To preface: the reason why I’m here is because I’ve been a lifelong gamer, and always wanted to design games for a living, but never got around to learning how to code. After spending the last couple of years playing some stupid P2W microtransaction gacha garbage title, and realizing that people were literally dumping millions of dollars into a game that a monkey could have created, I figured - hey, I’m a primate too. I can probably learn how to make a really cheesy game myself. Flowlab seemed like as good a place as any for an amateur like me to start.
That’s not to say I expect to become a millionaire, or even make any money at all from my games… for now I am just playing around with the Flowlab tool as a labor of love and an outlet for my creative ambitions. Still trying to figure out how it all works, so please excuse me if my first attempt here seems a bit on the newbish side (on that note, I do have a few questions on how to improve my game and how to use more advanced options for future titles I plan to produce, but I’ll get to those later).
Anyway, without further ado, here is my first attempt at making a game. Within the restrictive limits of the free Flowlab tool. Any and all feedback is welcome (including scathingly negative reviews; don’t worry, I’ve been on the internet for a while, I’ve been called every name under the sun, I can take it).
I decided to start with a basic platformer jumping game, with lots of danger and coins to collect. The character himself (or herself, if you prefer, it’s just a sprite) does not have any attack abilities. It’s simple arrow keys… left for left, right for right, up for jump. That’s it. Main goal is to just get to the end of each level alive, but you can also try to collect all the coins for bragging rights (though just getting through alive is probably hard enough, at least for me).
There are dangers to avoid… lava and fire, bats, spikes, TNT, frozen water and alligators to name a few… and they are plentiful. There is also the occasional health pack scattered throughout each level to help keep you alive to the end, as encountering some objects will probably be unavoidable.
WARNING: this game was not designed with beginners in mind. It’s certainly not impossible either, but I didn’t want to make it too easy for you experienced gamers out there.
I did use a lot of the default pixels, but also created a few of my own for variety. Let me know what you think! And please, once again, keep in mind that I have zero coding experience and that this is literally my first time ever attempting to create a playable video game.
If I get enough positive feedback on this game and others I plan to create later, I will consider upgrading to the independent developer package (or whatever it’s called) . In the meantime, there are a few more things I need to figure out how to do first. Like how to equip the character with a weapon, how to save stats and have them carry over to the next level, how to make enemies and items work the way I want them to so that they don’t just sit there spinning around in circles all day. You know, basic stuff - or at least stuff that probably comes basic to most of you, but it’s still a bit of a steep learning curve for me.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read (and play) the drivel I have created.
EDIT: And yes, every level is completable. I’ve finished them all myself. Each one has a “shortcut” trick.
That’s not to say that I’ve survived to collect every coin in every level… that’s ultra hard mode, and I’m not good enough to beat my own game in ultra hard mode.