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Stencyl is a
video game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC ...
tool that allows users to create 2D video games for computers, mobile devices, and the web. The software is available for free, with select publishing options available for purchase. The software was originally called "StencylWorks" while in development and for the initial release but was later shortened to just "Stencyl".


Features

Games created in Stencyl can be exported to the web via
Adobe Flash Player Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...
or
HTML5 HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
, and to personal computers as executable games, as well as onto various mobile devices as
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and Android applications. Physics and collisions are managed by
Box2D Box2D is a free open source 2-dimensional physics simulator engine written in C++ by Erin Catto and published under the MIT license. It has been used in ''Crayon Physics Deluxe'', ''Limbo'', '' Rolando'', '' Incredibots'', '' Angry Birds'', ' ...
, which can be selectively or completely disabled to decrease any potential performance impact for games that don't require full physics simulation. Starting in version 3.0, projects in Stencyl use the
Haxe Haxe is an open source high-level cross-platform programming language and compiler that can produce applications and source code, for many different computing platforms from one code-base. It is free and open-source software, released under the ...
programming language and
OpenFL OpenFL is a free and open-source software framework and platform for the creation of multi-platform applications and video games. OpenFL applications can be written in Haxe, JavaScript (EcmaScript 5 or 6+), or TypeScript, and may be published as st ...
game framework to allow a flexible,
write once, run anywhere Write once, run anywhere (WORA), or sometimes Write once, run everywhere (WORE), was a 1995 slogan created by Sun Microsystems to illustrate the cross-platform benefits of the Java language. Ideally, this meant that a Java program could be develope ...
style of game creation.


IDE

Stencyl is an
authoring tool An authoring system is a program that has pre-programmed elements for the development of interactive multimedia software titles. Authoring systems can be defined as software that allows its user to create multimedia applications for manipulating m ...
and an IDE. The application includes several modules used to accomplish the necessary tasks to create games with the software. * The Behavior Editor is used to create and edit code and game logic in modular pieces known as behaviors and events. * The Tileset Editor is used to import and edit tilesets, including their collision shapes, appearance, and animations. * The Actor Editor is used to create and edit game entities (Actors) and their settings, including behaviors, physics, and animations. * The Scene Designer is used to create and edit levels and game states (Scenes) by using actors, tilesets, and behaviors. Additional tools permit the user to import images for use as foregrounds and backgrounds in scenes, import and edit fonts, import sounds and music files (
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
and
OGG Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The authors of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high-quality di ...
are supported, depending on the export target), and alter game settings such as player controls and game resolution. A library of common behaviors is included with Stencyl to reduce the need to recreate common game behaviors, and several game "kits" provide functional starting points for common 2D game genres.


VPL

When creating a new behavior, the option is presented to create it either in Code Mode or Design Mode. Using Code Mode for a behavior permits the user to program logic in traditional textual form and optionally open the code in an external editor. Alternatively, Design Mode is a
GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
that allows users to create modular game logic for actors and scenes using a visual programming language. The concept of Design Mode as a form of end-user development originated with MIT's Scratch computer language learning environment and was used with permission for Stencyl. As it is a visual programming language, Design Mode users are not required to learn or type out a particular programming language, nor must they concern themselves with syntax. Rather, available actions are dragged and dropped from a palette of "code blocks". These blocks will snap in place together and nest within each other, permitting the creation of advanced logic from basic components. To avoid syntax errors during compilation, not all blocks will snap together. For example, a space that requires a Boolean value will not accept a block that represents a numeric value. The shapes of the block types are different to help represent this to the user as a behavior-shaping constraint. The number block could be used in conjunction with a comparison block - such as "(Number) equals (Number)" - to evaluate as a True/False statement for the needed Boolean.


Cloud Storage

StencylForge is an integrated online storage and sharing service for Stencyl games and game assets. It can be used to back up projects and access projects from other computers when logged into Stencyl. User-uploaded content is private by default, but it can also be made public to share with other users. In addition to user-uploaded content, officially sanctioned content such as example games, game kits, behaviors, and art or sound assets are also available and prominently featured on StencylForge.


Other

Integrated with Stencyl is the
image editor Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional photo-chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as a ...
br>Pixelitor
Its use in Stencyl is usually secondary, as images are typically imported directly from the computer after being created separately. Stencyl can alternatively be set up to use external image editors, such as
Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...
and GIMP, to modify images already loaded into a project. Stencyl also supports user-created extensions to add functions to the software. For example, an extension could add new blocks for Design Mode use, such as a third-party
API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
. Another example is an extensive dialogue scripting tool to easily add dialogue and tweak its settings for a game.


See also

* AgentCubes * AgentSheets *
Scratch (programming language) Scratch is a high-level block-based visual programming language and website aimed primarily at children as an educational tool for programming, with a target audience of ages 8 to 16. Users on the site, called Scratchers, can create projects ...
* GameSalad * GameMaker: Studio * Construct * Corona (software development kit) *
RPG Maker RPG Maker, known in Japan as , is a series of programs for the development of role-playing video games (RPGs) with story-driven elements, created by the Japanese group ASCII, succeeded by Enterbrain. The Japanese name, ''Tsukūru'', is a pun m ...


References


External links


Official website
{{Adobe Flash Video game IDE Video game engines Game engines for Linux Video game development software Visual programming languages Educational programming languages Browser-based game websites Video game development software for Linux