Where NutHouse came from
A homage to the game makers of the 1990s, such as The Games Factory, rebuilt for todayโs Macs and todayโs children. Not affiliated with anyone.
The idea
In the 1990s, a generation of children made their first games in programs where you placed objects in a level, gave them a movement, and wrote rules in a grid: a row for each event, a column for each object, a tick where something should happen. No typing, no syntax errors, and a playable game in an afternoon. Many people who make software today started there.
Those programs are hard to run now and were never made for the Mac. NutHouse takes the same shape, the level, the movements, the When/Do grid, and builds it again from scratch with what we have learned since: an undo for everything, a guided tutorial, samples you can read, three modes so the first screen is not frightening, and sharing as a single web page.
What is kept
| Levels as a sequence | A game is a list of levels. Each has its own things and rules. |
|---|---|
| Movements | Ready-made behaviours you choose from a list, with settings. |
| The grid of rules | Rows are rules, columns are things. Red conditions happen once. |
| Score, lives, counters | Built-in objects rather than variables you declare. |
What is new
| List view | The same rules as sentences, for reading aloud. |
|---|---|
| Teach me | Play, and when two things touch with no rule, NutHouse asks what should happen. |
| Modes | Simple, Advanced and Expert, so the picker only shows what a child is ready for. |
| 3D levels | First-person mazes from a map of blocks. |
| One-file sharing | An .html page that plays on anything with a browser. |
Who is behind it
NutHouse is made in Ireland and is free.
For what NutHouse is today, see What NutHouse is.
