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The Scribblenauts Official Thread of imagination revelations

Forkball

Member
So the game's been out for two months, does anyone have any retrospective thoughts?

I think the game is solid and the list of unique words and sprites really impressed me, but I found that a lot of the puzzles were too easy. There were very few I was stumped on. I also discovered that many of the puzzles can be beaten with just a handful of items (pterondon, rope, glue, black hole, blob etc.). The advanced mode allows for a bit more challenge, but it can also be easily abused (glue, adhesive, etc all produce the same items).

While the puzzles may not have been difficult, they were at least creative and amusing. The pop culture references were really unexpected, and the game throws you in to some really interesting scenarios. The people at 5th Cell certainly have a healthy imagination.

But I do think a lot of fun from the game comes from just messing around. I'm really surprised by how much strange and obscure stuff they managed to include in the game. Recently I've discovered that many buildings hold an item or person that pop out when you interact with them, so I've been playing with that.

Overall Scribblenauts is a solid game that seems to be feeling a bit of backlash considering the insane hype it got around here. I'd still recommend it, as it's a fun game to show off to people and the game takes a good ten hours or so to beat every puzzle, which is impressive considering a lot of the top titles these days take less than that to complete.

Also, someone has been ripping the sprites from Scribblenauts. Although this is nowhere near a comprehensive list, there are still many things I've never seen before.

http://spriters-resource.com/ds/scribblenauts/
 

Gomu Gomu

Member
I tried to go back and play it last week. But eh :/. That moment I knew I was done with that game. I finished 4 worlds. And as much as I love the concept, and it's remarkable execution, I really don't think it's a fun game at all. It lacks the creativity in level design. I mean the puzzles become painfully repeated throughout the worlds. In world A you have to move a sheep from left to right, and then in world B you have to move horse from right to left. Also, the controls are painfully broken. The action levels, which represent the fighting/shooting/platforming aspect of the game, are not fun to play at all. Simply because fighting/shooting/platforming don't work at all with these controls.

However, I to say that for the first couple of hours, I had a LOT of fun with it. Just discovering the mechanics, and trying to do all these crazy ass things just to solve a puzzle gave me one of the greatest feeling I've ever had while playing a video game. Seriously, the first 2 hours were fantastic. Until you discover the above problems, and the fact that you are always using the same set of 10 items over and over again.

Scribblenauts is an awesome concept with an extraordinary execution, which fails to be a fun game in the end.

would I buy a sequel? I really don't know. I would consider it only if they changed their approach in level design. Just make the levels more interesting and apply variety to the game. Only then I might consider this.
 

WowBaby

Member
Scribblenauts in an evergreen. Even with the control issues this game is going to be a best selling title for some time to come. As you may have noticed, ever since its release, it's been on the top 3 (sometimes 4) of all bestselling DS titles at Amazon.com competing usually with Nintendo's own titles. Right now it's sitting at number two. I believe it will sell very well for the holidays.
 

Blizzard

Banned
WowBaby said:
Scribblenauts in an evergreen. Even with the control issues this game is going to be a best selling title for some time to come. As you may have noticed, ever since its release, it's been on the top 3 (sometimes 4) of all bestselling DS titles at Amazon.com competing usually with Nintendo's own titles. Right now it's sitting at number two. I believe it will sell very well for the holidays.
Well, #9 in DS, but #2 in "DS action". It should do well for the holidays, and hopefully people enjoy it despite controls.

I don't regret buying my three copies, even though I haven't even finished uh...world 6 or so? I don't think there is really any way they could balance out the levels, but I do agree that a lot of levels require flying. And for levels that require transportation, boat/megnet physics are so crazy that it's not really feasible in some cases. I think one big way to improve a sequel would be to make sure physics objects don't slowly work their way through the ground, and also to make some objects VASTLY heavier than others, so hanging a rope from a car doesn't pull the car off a cliff.
 

rhino4evr

Member
Gomu Gomu said:
I tried to go back and play it last week. But eh :/. That moment I knew I was done with that game. I finished 4 worlds. And as much as I love the concept, and it's remarkable execution, I really don't think it's a fun game at all. It lacks the creativity in level design. I mean the puzzles become painfully repeated throughout the worlds. In world A you have to move a sheep from left to right, and then in world B you have to move horse from right to left. Also, the controls are painfully broken. The action levels, which represent the fighting/shooting/platforming aspect of the game, are not fun to play at all. Simply because fighting/shooting/platforming don't work at all with these controls.

However, I to say that for the first couple of hours, I had a LOT of fun with it. Just discovering the mechanics, and trying to do all these crazy ass things just to solve a puzzle gave me one of the greatest feeling I've ever had while playing a video game. Seriously, the first 2 hours were fantastic. Until you discover the above problems, and the fact that you are always using the same set of 10 items over and over again.

Scribblenauts is an awesome concept with an extraordinary execution, which fails to be a fun game in the end.

would I buy a sequel? I really don't know. I would consider it only if they changed their approach in level design. Just make the levels more interesting and apply variety to the game. Only then I might consider this.

I agree with this almost 100%.

I played through the first 5 or 6 worlds before I got tired of typing the same items to solve puzzles. There just wasn't enough variation in puzzle design to warrant the ability to spawn whatever you could think of.
 
Also agreed. I kinda forgot I had the game--ran through about half of it, then swapped back to Professor Layton Sequel.

Unsure if I'll be able to get myself back into it.
 

Blizzard

Banned
So some extent I agree that it's an imagination thing. If the game gives you the ability to press a cheat button every level, and the ability to solve it in a crazy way, do you use the cheat button every level just because the game doesn't MAKE you do crazy things?

That said, I think that the problem some (most?) people encounter is that when you do start dreaming up crazy ideas, often you might end up thwarted by rope physics, or Maxwell running when you don't have him locked down in a saddle. Often your creative ideas don't work very well, so you resort to the old items that always work.

I did like the puzzle levels that involved amusing situation, possibly encouraging more unusual/specific items.
 

toonhead2

Neo Member
I've finished the game twice and I always find myself going back and trying something new, and this time getting cleaner solutions.
After reading this article, 5th Cell was aware of the controls but was it too late to change everything. All in all I'm still enjoying this game, and if they do make a sequel I would certainly get, but I don't think it would make the ds.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Just in case anyone is interested or needs a Christmas present for a kid, looks like Scribblenauts will be on sale on Amazon's lightning deals in just under 4 hours from this post. *edit* Was $17, is gone now, I think.
 
Blizzard said:
Just in case anyone is interested or needs a Christmas present for a kid, looks like Scribblenauts will be on sale on Amazon's lightning deals in just under 4 hours from this post. *edit* Was $17, is gone now, I think.

I got it in time and it arrived today.

Had fun so far, but yeah, I see what you guys mean by bad control ....


Im EXTREMELY impressed by the fact that the game has french, spanish and Portuguese options.

The game with every word gets translated, but basic games like guitar hero dont? WTF?
 

Jangaroo

Always the tag bridesmaid, never the tag bride.
Jackson said:
Scribblenauts is doing very well so far. :D
That's great to hear! I noticed commercials being aired recently despite the game having been released back in September. I guess Warner Bros is marketing it again for the holidays?
 

Jackson

Member
Jangaroo said:
That's great to hear! I noticed commercials being aired recently despite the game having been released back in September. I guess Warner Bros is marketing it again for the holidays?

That's correct. Another big push for the holidays. It was at mall of america last weekend. It's on a tour with Nintendo's 1st party titles.
 

phisheep

NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Jackson said:
Scribblenauts is doing very well so far. :D

I am very glad about that.

It is a strange game - one that is utterly ruined by internet spoilers, but totally redeemed when you play it with a small child. There could be an entire doctoral thesis built around the psychology of playing it - personally I find my awesome imagination totally deserts me the minute I pick the stylus up.

Fascinating.

Christmas should do it a load of good in future sales as the word gets around families.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Jackson said:
Scribblenauts is doing very well so far. :D
WHERE IS MY HAT

AND YOUR AVATAR...I'm glad the game is doing well, though. :D Can you tell us if you're involved with Scribblenauts 2, that was listed as being on the release list for PC/DS/Wii?
 
After a week of play....Im extremely disappointed.

The camera is broken, movement is broken, some items (rope/chains) are broken.

Ive died so many times because of control error, especially when Im clicking on an object but the camera decides that it should move, so instead I hit an empty space and maxwell jumps into lava.

Ive also beaten too many levels because of glitches.

10 for idea, 6 for execution.
 

Blizzard

Banned
jamesinclair said:
After a week of play....Im extremely disappointed.

The camera is broken, movement is broken, some items (rope/chains) are broken.

Ive died so many times because of control error, especially when Im clicking on an object but the camera decides that it should move, so instead I hit an empty space and maxwell jumps into lava.

Ive also beaten too many levels because of glitches.

10 for idea, 6 for execution.
This is why everyone, and NeoGAF especially, should always set expectations at the Very Very Low level for a game. If it turns out mediocre, that's nice. If it turns out good, hey, you're pleasantly surprised!

I agree that there are no doubt many flaws with the game (mostly controls and physics, interaction to some degree, but I consider that somewhat more reasonable). If you haven't totally quit playing, there are a couple of things that you can do to make things less frustrating, though. There's a control tips page somewhere that I could dig up. In particular, a "saddle" will let you stick Maxwell in it on the ground, so he will not move ANYWHERE until you tap the saddle again. Also, you basically have to get into the habit of holding in a direction on the D-pad, or else tapping it every 1-2 seconds to prevent it from scrolling. And remember that hitting select or whatever to go into examine mode will lock the camera in place, though it will snap back to Maxwell once you're finishing examining stuff or watching a battle take place.
 
I had a weird dream.
-------------------------------------------------
Somehow I was working with the Giant Bomb crew... and they sent me to over to 5th cell offices because Jackson called and said he had some stuff to show them. They all had prior engagements so they sent the new guy (i.e. me) to check it out.

Next thing I know I am in the offices of 5th cell and Jackson is shooting the shit with a bunch of other people. He has an eye patch like Big Boss and a scar like Dudebro. There were some other journalists as well and one of them was hating on the game about controls and shit. That girl said that she didnt enjoy the levels and ended up just playing the opening sanbox section. Then Jackson got into an argument with her about how she should play the game and give it a decent chance before giving up on it. (When I first walked in he recognized me from the NYC launch and we shook hands.)

Then we went out to the pier (apparently the offices are located near some water, as there was a pier jutting out from the house/office). We were told that 5th Cell had been hard at work at their new game... which was a bunch of additional levels for Scribblenauts. Only in these levels, you play as a... frog. Thats why we were at the pier... for the unveiling of the game's hero.

When we all went back, we were given a DSi with the new game, only the DSi was made with wood. It looked pretty nice actually. I was leaving their offices when I realized I had left the DSi on the counter, and when I reached it there were tons of iPhones lying around. I checked my pockets and of course my iPhone was missing, so I had to ask someone to call me so I could recognize mine.

Then I left.
-------------------------------------------------
I need to take a break from this forum. Dont judge me GAF.
 

esbern

Junior Member
Blizzard said:
This is why everyone, and NeoGAF especially, should always set expectations at the Very Very Low level for a game. If it turns out mediocre, that's nice. If it turns out good, hey, you're pleasantly surprised!

I agree that there are no doubt many flaws with the game (mostly controls and physics, interaction to some degree, but I consider that somewhat more reasonable). If you haven't totally quit playing, there are a couple of things that you can do to make things less frustrating, though. There's a control tips page somewhere that I could dig up. In particular, a "saddle" will let you stick Maxwell in it on the ground, so he will not move ANYWHERE until you tap the saddle again. Also, you basically have to get into the habit of holding in a direction on the D-pad, or else tapping it every 1-2 seconds to prevent it from scrolling. And remember that hitting select or whatever to go into examine mode will lock the camera in place, though it will snap back to Maxwell once you're finishing examining stuff or watching a battle take place.


but the fact that anybody who has taken a basic programming class could solve the idiotic problems the developers seem unable to solve, from a studio who isn't some first-time indie devloper, on a game that is selling pretty well, is a very reasonable argument and we shouldn't be going into a game expecting the worst. the studio fucked up, and i don't know how they would let this game be released at a play level that is worse than the shitty disney movie based shovelware that gets put out on the DS.
 

Blizzard

Banned
esbern said:
but the fact that anybody who has taken a basic programming class could solve the idiotic problems the developers seem unable to solve, from a studio who isn't some first-time indie devloper, on a game that is selling pretty well, is a very reasonable argument and we shouldn't be going into a game expecting the worst. the studio fucked up, and i don't know how they would let this game be released at a play level that is worse than the shitty disney movie based shovelware that gets put out on the DS.
Did you read the interview (with Jackson?) about when they decided that controls were and issue, and estimated that it would have taken them a lot of effort to correct? Now, you may well say that they were wrong, and any basic college programmer could have done it with very little effort, but I would respectfully question whether you've worked on major games in that case. :p

I am not saying the controls are GOOD, but I think I have beaten 6+ worlds without considering the controls unplayable. I also think it's reasonable to consider d-pad controls to have been somewhat difficult to integrate near a release deadline with the entire game interface and physics system. Some have made the argument that you can't support left-handed people that way, but games like Mario never cared anyway. If they had the routing code already built in, mapping left and right to automatic mousetaps somewhere, and another button to jump, would have probably been feasible. I know some people were hacking the ROM to do it, and they had sideways motion moving though Maxwell didn't animate. I don't know how it ended up.

What does somewhat boggle my mind is that they didn't add a button to freeze the camera while you manipulate things, not just in examine mode. Start/select/L/R/something could have been used, or reused, for that. Or one of the onscreen icons could have even done it.

RANDOM SIDE NOTE: Some of the Disney stuff like the Pirates of the Caribbean GBA game (I think that was it) are actually quite decent, controlwise and gamewise.

*edit*

I suppose I forgot to clarify my overall point about expecting the worst. In general, I am not sure if there is ANY game that has ever been "hyped" on GAF before release, and universally met with love and the same level of approval after the fact, with the possible exception of Uncharted 2. Most anything else that gets hyped before, is met with disappointment afterwards, simply because people got their expectations up. So I didn't mean that people shouldn't make their games better, and that Scribblenauts SHOULDN'T have had better controls, but I just mean people would enjoy things more if they don't set their hopes really high in the first place. Scribblenauts was one of the super hyped games, here, of course. :)
 

strikeselect

You like me, you really really like me!
Received Scribblenauts as a gift for Christmas. Loving the game so far! :D

How has the game been doing in sales? I haven't been keeping up.
 
Cerrius said:
Received Scribblenauts as a gift for Christmas. Loving the game so far! :D

How has the game been doing in sales? I haven't been keeping up.
It made #13 in the September NPD with 194K. Haven't heard anything since...
 
Wow @ all the banned people on this page...how time flies!

Any you duders get this game for Christmas? I gifted my old copy to my cousin as I had gold star'd everything. She's loves it, just like my sister did, and she keeps IMing me over Facebook telling me all the random stuff shes been doing on the title screen :lol

You know, looking back on it, I realized I went through three stages with this game. When I first got it I was pumped and couldn't put it down. Then the various flaws began to get to me, and I really started disliking the whole thing. But now that I've since 100% beat it and given it away, I've realized what a fantastic entry into the series this is. It's not perfect at all, but it's paving the way both conceptually and financially for a sequel of epic proportions. Take this same idea, perhaps toss it on a console or PC, tweak it a bit and give it some more time in the oven...and it really could be the ultimate game.
 

Jackson

Member
cooljeanius said:
It made #13 in the September NPD with 194K. Haven't heard anything since...

Hey! It's been awhile indeed. :lol

For now I'll just say, it's doing very, very good.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestseller..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1GZ073M4XM27YSTE48HS

To give you a better understanding of what I mean by this, it hasn't left the top 5 (and was the top 1 for many weeks) on best selling DS games on Amazon since before it came out (it was at one point the best selling game on all platforms on Amazon period). According to Amazon it's been in the top 100 of all game sales (which is all Amazon tracks) for 171 days (due to pre-orders).

The games beating it on DS are perennial hits New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS which are the two best selling DS games on DS in NA period and the new Zelda is, well... the new Zelda.

But considering Scribblenauts is a completely new IP on the ds, it's doing amazing.

Of course Amazon is one retailer and not even the main retailer of games, but it's a pretty good bead how things are going in general (not just Scribblenauts) with sales of games, of course sometimes Amazon doesn't represent the industry as a whole, but as I said, taken with a grain of salt it's not bad at all.

iamcool388 said:
I had a weird dream.

EDIT: Also this is epic. :lol
 

Blizzard

Banned
Jackson said:
Hey! It's been awhile indeed. :lol

For now I'll just say, it's doing very, very good.
I'm glad to hear that!

Hi Jackson. Since you never found me a hat on the black market, I'll just use this opportunity to make useless fan suggestions. Like, hey man, you should totally go to www.crayonphysics.com and buy the game for whatever you consider it worth. Then play it!

Then realize that if Scribblenauts with some additional object/character interaction met Crayon Physics' physics engine and/or interface, it might be AMAZING.

Bye Jackson!
 

Jackson

Member
Blizzard said:
I'm glad to hear that!

Hi Jackson. Since you never found me a hat on the black market, I'll just use this opportunity to make useless fan suggestions. Like, hey man, you should totally go to www.crayonphysics.com and buy the game for whatever you consider it worth. Then play it!

Then realize that if Scribblenauts with some additional object/character interaction met Crayon Physics' physics engine and/or interface, it might be AMAZING.

Bye Jackson!

You should check out Drawn to Life The Next Chapter DS, it has these parts where you draw into the world with physics... lol
 

Blizzard

Banned
Poor Jackson's avatar is gone again.

Does anyone know if there is a synonym for "speargun" in the game? Speargun isn't in itself, and "harpoon" just makes a big ship-mounted harpoon launcher, so is there any way to get an actual spear launcher like a diver would use, or is that just not in?

"atlatl" is apparently in but that's not quite appropriate. :p
 

Jackson

Member
top-20-dec-09.png


Told ya it's doing good. :lol
 

Jackson

Member
JohnsonUT said:
Congrats. Looks like it will have long legs. Are you able to give out the numbers?

Thanks. :) WB owns Scrib so I'm sure they'll be talking about it all sometime soon.

The original Drawn to Life sold over 1m and I've always thought from day one this game had potential to do more than that.

Not saying Scrib has done that or hasn't, just saying my personal opinion on the matter.
 

Rovert40

Neo Member
Uhm.....hi. I've read every single post in both this thread, and the preview thread for Scribblenauts. My account took 5 MONTHS to activate! Jesus.

Anyways...

I really enjoyed Scribblenauts. I hope that a sequel comes out that fixes both the control flaws, and the fact that I (too easily) fell into the pattern of using the same useful objects (animals, etc.) over and over again, because I could.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
Was just coming here to post this information (after updating Wikipedia's best-selling list, of course). Layton, Inazuma, Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts show that people will adopt new ideas if given a chance.

(I wish I could say the same about EBA :-()
 

wrowa

Member
Rovert40 said:
I really enjoyed Scribblenauts. I hope that a sequel comes out that fixes both the control flaws, and the fact that I (too easily) fell into the pattern of using the same useful objects (animals, etc.) over and over again, because I could.
I think that is the real problem games like Scribblenauts have to solve. The appeal of Scribblenauts is the fact that you need your creativity to solve the different puzzles of the game. The problem with that is: if you make the puzzles too hard or you restrict the ways the player can solve them (e.g. you can't spawn the same items to often in the game) - or in other words: if the puzzles really require the use of the player's creativity -, it's getting very soon very frustrating for most of the persons who play the game. Always searching for a creative solution is hard after all and need its time. So, if you want to avoid that the player gets frustrated, you have to create puzzles that don't ask for too much creativity. But if you do that, you face another problem: now the player of the game feels like his creativity isn't needed at all and he is going to use nearly the same solution over and over again for nearly every puzzle. Why? Because a gamer is bad in challenging himself. Warren Spector once said that a gamer is a bad story-teller. The truth is: A gamer is not only a bad story-teller, he's also a bad challenger of his own creativity. If he isn't forced to be creative, he normally won't search for creative answers. But if you force him to be creative, he will starting to be frustrated after a short time.

It's a vicious circle. If Jackson and his team can solve it for a sequel, they are officially geniuses.
 
Congrats to Jeremiah and the rest of the 5th Cell team on the million milestone.

I'm still having a blast with this game and look forward to the impending sequel.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I hope it's OK to bump this, I checked the FAQ and it only said that you can't bump old official threads for help with the game.

Anyways, I just got a DS last week and I picked up Scribblenauts tonight. I'm only on the first level after the tutorials but it's really cool. I'm an imaginative person so this is a game for me. I'm aware of all the issues people have with the controls but I think I'll enjoy it regardless. I was disappointed though, in the last tutorial I had to get up on the ledge where the king is - at first I thought a stool would be the obvious choice but I went with "turtle" thinking I could jump off his shell but it didn't work. I think I'll still have fun with this, though.

LOLs so on the first puzzle I tried to give the cop a "nightclub" thinking it was what their beat down sticks were called but it spawned an actual nightclub. I won by giving the chef a slice of pizza and the fireman an axe, this is awesome.

OMG the butterfly went for the tulip. Wish I had played this when GAF did... :/
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I just completed a puzzle by dropping a pelvis bone. This game is fucking awesome, please don't tell me I'm the only one still playing it. I really like trying to think of the most random possible solutions like knocking over bottles with a woolly mammoth (didn't work) or a cannonball. I should have tried a ham! Dammit.

edit - I won't bump anymore, I'm just enjoying the hell out of this game and I had to share even though no one else seems to be playing Scribblenauts anymore. I've had a big ass smile on my face for the first couple hours I've been playing this.
 
Snuggler said:
I just completed a puzzle by dropping a pelvis bone. This game is fucking awesome, please don't tell me I'm the only one still playing it. I really like trying to think of the most random possible solutions like knocking over bottles with a woolly mammoth (didn't work) or a cannonball. I should have tried a ham! Dammit.

edit - I won't bump anymore, I'm just enjoying the hell out of this game and I had to share even though no one else seems to be playing Scribblenauts anymore. I've had a big ass smile on my face for the first couple hours I've been playing this.

I've actually played it at work recently. Redoing a lot of old Puzzles to get gold stars. I find the actual Puzzles WAY better and less frustrating than the Action Puzzles. It's fun when you find a strange, effective combination. Like the one puzzle with the Penguins and the whale. For some reason, volcanoes scare whales but not penguins :lol
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I think the word is "nightstick."

That's it! Even though I was wrong, it was worth the LOLs just to see a night club drop down.

I've actually played it at work recently. Redoing a lot of old Puzzles to get gold stars. I find the actual Puzzles WAY better and less frustrating than the Action Puzzles.

Yeah so far I like puzzles more than the action ones, they seem less likely to frustrate.

Maybe it's because I'm still working on level 1 and I haven't hit the frustrating parts yet but I love this game so far. Thinking outside the box for solutions for puzzles is so much fun, I love to try and think of things like heavy items that will knock over bottles (cannonball, washing machine), items that will attract a cat (cat treats, cat nip, milk, mouse), items that will make me get massive air on a ramp (go kart, race car). I'm so glad I got this game, I'm having a blast so far. I love that it requires you to use your imagination, no other game has done that for me.

I'm stuck on the pull my starlite action puzzle. First time I got up there with a jetpack, I tried to use a vacuum to suck it out but it didn't work. 2nd time I tried to glue a rope to a helicopter and fly up there but I couldn't get it all attached and I ended up falling through the wooden board. Dammit.

Ahh a magnet, how did I not think of that right away. Fuckin A this game rocks. Take that, metal box!

I distracted the tornado with a cow while I flew over it with a jetpack. It seems like the jetpack will end up being the solution to many of my problems.
 
I kinda gave up on getting all the gold stars once the only ones remaining were ones that were hard enough to do even just one time around. One thing I do like, though, is redoing the level with the giant crab with as many different types of people and weapons as I can think of.

Snuggler said:
It seems like the jetpack will end up being the solution to many of my problems.
I find wings to be more useful than jetpack, as wings don't short out if you land in water like the jetpack does.
 
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