The other day on TechCrunch was an article about Microsoft’s Popfly Mashup builder getting a game creator interface. Previously, I looked at Popfly for building Mashups but didn’t get past the Wack-a-mole Mashup, so this time I figured I would get the only person I know who has created games.

It is a tough road getting kids who have an interest in software, started in a structured way. Game software offers many of the skills that developers will need in the long run. Products GameMaker, Popfly and even flash give kids a nice tools that keep them interested and allow them to explore software until they are capable using structured languages.

What is your background in game creation? Tools used, years of creating games?

I have used flash for creating games, for a while. Then I switched to a 3D Game creator for a while, I also used GameMaker and have attended computer camps to learn about game creation.

How did you find out about Popfly?

Duh, you told me about it.

What do you look for in tools to create games?

I typically look for tools that have good animations and physics built in.

I know when I try to create games and I stress try. I find it difficult to find the basics? Character animation, physics, scene changes, collision detection, scoring… Let’s go into each of these and see what Popfly can do.

How do you get started using Popfly?

Go http://www.popfly.com and click on the “Create a Game” link. Popfly allows you to create a game based on a template or from scratch. The templates make it easy to build a game without creating all the backgrounds and characters.
Do they have pre-built characters and can you upload your own?

Yes, they have a large selection of pre-made characters, machines, objects, and vehicles. What’s good about this is that they have different people for different types of games you might want to build. Some of the characters have built in movements already connected to the keyboard events. Only thing bad is the character set is a little limited and they are pretty cartoonish. But you can get around this by uploading your own characters.

What pre-built physics do they have built in?

You really have to set up the behaviors for the characteristics to get the

How are screen changes done?

You can choose how the scene will change by using different animations or go directly to the new screen. In order to get the scene to change you apply a behavior to a collision between objects. This is what I did in my “Keyboard Maze” game. When the smiley face hits the object at the end of the maze in the first scene it changes to scene two.

Tell me about collision detection

You can choose the collision edges for objects they can either be a square or a circle. Also you can change the behavior depending on the direction of the collision. There is a button that you can specify that an objects is either solid or not.

What are some of the thing you would like to see improved?

It would be cool if there was more objects that you could use to create your games. More behaviors and presets for ways you can use your characters. Preset for timers or scores. Also a built in character creator for creating your own characters, something like the mii creator would also be cool.

What about scoreboards and player ranking for your games do they provide that?

No, that’s something I would like to see. The ability to create leader boards and player rankings for the games would be really helpful to build a community around my games.

Where can people access your games?

They can go to www.popfly.com and search for search for “Keyboard Maze” which is my most popular game. You can also take the games and embed them easily any html page.

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Alright Zachary, that’s for help me out with my Blog article for today, great job looking into Popfly, and I look forward to playing your games.

Bob (Buffone)