![]() ![]() However, players would still be able to play anything that they have and will download prior to August 12, albeit only in offline mode. Furthermore, as a result, those who already own Project Spark will be unable to upload their created content as well as download anybody else’s. After that date, the tech firm notes that the title’s online services will no longer be of use. Microsoft’s Project Spark will officially be no more on the 12th of August of this year. While this means there have been no layoffs at Microsoft, it also means it’s simply no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping ‘Project Spark’ up and running with meaningful updates and bug fixes, so we have come to this hard decision.” When ‘Project Spark’ transitioned away from active development last fall, many of our team members moved to other projects within Microsoft Studios. An official blog post from the tech giant states: “This was an extremely difficult decision for our team that we do not take lightly. Project Spark, the half-game, half-platform, in which Microsoft allowed purchasers to pool in their creative juices into creating their own little games with the use of one big sandbox, is no more. Microsoft Pulled the Plug From Project Spark If you’re looking to flex your creative muscles when it comes to developing games, then you should probably look somewhere else, especially if you’re currently in an area of “planning to develop videogames and selling them,” and “have no idea what you’re doing.” Now experiments like Project Spark show how a new wave of imaginative, incognito, youth-friendly programming tools could democratize development skills themselves - and that's a major 1up.It was, perhaps, fun while it lasted but Microsoft recently announced that they are taking out the lights out of Project Spark. ![]() Indie gaming's meteoric rise, not-coincidentally concurrent with the explosion of the app as a distribution model, showed that the little guy can pack a punch if you give one a shot in the ring, or the App Store. Video games, Project Spark demonstrates, could prove extremely potent for the former. Stoking interest in coding and spreading access to even casual programming tools is critical to technology's much-needed infusion of diversity. In an industry that looks like a meritocracy to anyone peering down from the top, it's literally unimaginable to envision the experiences a more culturally, racially and gender-diverse body of creators could yield. Imagining a young gamer experiencing that same kind of gestalt is a powerful thing indeed. As a life-long gamer with no development skills to speak of, I felt things click into place - and it felt rad. That's when my own brain exploded: I'd just built a level. Then it began showing me how to add timer elements into the mix, so that if my elf had dawdled, we might have failed to reach the flag in time and met an unspeakable demise of my choosing. When I'd finished up with that, the tutorial launched into how to craft a screen showing that you'd met the objective (mine said "yay"). My entire world was a tiny island with the sole objective of navigating the elf (my character) to a flag on top of a mountain. Content with my progress, I switched to the live test mode. I don't even know how deep, but I'd venture to guess "way." And since it's an online game, it can deepen considerably over time.įlipping from the editor mode - wherein you build your world, populate it with props, program their "brains" and so on - to the test mode allows you to play the game you've made to see if it works. Project Spark's world isn't infinitely configurable - it could add more visual styles or more choice of a fearless protagonist, say - but if you want to go deep, you certainly can. Yet I'd already learned enough to keep me busy for hours on end. The result is "user-friendly" but not by any means simple - unless you want it to be, of course. It's an imaginative hybrid experience combining a traditional, more technical developer kit (think lines of code) with a graphical interface that plays like a game itself (think elves and goblins). Much like Minecraft (and the ensuing tidal wave of Minecraft-inspired titles), Project Spark is about world building. ![]() Rather than a game-within-a-game, Project Spark is sort of a game without a game. That definition is on, if a bit abstract. Share all of your creations to a dynamic community, and play what the community makes. It's a powerful, yet simple way to build and play your own worlds, stories and games. "Project Spark" is an open-world digital canvas that enables anyone to build, play, and share whatever they can imagine. According to an early post from the Xbox Blog: So what is it exactly? Having spent a solid chunk of hours with the "game" on Xbox One, that's still a little tricky to answer. ![]()
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