Hi-i-i, here’s my hopefully not-so-aggressive insert!
Widget for those impatient:
Lore and improvements:
For the past few months I was developing Whimtale (you could previously find it under a name “Whimsy”) because Bitsy was more a burden than a tool when trying to introduce game-making to young students. As a guy who has experience in tool- and engine-making, I decided to take my own spin on Bitsy concept and… got carried away, I guess? I made a visual programming language and added more programming features that solve common requests from students like making VN dialogues and following NPCs, adding timers, etc, plus added a layer of polish to solve common complaints from others, as well as my own:
- Easier making of areas that span across multiple rooms (you can connect them by edges, with a preview, without making a heckton of exits)
- Foreground sprites that overlay characters and heroes
- Flipping sprites towards movement direction, including the hero (avatar) and actors (characters)
- Easier duplication of characters and items. (You can place any number of instances of one actor anywhere.)
- Scenario-driven manipulation of any actors, across stages or not. Turn one actor type into another, or delete them. (E.g. manipulate series of gates when flipping a switch.)
- NPC pathfinding 😲
- More customization options for text — which is a powerful narrative driver in itself. Artistic fonts, more animations, full-screen messages for larger texts.
- Better mobile support of the engine and the games it makes.
- Offline editors.
And many other things that previously required hacks or separate versions — stuff that is not beginner-friendly at all.
🖼️ Screenshots (click me to open!) 🎨
Stage editor:
Scenario editor, with branches, actor manipulation, and variable handling:
Example of an exported game:
Anyways, judging from itch.io and youtube comments, people like Whimtale! It can be a match for you, too — give it a spin! Links:
Online editor · Desktop editors · Homepage with tutorials and docs · Discord server
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