Dash is an free online game creation tool built upon the HTML5 game development framework LimeJS. At the GameDev Academy, we’ve had the great pleasure to have spoken with the founder, Priyadarshi Chowdhary, who has shared more information about this project with our readers.
Before we begin the interview, I’d like to invite you all to check out and support his current crowdfunding campaign at Indigogo.
Can you tell us about your project Dash? what is it and who is it aimed for?
DASH is a visual programming tool and a game creator. It is HTML5 based software and web service which can run on any device. DASH is a complete set of tools and courses that can help people learn how to write code in a simple and creative way, age no bar. This tool is idle for students, teachers, hobbyists and designers.
We are also going to make a number of video courses for teaching game programming fundamentals using Dash.
What kinds of games can you make with Dash?
Dash is right now well suited for creating simple 2D arcade titles. DASH supports following features:
- Dynamic creation of objects
- 2D Physics support
- Particles
- Scene Editor
- Animation Editor
Using these features player can create any kind of 2D game except multi-player game which DASH doesn’t support yet.
We have created various demos at DASH website to showcase its capabilities.
Can the HTML5 code of the game be downloaded as well?
We are planning to add this feature to accompany the Video Courses. One or more courses will be focused on understanding this code and how some of it is applicable to other game engines in general.
What tools are you using to build Dash? (languages, programs)
Dash is built entirely in JavaScript and uses various features of HTML5. This allows it to run on any device with an HTML5 enabled browser.
The tool itself is made in the JavaScript game engine LimeJS. Games made with Dash run in the Gamvas game engine. Both LimeJS and Gamvas are open source engines.
Our development and testing environment consists of Notepad++ and the excellent Developer tools that are bundled with most modern browsers.
How is it different from other drag and drop tools to make games?
1. Multi-platform support. DASH is the first software which supports so many platforms. User can create games on any platform for any platform.
2. Close to real world programming language. Unlike others software we tried to keep the flow of DASH as close to object oriented programming language.
3. 2D Physics. DASH is using box2d physics engine for creating physics based games
4. Scene and Animation Editor: DASH inbuilt scene and animation editor makes it different and powerful than other software’s.
When will it be available to try?
Currently we are in BETA stage and access is available on invitation only.
But others can get BETA access by simply supporting our crowdfunding initiative
You can visit http://www.dashplay.net to try it out. You can try it as a guest but your project will not be saved on our server.
How can people get in touch with you about this great initiative?
Visit us at – http://www.dashplay.net Even if you haven’t received a BETA invite you can still use the forum.
Please use the Indiegogo website to provide feedback on our crowdfunding initiative.
