Google has created a video game called Game Builder that allows you to craft simple Minecraft-style games for yourself and others to play through. The game lets you drag and drop characters and scenery into an empty sandbox to construct your world, then use preset commands to string together how things interact. It’s free to play and available on both Windows and macOS.
While the whole idea of the game is to let people start designing without having any expertise in coding, the game does allow people to get more advanced as their interest grows. The interaction system works with “if this then that” logic, and players can craft their own interactions with JavaScript if they’re familiar with it.
The Game Builder does allow you to “live-code” your game using JavaScript if you have the knowledge to do so, it’s been designed with the average user in mind. Instead of coding with text, you can use a “card-based visual programming system” to bring your creations to life. You will drag, drop, resize, and manipulate objects and characters in your world, and use various script cards to dictate their behavior.
It’s all fairly simple stuff, and after an initial learning period, it probably won’t be long before even less tech-savvy individuals can create their own fun 3D platforming experiences.
Interestingly, if you really want to emulate the experience of game development in a rudimentary way, you can even invite your friends on board to help you create games cooperatively in real-time.
Game Builder is available on Steam Early Access right now for free. It’s being maintained by Google’s “idea incubator” division known as Area 120.
