I Made a Dress-up Game in a Week!
And here's how to make your own!
Hey Art Girlfriends!
If you're a millennial girlie like me, I’m willing to bet that you’ve played your fair share of online dress-up games. You know the ones: Barbie, Polly Pocket, MyScene, etc. Any type of makeover-dress-up-fashion-show situation had my full attention.
My love of the dress-up game has never wavered, so I recently started drawing paper dolls. It became a really fun way for me to wind down in the evenings. Until it started taking over my daytime too…
Unfortunately, my first attempt didn’t have much engineering to it. I made a test print and the pants slid off and the shoulder tabs barely fit under the hair. It was a bit anticlimactic but I was still having fun.
Months later I randomly stumbled upon a Reddit post where someone was asking about a dress-up game engine to make their own game. Someone suggested meiker.io and my attention was grabbed.
I started making coloured versions of all the clothes and bodies I’d already drawn, and came up with a palette so that it would feel cohesive with any combination of garments. I also simplified my render style so I could pump out lots of assets.
Meiker.io works by taking a PSD and turning it into a functioning game. It instructs you on how to prepare your file using some specific terms and organizing your layers accordingly:
From there, all you do is upload your PSD, pray you didn’t mess anything up (you probably did though) and voila! You can test your game while it gets approved for publishing. Here’s how the final game looks:
And then of course, I spent far too long creating the cutest little outfit combinations of friends and made-up characters. It’s a janky little game but it sure leaves you with a lot of options, considering I only let myself work on it for a week.
Anyways, I’m not sure where to take this little hobby. An activity book? Printables? I think I got most of the paper doll urge out of me for now, but it’s definitely something I would love to build on in the future!
“Okay Morg, that’s cool and all, but where can I play it??”
^that’s you.
Look no further! You can play Cool Guy Avatar Maker right here! Enjoy!
I loved this!! Super fun!
I have shared with my friends so they can make their own cool avatar
Also feeling very inspired to maybe work on making my own
Another great post, thanks Morg :)
I love this so much. I played the little game and there's so many fun options, I'm happy you also wrote a BTS about it because now I'm tempted at giving it a shot too!