How To Make Koji Games (For Non-Techies)
This guide is designed to help creators and non-techies make amazing games and apps in Koji. We recommend having this doc handy when you are creating. It includes links to several free online resources.
What is Koji?
Koji is a new platform, that makes it easy to create Web Games and all kinds of other interactive content. Koji games can be shared via social channels, embedded in blogs, and load instantly when people click on the link.
The whole process typically takes less than 15 minutes per game and can be done without even touching code (although all of the JavaScript code is available to those that want to edit it).
How does Koji Work?
Making games in Koji is easy!
1. Find an existing game on WithKoji.com
There are thousands of games to choose from. You can see what’s trending
2. Click on the “Remix” button directly below the game.
3. Customize the game
Change colors, images, sounds, game rules, and all kinds of other things.
4. Publish & Share it with the world.
Once you finish customizing, click on “Publish now”. Fill in some info, add a thumbnail image/gif. You will get a link to the live game on WithKoji.com
You can share your game anywhere on the web (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit, Email, website embed, etc.)
Follow along with this video tutorial and learn how to create your own game in minutes:
Tips & Tricks For Success :)
Here are several resources that will help you make high-quality games
#1 — Use Quality Images
When you create games, you will want to make sure that you are using images that are the correct size and fit correctly in your games. Usually, the creator of a game will include the ideal image sizes in the image description. These images will usually be PNG images with transparent backgrounds
Here are some websites for finding FREE transparent PNG images:
These sites offer thousands of free png images to download. You may need to sign-in, but it’s worth it!
KissPNG:
Pngtree:
Flaticon:
Open Game Art:
Google Image Search:
When using google image search, you can type “transparent png” at the end of your search to get images. Beware of fake transparent images!!
If you find a cool image, but it has a background…
You can use this online tool to remove the background of any image and create a transparent PNG image for you to download.
Remove.bg:
For editing images…
If you do not have any sort of photo editing software, you can use one of these free online photo editing tools. This will allow you to make basic edits like:
- Resize
- Crop
- Rotate
- Colorize
- Add Filters
- and more cool things
Fotor Online Image Editor:
BeFunky Online Photo Editor:
#2 — Use Cool Sounds Effects & Background Music
Audio files tend to be larger than image files, so if you are uploading a full song, it may cause long loading times for your game, which leads to poor user experience. Do your best to keep your largest audio file sizes down to about 2MB or less for the best experience.
Here are some websites for finding FREE audio:
These sites offer thousands of free audio files download. You may need to sign-in, but (like with images) it’s worth it! :)
Freesound.org
BBC Sound Effects Library
Jamendo Music
YouTube Audio Library:
Facebook Audio Library:
Pulling Audio from YouTube Videos
YouTube videos can also be a great source for sounds, especially if you are looking to pull news segments for current events or if your game relies on a reference from a video.
This useful tool allows you to pull short audio snippets from a YouTube video and download it as a small mp3 file.
YTCutter:
#3 — Optimize Your Game For Discoverability
Ultimately, the goal of creating things on Koji should be getting folks to play or use what you have created. It’s more fun when more people play.
By using titles that include the subject that is searched, you have a higher likelihood of getting organically discovered by others online.
For example, let’s say that you create a game about Area 51. Your game title and description should use certain keywords that would appeal to someone searching for that topic. So, you should probably use keywords like “Area 51”, “Aliens”, “UFO”, “Location”, etc. This will help others find your game when they search the web.
What Games Should I Remix?
The reality is that you can remix anything you find on Koji. Below is a list of games that we (the Koji team) think represent the best examples for remixing & customizing.
Use these games as a starting point for your next creation.
