Topic: 5th Cell Unveils Scribblenauts

[Nick DiMola]

Creators of Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest have revealed their latest effort on the DS.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17305

 In an exclusive interview with IGN, 5th Cell has unveiled its newest DS title, Scribblenauts. The game's tagline, "anything you write, you can use," effectively sums up Scribblenauts' gameplay. The puzzle title will have players spell out the name of an object, which will in turn spawn that item within the game world. Solving the game's puzzles is as simple as collecting the "starite" pieces found in each level. "[Players] could write anything," describes 5th Cell co-founder and creative director Jeremiah Slackzka,  "[even if] it wouldn't help [them] at all in that puzzle."    

According to 5th Cell, the game "is all based on real physics and interaction, so there's nothing pre-canned." Control within the game world will be achieved through usage of the DS touch screen. Players will tap anything or anywhere and the game will navigate to or interact with the world and items properly. In order to achieve such a flexible world with a robust catalog of objects/creatures, 5th Cell has created a dynamic system to manage interactions. For example, the game knows that a ladder can be used for climbing but can also be burned since it's made of wood, or since an elephant is an animal it is composed of edible flesh, which is a good thing for any carnivorous sharks that players spawn. Additionally, the team will be working from now until release to create as many objects as possible in order for players to never run out of items to spawn in the game's world.    

While the game's main character, Maxwell, can be incapacitated, the true challenge of the game will come from the "par" system. Players will in many cases need to solve puzzles with the fewest number of items, similar to winning in golf with the fewest number of strokes. Completing tasks on or under par will result in gaining more "ollers," the in-game currency, which can be spent in the game's shop.    

The game is said to also include local multiplayer, as well as some online features that will be revealed in the future. Players can look forward to a Scribblenauts release in the fourth quarter of 2009.

[KDR_11k]

Somehow I doubt they'll let you write "big bag of ollers"...

[ShyGuy]

One of the devs was discussing this on GAF, and apparently, they plan on having objects for all nouns in the English language, minus vulgarity.

[Urkel]

This is the most amazing concept I've ever seen for a videogame.

[KDR_11k]

"Dick" spawns Dick Cheney, then?

[NuclearSpeed]

as long as you can use buttered camels to complete the tasks then this will be a must buy right

[IceCold]

Wow this sounds amazing. But I wonder if it's too ambitious.

[Jonnyboy117]

Even if they can only include a thousand items, that could still be a revolution in how puzzle games are designed and played.  But I fear that the physics system will be too easily exploited, and although the game will allow for creative solutions, it won't actually encourage them.  We'll see.  It is certainly one of the most interesting game announcements I can recall.

[LuigiHann]

A-M-P-I-T-H-E-A-T-E-R

Hmm

P-L-A-C-E-B-O

Hmm

I-N-V-E-N-T-I-O-N

Hmm

[Bill Aurion]

and although the game will allow for creative solutions, it won't actually encourage them.

Creativity should be at the whim of the player, not something that is forced...

[KDR_11k]

"Summon Bigger Fish"

While creativity is nice I think it could get too easy when there's too many ways to solve a puzzle.

[LuigiHann]

The main character also reminds me of the kid from Adventure Time for some reason

[KDR_11k]

That picture made me think Perry Bible Fellowship.