Papercade: The Shoebox Diorama Story-Game Creator App

Papercade is an interesting idea from the folks at Holo Labs. Described as “scrapgaming,” this is a sort of game creation tool sandbox that looks like a diorama made for a school project. This lets the user create scenarios by …

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Papercade is an interesting idea from the folks at Holo Labs. Described as “scrapgaming,” this is a sort of game creation tool sandbox that looks like a diorama made for a school project. This lets the user create scenarios by choosing the background and adding characters in with a variety of faces, including custom photos you import. It’s then possible to add in dialogue and interactive objects, including scenarios where you have to hit a moving target, or tap the proper object in time.

Papercade hardly seems suited to endeavors of complex game-making, but it does provide a way for kids and novices to express their creativity, and to create stories with game-like scenarios through Papercade. And its unique visual style means that there’s ways to create things that look quite different from what can be made anywhere else. The ability to look around the entire diorama in 3D is quite welcome, as it’s really cool to see the way that the app commits to making everything look like a shoebox diorama.

Papercade is a basic creative tool and should be treated as such – you won’t be making the next hit game in here. But if you know that going into it, it’s hard to be disappointed. Papercade is out now for free on the iPad in the US, Canada, and United Kingdom.

I'm Carter Dotson! I'm a freelance writer from Chicago, IL, by way of San Antonio, TX. I'm still not used to that whole 'winter' thing. I've had a lifelong passion for gaming, especially on-the-go gaming of all forms, and a special place in my heart for games by small developers. I care way too much about baseball, too.