How to make a catcher game in Qualifio

In this article, we will walk you through the steps to create a catcher game in Qualifio.

About the game

A catcher game is where objects fall from the sky and participants catch them to score points. The goal is to catch as many objects as possible.

This game tests your concentration and the speed of your reflexes as you have to catch objects falling all around the screen (at random positions) with one basket. Thus, it’s a great way to engage your audience!

So, how many falling objects can you catch? Visit this link to play the game!

Now, if you’re ready to learn how to make your own catcher game, let’s dive in.

Table of contents

1. Campaign creation and setup
   1. Get your campaign ready
   2. Choose a catcher game to customise
2. Game controls and customisation
   1. Layout
   2. Game mode
   3. Catcher
   4. Falling objects
   5. Panels
   6. Sound effects
3. Publish and share your campaign

Campaign creation and setup

Get your campaign ready

Step 1, let's create your campaign:

1. Open Qualifio and click the Create a new campaign button.
2. Select Games > Catcher.
3. If the participant needs to register, pick the "identified" mode. If no registration is required, select "anonymous".
4. Select Create campaign.

After you create your campaign, you can start setting it up.

Choose a catcher game to customise

From the Game step, you can browse our selection of ready-to-use game designs. Those games are always bound to a specific theme (e.g. football or Christmas), and you can easily customise them to make them even better!

For example, in your game, you could have participants

• catch fruits in their basket while avoiding rotten apples,
• catch golden coins while avoiding worthless rocks,
• catch stars while avoiding some bombs,
• etc.

Once you decide which game you want to start with, select Customise this game.

Note: Custom games allow you to create and save your own game templates. To save the design and gameplay mechanics as a custom game, you only need to open the editor, edit your game however you like, and then click “Save as new game”. Custom games can also be found in the Documents section under the “Advanced formats”.

Game controls and customisation

Layout

Now it's time to start adding some custom images to your game. To design a catcher game, your first step will be to add a background image as well as the sound on/off buttons.

Note: To preview the most recent changes to your game, you can use the live preview feature and select Refresh.

Background image

That image is used as a background on all game pages. You can load different images on desktop and on mobile.

Sound on/off buttons

Participants can turn audio on and off at will. The “sound off” button will mute all audio in your game, while the “sound on” button will reactivate all audio in your game.

Game mode

From the list of options, choose a game mode:

• In the life-based mode, you decide on the number of lives that each participant starts the game with (“life total”, max: 5). A life is lost each time the participant catches a bad object. The game ends when all lives are lost. E.g. if you have 3 lives and you catch 3 bad objects, you lose the game.
• In the time-based mode, you set a time limit and participants compete against the clock. They have to be quick to catch as many objects as they can before time’s out. E.g. you have one minute to score as many points as you can.
• In the number-based mode, you determine how many objects the participant will see throughout the game. The game stops when all the objects have fallen – whether dropped or collected. The objects will be deducted from the counter when they are caught in the basket or touching the floor. The higher the number, the longer the game will last.

Pro tip: You can set the exact number of times participants will see each object in Falling objects > Number.

Catcher

Customise the object you want to have catching your falling items! Upload your image by clicking the upload field, then select a file.

Front image:

Adding a back image allows you to add some perspective to your basket without breaking a sweat. This is totally optional, though.

Front image:

Back image:

The catcher shape field refers to the area that is taken into account when determining whether an object has been caught. If the object falls into that area, it will be considered as caught. If it falls outside that area, it will be considered dropped.

Pro tip: Choose the shape that is most similar to your basket and you're good to go :)

Falling objects

The next step is to create the falling objects and assign them a score (e.g. every star catch earns 20 points).

In order to make the game more dynamic and varied, you can add several objects by clicking the + button, as shown below:

Tips to make the game more difficult:

• Add bad objects (malus) that participants have to avoid. These objects have a negative impact on the participant’s score (e.g. every bomb catch removes 2 points).
• Decrease the time delay between each object drop.

Note: After an object is caught, it is removed and the score and life counts are updated. Feel free to adjust the value next to Hide dropped objects for different outcomes as to how long dropped objects will stay on screen :)

Panels

Panels are interactive in-game screens and are one of the principal elements of the game. They inform players or give them directions on the next move to make.

• The tutorial panel shows how the game is played and opens up automatically once the game is loaded.
• The pause panel shows a menu with a “Resume” button and opens up automatically when the participants click outside the game.
• The game over panel shows the participant’s score and opens up automatically once the game has ended.

Sound effects

You can also add sound effects to your game:

• Background music to set the atmosphere and help users connect emotionally with the game.
• Sound effects at crucial moments or during specific actions:
  • when participants click on the start button,
  • when an object is dropped and touches the ground,
  • when an object is caught in the basket.

Note: You can upload multiple audio tracks to play one sound category. In that case, the audio files will play in random order.

And there you have it: your very own catcher game! Be sure to click the “Save as new game” (creates a new custom game based on the one you’ve opened) or “Save & close” (replaces the original game) button on the bottom toolbar.

Publish and share your campaign

To ensure responsiveness on smartphones and tablets, campaign integration must be done in the following way:

1. Create a minisite or iframe channel.
2. Customise your catcher game.
3. Add a mobile channel.
4. Make use of the minisite/iframe channel smart URL to share. To learn more, please check What is a smart URL and how to use it?

Thanks for reading!