minor-studios posts

While mod tools for PC games have been released since id Software's original Doom game, few of these editors have been easy to use for the average person. Lately, however, there has been a movement to create editors that are simple to use, whether it's the creature and structure tools in Spore or more recently the level editors in the PS3 title LittleBigPlanet.

San Fransisco game developer start-up Minor Studios has another vision of this type of game. Last month they officially announced Atmosphir, a Mario-like platformer title for the PC and Mac that also incorporates a easy-to-use level editor. The big different between this game and others like it is that Atmosphir (currently in beta testing) will be released to the public for free, allowing anyone to not only play the game but also create, play and share levels with others. Big Download got a chance to ask Minor Studios co-founder and creative director Dave Werner some questions about the game and their future plans for Atmosphir.

With all of the raves about Spore's easy to use tools to make characters and structures, it's ironic that the week of Spore's release yet another game announcement involves its own simple-to-use creation tools. The game and editor is called Atmosphir, developed by San Fransisco based Minor Studios and was revealed as part of the TechCrunch 50 conference today.

The game itself looks like Super Mario 64; it has the same kind of low end graphics and platform based gameplay. However, as the above intro trailer shows, it's really the level creation tools that are the star of Atmosphir with drag-and-drop tools that make creating levels look as much fun as playing the game, if not more so. Levels created in the game can be shared online with others. Atmosphir is scheduled to be released as a free download in late 2008 and Minor Studios is currently signing up beta testers.