Make and distribute your own iPhone games using Somni Game Creator
Just as long as they're topdown adventure games
The tricky thing when you're making a game making application is balancing easy of use with the sophistication of the games you're enabling people to create.
That's why powerful game engines such as Unity require some professional experience, while simpler drag-and-drop packages such as GameSalad Creator are better for newcomers.
Hence I hope it's not demeaning to say that Somni Game Maker is about as straightforward as you can get.
It works on the iPhone and almost anyone can use it.
It only enables you to make certain specific types of games though; notably trivia games and item-based puzzlers and adventure games, all of which are set within a topdown room-based level.
Drop and distributeThe basic set up is that the app comes with various pre-set items, such as predefined rooms (up to 64 on an 8 x 8 grid), 200 icons, and background music. You can also import photos from your iPhone into the game.
You then set up the interactions between the items, rooms and the playable character, which you move from room to room by tapping between them.
What's neat about the set up however is that when you finish your game, you email it into Somni's developers, and assuming they clear it, it can then be downloaded for free from within the app.
This is also available using the separate Somni Game Player app, which is free from the App Store.
Although whether this is legal in the sense it enables people to distribute iPhone content external to the App Store seems highly uncertain.
Still, for the moment at least it seems to be working.
You can read more details on the official website.
You can get the Somni Game Player for free, while the Somni Game Creator costs $2.99, €2.39 or £1.79.
