Gamelab makes mobile games in under 48 hours on new engine

Thursday, 28 May 2015, 4:05 pm
Article: Francis Cook

Gamelab recently launched an initiative called Gamedash2D in which they develop and release mobile games within 48 hours. I spoke with founder and CEO Dan Milward about the project and took a look at their latest game.

They have developed their own mobile game engine called Gamefroot. The 48 hour challenge has been a way of demonstrating to themselves and others how efficient it is. Dan said he hopes to use the engine as a learning resource for high school students.

The engine is designed to be so simple anyone could make a game and learn about programming. “Once you’ve learned how to make a game in Gamefroot picking up a traditional language such as Javascript will be a lot easier.”

Dan believes that teaching code through game design is a strong educational tool. “Coding is an integral part of modern education,” he told me, “those not learning how to code at school will be at a disadvantage.” Not only are the students learning game design, they are learning programming fundamentals while they do it. The games themselves can also be educational – he gave one example of a teaching students about Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity by having them creating the necessary in game physics to make an apple fall from a tree. This approach means the students are learning about history, science, coding and game design in one model.

The Gamelab team - Dan centre

Dan told me that they wanted to break the barrier to entry for game design. In the past making games took a long time and a lot of hard work. With the Gamefroot engine, it takes 48 hours and they normally make two games a week. I asked if they work long hours. “Not even,” he said. He acknowledges that others won’t be as quick as his team – they have an intimate knowledge of the engine after all – but will be able to pick it up very quickly.

Dan demonstrated their latest game, I’ll hold em off, which will be released later this afternoon. The player must hold off a horde of zombies as civilians board a train to escape while the main character hurls out quotes from old zombie movies. Even in an early build, the game looked pretty, with great sprite design, smooth, and most importantly, fun.

The next step for Gamedash is brand partnership. They have are in discussions now with various brands and agencies they could not disclose and are currently trying to get a partnership deal for a snowboarding game.

Their games are available on Google Play. I for one, will be looking out for the release of I’ll hold em off later today.

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamelab.illholdemoff

Make your own game: http://make.gamefroot.com

ENDS

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Francis Cook

Reporter

Francis studied History, gaining a first class honours in 2014. He is interested in politics, music and popular culture. His thesis looked at nuclear themes in Japanese film history.

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