As a purveyor of weird/quirky internet things, there are few things I love more than coming across a new little tool to make fun things with. Here's a running list of some of my favorites that I've found!
Games
Bitsy is a "little editor for little games or worlds" and one of my personal favorite tools on this list. A good first start if you want to make a game and have never made one before. It's got a pretty extensive wiki if you want to add audio, animations, etc.
Flickgame is just about as simple as it gets. You get 16 colors and 16 slides, and clicking colors is how you get to different slides. Super easy and fun!
Flicksy is both of the above combined! Make more complicated sprites that lead between branching rooms. Full disclosure, I've never actually made something with this, but it's been on my radar for a while.
Twine is almost too mainstream to put on this list, but it's a great one to know about. It's a tool for making those interactive fiction games where you click on the words to progress. So fun and hugely customizable.
Music
Beepbox is my current favorite way to create music. You get 16 measures and a pretty expansive set of preset instruments, with the option of making your own adjustments. The song is stored in the web address, so sharing is as simple as copy pasting the link! You can also export your music (so that you can add it to your games) UPDATE: Turns out you can have more than 16 measures! I just can't read. That makes it more cool!
Art
Piskel is an easy way to make pixel art sprites and animations. It's easy to use and you can resize sprites too!
Websites
Neocities!!! I cannot recommend this one enough. Build your own websites from scratch! Revel in the vibes of the internet in the late 1990s - early 2000s! This does require some coding knowledge, but there are plenty of resources out there to help. Speaking as someone who had 0 coding skills before making my site, it's very easy to pick up.
Domino is another tool that I've never actually used but have always wanted to. It's "a tool for collaging fragmentary thoughts and ideas without the friction of assembling them into linear writing", and is essentially a bunch of boxes that connect to one another, sort of like a mind map.
ProBoards is a free(!) forum creation website. You can even customize the layout with your Neocities coding knowledge!
Carrd is in no way underground, but as far as easy website tools come, it's one of the best, so it deserves to be here. Plus you can definitely make interesting and quirky things with it - this little game is one of my favorite carrds I've ever seen!
Please add any tools you love in the notes! I just adore finding things like this, and I'm sure there are some I've missed. It's important for creativity to sometimes spend an afternoon making a weird song or website that you never would have normally. I hope this inspires you to create!
