From the simple to the complex, you'll find a bunch of useful tools in this roundup.
Build some games
GameSalad GameSalad uses a simple drag-and-drop interface to help you create your game. It offers a download for your Mac (it's not currently available to Windows users) or a Web plug-in to get started. Once you're ready, the tool provides you with a series of "scenes" that you can edit. From there, you can pick characters, choose enemies, and modify them as you wish. Once it's done, you can share it with friends on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, or embed it on your blog.
Mockingbird gives you some options to add objects.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Mockingbird Mockingbird lets you create games by using one of its "kits." There are 10 from which to choose, ranging from the "Throw Stuff" kit to the "Bulldozer" kit. Once you've picked the one that most matches the game you're trying to create, you can choose your player design, upload pictures, and pick sounds.
If you don't like the options that Mockingbird provides, you can also create characters from scratch. Once you choose all your options, Mockingbird will build your game and give you the option to try it out. If you're satisfied, you can share it with the Mockingbird community.
Mockingbird is easy to use, but it might be a bit too simple for more advanced developers.
PlayCrafter PlayCrafter lets you create your own Flash game off a premade template. You just drag and drop different elements into your game, which are all controlled by an in-game physics system.
Despite the cookie cutter setup, any elements you add to the game can be modified. You can assign point totals to each element that factor into the game's performance and playability. PlayCrafter is simple and easy to use, and your games will be quite fun. (Check out CNET's full overview of PlayCrafter.)
... Read moreOnline travel communications retailer Telestial has just launched Travel Journal, an online service that automatically creates an online trip journal based on the location of the user's phone. Using a special SIM card that triangulates the user's location using cell phone towers, Travel Journal automatically updates in more than 100 countries.
Travel Journal plots the traveler's location on a Google map
(Credit: Telestial)Trip data is displayed on a Google map and a journal is created with images of locations visited by the traveler, local weather, and a record of recent communications. Users can manually update their journal by sending text messages or photos to the Travel Journal site.
As the journal is created, family and friends can view and make comments about journal posts online. Privacy settings ("private," "family and friends" and "public") give travelers control over who can access their journal. Viewers of the journal can also see if the journaling phone is on, send text messages, and recharge minutes using a credit card.
This service could be especially fun for people planning road trips or international travel. If the system works as advertised, it will allow users to enjoy their travel, instead on focusing on chronicling it.
Travel Journal is free and is included with the purchase of all Telestial international phone packages or SIM cards.
Whether or not you're one of the few global warming skeptics left, there's no denying that the northeast has been experiencing an unseasonably--up to 85 degrees--warm October.
Now, even when you're playing escapist video games, you'll have to deal with the guilt that your habits have made it too warm to wear autumn tweed.
SimCity Societies (review from CNET Networks' GameSpot), the next generation of the SimCity computer game series that releases November 15, is going to simulate the environmental impact of different types of building and energy choices.
SimCity Societies shows corresponding virtual pollution as a result of virtual energy choices.
(Credit: Electronic Arts/GameSpot)Players who choose inexpensive and "readily-available" buildings or cheap energy that produces more carbon dioxide, will see environmental results in the form of virtual droughts, heat waves and other natural disasters.
Electronic Arts partnered with energy company BP to provide the data analysis. Players are also given BP product choices in-world, as well as offered more real-life information on energy, electricity production, carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions.
"With SimCity Societies, we have the opportunity not only to demonstrate some of the causes and effects of global warming, but also to educate players how seemingly small choices can have a big global impact," Steve Seabolt, vice president of global brand development at Electronic Arts.
Electronic Arts is not the first high-profile company to tackle global warming. The public radio producer American Public Media released Consumer Consequences in early September.
It all sounds very interesting and educational. But isn't the virtual world supposed to be an idealized place where you can go to create the world you actually want, rather than the one you're stuck with?
Part social network and part 3D virtual world, Kaneva also throws in a dash of YouTube, with media sharing for pictures and Flash video. I received news of the service today, but Kaneva has been kicking about since late 2004. Essentially you begin with a standard social-network profile, then earn prestige points to work your way up a site leaderboard until you're invited to join the 3D social world, which launched its beta in April of last year.
Points are given as rewards for adding content to your profile and interacting with other Keneva members. Once you join the 3D world (which looks quite similar to The Sims and Second Life), you can hang out (virtually) with other Kaneva users and even interact with each other's shared media, which can be ported into the 3D world.
As a social networking site, Kaneva is very similar to MySpace, with preset profile themes akin to Trig (covered last month). It's got all the usual bells and whistles, with friend requests, comments, embeddable widgets, and interservice e-mail. What's a little creepy is how many friend requests and "raves" (basically personal Diggs) I got within mere hours of signing up with Kaneva. There are over 100,000 Kaneva users, and without having even a dab of content on my profile I had received 16 comments and a dozen friend requests--more than my Facebook profile has received in several weeks. Either people are madly attempting to spam new profiles to get invites to the 3D app, or there's just an active, friendly community. Based on the terseness of the rave comments, my guess is the former.
As for the 3D app itself, it's free (for now), Windows-only, and requires a fairly speedy processor with 3D acceleration. The combination of the virtual world with your real-life profile is interesting, but I can't help but think some people without capable PCs are going to feel a little left out just using the profile service.
Kaneva seems like a bold move, attempting to forge one community with what is essentially two completely different services, but people seem to be using it. Whether it will "turn" Second Life and MySpace users is questionable, but for now, blending the two services looks to be Kaneva's biggest draw.
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