By: Nick Gambino
Giphy is the go-to platform for everyone’s favorite animated GIFs. Now they’re trying their hand at gaming with their newly launched Giphy Arcade.
Giphy Arcade is a fun concept that sees the user creating their own mini-games filled with stickers and GIFs from a collection of templates right from their browser without needing to download an app. If you’re more the editing type, you can choose to remix an existing game more to your liking.
There are a number of games to choose from, all of which are based on classic games like endless runners, brick breakers, wall bouncers and a variation of Centipede. These mini-games are extremely easy to play with nothing more than a tap or drag.
Getting started is just as easy as playing. You’ll start by choosing your game template – Blast ‘Em Up, Wall Bounder, Brick Buster, Runner, etc. Don’t worry you can change it later or make an infinite number of games. Don’t stress over this.
Next, you’ll choose three different pieces of internet art (memes, stickers, emojis, GIFs, etc.) You’ll have to choose from their collection of art as I don’t see a way to add your own, not yet anyway. At this step, you’re filling three slots – Hero, Enemy and Projectile. Whatever you choose will act in that capacity.
Now it’s time to choose your background. There are a ton available from the abstract to the trippy, to the plain weird. The backgrounds tend to move so if you’re sensitive to constant moving colors when you’re trying to focus, then pick something tame.
All that’s left is selecting the proper soundtrack to enhance your gaming experience. Giphy Arcade currently offers 21 options including Bad Booty Beat, Evil Lair, and Indulgent Funk.
If you want to give your game a title, you would do it at this point before you jump into playing your new gaming masterpiece. I created a couple of my own – Capital-Schism and Moves for Daze – and found that they were surprisingly addictive and fun.
While the idea is definitely to have fun playing your own game and remixing others, Giphy is all about sharing. The simple game with simple graphics makes it a cinch to share by creating a link and texting or e-mailing.
“When exploring what games could look like for Giphy, we knew the experience had to be quick, shareable, and accessible for everyone, including people who don’t necessarily have a history with gaming,” Giphy Senior Product Engineer, Nick Santaniello, said in the announcement. “With Giphy Arcade, we’ve created an experience that provides not only instant fun for the player but also a new way to add personalized expression and entertainment to conversations as they’re happening.”
I don’t know if Giphy Arcade will catch on with the masses, but it’s definitely fun.
