Infinite items: 5th Cell's Scribblenauts

by JC Fletcher { Dec 5th 2008 at 9:49PM }

Um, wow. 5th Cell (Drawn to Life, Lock's Quest, radness) just revealed their newest game to IGN. Like the last two, it's for the best platform evar (the DS). Also, similar to the previous works, it involves creating elements of the world. But this new game, Scribblenauts, might be the most ambitious.

To solve the puzzle-based levels in Scribblenauts, you write a noun. And then the named item appears. According to 5th Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka, there won't be any limit to what you can create. "People won't write half the things that exist in this game because they're so obscure, he told IGN." The team created a data-entry program to streamline the process of adding metadata to objects, and they've been scouring encyclopedias for months.

Scribblenauts is still very early, and doesn't have a publisher yet, but it's already shaping up to be the most ambitious game on the DS. Check out the trailer above and be sure to read the full interview at IGN. And then try to wait to see more.

Tags: 5th-cell, action, puzzle, scribblenauts

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

E @ Dec 5th 2008 10:06PM

Wow. That's quite ambitious but I'm totally behind 5th Cell's efforts on this one! If they can pull this off (which seems to be coming along quite well from the video), this portable title looks to be rather promising and pretty awesome! I don't think I've ever heard of such an innovative and creative idea in quite some time, especially in terms of gaming. While I'm totally down with Lock's Quest, I wasn't feeling Drawn to Life...at all. Perhaps that's just me, though?

Bowser Rogozhin @ Dec 6th 2008 6:26AM

No, you're right. Drawn to Life sucked balls. That's not to say this won't be any good, but Drawn to Life did suck balls.

hvnlysoldr @ Dec 5th 2008 10:08PM

That would be a horror for Europe and Japan localization.

E @ Dec 5th 2008 11:05PM

Very true, very true.

Tyrran @ Dec 5th 2008 10:11PM

Wow. Though I admire 5th Cell's candor and don't doubt that there will be many words the average gamer WON'T end up using, I have a minor concern. Simply put, unless they give this an M rating, I'm positive of a handful of words that, despite many, many spellings, won't show up in game. And if they do, woah, this is going to be hilariously immature and awesome.

hvnlysoldr @ Dec 5th 2008 10:56PM

ESRB Rating: Warning user content is not rated by the ESRB. Your experience may vary.

Gendreavus @ Dec 6th 2008 4:22PM

Well, you could say that if it was actually 'user content', but 5th Cell would have put that stuff in the game themselves, so it wouldn't actually be 'user content', just stuff that the user called up. It'd be like the Hot Coffee mod in GTA. Sure, the game had to be hacked in order to find it, but the developers put it in there, so the game suddenly found itself with an AO rating instead of M.

Zealot @ Dec 6th 2008 8:02PM

I would hope that there would be some sort of punitive but comic result for inputting certain naughty words, like an anvil or a piano or a beehive falling on the character or something like that.

Daisy @ Dec 6th 2008 12:24AM

Wow.
That's all i can say.
I think this is totally awesome,
really creative!
Can't wait.

LeChuck @ Dec 6th 2008 1:31AM

This will have a lot of replay value just to see how many ways you can come up with to solve each puzzle.

chispito @ Dec 6th 2008 1:46AM

Looks pretty fun, although I have to wonder how tight and challenging the actual puzzles will be. Also, as awesome as it looks, and as many cool things as they can think of... this is the internet. There will be a comprehensive list of words on Gamefaqs in about a week.

darksage @ Dec 6th 2008 2:56AM

This seems like an awesome idea for a game, but honestly I think it's too ambitious. With the objects they show in the trailer (ladder, football, bear), each object did a specific thing, climbing the ladder, throwing the football, bear knocking down tree. I just don't see how they could have that level of diversity for anything anyone thinks of. Just as an example, for that particular puzzle, could I write termites and have them eat the tree to get at the starite?

hvnlysoldr @ Dec 6th 2008 2:32PM

That was a beaver chewing down the tree.

BobTheElephant @ Dec 6th 2008 3:44AM

this looks awesome, both lock's quest and drawn to life looked pretty good but I never got them...this might have to go down differently.

orpheus @ Dec 6th 2008 3:50AM

well I think the point that there are only a limited number of nouns they can animate for each scenario that makes the game a puzzle at all. If you just wrote any noun down and that would solve the puzzle then the game wouldn't really have any meaning now would it?

Mathieu Bonin @ Dec 6th 2008 9:44AM

Did you guys even read the interview with IGN? A lot of it is explained. The game doesn't just "animate itself" like you see in the trailer, you basically spawn objects that you can interact with. And all the animation is basically paper dolls, with limbs rotating to animate.

Go read the interview, I wasn't so sure after seeing the trailer, after the interview, I'm definitely picking this up.

Safiel @ Dec 6th 2008 10:34AM

Yeah, no kidding. I see people keep asking questions that are specifically answered in the interview.

I think termites come up specifically in the interview. Also, being able to write anything. Miah mentions writing goldfish, and that it wouldn't help for getting to the star in the tree, it would just sit on the ground.. but the point is you could do it.

Mert @ Dec 6th 2008 10:34AM

"Write anything, solve everything" > "Write. Anything. Solve. Everything. In. A. World. Where. Anything. Is. Possible. One. Man. One. Noun."

miruki @ Dec 6th 2008 1:35PM

OMG, I'm sure I will come up with LOTS of the weird things they say ppl wouldn't even think of. :3 Hohoho... so gonna love this, I'm sure I'll get uber addicted to it if it's only half as awesome as I imagine it to be.. but still so far away, meh. ;_;

leonus11 @ Dec 6th 2008 3:46PM

that game looks like it'll be addictive as hell!! man i can only imagine how i'll solve those puzzles! the reply value is gonna be amazing! see you guys later i have some cash to deposit for this game!

Butters @ Dec 6th 2008 3:56PM

Awesome concept, I am very interested! The only downside is that the objects will have to be neutral because of trademarks and stuff. So if I am faced with a puzzle that involves removing a bad smell, I can't type in "Febreze" or something.

Words that I will immediately test: platypus, cowbell, silver hammer (because the main character's name is Maxwell).

MR_HOBS @ Dec 7th 2008 4:49AM

HAHA, Platypus was one of the first things I thought of too!

First, I agree that people should read the freakin' interview before asking dumb questions, and second...

This is still going to be an awesomely fun game even IF the list of words isn't quite as all encompassing as you imagine. Just playing around with what's there. At first I thought you just wrote stuff and the puzzle was either solved or not, but the second viewing, I realize no, this is an action puzzler in the truest sense, as you can still control your character directly. As for the puzzle difficulty I'm sure their will be more than a handful of really tricky ones. They've got a long chunk of development ahead of them. It's going to be GOOD. Buy it!

Now excuse me, I'm off to see if Wild Metal for Dreamcast works, or if I have to send the disc back.