G4 Interview explains "Universal Feedback System", among other things

Game Trailers - E3 2010

Also shows a few scenes of people playing around, including one guy trying to fight off a tiny tank with a giant grasshopper.

SupScrib press release makes it sound like its a game for crazy people

I ran across this press release over at another site. Pretty typical stuff - barely even worth posting about - but some bits of it struck me as...odd.

• Brand New Levels: Experience 120 brand new, in-depth levels that include task such as finding a cure for the plague, populating an office or identifying animals with shells.
• All-New Adjectives System: Create a shy green polar bear or an angry zombie pear! 10,000+ adjectives reflect real life behaviours, personalities and characteristics when applied to objects.
• Multi Layered Hints: Just can’t figure that puzzle out? Purchase more explicit hints at a decreasing Ollar cost over time.
• Universal Feedback System: Visualise progress throughout each level! Relevant objects summoned get a thumb up, while irrelevant objects get a thumb down.
• Updated Dictionary: Summon more than 800 all-new, customisable objects to solve puzzles and earn Starites.
• New Control Schemes: Control Maxwell with the D-pad or with updated and more precise new Stylus controls! Weight, buoyancy, friction have all been reworked to make objects interact better to the player’s input and reflect any adjective that is applied to an object.
• New Level Editor: Create both puzzle and action levels to build your very own custom playground. The unique new template system allows players to create all kinds of objectives for their levels with ease.
• Innovative UI: An exciting new UI gives players more control over gameplay, with more detail on how to navigate through new levels in the game.

For some reason I'm imagining a person who has never heard of Scribblenauts before reading some of this info.


"So...you're telling me in Scribblenauts I have to...furnish an office? And then identify creatures with shells? What does any of this have to do with a zombie pear?!"


It's easy to take for granted just how random and "out of left field" this game really is. Either way, this single press release is enough to make me want to get my hands on the game. It addresses every possible complaint I had with the first. I'm particularly excited about the improvements to the weight and friction of objects.

SupScrib gets a glowing preview and a few E3 nominations

A combo post for today to account for all the minor news I've been able to dredge up. Gotta say, without the SS equivilant to Post 217, the hype surrounding this game has tanked. Think it was because the lackluster response to the first title, or because it's a sequel?

Regardless, here's some new stuff. First, a very exciting preview was put up over at Elder-Geek, which goes to illustrate the depth of the new adjective system as well as drive the point home that SupScrib improves on every aspect of the original.

"One of the levels shown to us had Max at the back of a long line (to get a copy of Super Scribblenauts, naturally) with only one copy left. The hint given was to appease each member of the line in front of us with an item their vocation or personality would enjoy. When in the hands of the developer, they deftly handed out a “SMOOTH-HANDLED AXE” to a fire-man looking fellow, a “SAD PAINTING” to a gothic looking chick, and an assortment of equally odd items to the remaining stand-ees. In my hands and, more appropriately, limited ability to think off the top of my head, I gave up on personalizing each item and just summoned an “IRRITATED RHINO” to maul through the crowd, which it did with gusto.

The genius of Super Scribblenauts is not simply the breadth of its vocabulary, but the simplicity of its implementation. Adjectives are applied to a base noun through very simple iconography. Colors, skins and the like are applied in a simple paint-over of the character model, while more representational objects like my “RUDE AIR HUMIDIFIER” showing an obvious base object with an added accessory, in this case a small air humidifier whose frame was shaped like that of a human butt. Such overlays ensure each creation has a bit of giggle-inducing oddity to it, all of which contributes to the existing Scribblenauts cartoon style

Those not impressed with the original Scribblenauts‘ sometimes awkward physics will be happy to know that the folks at 5th Cell have – quite clearly, they told us – have received the message, and have promised to have a much tweaked and improved engine come the game’s October launch. Maxwell can now be controlled with the DS buttons as well as stylus input, correcting another complaint found in most reviews of the original. Those brave enough to create their own sandbox levels will have an editor to do so this time around, and a hint system will also be in place to help along those not sure of what to do when faced with an “ANGRY CHEF” in one room and a “SUAVE TRAIN CONDUCTOR” in another."

Good deal.

Next up on the agenda is the plethora of nominations they're receiving from E3. We got IGN giving it Best DS Game, GameTrailers nominating it for Best DS Game, Game Critics nominating it for Best Handheld. Gamepro, Kotaku, and 1UP have all given their own props as well.

I'm looking forward to the coming months in the hopes of new media and impressions. Until then, I'll probably mess around more with the original Scribblenauts...perhaps even playing around with more Imagination Revelations. I'm excited about Scribblenauts again, so it's hard not to share.