Black Ink

Black Ink

TLDR; An exciting platform capable of producing HUGE resolution paintings with highly customizable brushes. I have never used a painting application and been inspired BY the painting application itself before Black Ink.

To get a good impression of this product and its developers visit the Black ink forum: http://forum.bleank.com/viewforum.php?f=3

The following is based on my personal experience and user feedback I’ve read in the discussion boards.

Be aware that this software is:

  • In development. Updates roll out on a regular basis, and u2 (developer) is highly responsive to suggestions and issues. Some tools you might depend on may not be included in the current version. For example, at the time of writing this review there is no smudge tool but it is slated for inclusion.

Real player with 1251.7 hrs in game

Great Computer Art Program

Black in is an abstract conceptual art program that uses certain brush settings inorder to convey concepts from the artist.

Preface

[olist]

  • For those looking to get the most out of this program: I would recommend using a graphics tablet; as it helps simulate using traditional mediums such as drawing or painting. If you can draw fairly well without looking at your drawing hand, a cheap wacom or Huion tablet will do. If you’re having problems with hand-eye coordination, you could try for a higher end graphics tablet with a digital displey (such as the Wacom Cintiq 13HD), or practice a lot more with the current tablet you own; However, graphics tablets aren’t required to use Black Ink.

Real player with 249.2 hrs in game

Black Ink on Steam

001 Game Creator

001 Game Creator

Especially for the money, I don’t think you’ll find a program more fun to use when putting together your games. I haven’t found a more flexible engine (Short of maybe Unity, which still requires extra licensing) to quickly piece together scenes and basic mechanics to sketch out game ideas without diving into a million menus. They don’t even have to be simple prototypes, as I am also able to implement complex mechanics in no time at all using easy drag and drop scripting. I have found that my only limitation so far has been my own terrible math skill.

Real player with 4553.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Animation & Modeling Education Games.


I’ve used 001 now for almost 15 years. I’m currently working for SoftWeir Inc. and have contributed to 001 in many ways. That being said, I originally purchased 001 years ago through their website as any other customer, and not just given a free copy as a team member. I’m not being paid to write this review.

001 is a very capable engine designed to bring your ideas to life, as quickly as possible. You can import assets, just plop them into a map or interface, tweak some triggers then start building a game. If you are familiar with the engine, and have the assets ready, you can quite literally prototype ideas in under an hour (Of course depending on how many existing systems and assets you can leverage, and what gameplay you are looking for)

Real player with 1955.3 hrs in game

001 Game Creator on Steam