scribbling results

Yesterday I started messing around with a game called "Scribblenauts." It's a bit juvenile, but the premise of the game is highly original. It presents you with a puzzle or objective in a 2D level and then allows you to write in the name of any animal or object...or anything conceivable (with some exceptions), and it will appear. You can then use the properties of that item/creature/etc. to accomplish your goal. For instance, conjure up some pizza and eat it, or put in a helicopter and fly anywhere you want. Certain inappropriate things are excluded.

The game leaves itself open to lots of creative scenarios, many the developers could not have possibly foreseen. One such situation is one of the first things I did - I used the game as a battle simulator. Yeti vs. Bigfoot. Yes, both mythical creatures were in the game, but the Yeti acted more aggressive, while Bigfoot seemed protective. Bigfoot won. I then decided to do best two out of three. Bigfoot won again. Just for good measure, I tried once more. Again, Bigfoot was the victor. So I decided to even the odds.

I gave the Yeti a shotgun. Unfortunately, once he took it he did not know how to use it, so he just held it passively. He still wanted to fight, but simply couldn't. So I started torching him with a flamethrower. It just forced him back, so I had to set some TNT at his feet to finally take him down.

Now there's something even the most open-world game won't let you do.

About scwtte

Founder, and chief author, of CGHM Networks.