Startup Pixel Press has released a new app called Pixel Press Floors, which allows users to create their own video games.
The app lets people use an iPad and basic school supplies to create their own side-scrolling platformers, according to Touch Arcade.
In order to make these games, users have to print out Pixel Press-produced graph paper and draw different symbols on the paper. Users can draw any symbol they want, such as squares, coins or plus signs. Afterward, the user must point his or her iPad camera in the direction of the graph paper. The game level is then imported into the app and is ready for play.
Pixel Press was founded in 2013 in St. Louis, Miss. by CEO Robin Rath and CTO Rob Bennett, Upstart reported.
Rath said that users can share levels with other people in Pixel Press Floors' "arcade" platform, where "players can 'like' levels, track how many times they've played certain levels or see how they've done on a leaderboard."
Rath and Bennett have been working with developers John Haney, Rob Santos and Bradley McCrorey on the code that allows the app to keep drawings in the games for almost a year.
John Grispon, an independent Pixel Press advisor and CEO of St. Louis startup RespondWell, said the app will bring the company success because people will be able to relate to it, Upstart reported.
"People just get it immediately," Grispon said. "They want to jump right in and start using it or get their kid or nephew in front of it right away. And they're using proprietary technology to do it. It's unique and they have a way to protect it."
The startup has two additional planned apps, Touch Arcade reported. Pixel Press Quest lets users create complex adventure games, and Pixel Press Tracks focuses on racing games.
The two apps are not set to be released until later this year, or sometime next year.
Rath said Pixel Press Floors is now free to download and includes in-app purchases for upgrades within levels, Upstart reported.
Pixel Press so far has raised almost $700,000. This includes a successful Kickstarter campaign last summer that brought in over $100,000.
