Doodlematic sent me a free Mobile Game Maker kit to try out and review. Opinions are my own.
Finding creative things for kids to do on their iPads and other devices can be tricky. There are so many mindless video games out there for them to play over and over. But what if kids as young as 6 years old can create their own games? With Doodlematic they aren’t just doing the simple mindless things, but rather they are engaging their minds and creativity to turn their hand drawn creations to digital life. Doodlematic was one of the most innovative and interesting things I saw at Toy Fair last February. When I walked by the booth they were handing out playable cookies. What are playable cookies you ask? they were cookies with an image on them that you could scan into the Doodlematic game and then play that image as a video game. They also handed out small Doodlematic kits that allowed you to play a mini version of the game and create your own games.
Here’s how it works. You have five markers and each marker color functions as a specific thing in the game. The Green Marker is for your avatar, the main character of the game. This is the character that will move and jump and interact with the world you create. The Black Marker creates floors and walls, these are solid pieces that the avatar moves along and cannot move through. The Purple Marker is for pieces that the avatar can interact with. These pieces can move, be stacked or more so that the avatar can use them to also help them get around or prevent themselves from getting hurt by hazards. The Red Marker is for making hazards. These can be things like fire or bad guys or what have you. The ultimate point of the game though is to get to the goal and that is where the Blue Marker comes in. You use The Blue Marker to create the goal.
So, kids draw a scene on a piece of paper or on the special books inside the Mobile Game Maker Kit. Then they scan that image into the Doodlematic program and they can give properties to their game. Does the game have gravity turned on or not. Do you want more of an adventure game or a slingshot type game. What do the hazards do, do they move back and forth or stand still. There are a number of Power ups to your game build that change the game in various ways. Maybe you want to ide the goal or make portions of the game move, you can do that by using the power ups. So the original artwork is the starting point for your game creation but it is your imagination that takes everything to the next level.