Hi, It is a runner It has multiple images to unlock. But can an app with so much artwork can be built ? From what I have seen so far, all the games have very very simple artwork Same goes for a game like Alto, I have built a mockup but can a real game be built ?
The artwork it depends on asset and atlas management. The more atlases the more stress and memory issues old devices are going to have. Thats part of the reason its so crucial to import art around game size rather than importing in and resizing there usually. 4-7 has been the usual recommendation for max compatibility though obviously newer devices like my 6+ will run games with a lot of atlases (albeit with a little bit of loading)
but this is not what I have asked. crossy roads runs on every device. All the games I have seen by buildbox are with simple artwork
Its not a matter of quality or how "simple" the artwork is as much as it is the size and quantity. Cross road's art is not really all that advanced, its isometric art similar to SKY, Ball Jump, or Laser! just maybe a bit more variety.
@eyal What do mean by "simple artwork"? The artwork has nothing to do with the functionality of the game, other than the asset management @seanjonathanconnor already mentioned. Its not hard to manage your sprites and size them appropriately to optimize atlas usage. I would actually consider the artwork in Crossy Road to be rather simple, considering its a voxel based game. It is certainly possible to create such a game with build box. I dare say with enough time you could create a nearly exact copy if you really wanted. The main two limitations of the current version of build box for creating a crossy road clone would be 1. Swipe style controls. You would probably have to go with a more directional style control pad. 2. Different environments for different characters that are selected. This may be possible in the future with version 2 from what the staff has hinted to, time will tell. For now, though, you could just stick with one style of levels. Perhaps the classic frogger style roads, river, forest... As far as build box games all being "simple" as you suggest, a lot of build box games you see have a modern, simplistic style to them. This is mostly because that is what is currently popular. And also because build boxers are mostly independent game creators with limited graphic design skills and no budget for high dollar illustrations from a professional graphic artist.
@stevinz thank you for your response. I'm not implying that the games are not good or that are not interesting. There are many styles of games on the store. From what I have seen so far, most of the games that were created by independent developers or by the buildbox team were as you said using the same modern simplistic style. I was mentioning the artwork to know if the engine can handle this kind of artwork and still run smoothly - this is why I mention ALTO as well.
@eyal I see what you're saying, but the quality of the graphics have little to do with the performance of game. The sprites themselves would still be the same size. If anything a lot of people making build box games are probably making their sprites way too big (even simple squares and circles). I would guess most people without programming experience wouldn't think about optimizing for performance and memory management. Whether you have a black square that is 300 pixels x 300 pixels, or the mona lisa saved at 300 pixels by 300 pixels. The image is still the same size. It takes just as long for the graphics chipset to draw a 300 x 300 pixel black square as a 300 x 300 pixel version of the mona lisa. While alto is very pretty, it is still a rather simple style game and I'm sure a similar game could be made within build box. With that said, I do some testing on my games on a very old (in tech terms) Android tablet. Some of my games are very laggy, but then so are many other non-buildbox games I install on it. Any build box made game will run fine on any phone made within the last couple years, never had any problems on my iPhone 6. I should also add its usually not the graphics that I've found to cause performance issues. Its the physics engine. If you have a couple hundred tiny physics balls bouncing around, and some light sources casting shadows, things start to get noticeably slowed down on older devices.
Well... It really depends on how far do you wanna push your creativity with what Buildbox is able to do. There are many things which many Buildboxers have done and even hacked ... In fact there are also many different type of games aside from the simplistic style which you have seen thus far. To be honest... it's what kind of perspective you would like to view things... Many just whine and complain that things ain't working out for them due to the software & what not when in fact they should take a look at why some of us here do make things work.. Hope this helps
Hey it's all positive man. I've been frustrated with BB many times but this is when I'm pushed to really think and come up with a solution that is far superior to my first idea. I've had this happen many times. When you're not a programmer and you use a software that requires no programming to make games you will have limitations. But these are blessings in disguise. Keep using it, ask questions, build and you will start to create some diamonds.
Here is a game created with Buildbox 2 in the Crossy Road style: https://codecanyon.net/item/crossy-animal-road-crossy-road-clone-buildbox-2-game-template/19362224 Thanks.
Hi @eyal There is BuildBox game Published by Storm Watch Games Inc named Swipe Land https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swipeland-endless-arcade-game/id1147375943?mt=8 It can answer on your question probably. Also there is thread by Developer here: https://www.buildbox.com/forum/index.php?threads/swipe-land-formerly-cross-now.6694/#post-34945
