But that should still worry you. I suppose in my region Yard Gnome is more common than Lawn Gnome. As well, what happens when someone types in Coke, but means soda. Will Pop give you the option to choose soda, or will the game simply recognize it as a verb not a noun.
I know Scribblenauts has already passed a lot of different tests, but I'm still worried just because of the ambition of this game.
But that should still worry you. I suppose in my region Yard Gnome is more common than Lawn Gnome. As well, what happens when someone types in Coke, but means soda. Will Pop give you the option to choose soda, or will the game simply recognize it as a verb not a noun.
I know Scribblenauts has already passed a lot of different tests, but I'm still worried just because of the ambition of this game.
Just try to lower your expectations. I'm trying to revert back to just expecting that there will be some things you think should work, that meet all the rules, but don't. I was almost certain I saw garden gnome work in a recent video. I mean, you're going to end up with stuff like polariton (an obscure quasiparticle) being in the game, but piton (dictionary word used by climbers everywhere) not. Some people will probably have regional issues too due to slang or habits, though I imagine stuff like "pop" and "soda" will at least be recognized.
I think as long as the item is in the game it doesn't matter how you summon it. It's crazy to assume 5TH Cell could know every possible dialect (well, dialect isn't the word, but it's close) of every region. You might have to use a word you're not used to, but you'll eventually get it.
Kinda like how Fly Spray won't get you a "can full of things that kill bugs", but Bug Spray will
Oh jeez. Please tell me this is true and not just a cruel hoax. PLEASE.
Got a chance to try this out at the Comic-Con. Started out with a few words like "Grimoire" and equipped it to an "Acolyte" who then proceeded to mount an "Okapi". As he went off on his merry way, I summoned things like "Kudzu", "Black Holes", and the like.
But what I did next really surprised me.
At one point I called out a "Lawyer" and then something popped into mind that I just HAD to try with the guy! I called out an ambulance, got in, and drove off. Now, I didn't think they'd actually program this in the game, but the lawyer, true to his nature, CHASED after the ambulance.
Seriously. How cool is that?
(What was decidedly less so is how "Excelsior" wasn't in - y'know, considering the venue and all.)
Just try to lower your expectations. I'm trying to revert back to just expecting that there will be some things you think should work, that meet all the rules, but don't. I was almost certain I saw garden gnome work in a recent video. I mean, you're going to end up with stuff like polariton (an obscure quasiparticle) being in the game, but piton (dictionary word used by climbers everywhere) not. Some people will probably have regional issues too due to slang or habits, though I imagine stuff like "pop" and "soda" will at least be recognized.
I'm just the opposite. I'm raising my expectations as more and more stuff comes out. For instance, I'm expecting you to be able to bake a cake using appropriate ingredients. I'm even expecting that elements on the periodic table will be included and have fairly accurate interactions with other substances, such as potassium and any other alkali metals reacting with water appropriately (such as catching fire and exploding). After all, they are in the "specialized" phase of adding words, and classifying a select few objects as "alkali metal" and having them react with water doesn't seem like a difficult task for Objectnaut.
In the end, Scribblenauts not living up to my expectations really won't be a large disappointment, just a drop into realism. However, if interactions do go as deep as I have suggested, then this game is surely a milestone that will go down in history. Either way, I know this will be a great game.
Since I've finished my monologue on the Objectnaut, here is a plea I make to Jackson and 5th Cell...
PLEASE make the levels required to pass Advanced Mode on a level variable according to level difficulty! A solid "3 in a row" to pass would be utterly boring for the simpler levels. Sure, cutting down a tree once is effective as a tutorial and possibly entertaining to the younger crowd, but cutting it down three times is nothing but a simple chore. However, if you made it so you need to cut it down, say, 20 times, what began as a tutorial level is now an imagination torture device for even the most experienced (and imaginative) of gamers. This would make completing the game something to be proud of.
Of course, this game is directed for all ages, so difficulty levels would be a must if such a system would be put in place, such as a "normal" mode for a flat 3 rate across all levels and then an "expert" mode for those willing to take on such an adventure. I may not be a game developer or even be considered a "hardcore" gamer, but if this doesn't multiply replay value or appeal to the completionist gamers, I don't know what will.
I apologize if I'm pushing this idea in an aggressive manner, but this is an addition that I feel many people would be appreciate, and I want to take advantage of the rare occasion that fans have a chance to talk to someone who takes part in developing and designing a game and cooperating with them to make it amazing.
Exactly. For example, I'm guessing you can type "ATM" to get an automated teller machine, but what some Canadians say - "bank machine" - won't be understood.
I'm just hoping I can spell "armour" with a U as an acceptable variant.
I apologize if I'm pushing this idea in an aggressive manner, but this is an addition that I feel many people would be appreciate, and I want to take advantage of the rare occasion that fans have a chance to talk to someone who takes part in developing and designing a game and cooperating with them to make it amazing.
I know, how epic is this thread? We're anticipating (potentially) one of the greatest games of all time, maybe the #1 must-own game on a platform loaded with great games, and the lead designer participates in regular discussion with fans on the internet.
As I said before, it's why I joined this forum in the first place.
Long time lurker, first time poster (as my account FINALLY got accepted after 2 months...)
Has anyone had any luck locating any kind of video capture device for the DS? I can't wait to get this game, and it would be a shame if everyone's cool interactions with it were only viewable on YouTube as blurry cell-phone video garbage.
I know there is the "IS Nitro Capture" which is what all the big review sites use, but it's REALLY expensive and they don't just sell them to anybody.
The only other thing I've found is this homebrew contraption by a guy named Loopy: http://home.comcast.net/~olimar/DS/jumbotron/ but it seems overly complicated to recreate just for video capture.
I know there's also emulators, but they're slow and buggy and I can't imagine trying to play Scribblenauts with a mouse
I'd be more than willing to hack up a DS Phat if it meant perfect quality video capture, but I haven't the foggiest clue as to what kind of chips or boards or software I would need to do it.
Oh jeez. Please tell me this is true and not just a cruel hoax. PLEASE.
Got a chance to try this out at the Comic-Con. Started out with a few words like "Grimoire" and equipped it to an "Acolyte" who then proceeded to mount an "Okapi". As he went off on his merry way, I summoned things like "Kudzu", "Black Holes", and the like.
But what I did next really surprised me.
At one point I called out a "Lawyer" and then something popped into mind that I just HAD to try with the guy! I called out an ambulance, got in, and drove off. Now, I didn't think they'd actually program this in the game, but the lawyer, true to his nature, CHASED after the ambulance.
Seriously. How cool is that?
(What was decidedly less so is how "Excelsior" wasn't in - y'know, considering the venue and all.)
Lawyers chase after ambulances with the idea that there could be a lawsuit where they could collect a nice sum of cash defending whoever got really hurt.
o0achilles0o, thanks for bringing that up. That's something I've been trying to figure out for a long time. Although, to be honest, the real reason I want to be able to connect my DS to a TV or laptop is so that I can show my friends the game all at once, once I get my hands on it. It'd be cool going through the game having me and my buddies shouting out answers and taking turns playing I'd encourage them to get their own copies of the game, of course..
It's a joke on the US legal system. A certain variety of attorney is known as an "ambulance chaser" in our country, generally the ones who specialize in personal injury lawsuits.
PLEASE make the levels required to pass Advanced Mode on a level variable according to level difficulty! A solid "3 in a row" to pass would be utterly boring for the simpler levels. Sure, cutting down a tree once is effective as a tutorial and possibly entertaining to the younger crowd, but cutting it down three times is nothing but a simple chore. However, if you made it so you need to cut it down, say, 20 times, what began as a tutorial level is now an imagination torture device for even the most experienced (and imaginative) of gamers. This would make completing the game something to be proud of.
Wow KScorp, I couldn't believe that you think that "3 in a row" is not actually hardcore!
You think how hardcore players won't like it? well your WRONG!
let me tell you why my boy, because im an hardcore player, and I don't see myself using "Chainsaw" or "Jetpack in more then 1 or 2 levels. that's right, im going to try to pass all the levels in different objects and get the Merit of NEW OBJECT, that's right. and I think that all real hardcore players will do the same.
Please, don't blame the game, blame yourself for not trying to figure this out yourself, Merits? Merits are for hardcore players.
EDIT: So! L and R buttons are used to rotate objects, thats nice
Sorry for the delay, everyone. No real internet access at Comic-Con.
First off, and this sucks: Scribblenauts was almost impossible to play at Comic-Con. Not for the good reason of 120,000 excited con-goers wanting to play it, but for the crappy reason that any time the Warner Bros. booth held any kind of event or signing, they would rope off the area and not allow anyone inside. Starting Thursday afternoon, the booth was pretty much running continuous signings and it was almost consistently the most intensely crowded area of the show floor. I had to con my ass off by saying I worked for fucking IGN (took out a pen and notepad to seem official) just to get in for some playtime. :lol
I tried out many of the things GAFfers requested.
God vs. Atheists This one's great. If God is on screen when the atheist is summoned, the atheist will quickly bow twice to God before running away, screaming.
Hwacha Not in-game.
Catgirl Not in-game.
Fanboy and Fangirl Both in-game separately, but sadly, did not seem to interact together in any unusual way.
Post Two One Seven Spawns
a banner-type object containing a shrunken version of the official art that Edison Yan drew to commemorate Post 217. Jackson, I'm honored.
Necromancer Spawns, surprise, a necromancer. I'm a little unsure of what happened next; I had already spawned a politician, and one of two things occurred: either the necromancer directly transformed the politician into a green zombie, or the necromancer summoned a zombie who then bit the politician, and therefore turned the politician into a green zombie.
Zonkey It's in there! A docile animal. I also tried Liger, and of course, one appeared...but unlike the Zonkey, the Liger was a huge asshole. It killed the poor Zonkey and then came after me. :lol
Portal Gun Worked, and fired...something...but it did not appear to be a portal, and left no lasting mark on the terrain. I was running out of time here, so I performed no further testing. I also tried Portal, which works, and will eventually spawn a random creepy (I got a demon, a gargoyle, and an alien through separate portals). You cannot use them as in the game Portal, however, which would pretty much break the game difficulty.
Baking a Cake I summoned a bowl, and then proceeded to fill the bowl with egg, flour, sugar, and milk. I then summoned an oven, and put the bowl in the oven, and waited a few seconds...but unfortunately, the items did not combine to form a cake. (In fact, for a moment I thought they HAD, but the game actually spawns a cake when you type in "sugar", and nothing had changed). This isn't terribly surprising; 5th Cell can't program in an insane number of recipes for a single object like oven...but to be fair, I didn't have time to try simpler recipes (something like egg -> omelet, or whatever).
Celebrity I spawned a celebrity and then a reporter, but the reporter made no effort to chase her. I then summoned a paparazzi, and not only did the paparazzi start to chase the celebrity (who was running away screaming), the reporter actually JOINED IN the chase once the paparazzi got it started. I guess he thought, "Oh, man, there might be something newsworthy over here!" :lol
An Hero Yup.
Nuclear Fission Not in-game, though in retrospect, perhaps I should have tried just "Fission".
Zombie + Brain What'd you expect? Of course this works. Brains are delicious anyway.
Other Things
- This was the recent press build of the game, I assume. Only around 10% of the stages were unlocked for play, but interestingly, they did not seem to follow any particular order of difficulty. The single stages available in Worlds 9 and 10 were quite simple, but World 1-11 (involving a switch and a bunch of spikes) was quite difficult. I'm proud of the solution I worked out, though. = D
- The word "Up" spawns a strange, mechanical-looking box (which also spawns if you type "Give Up"). I was unable to discern what it was, and it seemed to have no useful function. "Down" does not work.
- I wouldn't worry too much about the item limit. At no point did I hit the cap, or really feel like I needed to pay too much attention to it. Just be sure to clean up after yourself and you'll be fine.
- I also found...something else. Or rather, I was talking with an entertainment journalist the next day who was quite familiar with the game, and she told me something extremely interesting. I hung out with her quite a bit; she bought me an authentic Afghan meal for dinner.
I want to reiterate that this is an extremely unsubstantiated rumor about a late-game unlockable that I came across, hearsay, from a woman who I had never met before, ever. And she was a little weird. Not, like, really weird, but just a little off-putting. Jackson, if you want me to remove this information, please let me know immediately via either this thread or Private Message.
She claims that there is some kind of hyper-advanced mode, whereby you can only use an item once per GAME. As in, you need to beat all 220 levels and not use a single item more than once throughout the entire run.
I really hope it's true, because that's goddamn awesome right there.
God vs. Atheists This one's great. If God is on screen when the atheist is summoned, the atheist will quickly bow twice to God before running away, screaming.
Baking a Cake I summoned a bowl, and then proceeded to fill the bowl with egg, flour, sugar, and milk. I then summoned an oven, and put the bowl in the oven, and waited a few seconds...but unfortunately, the items did not combine to form a cake. (In fact, for a moment I thought they HAD, but the game actually spawns a cake when you type in "sugar", and nothing had changed). This isn't terribly surprising; 5th Cell can't program in an insane number of recipes for a single object like oven...but to be fair, I didn't have time to try simpler recipes (something like egg -> omelet, or whatever).
You know, I'd be willing to bet that you can bake a cake in Scribblenauts, and that it's just way simpler than what you tried. I bet just baking CAKE BATTER or CAKE MIX in the OVEN gives you a CAKE. I also bet that baking COOKIE DOUGH on a BAKING SHEET gives you a COOKIE.
Why would the game spawn a cake when you type in "sugar"? That doesn't make any sense; why wouldn't you just get a bag of sugar, or one of those sugar containers you see on diner tables?
Fission isn't an object, it's an event. It would be excluded for the same reason "avalanche" is.
She claims that there is some kind of hyper-advanced mode, whereby you can only use an item once per GAME. As in, you need to beat all 220 levels and not use a single item more than once throughout the entire run.
I really hope it's true, because that's goddamn awesome right there.
That sounds insanely difficult. It's probably harder than you'd think to be able to even come up with over 200 different items off of the top of your head, never mind using them to solve puzzles.
Finally read this whole freaking thread, phew. I want it. And I want it nao.
This junior's got receipts for two paid-off copies on preorder. And I'm pretty sure I've convinced a dozen friends and coworkers to get copies. Two are even going to be buying DSs for them! (Thanks to Feep and Post #217.)
Those are some cool reports, Feep. I'll try to keep my pessimism down since there are a lot of cool things in the game.
My plan is [pretty] firmly set: When I get the game, I'll try out some of the words I expect not to work on the title screen, and then I'll get all depressed when they don't work. Then I will use a seesaw, an anvil, and any other means necessary to get the starite out of the tree in Wile E. Coyote fashion.
yep, just read through the whole thread and was an amazing experience. just to let you know am there day 1 for this game and I don't do it that often.
oh crap, just looked at the release date here in Europe. Scribblenauts, Steal Princess and Professor Layton and Pandora's Box at the same day. oh bloody hell.
Finally read this whole freaking thread, phew. I want it. And I want it nao.
This junior's got receipts for two paid-off copies on preorder. And I'm pretty sure I've convinced a dozen friends and coworkers to get copies. Two are even going to be buying DSs for them! (Thanks to Feep and Post #217.)
Celebrity I spawned a celebrity and then a reporter, but the reporter made no effort to chase her. I then summoned a paparazzi, and not only did the paparazzi start to chase the celebrity (who was running away screaming), the reporter actually JOINED IN the chase once the paparazzi got it started. I guess he thought, "Oh, man, there might be something newsworthy over here!" :lol
oh crap, just looked at the release date here in Europe. Scribblenauts, Steal Princess and Professor Layton and Pandora's Box at the same day. oh bloody hell.
Steal Princess didn't really get such good ratings. It's almost certainly not worth playing when you've got both Professor Layton 2 and Scribblenauts to play with.
o0achilles0o, thanks for bringing that up. That's something I've been trying to figure out for a long time. Although, to be honest, the real reason I want to be able to connect my DS to a TV or laptop is so that I can show my friends the game all at once, once I get my hands on it. It'd be cool going through the game having me and my buddies shouting out answers and taking turns playing I'd encourage them to get their own copies of the game, of course..
I also asked about this stuff way back in this thread...even though there's probably no realistic way to play the game on a bigger screen, which I would love, even a direct screenshot feature/application would be awesome for posting to message boards and such.
Wow KScorp, I couldn't believe that you think that "3 in a row" is not actually hardcore!
You think how hardcore players won't like it? well your WRONG!
let me tell you why my boy, because im an hardcore player, and I don't see myself using "Chainsaw" or "Jetpack in more then 1 or 2 levels. that's right, im going to try to pass all the levels in different objects and get the Merit of NEW OBJECT, that's right. and I think that all real hardcore players will do the same.
Please, don't blame the game, blame yourself for not trying to figure this out yourself, Merits? Merits are for hardcore players.
First of all, I'm well aware of merits, but at this point in time I don't find them as something you can "complete". They are methods of accumulating points, and they are something to strive for if only for the higher score, and as everyone knows, hardcore gamers love higher scores. But I think that a trick will emerge to getting the most style points possible and the most merits possible. I'm not sure how deep style grading goes, but you may be able to trick the system to earn more points without actually doing much. For instance, there is one merit you earn by spawning 2-3 creatures in your solution. What would stop people from spawning an eagle and a fish on the tree level, then spawn a beaver to cut the tree, for no reason other than to get more style points. If it gives a higher score, people are going to take advantage of everything. And you can't really take advantage of creating 20 unique solutions. The same goes for NEW OBJECT. You may be able to unlock a huge amount of new objects all by yourself, but it won't be a very good method of competing. Somewhere out there, a list of every confirmed word in Scribblenauts is going to emerge. What's going to stop people from simple going through the list in their solutions? It may not be a pretty (or time efficient) way of doing things, but someone probably will just for that recognition.
Secondly, I'm not opposing 3 in a row for all levels. I'm certain that some levels will be nearly impossible to complete once, let alone 3 times. However, there are only so many merits to be earned in three tries on the "Cut down the tree" level.
I'm not opposing the merit system, I'm not even suggesting a fundamental change to the game. Your way of playing would still exist. I only feel that forcing the player to think deeply into solutions will be much more rewarding than letting the player think through more solutions. It's simply putting more challenge into completing the game.
Either way, it's only a suggestion. I don't know of any limitations there may be, or if such an addition is too late to add. It's quite possible that the developers simply won't like the idea. Regardless, flaming me isn't going to get you points anywhere.
I'm not opposing the merit system, I'm not even suggesting a fundamental change to the game. Your way of playing would still exist. I only feel that forcing the player to think deeply into solutions will be much more rewarding than letting the player think through more solutions. It's simply putting more challenge into completing the game.
I like complaints better when they're just about [x object] not being in the game. :lol It's at least partly a kids' game, and I think that it is a little silly to want the developer to somehow force whatever extra challenge you may be thinking of, in order to thwart or encourage random internet forum recognition or something.
Steal Princess didn't really get such good ratings. It's almost certainly not worth playing when you've got both Professor Layton 2 and Scribblenauts to play with.
What would stop people from spawning an eagle and a fish on the tree level, then spawn a beaver to cut the tree, for no reason other than to get more style points.
Well, using that tactic WILL get you more style points, but you also get less points in the par category. And from what I can extrapolate from the post-E3 images and videos, the difference between a par -2 and a par 0 score is much more than you'd get for a single merit. So for the most part, that seems to safeguard against players summoning unnecessary items for the singular purpose of getting merits. Unless there's some merit that's worth hundreds of ollars or something..
I need some advice. I have every confidence this game will be a hit, but just to be sure I do my part, I'd like to pre-order it. I've never done that before. What's the best and easiest way to do that in Canada? I don't want to go to EB Games, and Amazon.ca doesn't have the game listed.
Well, using that tactic WILL get you more style points, but you also get less points in the par category. And from what I can extrapolate from the post-E3 images and videos, the difference between a par -2 and a par 0 score is much more than you'd get for a single merit. So for the most part, that seems to safeguard against players summoning unnecessary items for the singular purpose of getting merits. Unless there's some merit that's worth hundreds of ollars or something..
Maybe the game knows wether an item is being used in the right way? Who knows. And besides that, is it really that big of a deal of a person 'cheats' its way into merits? It's not like there are online leaderboards.
First of all, I'm well aware of merits, but at this point in time I don't find them as something you can "complete". They are methods of accumulating points, and they are something to strive for if only for the higher score, and as everyone knows, hardcore gamers love higher scores. But I think that a trick will emerge to getting the most style points possible and the most merits possible. I'm not sure how deep style grading goes, but you may be able to trick the system to earn more points without actually doing much. For instance, there is one merit you earn by spawning 2-3 creatures in your solution. What would stop people from spawning an eagle and a fish on the tree level, then spawn a beaver to cut the tree, for no reason other than to get more style points. If it gives a higher score, people are going to take advantage of everything. And you can't really take advantage of creating 20 unique solutions. The same goes for NEW OBJECT. You may be able to unlock a huge amount of new objects all by yourself, but it won't be a very good method of competing. Somewhere out there, a list of every confirmed word in Scribblenauts is going to emerge. What's going to stop people from simple going through the list in their solutions? It may not be a pretty (or time efficient) way of doing things, but someone probably will just for that recognition.
Secondly, I'm not opposing 3 in a row for all levels. I'm certain that some levels will be nearly impossible to complete once, let alone 3 times. However, there are only so many merits to be earned in three tries on the "Cut down the tree" level.
I'm not opposing the merit system, I'm not even suggesting a fundamental change to the game. Your way of playing would still exist. I only feel that forcing the player to think deeply into solutions will be much more rewarding than letting the player think through more solutions. It's simply putting more challenge into completing the game.
Either way, it's only a suggestion. I don't know of any limitations there may be, or if such an addition is too late to add. It's quite possible that the developers simply won't like the idea. Regardless, flaming me isn't going to get you points anywhere.
oh yea? spawning a fish a beaver and eagle once, and what after? it won't give it to you again in the whole game, so whats the point wasting the word Fish on level you don't even need one? believe me, your thinking like a casual player and that's ok, but as a hardcore, I don't really find the problem.
Shit, even if that's not in the game, you could make the game fresh indefinitely with self-imposed limitations. I'm going to try to do a vegan run (no animals or animal products) and see how far I get.
I've been thinking the same thing. I nice fat stylus would be great. That skinny DS stylus is going to cramp my fingers and I don't see myself putting this game down for a long time.
oh yea? spawning a fish a beaver and eagle once, and what after? it won't give it to you again in the whole game, so whats the point wasting the word Fish on level you don't even need one? believe me, your thinking like a casual player and that's ok, but as a hardcore, I don't really find the problem.
I mean that you won't get another New object for it... And btw, later levels are going to need more then 1-2 objects, so the par system will destroy you.
I need some advice. I have every confidence this game will be a hit, but just to be sure I do my part, I'd like to pre-order it. I've never done that before. What's the best and easiest way to do that in Canada? I don't want to go to EB Games, and Amazon.ca doesn't have the game listed.
So how will level distribution work over WiFi, Jackson?
Like, how many editor levels can one game hold? Can you get random levels from random people (aka not on your friend list)? I understand that there is 2 save files, but is it a shared friend code list or are the list separated?
Sorry ahead of time if this has been already asked/answered.
Amazon.ca often seems to skip over major games. They never listed Mirror's Edge, either. Maybe it has something to do with there not being a French version?
Amazon.ca often seems to skip over major games. They never listed Mirror's Edge, either. Maybe it has something to do with there not being a French version?
Didn't Jackson himself confirm that the NA version came with English, French/French Canadian/Castillian and Latin American Spanish? I might have the details wrong, but I can't imagine they missed French.
