New video makes big claim: 20-24 items IN ADDITION to what is already there

I always love waking up to new Scribblenauts videos and interviews. Thankfully, due to timezone differences, a lot of these videos that are coming out in Europe are all waiting for me as soon as I log onto the net. It's a wonderful thing.

Today, however, I was in for a shock. You might not know Marius Fahlbusch, but he's the Technical Director for 5TH Cell, and has been instrumental in its development. He's made some interesting comments in the past, such as saying 5TH Cell isn't ruling out bringing Scribblenauts onto different platforms. But today he definitely made the most interesting comment...and the most confusing.

Check out the video here. Around the minute mark Marius makes a rather interesting claim:

You can have around say 20-24 items at the same time in a level in addition to what is already there

I said "Wow", but I have to keep my excitement in check because I have a very strong feeling this is wrong.

We've seen videos and screenshots of the game from various builds and most seem to show you have room for 8-10 "small" items and 4-5 "big" items. The size modifies mostly refer to the physical size and complexity of an item. For example, a human isn't too big but he does have AI which eats up the memory bar.

Take a look of this screenshot from the preview build.

This is a shiv, a pretty small item. It's a tool, but it's not that complex. Yet we see that it's taking up about 1/8 - 1/12 of the bar. So I can spawn up to 12 shivs, which is exactly half of the upper value Marius suggests can be used in-game.

So there are a few possible explanations:

-His simply misspoke. I find this a bit hard to believe, as he was very specific in his comment that this 20-24 number is IN ADDITION TO what's already there in a level. He's also the Technical Director, not some PR-type person who might get confused or misinformed.

-He's only referring to the smallest and least complex items. I also doubt this. As you can see above even a small tool takes up anywhere from 1/8 to 1/12 of the bar, which barely reaches half of the limit Marius suggested.

-The final build can take more than we know. My heart hopes this is true, but my brain tells me otherwise. The DS is a powerful system for a handheld, but it is just a handheld. 20-24 items in ANY game on screen would be enough to lag it up, especially Scribblenauts objects which have a lot of code associated with them.

For now, I'm going to file this story under "Speculation" to play it safe. I'd say that this story has an equal chance of being true or false, so it's best to wait on further confirmation until then. It's hard to doubt the words of the Technical Director, but it's probably best for everyone to take this with a grain of salt before getting too excited.

ONM reveals their giant list...so what's in? What's out?

ONM finally was able to release the giant list of user-submitted words to try out in the game. This is the first time someone has put it to a very, VERY extensive test built by the community, so let's look at some of the words and see what made it and what did not. I think you'll be surprised on multiple accounts!

So first up, words that failed. I split them up by "proper" fails (meaning, they SHOULD be in the game, but aren't) and "improper fails", words that don't fit under the Scribblenauts rules and thus don't have to be in the game.

Not tangible objects

BOOBS (not an object) - Also would be vulgar
MEANING OF LIFE (not an object)
ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM (not an object)
PERPETUALITY (not an object)
ANNUAL - They probably meant the shorthand for an "Annual flower", but "annual" itself doesn't count as an object
LEG WOUND - Not really a tangible object or noun
GLITCH - Not a tangible word, though I do agree it should be in

Not in the dictionary

HAMMER OF THOR (not in dictionary)
DANCING BANANA (not in dictionary)
ONM (not in dictionary)
RAPTOR JESUS (not in dictionary, potentially blasphemous)
SHOOP DA WOOP (not in dictionary)

Trademarked or proper nouns

JEDI (trademarked)
DS (trademarked)
Joystiq
RUDOLPH - A proper noun. It'd only be icing on the cake if he were in, like Santa...

Words that are too specific or probably already have variations in game

SANDBOARD - Seems identical to a snowboard, which I'm sure is in
SHOVELWARE - Probably too specific of a word. "Videogame" is probably in
MISANTHROPE - Again, most likely too specific of a word. A misanthrope, like one of the -phobe nouns, is more of a human with a non-tangible way of describing them, which would probably be hard to represent. You can, however, spawn in a human and make him fear humans in the level editor
COULROPHOBE - Same as above

Proper fails

DELTOID - Spellcheck tells me this isn't actually a word...hmm. Maybe it needed to be "Deltoids" or "Deltoid Muscle"?
ANTIMACASSAR
RUPEE


So then...not too bad. Out of the 25 words, only 4 of which "properly" failed, and even among those 5, 3 of which have questions about them.

Now let's look at the items that DID make the cut.

PLUMBOB
USB STICK
INTERNET
SIBERIAN HUSKY - YES!
WALLPAPER
ACTOR
DESERT
GOGGLES
BANDANA
FINGERLESS GLOVES
SKI LIFT
FLANNEL - YES!
VACUUM
PEPPER (both the condiment and the vegetable)
COUCH
BANDICOOT - I didn't know this was a real word.
FLAG
HOSE
NAPPY (you can put it on him)
WATCH
TATTOO (makes a sheet of stick-on tattoos)
MUSHROOM
BOMBARD (makes a cannon) - I thought bombard was a verb...hmm
SEISMOMETER
LOBSTER
MAGIC EGG (same as a normal egg) - xd, what the hell is a magic egg?
EMO
DEATH
LIMBS
STARITE (but it's a fake one)
MAGIC
EVERYTHING - I wonder what this turns up
UNIVERSE
C4 (input CFOUR)
MELON
JUDGE
JEWEL CASE (but makes a Jewellery Box) - Makes sense
SD CARD (but makes a playing card) - Probably means it isn't it, so the game defaults to the generic "card"
CANVAS
SOLAR SYSTEM (but makes a star) - LAME AS HELL!
GALAXY - Yet this is in...?
PISTOL
LED
RICKROLL (makes Rick Astley appear) - Who promptly explodes. No, seriously.
PEANUT
CHEERLEADER
LASER SWORD (but makes a normal sword) - Makes sense
GUITAR
GLASSES
AISLE
TREBUCHET
I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER (makes a cheeseburger) - ...wow
PENGUIN
KETCHUP
STAPLER
DICTIONARY
SCRIBBLENAUTS (makes the orginal character design) - What weird wording...
5TH CELL (makes the developer's logo)
LOLWUT (makes his head huge) - Uh, what? Does he means the lolwut pear?
MORON (makes a dunce)
CHIMPANZEE
PENCIL
PAINT
BERET
SHOTGUN
CHAINSAW
TENNIS RACQUET
COMPUTER
GAS
SYNTHESIZER
CHEESE
REMOTE
CREDIT CARD -
SCISSORS
TWEEZERS
LAWNMOWER
FISHING ROD
INLINE SKATES
WASHING MACHINE
CARAMEL
STARFRUIT
PENNY FARTHING
TOAD
TSUNAMI
ABYSS
SPY (makes a Ninja) - LAME AS HELL
LOLLIPOP
MONEY
TOAST
CAMERA
BABOON
ZOETROPE


So as you can see, Scribblenauts already has a pretty robust input device. Even if you get a word wrong or you try to be too specific it spawns in what it thinks you want. All in all the testing was an amazing success. Tallying it all up, out of the 93 "proper" words that were checked, only 4 failed.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

Scribblenauts get a sort-of release date; multiplatform talk

Out of all the news breaking today we have two big pieces that I'd like to touch on that I feel are, above all else discovered today, the most important.

First we have affiliate @Scribblenaut figuring out (thanks to a Dutch website) that Scribblenauts will be released the 23rd of September in the PAL regions. This is 8 days after the speculated September 15th date for the states. I think it's safe to say the United States will see the game anywhere between those two dates, though I am thinking the 15th is the correct date.

Second, we have an interview that might scare some people while exciting others. Yes, multiplatform talk. To quote technical director Marius Fahlbusch,

Starlet developer 5th Cell has never thought of puzzler Scribblenauts as a DS exclusive, technical director Marius Fahlbusch has told VG247, and has confessed that the puzzler could migrate between platforms.

“The concept would definitely work on other platforms as well and we’ve seen gamers from very different backgrounds pick it up and enjoy it equally,” said Fahlbusch.

He added: “We’ve seen both kinds of gamers instantly taking to the game, the casual gamer that played a few games before as well as hardcore ones that play nothing but the latest titles on PS3 and X360.

“But we never limited ourselves to the DS as platform in our heads and we’ll see what the future holds.”

Personally? I'm disappointed in that. 5TH Cell has always been somewhat of a Nintendo loyalist. In fact, Scribblenauts wouldn't have even come to life if they didn't look at the DS and say, "Ok, what can we do with this?" Though I am excited that it may branch out to other consoles and support the developers, I gotta say, it would not be ideal. Once a game goes multiplatform some problems begin to come up. Some platforms become more favored than others, release dates and content begin to differ greatly. It'll be interesting to see what comes in the days ahead.

Previews and interviews galore!

Noticing a trend? Though my previous post below will track screenshots, will will track previews and rip out the important bits.

Gamespot written preview

"On one level, we tried writing "fly spray" and "repellent" on a fly, but in this case, "bug spray" and "insect spray" were the acceptable solutions"

"Given that we're located in London, Fahlbusch dropped in a royal banquet, including the Queen, a table, a grill, beef, and a chef's hat. Rather amusingly, he then also added a vampire that quickly turned the Queen into a fellow vampire. Thankfully for Maxwell--the game's protagonist--there was some nearby garlic bread to help keep the vampires at bay."

"There are 220 levels in total split across 10 worlds, and you can unlock them by earning the game's currency: ollars."

"Fahlbusch demonstrated the physics engine with a stage that featured a starite atop a tree. There were numerous ways to get to it, including the use of a ladder or termites that would eat the tree. Instead, he added two acrobats and placed Maxwell on top of them, allowing him to reach the starite."

JoyStiq interview

Just how many people stumped the game at E3? Were we the only ones to come up with a word that needed to be added?

Not many people did, I remember a journalist friend of mine came by and said, "I'm going to stand here and stump your game for 20 minutes, so leave me alone." And this guy is hardcore even among hardcore gamers. Afterward he had to admit he had a real hard time stumping it and shook my hand. People will always stump the game if they really try, but the fact is there so much in Scribblenauts that stumping the game is only fun for a few minutes. Then people say, "Forget that - I want to play with the objects I'm creating!" – and you can!

How do you make a sequel to Scribblenauts? Are you working on ideas for one?

We're just focused on the original Scribblenauts for the time being, but I have plenty of ideas for a sequel.

Is there any one item or creature that has proven to be much more useful than others? Or is there anything in there that acts as a "cheat code" -- something deliberately put in the game to solve all kinds of stuff? If not, can we be one?

We've tried very hard to balance the game to ensure there are no uber characters. That way people can have fun experimenting without fearing that they aren't using the best object possible to solve a puzzle.


What's the craziest thing you've seen in the game so far?

This game has a lot of crazy moments. One recent one was that I was flying a helicopter over some enemy soldiers, but I was too close to them and so one decided to hop in the backseat with Maxwell still flying and I was shot in the back of the head. I was like, "Wow, this game keeps on surprising me." It's hard for me to keep playing a game after working on it for so long when you're done with it, but I continue to laugh and have a blast with Scribblenauts and I think that says a lot.

VG247 Interview

“The concept would definitely work on other platforms as well and we’ve seen gamers from very different backgrounds pick it up and enjoy it equally,” said Fahlbusch.

Have you got “sweary” stuff in there?

We did not include any vulgar items, so that first thing we know everyone wants to write in there… I am sorry! But who needs vulgarity if you can ride three panda bears on a unicycle while wearing a snorkel. There are just so many surprises in the game.

Finally, can you see the idea being replicated by other developers?

Every title out there is also in inspiration to all developers in some way, so why wouldn’t certain concepts of Scribblenauts flow into other future titles? But it will be interesting to see if and what kind of influence it could have.

Gamespot video preview - summary incoming

GamesRadar video preview - summary incoming





More as they are availabile

Screenshot overload

Today is going to be a big news day for Scribblenauts. A big day. So I'm going to begin early (and kinda small) and bring you some new pictures I've found around the web. There's a lot of them, so I'll link you to where you an find them and show you some of my favorites.

New pictures over at...

Gamespot
NowGamer

Now let's look at some of the cooler shots.

Here we see what I assume if the first part of the level editor mode. As you can see we can choose from 10 different worlds, each with its own theme. Standard fare among video games, of course. Through each world we can then choose the level we want to use as our template. There are 6 levels per page with multiple pages. The Gardens has 2 pages, and from the E3 demo we know it has 11 stages.

For those keeping up with the math, though, 10 worlds of 11 levels each equals 110 levels, exactly half the 220 levels promised. I don't think that's a coincidence. Do you think some worlds have more levels (some would have to have over 22 levels for the math to work out), or are we missing some key component?

Here we have something I am personally VERY excited for. During some of the previews people mentioned the icons when interacting with objects weren't always clear. Sometimes it was hard to determine if you were going to pick something up or throw it. 5TH Cell listened, it seems, and has added some text to each option to show you exactly what they do.

He we can see the level editor again, showing off how you can modify object properties. For example, this monster can follow the matador around. Other options mentioned were "mount", "consume", "scare", etc.



More shots will go here as the day goes on!