MarkerMan, MarkerMan, doing the things a marker can

by Eric Caoili { Feb 16th 2008 at 2:00PM }

We haven't heard much about Glyphic Entertainment or the studio's Warlords DS port since publisher Strategy First dropped all of its DS titles, so we assumed the worst for the Ohio-based developer. Apparently, however, they picked up another publisher for Warlords DS (Fog Entertainment) and are hard at work on an original game for the Wii and DS -- Markerman!

MarkerMan!'s mobility and physics-based puzzles are like a cross between Kirby: Canvas Curse and Crayon Physics (or its DS homebrew equvalent, Pocket Physics). We would accuse it of looking too much like Crayon Physics, actually, especially with the identical soundtrack, but there's still plenty of time for Glyphic to establish MarkerMan's character before the game's scheduled "Q3 2008" release.

Though it doesn't look like a high-budget production at all, that's part of the charm! We're in love with the graph-paper background, crayon scenery, and the stick-figure dog. We wish we had a stick-figure dog, now.

[Via GoNintendo]

Tags: crayon-physics, fog-entertainment, glyphic-entertainment, markerman, ohio, pocket-physics, warlords

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kevin_ho @ Feb 16th 2008 2:33PM

What's he like? It's not important.
Marker man
Is he a crayola, or is he a Sharpie..

Poor, poor, DS. @ Feb 17th 2008 5:10AM

Is this the best the DS can muster. This is really sad.

It is 2008: where are the graphics. The CD level sound. Why the midi? Come on Nintendo: try harder.

DomoBraden @ Feb 16th 2008 2:35PM

Can you say lawsuit? (Unless of course the team behind Crayon Physics is involved with this game.)

Hyre @ Feb 16th 2008 7:56PM

why would you say lawsuit? It's a drawing game that has a similar style to it, sure, but are they using the same code? Crayon Physics doesn't necessarily have the same abilities as Marker Man. For example, I think that you can construct working objects like cars and whatnot in Crayon Physics(been a while since I saw the vid for it, so might be wrong), and Marker Man has, so far, appeared to have nothing more than weighted lines and boxes. Again, might be wrong, there might actually be a case, but then, I don't like people who say "ooh, lawsuit" ;P

DomoBraden @ Feb 16th 2008 8:24PM

Well, outside of the similar concept and appearance, this even has the SAME FREAKING MUSIC. Although it has different gameplay mechanics and probably has original code, it wouldn't be very hard to prove that this is directly based off of the concepts and presentation of Crayon Physics.

No, I honestly don't expect a lawsuit, but with such blatantly obvious similarities it wouldn't take much to give a strong argument against it, (again, assuming that the creator of Crayon Physics isn't involved with this).

Hyre @ Feb 16th 2008 10:51PM

Ah, didn't catch the music thing, that does indeed make it a lot more likely for it to be a ripoff.

raindog @ Feb 17th 2008 1:43AM

If having a similar plot and using the same music in the trailer were actionable, there would be a lot fewer big action movies coming out of Hollywood. (And romantic comedies, for that matter.)

I really like Pocket Physics, but I kind of wish it had a mode with goals of some kind. This looks like it'll fulfill that need to some degree, and I'm sure I'll buy it.

Core @ Feb 17th 2008 9:18AM

If you bother to look, they have the appropriate disclaimers for the song - taking it from the public domain for the video. There's nothing wrong with that. I notice that's not done in any of the Crayon Physics shorts, yet noone is calling foul there. It's a pleasant song for an easy going video; a good selection in my opinion.

You might try reading the promo sheet as well which gives you an idea of what the game is about. It looks to be leaps and bounds over Crayon Physics. Every puzzle in Crayon can be solved with a couple of straight lines, and you can do all 5 in under a minute. Markerman is a mixture of an action platformer and a drawing puzzle game, and that's pretty unique!

Yeah, maybe they made a bad decision to use that music (I think it was a great decision, just look at the spirited response over a single song!), but certainly don't compare apples to oranges here. Other than it involving drawing and physics, Markerman is nothing like Crayon Physics, and has the potential to be so much more than the 60 second puzzler that Crayon is.

Did you also notice what looked like a free form game in demo where you can draw whatever you wanted? There were lifts and platforms as well as see-saw. Looks like you can draw more than just lines, boxes and circles based simply on that.

I'll wait and see what the game evolves into, but at this point they have my money when it hits the stores.

MagFlare @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:10AM

*cough*Core's a corporate shill*cough*

Even if the game develops its own identity later, it's painfully obvious that these supposedly professional developers are trying to ride on the coattails of an unexpectedly popular independent game. Ganking ideas is sort of a mainstay of the games industry - look at the 2D fighter scene after Street Fighter II hit it big - but Glyphic is making no effort to conceal their theft, and they chose to steal from a guy who's yet to make a dime from his work.

Dirty pool, man.