Atrus Simulators
March 18, 2020 5:48 AM Subscribe
I've posted about writing simulators and walking simulators (all sales listed are still current) - this time, it's walking simulator makers. The incredibly charming fortnightly-game team Sokpop Collective has followed up their simple $3 USD point-and-click adventure game maker sok-stories with a simple $3 USD walking simulator maker, sok-worlds. (Both are now also on Steam.) Below the fold, free (and varyingly unusual) walking simulator makers, and tips for all of them.
WALKING SIMULATOR MAKERS
sok-worlds: The game includes instructions, so here's some tips to show just how much is possible. Worlds are made by grabbing free images from Pixabay and placing them in the world. The only built-in level geometry is a large circular 'podium' the player starts on, but the trick is that while placed images are flat objects, they still have finite thickness and are not just for decorations and walls, but physical things the player can walk on. Rotate them in three dimensions to make floors, ceilings, ramps, and even steps and stairs since the player automatically steps up if a surface isn't too high (the player also has a jump key). Another trick is that the erase function doesn't just make images partly transparent - it physically removes the erased portion (this is also true of images that already have transparencies).
Dungeonscript: Farbs's free first-person version of Increpare's free top-down puzzle game engine Puzzlescript. Uses the same scripting language, but has new features, including the ability to make voxel art with varying three-dimensional resolutions for each 3D 'sprite' (they don't even have to have three equal dimensions - the voxels can be cubes or rectangular prisms). Individual voxels in a sprite can be transparent (i.e. invisible), of course, but can't be individually passed through due to the game's tile-based nature (it's all or nothing). To change the player's (and everything else's) speed, set the interpolation_interval setting to the number of your choice as described here. For examples of the amazing stuff that has been done with the scripting language (which is the same as in Puzzlescript), see the Puzzlescript Gallery and itch.io's Puzzlescript tag.
Rehgehstoy: Although something of a novelty and considerably more constrained than the ones above, this is still a free game capable of enabling creation of small walking simulators... the D'ni way. This game simulates the art of accessing alternate universes by describing them in books depicted in the Myst series. The online bookshelf no longer works, but you can still use and re-use your own personal book.
TOP-DOWN WALKING-SIMULATOR MAKERS
Puzzlescript: Since Puzzlescript and Dungeonscript share the same scripting language, top-down (and, with clever scripting, side-on) walking simulators can be made in Puzzlescript. The graphics are more constrained - every sprite is 5x5, with larger sprites only constructable from multiple standard-sized ones. Again, see the Puzzlescript Gallery and itch.io's Puzzlescript tag.
Bitsy: Adam Le Doux's walking-simulator-fied fusion of Puzzlescript and chooseable-path test adventure engine Twine. For examples, see the bottom of the tutorial, itch.io's made-with-bitsy tag and Lorenzo Pilla's Bitsy Faves collection. Don't forget to read the development log on the engine's itch.io page for newer features.
WALKING SIMULATOR MAKERS
sok-worlds: The game includes instructions, so here's some tips to show just how much is possible. Worlds are made by grabbing free images from Pixabay and placing them in the world. The only built-in level geometry is a large circular 'podium' the player starts on, but the trick is that while placed images are flat objects, they still have finite thickness and are not just for decorations and walls, but physical things the player can walk on. Rotate them in three dimensions to make floors, ceilings, ramps, and even steps and stairs since the player automatically steps up if a surface isn't too high (the player also has a jump key). Another trick is that the erase function doesn't just make images partly transparent - it physically removes the erased portion (this is also true of images that already have transparencies).
Dungeonscript: Farbs's free first-person version of Increpare's free top-down puzzle game engine Puzzlescript. Uses the same scripting language, but has new features, including the ability to make voxel art with varying three-dimensional resolutions for each 3D 'sprite' (they don't even have to have three equal dimensions - the voxels can be cubes or rectangular prisms). Individual voxels in a sprite can be transparent (i.e. invisible), of course, but can't be individually passed through due to the game's tile-based nature (it's all or nothing). To change the player's (and everything else's) speed, set the interpolation_interval setting to the number of your choice as described here. For examples of the amazing stuff that has been done with the scripting language (which is the same as in Puzzlescript), see the Puzzlescript Gallery and itch.io's Puzzlescript tag.
Rehgehstoy: Although something of a novelty and considerably more constrained than the ones above, this is still a free game capable of enabling creation of small walking simulators... the D'ni way. This game simulates the art of accessing alternate universes by describing them in books depicted in the Myst series. The online bookshelf no longer works, but you can still use and re-use your own personal book.
TOP-DOWN WALKING-SIMULATOR MAKERS
Puzzlescript: Since Puzzlescript and Dungeonscript share the same scripting language, top-down (and, with clever scripting, side-on) walking simulators can be made in Puzzlescript. The graphics are more constrained - every sprite is 5x5, with larger sprites only constructable from multiple standard-sized ones. Again, see the Puzzlescript Gallery and itch.io's Puzzlescript tag.
Bitsy: Adam Le Doux's walking-simulator-fied fusion of Puzzlescript and chooseable-path test adventure engine Twine. For examples, see the bottom of the tutorial, itch.io's made-with-bitsy tag and Lorenzo Pilla's Bitsy Faves collection. Don't forget to read the development log on the engine's itch.io page for newer features.
I appreciate this and your other posts as well! Hopped in to say exactly what Fizz did. I haven't had time to dive into them, but they're cool.
Maybe now is finally the time I solve weffriddles
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:26 AM on March 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
Maybe now is finally the time I solve weffriddles
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:26 AM on March 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Fizz at 6:42 AM on March 18, 2020 [2 favorites]