1up previews The Sims Carnival

I did become a beta tester for The Sims Carnival, however, it was right before my grandmother passed so I didn’t really do anything. Beta is still going on, but I don’t have any idea on what game would be cool to create!

That’s where The Sims Carnival’s second, much more complete game-making method comes in: the standalone, downloadable Game Creator application. Essentially a user-friendly skin for daunting Flash programming, the interface is simple: You drag in graphics, assign them behaviors from pull-down menus in snap-together modules (“While holding the Up Arrow key, move Up!”), and hook them together in if-then ladders of logic. Modules exist for most behaviors you’d seek in a game — Rotate, Follow, Animate, Collision, Physics responses — so that you never have to type a line of code. Simple tools exist to stretch images or edit their collision boxes (complete with a Photoshop-like pen to add or subtract nodes), and a single Play button lets you preview it instantly. Finished works can be uploaded to the Sims Carnival website in a few clicks for others to rate and comment on, and — once Carnival is launched for real — games can be embedded on whatever Web page you wish.

1up preview for The Sims Carnival