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Downpour, the Platform for Artists to Make and Share Little Games and Websites Launches Worldwide on iOS and Android Today
Downpour is the latest creation from former Niantic Lead Game Developer V Buckenham. It makes it easy for anyone to turn photos and images into clickable stories, and share them online.
game_press
March 6, 2024
3 Min Read
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Downpour :
EMBARGOED UNTIL 3PM GMT, March 6 2024
London - Downpour, an artist-run platform for making “little games and websites”, has launched across the world as a free download on the Google Play Store and the App Store for iOS. Using Downpour, artists and creators can easily create collages from photos, images and text, and turn them into interactive websites or games in minutes.
Downpour is a new, easier, way to make games
Downpour games require no coding skills or special abilities to make - Downpour is designed to let anyone make games in minutes.
Games created with Downpour can be played in any web browser – either directly on downpour.games platform, or exported and hosted on users’ own websites or services like itch.io.
The mobile app can be used to make games immediately. Users can optionally sign in to upload and share their Downpour games, and follow and interact with other creators.
Unlike TikTok or Twitter, there is no algorithm directing your experience of Downpour - users get to decide who and what they like by exploring for themselves.
V Buckenham says: “The idea for Downpour came when I was trying to make a simple game out of hand drawn illustrations. Both ends of the process - drawing and setting up the interactivity - felt joyful and creative. But the bulk of the process was trying to wrangle all of the technology and get the pictures into the engine. Of course, we all have a powerful computing device with a camera that we carry around all day - what if it was possible to use a smartphone to make a simple game? So I started work on Downpour, a tool where anyone could take their drawings, their words, the world around them, and make a game out of it. I was inspired by creative tools like Twine and Bitsy, which opened up the barriers of who could make games and what subjects those games could be about. I can’t wait to see what people make.”
Some early games made with Downpour are:
* Find Madeleine, about looking for a cat
* (PER PERSON) REFILLABLE, about the perils of drinking unlimited tea
* Scissor Search, about rummaging through a drawer
* The Dice Oracle, tells your fortune
Downpour is free to use, but there is a $5/£5 per month subscription to increase upload limits and allow linking to other sites.
Downpour games are built on an open source engine, and can be extended and adapted freely.
Links
More information at downpour.games
App Store link (will only be live on release): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/downpour-make-a-game/id1609421693
Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=limited.downpour.downpour
V’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vtwentyone
Press Kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1As0Rt_OrYXujaEsIP01SEE024IC7FN1j
Early-Access iOS: https://testflight.apple.com/join/FiogE1Qm
Early-Access Android: email [email protected] to be added
V Buckenham
V Buckenham created Cheap Bots, Done Quick!, an accessible creative tool for making artistic bots on Twitter which hosted 40,000 user-made bots, including cult favourites @infinite_scream, @softlandscapes and @tinycarebot.. She previously worked at Niantic as a game designer, and before that at Sensible Object, the creator of the award-winning hybrid physical/digital game Beasts of Balance.
She has also worked as a curator for games festivals, most notably Now Play This, an annual festival that happens at Somerset House in London, and which brings together people from games and the art world.
Downpour is her first games platform.
About the Author
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