It's rather difficult to judge a game / app such as VoxelMaker. On one hand it features an extremely in-depth and detailed suite for making 3D models out of a large collection of blocks. On the other hand the overall experience feels limited due to its omissions of any sort of interactivity with the models that are created. Suffice to say VoxelMaker is very good at doing what it set out to do - to be a tool for creating scenes and models in a blocky 3D style.
VoxelMaker takes a very no-frills and direct-to-the-point approach to the way it presents everything. Upon booting up the game there is no menu screen or any sort of greeting to welcome the player in; you're thrown right into the editor with a brief set of basic instructions on how to make use of the tools. For the most part you'll be teaching yourself the ins and outs of the various tools, and while they may take some getting used to they're ultimately simple enough to master. Though there are further instructions available should you need them, it would've been nice if there were a bit more character to the app. While the presentation is certainly functional, it could scarcely be described as much more and this makes the overall experience feel rather sterile.
In terms of the tools themselves there are four basic modes: Draw, Select, Paint, and Light Direction. Each one of these is fairly self-explanatory and contains an additional set of tools to do things such as erasing blocks, colouring blocks, setting the lighting angle and so on. The menus make sense and are easy enough to navigate, though it does get a bit irritating having to constantly switch between tools to do specific tasks. Models can be as large as 256 blocks cubed, which leaves more than enough space for extremely complex and detailed work. In addition to this there's a virtually endless selection of colours available. Make no mistake, the tools themselves adequately deliver a well-rounded and complete selection of options that will likely satisfy most creative needs.
Of course, it'd be remiss to not mention the usage of the GamePad. The GamePad screen mirrors everything that's displayed on the top screen and you can navigate menus and models using the stylus. While it may be that you can technically use buttons to navigate around the app, that's extremely hokey and ineffective. The touch controls are responsive and intuitive, and are an excellent example of the creative opportunities that are made viable with the GamePad.
If there's one major point to be highlighted about the basic offering, it's that there's virtually no interactivity beyond creation. Yes, you can make some very good looking models and scenes out of blocks, but that's pretty much it. There's no means of exploring, animating, or doing anything with them beyond saving the work you've done, which significantly limits the audience for this app. This isn't necessarily a negative thing, but do bear in mind that this is designed exclusively for creative types with an interest in voxel art.
Conclusion
If you've been searching for a program that'll help hone your voxel art making techniques, then look no further. VoxelMaker presents an in depth but easy to use set of tools that allow players to create whatever they set their minds to, and the GamePad makes this whole process go over very smoothly. However, the fact that these models are just for show means that only artistic types will find any sort of long term enjoyment out of this. Overall we do recommend VoxelMaker; despite its lack of interactivity, it features a diverse set of tools that will bring creative gamers virtually endless entertainment.
Comments 10
So, no real way for "sharing" creations? Only posting images on Miiverse?
It look pretty good for a creation tool but if someone gets this for a kid there most likely be huge disappointment that though it looks like MC you can't explore.
Though the game is perfectly honest about what it is, that just how it is.
It looks cool but besides it being faster (most likely) to create something I don't see what makes this stand out to something like Minecraft creative mode.
@dadajo I don't either. I didn't really like this game all that much, but I can definitely see how some people could get a LOT of enjoyment out of it. Aside from the fact that you can't do anything with your creations, there's really not a whole lot to complain about.
This is probably fun and somewhat easy but I think I'll stick to 3D modelling.
So this is pretty much Magica Voxel (Free for PC) on Wii U.
Looks decent. Really not much to say about it, though... It does what it sets out to do and that's what really matters.
I'll stick to Pixel Paint, anyway.
I have the feeling that nostatic Software was just trying to build a 3D engine for their games and suddenly they realized they could sell the VoxelMaker directly instead than spend more time doing even a game with it XD;;;
Ive definitely gotten five dollars worth of enjoyment out of this. Very fun title. Except I wish there was some way I could show my masterpieces off to the world.
Give this an export function and I'll lap it up like a deranged horndog.
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