Bloxels is a tactile tool for building video games

I kind of wish I were a kid today

As a kid, I loved playing with blocks, and I loved playing video games. I think the combination of the two is at least partially why Minecraft is so popular with kids these days. Well, here’s another product that I wish existed when I was a kid. Bloxels lets users build physical maps on a 13×13 grid and then translate them into video game levels.

The first of the games to use this is an action role-playing game called B.R.A.V.E. Squad. On its own, it looks fairly standard, if not a little dull, but the real draw is in the interaction between building a physical thing and having it show up in a virtual space. There is just something special about creating and arranging with one’s own hands and seeing the immediate results of that.

Bloxels is currently on Kickstarter with about $25,000 pledged of its $40,000 goal. I’m holding out hope that it catches on in some way and we see some really cool games come out of it.