Porter's World

Scribblenauts

It’s not every day that I see a console game that could become a flash game, and even rarer that I find one that is almost screaming to be turned into one. Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS is one of those rare gems, and it’s just blessed the world with it’s presence today. Scribblenauts is not only an amazing game, but it’s the first game I’ve actually looked forward to and felt was truly original since Portal came out with the Orange Box. If you’re unfamiliar with Portal, log into your steam account now and check it out, you can also try Portal: The Flash Version which is basically the same concept, but in 2D.

First off, let’s take a look at what makes Scribblenauts such an amazing game. The point of the game is to solve various puzzles, or reach the goal, to receive the magical that is a starite. The way you solve these puzzles is where Scribblenauts really shines. You can move around using the DS’s stylus, look around using the D-Pad or ABXY buttons, and last but not least, click on the note pad and write in anything that comes to mind. What does writing in anything that comes to mind do for you exactly? It brings it to life, plops it into the world in front of you, and begs you to interact with it in whichever way possible. You can write so many things it’s unbelievable, the database of items is absolutely massive. I’ve only played the game a very short while since it just came out, but already I’ve ridden a whale, had that whale defeat an angry lion, and used a rocket to blow holes in the ground to navigate to new areas. When I say you can write anything, I mean it. Admittedly (and this is nearly impossible to avoid) you can stump the system and come up with something it doesn’t have, but you nearly have to try to do so which is quite impressive; on top of that, it gives you options that are close to whatever you typed that wasn’t found, so you really can’t complain. After you create various objects, you can ride them, throw them, shoot them, combine them, and so on. If this doesn’t sound at all amusing to you, you’re anhedonic, and I’m sorry for your loss.

So you may thinking that the above is quite impressive, well, it is. So how does this relate to the flash industry? How can such an impressive game be moved to a platform such as flash? Easily is how. The entire game, although amazing, is basically a giant database of words, tons of simple art and animation, basic platforming, and a fine dose of Box2D or your favorite physics engine. The art has it’s own style, but is certainly something that could be seen in a flash game. It’s colorful, simplistic, and almost looks as if someone drew it with a tablet. The biggest draw back I see is that the game is 32MB, which would be a massive flash game, but I’m sure a lot of the file size are files that pertain directly towards communication with the DS and stuff of that nature. If not, the database of items could be loaded externally to reduce the file size to something acceptable. Regardless of the solution picked, it’s definitely doable. The game would undeniably be a huge project, but it’s one that could definitely shine as one of the greatest flash games to this day. The game really is perfect for the flash platform, and I’m almost surprised the company didn’t launch a mini game flash version to build up some extra hype for the DS release. It’s creative, it’s the most intuitive game since Portal, and it’s amazingly casual and laid back, which is perfect for the flash industry.

The most impressive aspect of the game is that game developers have once again created something incredibly original. After thousands of clones of great games, another company has stepped forward, used some creativity, taken a risk, and is now reaping the rewards for their work on an original concept. The most inspiring thought I get from the above isthis, yes they developed the game for the DS, but it could just as easily been you or I developing this game for the DS. Creative ideas that have yet to be thought of are still out there; leave the tower defense games and physics clones for someone else, and embrace the importance of originality.

Interested in picking up Scribblenauts? Buy it here –

Both Games, Different Designs

Throughout the last few years I’ve studied what works in the flash gaming community and what doesn’t. There is without a doubt a number of tactics to be followed to ensure that your game is fit for this industry. Such tactics exist because there is a clear difference in how game design for the flash industry works when compared to game design for console systems. Everything from the difficulty to the controls used must be thought out differently when developing a flash game, not doing so could result in a great game, in the wrong market.

As much as I hate to admit it sometimes, there really is a difference in flash game design in comparison to console game design. Games developed for flash must be far more casual in most cases, and even when not casual must be developed entirely differently in other aspects. The controls in your game must be very clear, and very simple to use. Most flash game players don’t have enough hand eye coordination to press two or three different buttons as well as the arrow keys or WASD keys to move, it’s just too complicated and takes more time to get used to than most players have or are willing to give. Aspects such as difficulty must be decreased significantly in order to appeal to the majority of players. A good way to go about this is to make what you think is easy, hard, and move from there.

Flash game players have far less of an attention span compared to console players as well, for numerous reasons. Firstly, they don’t pay for your game, so they don’t feel compelled to stick around and get their money’s worth out of it. Secondly, there’s a lot more games out there, every day tons of new flash games come out, if your game doesn’t impress them very quickly, they’ll move on to the next one without thinking twice. Another reason your first impression must be so important is due to a games pre-release exposure. Flash games get very little exposure before release, if any. Console games will have trailers, articles, tons of talk among gamers for months to come, some times years. This allows users to have more patience when trying out the game, because they know it gets good from what they’ve seen. With a flash game however, they don’t know what’s coming, and if you don’t impress them right off, they’re not about to stick around and find that out.

The above brings quite the issue to any developers plate, especially those in favor of retro games. Many developers such as myself have a craving to develop games in the style of NES and SNES games, challenging, minimal instructions, and fun. The issue with this however, is that although such a game can be a top notch game in general, the flash industry isn’t always the best place for it due to the above reasons. If someone was to develop a new IP and have it play nearly identical to a hit SNES or NES game, it will do alright in the flash industry, but never live to it’s full potential in comparison to a non-flash platform. Games such as these just aren’t meant for the web, at least if you’re looking to get the money the game quality deserves. Such games in my opinion belong on systems such as the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, or perhaps on Xbox Live Arcade.

With the above in mind, I urge all developers to really just develop what they want. I’m in no way saying you shouldn’t make  games such as Tower of Greed or Raider Episode 1, I’m simply warning you of the financial consequences of doing so. I myself will never stop trying to perfect a balance of both, but it certainly isn’t an easy one and I’ll lose out on a lot of potential revenue in the process. Either way, with the above knowledge you can further your planning methods in game development when trying to maximize your profits for your final product; remember though, it’s not all about the cash, making games for fun is where it’s at.