Buildism

Buildism was an open-source,^[2] "indie" online game creation tool developed using Java by American developer Jacob Morgan.^[3] It was aimed at beginning programmers and people who are new to game development.^{[citation needed]} As of November 2012, it has been renamed and relocated as 2DWorlds, and as of June 2015, it is completely inactive with no users.

History

Buildism was originally titled "Buildsim", and a version of the software with limited functionality was released in early 2010 on a Java game development forum.^[4] This version bears little resemblance to the current version, with no support for online saving, multiplayer, or custom images.^[5] The longest-lasting incarnation appeared in October 2010 and was maintained until July 31, 2012, when all existing community content, including user accounts, was moved to the archive subdomain.^[6] The emptied site lasted until September 17, 2012, when owner Jacob Morgan decided to shut it down due to lack of productive game making and excessive drama in the small community. The domain 2DWorlds.org was registered and a portion of the community was invited to the new site while buildism.net was left abandoned with no official support. On November 8, 2012, buildism.net was redirected to http://2Dworlds.org/buildism.php, and though documents from the original website can still be viewed at archive.buildism.net, data from August, September, and October 2012 is no longer accessible. As of June 25, 2015, 2dworlds(formerly known as Buildism) is completely inactive, while Buildism is the homepage of Jacob Morgan's other games and programs. The 2DWorlds.org domain has been shut down since 2013, while 2DWorlds has been moved to be a subdomain of Buildism. As of June 2016, the page is no longer accessible, having shut down in May 2016.

Game creation

To design game levels, users can add basic shapes as well as premade items created by other users, which can then be made dynamic using physics simulation.^[7] Although most Buildism levels focus on simple geometric shapes, it is also possible to add custom sprites.

Games can be made interactive using the modified, integrated Lua API, Kahlua.^[8]

Buildism Gameplay

Skins

Buildism allowed users to customize their avatars by use of Minecraft-like skins, which could be used in game and shown on a user's avatar. Players were able to create their own skins, by editing a template with graphics programs such as Paint.NET and uploading them to the site. On the original, and second Buildism, sites, players were able to upload "character parts". Character parts - like the skins, were made on templates, and allowed users to customize their avatar further, letting you make your character hold a sword, wear a hat, etc. 2DWorlds however, did not have this feature.^[9]

Deployment

Once completed, games can be published on the Buildism website. Games can be single-player or multiplayer; no network programming is required as the game engine handles all synchronization.

References

External links

• 2DWorlds

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