Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Floyd Mayweather’s surprisingly exciting victory over Miguel Cotto, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2012 inductions, or remembering MCA, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Do you ever dream about making your own games? Perhaps you have a sweet game in your head, but can’t get it on screen because of a lack of coding skills? Here are two visual programming tools that can help you make games without knowing how to code. First up is GameSalad Creator. This robust editor allows you to make games for Android, HTML 5, iOS, and more. It offers an almost shockingly diverse amount of options, including a robust behaviors editor. GameSalad Creator is free, with a more powerful Pro version available for $299.
A simpler and more focused visual programming tool is Codea for iPad. This $9.99 editor allows you to make games for the iPad on the iPad. It offers a mix of drag-and-drop and straight code editing. To give you an idea of what Codea can do, TwoLivesLeft has published Cargo-Bot. While it’s not as diverse or as powerful as GameSalad Creator, Codea offers a surprising amount of power considering its price and platform.
Don’t expect either of these editors to let you make the next Skyrim or Gears of War. These tools are meant for people that don’t know how to code or don’t like to code. With that in mind, of course the options are relatively limited. That said, they do offer numerous and powerful ways to unleash your inner game designer.
Are any of you interested in making games this way? Do products like GameSalad Creator and Codea interest you?
All I can think of are the limitations that a visual editor could have. That said, I'm sure some of this stuff would be fun to mess around with. I don't know that I would shell out a ton of cash to obtain one of these, but if the software was around me I'm sure I would try it out and probably see what kind of puzzle game I could make.
I have never considered making a game. I always joke that I made a game when it is easily predictable (at least by me), my friends always want to know how I know where things are or when they are going to happen, because most games are exactly the same.
BTW I just hit the 200 mark on games on my PS3
Can't believe Eli Manning's SNL performance wasn't one of the topics for discussion in today's coffee talk! It was hilarious. I was watching that this morning while celebrating the 10th anniversary of talking about practice man.
In a non-related note, who is a better writer for Daredevil, Bendis or Waid? Eventually I might get a Daredevil book but I don't know where to start.
That's a tough one. Both are among my all-time favorites. How familiar are you with DD? Kevin Smith's "Guardian Devil" is a good place to start. The Frank Miller stuff is classic. Brubaker has some great DD stories too.
I'm not extremely familiar with DD past the basics of his story (blind lawyer from hell's kitchen. personal vendetta against the kingpin. dad was working for the bad guys and he found out, which led to his accident giving him his powers and blinding him). I watched that questionable movie with Ben Afleck too, so don't hold that against me. I really like Bendis's writing in Ultimate Spider-Man, but have heard good things about Waid. I knew that Miller did some work on DD that is considered classic, but again, I'm not familiar with that work and haven't particularly been drawn to Miller's work.
I'm thinking I might also read the Season One material once that comes out, but in order to read a lot of stuff that has been out for years now I will probably postpone all the season one stories for a while. Hoping that helps cut down the cost a little bit too. Also, with DD I think I'm more open to jumping around for good story arcs instead of sticking with one series over another.
Yeah, Eli hit it out of the park, for sure.
My wife even loved it.
I still preferred Peyton's skit, but I've watched this one a few times now and love it each time. Can't think of or find any other athlete's skit that I've seen and liked more than either of theirs.
"Are you Eli Manning??"
"No, I'm your worst fu#%in' nightmare"