Bloxels Builder

Zift Advisory

Bloxels is a safe for kids app that allows children to build and play their own video games through simple coding. The Bloxels app is free to download and create, but users will have a more enhanced experience by purchasing the entire Brainboard kit. It is rated 4 year and older but is better suited for ages nine-eleven.

About Bloxels Builder

What is Bloxels Builder?

Bloxels is an app that allows children to build and play their own video games through simple coding. Coding games and apps are all the rage, and Bloxels makes early coding a breeze, with the reward of a playable game at the end creating.

Paired with a Brainboard ($34.99 retail), Bloxels users have virtually unlimited creative possibilities. The Bloxels app is free to download and create, but users will have a more enhanced experience by purchasing the entire kit. This app can be found in the App Store and the Google Play Store.

The Bloxels creation kit includes a black, 13x13 (pixels) board, with square cutouts to hold individual colored pixels. Users can then have a hands-on experience, using the pixelated board to place individual colored pixels to design characters, obstacles, villains and platforms (think Lite-Brite, but with blocks, rather than pegs).

The pixel pieces are color coded, meaning that the app will understand what the user is creating when they make something out of a specific color.

For example, green represents terrain the main character will walk on, blue represents water, red indicates a hazard, yellow blocks are coins users can place throughout the game, purple blocks are villains or enemies, pink represents a power-up, and white is a sign or text box which can be customized with text.

Once a child has finished a design, they then use their electronic device -- smartphone or tablet to take a photo of their creation through the Bloxels app. The app then digitizes the creation, which is ready to place within the game being created.

It’s important to note that many users have complained that the scanning/photographing process is much trickier than initially explained, as users with less than perfect lighting will likely experience difficulty in the app reading colors or properly digitizing the artwork created.

Is Bloxels Builder safe for my kids?

Parents should know that Bloxels is an educational STEM app, that teaches kids basic coding principles, by combining art, animation, design and logic.

Rated 4 years and older in the app store, parents should know that Bloxels was created with children ages nine to eleven in mind, and that the app may be a bit too complicated for a four-year-old to easily navigate. Otherwise, this app is safe for kids.

While the Bloxels app is free to download, parents should be aware that the purchase of a Brainboard will unlock all game creation features.

In an effort to incentivize those people who purchase the $34.99 Bloxels kit, developers added a gem currency system, that requires app users to earn gems by following instructions and tutorials, which can later be cashed to unlock advanced game creation features, such as additional game rooms, villains and larger-scale designs.

Bloxels users who do not purchase the game kit will likely find themselves frustrated and facing roadblocks to additional and more complex game creation.

It should be noted that users without a game kit will create their games with a virtual black gameboard, placing colored pieces identical to the physical version.

Parents should note that Bloxels has a built-in profanity filter, should kids try to integrate profanity into their game text or play other players’ creations

Quirks and glitches aside, parents will appreciate the fact that Bloxels places emphasis on the creation portion of the game process, rather than the play portion.

In this regard, child-developers must really think through cause-and-effect for potential players, and work to create a game that is both complex and interesting enough to keep a player engaged (which is more challenging than it sounds).

Not only are child-developers targeting creative thinking in game design, they’re also using logic and skills of deduction to create game levels or rooms with obstacles and villains.