Game Builder Garage

In Game Builder Garage, the player uses a visual programming language centralized on the concept of creatures called Nodon. The Nodon represent various facets of input, game output, and game logic, such as a Stick Nodon that reports input from the Joy-Con analog stick or a Person Nodon that represents an on-screen character. The player builds a program by adding Nodons and making connections between the various nodes on Nodon, such as connecting the Stick Nodon to the Person Nodon as to tie the analog stick to movement of the character on-screen. Nodon are available to interface nearly all features of the Switch and Joy-Con, including the infrared sensors and motion controls. The game has built in lessons to help confused/new game creators understand some of the Nodon. The way the lessons do this is by walking the player along the making of multiple games. To help with the game's interface, the game allows for the use of supported USB computer mice.

Game Builder Garage allows players to create their own games via a mode that also allows them then be able to share with other players who own Game Builder Garage via the Nintendo Switch Online service or locally; unlike the Super Mario Maker games, there is not an in-game browser for this, but instead players will need to enter friends' codes to access their creations through the online service. Many fans of the game have created their own places for sharing game IDs, while the most popular one is the website mygarage.games created by indie gamedev collective Indiegesindel. The game features a lesson mode to guide the player through using the Nodon language and to help them understand some of the principles of game development though a series of seven pre-built games. Games built within Game Builder Garage can support up to eight different Joy-Con, effectively allowing up to eight-player local multiplayer games to be built.