Back in the 80s and 90s one of the greatest ideas in the video gaming world was the addition of simple editors to let gamers build their own levels. Games such as The Incredible Machine and Pinball Construction Set were almost entirely structured around the “custom builder set.” However, even some of the most-known titles of that age, such as Doom and Lemmings 2, owe much of their popularity to their official and unofficial level editors. The idea of being able to build a scenario or a level you could later share with friends and peers probably reached its highest peak with Minecraft though, allowing players to create their own sandbox world entirely from scratch.
Tinybop’s Infinite Arcade reinvents this entertaining idea by bringing to our smartphones a brand new app with a colorful 8-bit style. Retro gaming seems to be the latest trend, but developers from the New York gaming studio wished to design something that is modern enough by today’s standards while capturing the amazing feeling of building your own game of that era.
The app has several gaming mode templates to choose from when creating the customized game. From pinballs to platform or runner games, the player / builder can also choose a theme such as candy land, cave or desert, and its funny, pixelated characters. Obstacles can be deadly, such as lava that instantly kills the character, or force the player to navigate through them such as disappearing tiles, water and bricks full of coins. The app allows wide freedom in customization options leaving much space for creativity, and the builder may manipulate the scenario by dragging his fingers across the screen. Even more interestingly, players can add an additional layer of complexity by attaching speech bubbles and audio files to the protagonists of his story, creating a simple but effective narrative.
Similar to their other products The Everything Machine and Robot Factory, Infinite Arcade is set of digital tools used by kids to build new ideas rather than just play a game, and it will be out on April 28.
