New Game Creator features are now live!

A few hours ago we released our 20th major update to Popfly, which includes our first update to the game creator since it was released just over a month ago.  There are tons of new features for you game creators out there, so I want to highlight them for you:

1. The new "color swapper" enables easy customization of any actor’s colors

clip_image001[4]

This comes in very handy for differentiating good guys vs. bad guys, or just giving your game a unique look without needing artistic skill.

2. You can now rename actors

clip_image002[4]

This was long overdue!

3. You can now publish your own actors so others can use them in their games

clip_image003clip_image004

Some of you have already created fantastic custom actors.  I’m looking forward to seeing them show up in search results!

4. Guide lines & snapping in the UI designer make it easier to arrange your visuals just right

clip_image005

You can toggle this setting with the "Snapping" button above the scene or actor appearance designer.

5. Actor stamping makes adding multiple actors fast & easy

clip_image006

This might take a little getting used to, but it makes it much faster to add actors exactly where you want them to be.  As soon as you add one, you can instantly move/resize/delete it before stamping more actors.  And if you resize the actor, the stamp will adjust to these new dimensions.  Click the arrow on the left to change to normal selection mode.

6. 4 new events make it easy to create more powerful games (Scene Enter, Viewport Enter, Viewport Leave, and State Change)

clip_image007

For example, you could make a bad guy in a side-scroller move toward the hero only when the bad guy is within the current viewport.

7. You can now filter any Scene Enter/Leave or Viewport Enter/Leave event by one or more directions

clip_image008

Useful for many games, such as this one.

8. Creating multi-level games is easier, because you can now clone an existing scene

clip_image009

This saves tons of time.  I used this to create a multi-level Kill The Peas.

9. Searching & browsing of actors has been enhanced

clip_image010

10. The behaviors list is now a bit more helpful, since it shows exactly what key has been chosen for a keyboard event

clip_image011

11. You can now turn a Popfly game or mashup into your own first-class Facebook application

clip_image012

You can do this by clicking "Create Your Own Facebook Application" option from the Facebook button on Popfly’s share widget.

  • Through Popfly, you create & control the core app and can upload an image to be shown in the app's profile box.
  • Through Facebook, you can control all kinds of things – icon, logo, what should be on the about page, etc.  You get all the features of Facebook dedicated to your own app – a discussion board, analytics, reviews, wall, fans, etc.

Embedding a game (even as a plain ol' IFRAME) can be a pretty powerful thing.  Check out what "What Now" (a kids' TV show in New Zealand) did with their Popfly game!

12. You can now see how many views your game or mashup has received

clip_image013

13. We've made some cosmetic updates to help authors highlight their creations and get feedback

clip_image014

14. We’ve added more actors

clip_image016

15. We’ve also fixed lots of bugs, including ones reported in our forum. A notable one: saving large games should be much faster (and avoid pesky unresponsive script dialogs).