http://www.infoagepub.com/products/Critical-Small-Schools
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robinrath/pixel-press-draw-your-own-video-game
Pixel Press is an iOS & Android app that lets you draw your own video game level (no code required!) and share it with others.
“Pixel Press appears to hit that sweet spot where technology, ambition and design come together to bring to life something you could once only dream about.” Kotaku
“Pixel Press could be very useful in educational classes where students learn computational thinking through game-making.”
Erin Shaw
VAST K-12 STEM Outreach Specialist, Viterbi School of Engineering
Research Computer Scientist, Co-PI Pedagogical Games Project, Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California
With the upcoming release of Pixel Press on iOS & Android, you can create your own video game levels in just four easy steps – draw a level, take a picture, design it, play & share.
In the past, video games like Super Mario Brothers and Metroid were groundbreaking. Today, Pixel Press recreates the run and jump gaming experience, but in a completely new way. Don’t just play a video game – create your own! Pixel Press is making video game creation accessible to everyone, with no coding required.
But it’s not just about creating – it’s also about experiencing what others have created. If you’re not in the mood to create, or just don’t have the time, you can play levels designed by your friends or other members of the Pixel Press community.
As new designs are continuously uploaded by users, there will always be a new level to play and a new way to compete. With Pixel Press, it’s not just about creating levels, it’s about great interactive experiences, created by a community of people of all ages.
Pixel Press can be used as a family project, in classrooms, by creative artists, or as a hobby for an avid gamer.
But, let’s get more specific. Were you a fan of Super Mario Brothers and Metroid in the ’80’s? Have you ever imagined what it would be like to create your own video game? Maybe you even used to draw video games like us? Are you generally an awesome person? Then yeah, you’ll love Pixel Press.
How does it work? With the Pixel Press video game level creator you are designing five floors of a video game level (Think Mario level 1-1, level 1-2, etc). Your hero will start at the bottom floor and attempt to overcome the obstacles you create to reach the elevator at the end of each floor to advance up to the next floor. Your objective is to create a level that is progressively more challenging from bottom to top.
Creating a level is a simple four step process – draw, upload & test, design, play & share.
Pixel Press uses a specially designed graph paper that you can print at home by downloading our FREE Sketch Kit (Printable PDF) – any white paper works. Follow the instructions in the Sketch Kit to create the general terrain. Then, integrate hazard pits & monkey bars, moving platforms, spikes & barriers, as well as portals & powerups using the simple to use shorthand system. Here is a sample drawing. A level drawing can be done in less than an hour, and faster once you get the hang of it.
Finished drawing your level? Use Pixel Press on your iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, or iPod Touch) to snap a photo of your drawing. Pixel Press digitizes your drawing into a (wait for it….) playable video game! It’s MAGIC!
Now its time to figure out if you can beat the level you just created, by testing it. See if you made a mistake by playing through your level – if there is a error you can fix it right in the app. Is your level ready? Move on to the design phase.
Now it’s time to make your level real by adding a design skin and music from our library, you can pick from different textures, colors, characters, music, sound effects, and more.
Want to give your level a completely custom look and feel? Create your own skin and upload it to Pixel Press to make your video game truly unique. Watch the “drawing tutorial” video below to learn more.
This is where Pixel Press gets social. Share your level with friends, family, classmates and co-workers to compete for the best times. In the mood to play instead of create? Search Pixel Press for levels created by others in the community and compete for Pixel Press street cred, or follow your favorite designers to get notifications when new levels are available.
The gameplay and social community Pixel Press fosters is as important as its ability to create levels, because if it’s not fun, who cares?
So, is creating your own level really as cool as we make it sound? You bet. Let us show you:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robinrath/pixel-press-draw-your-own-video-game
Other Game Developer News:
Film Fund First Fundraiser Event. We want to fund raise to buy our own film equipment and create a self substitutable alternative media in NYC.
Our Mission:
The film fund is a non profit organization whose mission is to inspire leaders to document the current issues facing their community as a method of raising awareness. We outreach to citizens through a door to door canvass operation gaining a personal trust by its members and inspiring them to participate in current community affairs. We visit neighborhoods per district and collect data concerning the issues that effect that particular area the most and follow up with a course of action designed by the local community members as a way to inspire self sustainability in neighborhoods. FILM also visits public schools and provides free training in either media or leadership development as a way to inform students on the truth about the school to prison pipeline. Essentially this will lead to town hall meetings, further documentation of issues through: PSA (Public Service Announcements) or short films as well as events in order to actively engage other communities to become the solution they wish to see in their district.
Our First Project:
THE BLOCK MARKET
A “Fresh Food Forum” in which members of the community and local farmers unite in order to bring organic produce to neighborhoods suffering from “Food Deserts”* by implementing progressive ideas ranging from “Rooftop Gardens to “Block Market Festivals”.
WHY TEACH OUR COMMUNITIES ABOUT HEALTHY EATING:
*A food desert is a district with little or no access to large grocery stores that offer fresh and affordable foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. Instead of such stores, these districts often contain many fast food restaurants and convenience stores.
For more info please email us at info@communityfilmfund.org or give us a call at 347-265-6379
Our website is: communityfilmfund.org
