Createrria is a new iOS game from Incuvo, and it’s their first offering. It’s being advertised as the first game creator on the App Store, and you can also play other people’s creations.

Check out the trailer!

Plot

Createrria doesn’t have a plot, so I’ll just give you the official summary:

Createrria offers you quick and super-easy (no tech skills required!) game creation ready to kick-start your imagination. With just a few taps, you can craft your own games and share with your friends! Createrria is powered by a strong community platform, allowing you to publish amazing stuff for your friends to play – or simply play and rate all the great games created by other gamers around the world. Jump in to start playing and creating games!

When you download Createrria, you get both a play and a create menu. There are excellent tutorials for both modes. Play allows you to play games that others have created, and create allows you to create your own games. Your avatar (which is your character you go through the game with) can be either a girl or a boy, with others (like a werewolf) available for purchase with in-game currency.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics are colorful and engaging, and other people’s levels get really creative with their themes (I found a level that based itself on 2001: A Space Odyssey!). Everything runs smoothly. There are a few different themes that will change the look of the levels you create – candy (default and free), smooth, fable, and pixel. I like the look of fable the best, as it distinguishes itself the most from the other three.The music is enjoyable and surprisingly varied. On the main menu, it’s mostly vocals and is really fun and bouncy. Within levels, there’s a bunch of different tracks the game uses, and all of them fit right in with the platforming genre.

Gameplay

Playing other people’s games is where I spent the most time in Createrria. There’s a lot of cool things people have done, even though what you can do is limited based on how much stuff you have purchased. The controls are also very fluid and responsive. Check out games some other people have made: the Grand Theft Auto V opening sequence, Pacman, Executioner’s Creed IV, and Super Pixel Bros. Sometimes people make bad design decisions (like putting a monster right on top of a checkpoint, or having to jump though a small gap between two saws), but I haven’t run into a ton of issues like that. I’d share one of my games with you, but I haven’t made a really cool one yet!

Creating is user-friendly, and the tutorial is very helpful. I messed around with it for a bit, but found myself annoyed when a lot of the elements of creation had to be purchased. Level layouts, themes, and elements you use in creation (monsters, lifts, etc), beyond the basics, all need to be purchased with either coins or gems, which makes it more difficult to create something unique for free. Coins are easier to earn; you can do that by playing other people’s games. Gems are harder to come by. You get a daily bonus if you play every day, but most people are going to forget to do that. You can get coins if you tweet or post on Facebook about the game, but that seems spammy. Another thing is that you can only make one type of game, when it boils down to it – a platformer. Some people have gotten pretty creative with the slingshot tool, enabling them to make Angry Birds-type games, but it still feels limited. You can level up by performing tasks such as creating games, playing other people’s games, and changing your avatar; each level up awards you coins and a gem.

Final Thoughts

Createrria is a wonderful idea, with a robust community, friendly creation tools, and a great interface for both playing and creating. I enjoy seeing what other people have come up with; there’s a lot of cool ideas out there. The number of in-app purchases is off-putting, however.

Score: B-

Get the game on the App Store here for free. There are many in-app purchases. It requires iOS 6.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It’s optimized for iPhone 5. Visit the official site, like the game on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and subscribe on YouTube.

Have you made anything in Createrria? Let me know in the comments!

[Disclaimer: A review code was provided for me to review this game.]