For a game based on imagination, you wouldn't have expected Scribblenauts to have frustrated gamers in such a basic regard, but its touchscreen controls rubbed plenty of gamers up the wrong way, complaining they lacked the precision required to manoeuvre Maxwell around his sketchy world. Developer 5th Cell is confident there'll be no such complaints about upcoming sequel Super Scribblenauts, as it specifically included D-Pad controls to appease core gamers.
What seems on the surface like a simple change actually caused a lot of work for the team. Although Maxwell seems like a player-controlled character, he's actually artificially intelligent, having been programmed to react to the objects and events that happen within his world. Placing Maxwell under direct player control required much of the first game's code to be replaced, but the pay-off is for core players to have much clearer control when the game's launched later this year.
[source joystiq.com]
Comments 33
Gotta thank the devs for doing this though. It'll make their game much nicer to play.
Yes! This game'll be perfect!
I sold my original scribblenauts in preparation for this, and I'm quite looking forward to it. I might not buy it straight off though...
i'm just troubled about the german version...it was sooooo bad in the first part. i hope i works out this time.......but my short play at the gamescom ... ah well
Freaking awesome!
Well, at least we now know 5th Cell gives a crap about its fans now. Still hoping there's a thesaurus-type thing in the game, as that would make me insta-buy it.
To be honest the controls really weren't a problem for me and I was able to finish the whole game easily, the only thing I couldn't do because of the controls was run and gun in some action levels. The only real problem was that most levels was solved with pegasus and grappling hook.
I wouldn't even CONSIDER this game if it didn't have the improved controls, and I know I'm not alone in that, so I'd say it's to their own interest to fix that problem. It is good to hear that they actually recognized that fact, unlike a lot of developers who routinely ignore player feedback.
I KNEW complaining would pay off! Now I'm off to complain to Nintendo about not putting Yoshi's Island on Virtual Console!
But seriously, this game will be a major improvement over the first Scribblenauts.
Umm...wasn't the whole "D-pad controls for the people that complained" thing a news story when the game was first announced? Or am I missing something?
SO excited for this game!
@PunnyGuy
Yeah, but the reason Ninty can't get Yoshi's Island on the VC is due to the fact that they can't get the Super FX chip emulation sorted. Get the GBA copy instead.
Yeah, but the reason Ninty can't get Yoshi's Island on the VC is due to the fact that they can't get the Super FX chip emulation sorted
Sorry Nintendo isn't that technically inept.
@Digiki: for serious. there's no way they couldn't have figured it out by now, provided there really was a problem in the first place.
@theblackdragon Hm...maybe they're saving their virtual console releases for their next console or portable. Could be because of the issue of transferring downloadable games.
I know EXACTLY what this dev means in terms of that control difference--kudos to making it work.
@Dig - It's sad, isn't it? We aren't gonna get Megaman X 2 or 3 or Stunt Race FX or any of those games either...due to a problem that unpaid emulator-programmers solved in the late 90s with comparative-poop hardware.
I can appreciate that dpad controls may suit this game better (wouldn't know as I never played the first), but as someone who loved the controls for the two DS Zelda games, I find the demonizing of controls built around touch as not "hardcore" enough a pretty foolish notion.
"Complaining does pay off sometimes"
DON'T ENCOURAGE THEM!!! I do like the fact that they're catering to fans' and critics' negative points, though.
We should complain more about the lack of F-Zero on the Wii/DS.
As for this one, day #1 purchase!
This is another reason that this will be the best game ever created!!!
Wait, wait wait.... So, do you mean the first Scribblenauts is a God game, and that you truly aren't Maxwell?
@V8 Ninja - No, you're not hallucinating or something. They (the D-Pad controls) were announced at the beginning, but they're saying now that it was because so many people complained about it that they decided to replace a lot of the first game's code to be able to implement that. Hope that clears up some things for you.
@Digiki
That's what I've been lead to believe anyway. =/
@Birdman Thanks for that. It did clear up a few things.
as an aspiring writer, i was really impressed by the original game, and it's word-wizardy form of creativity... i was even going to buy it despite its flaws just before the sequel was announced. now, this will be a launch day by for me. to give some context... i've never bought a handheld game on it's release day before. EVER.
Jump button? Please? I hated mashing the touch pad above Maxwell and waiting for him to decide to jump.
I am far from a "hardcore gamer" and there is nothing I hate more than a game where you can't use the d-pad to control the character. I quit playing many DS titles for this very reason.
yay im so glad i sent in a complaint
I will get this now.
@dragon: Well apparently there is because even Japan doesn't have Yoshi's Island or Star Fox for that matter on the VC
I didn't see what was so bad about the first game's controls. They were a bit fiddly, but I got used to them. Don't get me wrong, though, I would rather have D-Pad controls. I am so hyped for this game.
@ErrorSupply: It IS wrong to demonize ALL touch screen controls, I agree. But if you'd played the first Scribblenauts, you'd know why we hated its controls so much. Zelda, it ain't.
@mjc: Very true, couldn't have said it better myself.
@18 well dont complain about it.
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