While games like Minecraft and Roblox made user-generated content games popular, this unique type of game, which relies on the user’s creativity, is not new at all. From the classic RPG Maker series to Media Molecule’s Little Big Planet series and the underappreciated Dreams and Super Mario Maker, players have had the chance to try their hands at game creation countless times.
None of these games, however, focused specifically on narrative-driven games like Adventure Forge does. The powerful tool created by Endless Adventure promises to change the world of user-generated content games by offering users everything they need to create complex narrative games without knowing how to code.
The Adventure Forge platform, whose creation is led by Jordan Weissman, the man behind the Battletech and Shadowrun tabletop games, was developed to create a true game creator economy, eliminating the barriers to entry for aspiring creators. As such, it features no-code tools optimized for creating and innovating games within the narrative games genre, ranging from interactive fiction to visual novels, dating sims, and deep isometric RPGs. The tool will ship with four different Universes, which include all the assets required to create a full narrative experience, such as textures, character models, sounds, and so on. But the system is designed to allow the user to go wild with their creativity, as seen in some of the test games that will be available with the Steam Next Fest demo starting next week. Oni was developed during one of the game jams the developers held, and it features some unique visuals and different minigames that showcase the tool’s versatility.
While the no-code tools offered by Adventure Forge streamline game development, they are still somewhat complex and require some time to understand. Thankfully, Endless Adventure will offer on the official website some quick and to the point tutorials to get started. These tutorials only cover the basics, such as creating isometric and 2D scenes and implementing conversations with multiple outcomes using the assets belonging to a few Universes, so it is up to the user to use these basics to create more complex narrative experiences. As such, the tool is relatively easy to use, as once I followed the tutorials, I had a decent understanding of how Adventure Forge works.
As such, in around 40 minutes or so, I was able to create a very short dialogue sequence set in a sci-fi world, complete with some basic exploration mechanics, a 2D dialogue sequence in a visual-novel style with multiple choices and different outcomes. It isn’t anything complex, but the relative ease with which I could do so with absolutely no game-creation experience proves how everyone will be able to use Adventure Forge with some time and patience to create games.
This simple sequence I created only scratched the surface of what Adventure Forge can do. Isometric scenes, for example, can be fully edited with custom-made locations, lighting, and events that can be triggered by interacting with specific tiles, such as dialogue sequences, camera changes, and so on. In 2D scenes, it is possible to control pretty much every aspect of the visual presentation, such as window placement, character states triggered by different dialogue choices, backgrounds, and so on. One amazing feature Adventure Forge comes with is the ability to test out single sequences on the fly, allowing the user to iterate their games with extreme ease. Coupled with the powerful audio and lighting tool, which grants the user more control over their creations, the possibilities are truly endless and likely even beyond what the developers thought possible.
During a recent presentation, the Adventure Forge development team showcased a project featuring a turn-based combat system created just using the current logic tools. While enemy AI had yet to be developed, and the interface was very basic, the development team was considerably impressed by what was achieved, which they did not think possible at the time. As such, it is clear how creativity will be the only limit when using Adventure Forge’s powerful tools.
It is not yet known when Adventure Forge’s early access version will be released, but soon enough, users will be able to try out a demo during the aforementioned Steam Next Fest, which will be held from June 10th to June 17th. The demo will also feature two narrative experiences created with Adventure Forge: the sci-fi story The Icarus Experiment and the fantasy world of Oni, which do an excellent job showcasing the possibilities offered by the tool created by Endless Adventure.
