Draw & Play: Draw Your Own Game

How to play Draw & Play

Draw & Play is a video game drawing toy and a platformer in one. Every level is a page from a sketchbook, drawn with five coloured pens, and every line you see is something the hero can stand on, bounce off or run away from. Play the 30 built-in levels, then grab the pens and draw your own game: whatever you draw becomes a playable level the moment you press Play.

1. Choose a level and run to the green goal with ← → and Space, or the on-screen buttons on a phone.
2. Collect the yellow stars for a better rating, and keep away from red lava.
3. Press ✏️ Make a level to open the level maker.
4. Draw ground, lava, trampolines, coins and a goal. Move the start position with the 🙂 tool.
5. Press ▶ Play to test it. Beat it once and the 🔗 Share link button unlocks.

What each pen does

• Black – ground: solid lines to walk on. Draw floors, hills, walls, ceilings and floating platforms. Gentle slopes can be walked up; steep ones act as walls.
• Red – lava: touch it and the run is over. Great for pits, hot floors and tricky ceilings.
• Blue – bouncy: land on it and you're launched about five metres into the air, much higher than a normal jump.
• Green – goal: touch any green line to finish the level. Every level needs at least one.
• Yellow – coins: tap to place a star, or drag to lay down a trail of them.

Level design tips

• Know the jump. A normal jump clears about two and a half squares up and four squares across. Use those numbers to make gaps that are hard but fair.
• Guide the player with coins. A trail of stars over a gap tells players a jump is possible and shows the arc you have in mind.
• Mix in trampolines. A blue pad in front of a tall cliff turns a dead end into a big moment.
• Lava ceilings are evil. A red line just above a jump forces short, precise hops. Use sparingly!
• Test, then share. You must finish your own level before sharing it, so every shared level is beatable.

Why drawing your own game is so much fun

Making levels is one of the best ways to understand games. Kids and adults who sketch their own platformer levels quickly learn about pacing, difficulty and fairness, because they playtest their own ideas seconds after drawing them. Draw & Play keeps it as simple as paper and pen: no menus of tiles, no blocks to drag, just lines. If you can doodle it, you can play it.

The 30 built-in levels are a gentle campaign that also works as a tutorial for level makers: early pages teach single jumps, steps and lava, the middle introduces trampolines and blob-like lava lumps, and the last levels chain everything into long obstacle runs. Every built-in level has been checked with a scripted run that reaches the goal and collects all three stars.

Ideas for your first level

• The lava bridge: a long red floor with small black islands to hop across.
• The tower: a stack of short platforms going up the page with a goal flag on top and a trampoline to help.
• The secret coin: hide one star under an overhang so only curious players find it.

More drawing games

Want more games where your lines come to life? Draw temporary platforms on the run inDraw Platforms Adventure, bounce on spring lines inDoodle Sky Jump, or draw a racetrack and ride it in Draw Rider.