NEW from Google: A video game maker

Game Builder, a video game that lets you build Minecraft-style games, arrived on Product Hunt last week.

The project comes out of Area 120, aka Google’s workshop for experiments. The problem Google is solving for, in Google’s words:

“Let’s say you have an idea for a video game. It could be a first-person action game starring a snail on the (slow) run from the law, or a multiplayer game featuring only pugs. There’s only one problem: You’ve never built a game before. You don’t know how to program.You don’t know any 3D artists. And every tool you find won’t let you collaborate with friends.”

The solution: Game Builder is a Mac and Windows app that can work for folks *without* prior video game building experience. In fact, you don’t even need to know how to code to use it.

How it works: You can build worlds with simple drag-and-drop features. Graphics for characters and scenery can be found and imported from Google’s open library of free VR/AR assets, Poly. More experienced coders can also live-code their game using JavaScript. “Multiplayer” collaboration with other players is also available.

Game Builder has actually been available through Steam since last November, but Google hasn’t publicized the builder until now. That said, the release isn’t a huge surprise from Google, who’s gearing up to launch its own game streaming service, Stadia, later this year.

Never heard of Area 120 before? Here are some other “experimental” products Google is cooking up:

Rivet is an app for for reading practice 📖

CallJoy gives small businesses easy-to-use phone tech 📞

Touring Bird is an app for exploratory travel ✈️

Emoji Shot is emoji charades with friends 😎

Chatbase is chatbot analytics for developers 💬

P.S. Game Builder is free to play. So tell us what you think 👇

Well this is cool. This AI turns sketches into photorealistic landscapes. 🏔