With drawing games being all the rage lately—evidence Line Rider, Paintball, Paths, and Draw Play, to name a few of the more recent entries—we really have to acknowledge the raw creativity that Nintendo inspires with its innovative consoles. As the world prepares for the coming of the Wii—no, Nintendo, I still haven't received my Wii yet and it looks like I'm going to have to stand in line with the rest of the masses—those of us left standing out in the cold can at least warm-up with the fun packed inside these innovative new browser-based games that are coming from some of the best Flash game designers around the world.
Nitrome does it again with its latest entry, Scribble. This drawing-based arcade action game is a little bit platformer and a whole lot of Lemmings. Use the mouse to draw paths to get your little "blots" from start to finish flag with the fewest of casualties. Each level's finish flag indicates how many blots must escape to unlock and move on to the next level.
And just like Lemmings, blots don't really care about where they're headed, they just keep walking forward until something blocks their path and forces them to do an about-face. Knowing this, use your limited ink to draw ramps, bridges, and other mechanisms to help your blots arrive safely at the finish line.
Analysis: There are many excellent ideas crammed into this fantastic new Flash game from Nitrome, as well as a few minor annoyances, too. It's a highly ambitious title, as is per usual from Mat, Heather and company, and the game succeeds on many levels, not the least of which is the fact that it is nicely polished and a lot of fun to play.
The game starts you off with the basic mechanic and gives you the chance to become comfortable with it before moving you on to the next. Each new level introduces you to a brand new concept that forces you to think differently about what has come before. This helps keep the game feeling fresh and exciting. Some levels may seem rather difficult at first, and will likely cause you to retry several times before you get it right.
I did notice a couple of minor issues that will cause a bit of frustration in some players. First off, if you draw a line over top of another one, when the first disappears it will take part of the second one with it. Also, there is no way to erase lines you've drawn by mistake or improperly. Therefore, while getting used to drawing lines efficiently, you will be playing the "waiting game" a lot while the lines go through their normal life cycle. Likewise, the blots movement is slow and therefore the overall pace of the game may be a bit too slow for those looking for a fast-paced action game, which this is not.
Still, minor issues aside, Scribble offers a lot of fun for anyone that enjoys drawing games, Lemmings, or both. Great new stuff from the Nitrome crew!
Let's try this again. I've reset the comments because the problem has been found and corrected. If you had trouble with the game a few moments ago, empty your cache, reload the page and there should be no trouble playing directly from the developer's website. =)
Great game! I've always loved lemmings, but it's gotten pretty old over the years. This makes the same concept nice and fresh.
Well sir, I don't like it. After one of my lines evaporated while blots were walking it and wiped out 4 of my guys on the enemy below, I was pretty much done.
Well, Brandon, the objective is to not let that happen. That's part of the gameplay. =p
It's just that the lack of control of when lines go away is maddening. It's too slow when you make a mistake, and too fast for some of the longer gaps. If your blots are not in a perfect group (if, for example you screwed up earlier in the level) you'll need to wall them up to get them there before you can do anything, which involves yet more time waiting on lines to disappear.
Agreed. The pacing is indeed a bit slow. A little patience is required with the game, as I noted.
Great fun!
Why did I have to check your site tonight lol. I was going to bed an hour ago......
Similar in some ways to Sandman - and I liked that as well.
A nice twist of Lemmings, nice find jay...
Another nice nitrome product :)
I'm with Brandon. It was too slow paced. The waitng for a line to disappear, after the first one disappeared and screwed you was unbearable. It made the game very frustrating instead of enjoyable. I do love alot of games that come from NITROME but this one needs some more work done to it. The concept is a very kool spinoff of lemmings though. I by no means intend on saying something bad about the NITROME site. They do a wonderful job of making my job go by smoother and quicker. Thanks for all the countless hours you, Jay, and all the other game developers out there put into me having a FREE game to play.
It needs an eraser and things would be better. Still fun though.
I like this game, it's quite hard though because of the disappearing lines. But otherwise it might have been too easy.
Sometimes slow is good.....not all of us can keep up with some of the faster-paced games :)
This reminds me of that 'Flea Circus' game...
Heheh .. nice lemmingy game. I can't count how many hours I've wasted on lemmings... Once you get the hang of how the lines disappear, it's not too hard to keep everything going even on long stretches. The only nitpick I have is the older lines destroying new ones, like you mentioned.. still not such a big problem. Got 161895 final score...
Ah, finally a game that actually uses the line drawing technique for more than just walking on. :) It's good to see how this game doesn't solely rely on the drawing 'novelty' but provides a solid gameplay on top of it, and that all packed in a fitting visual style.
I agree the pace is somewhat slow: a fast forward button would be very welcome. An eraser... yeah, could come in handy now and then. :)
I don't agree about the lines fading too fast or slow: this may take some timing, but the trick for long gaps is to draw short parts, and wait untill your blogs are almost at the end of the last line, and then draw another part. In the first few levels I had some trouble with this, but it's not too hard to get the hang of.
Yay! Excellent game... I agree with Jay. It would be good to have an eraser tool, or maybe something to kill your blobs if you don't need them (On level 4, I had enough to finish but a blob got stuck between the wall and a cactus on the left side of the screen =P)
Also, it is annoying because if you try to plan ahead, then your lines erase.
Otherwise, superb! :)
Not a huge fan... Wish there was a fast foward tool, so you could speed things up... those little guys walk to slow. They also like to walk thry walls that I make to try to stop them from droppin off a cliff... I do like the idea, just needs a little work.
About killing extra blots - if you've got all the flags down to zero, you can just press the "end level" button and it'll let you progress to the next one.
I'm not really a big fan of Lemmings-type games, but the drawing aspect drew me in and kept me playing for a bit.
Something interesting to note: the amount of ink used up depends more on how long you take to draw the line than how long the line is. Also, just holding down the mouse button (and not moving) will slowly drain ink...something I didn't realize at first because I was too busy watching the blots. :D
Wii! Woot!
I swear, this has been the single longes week of my life.
I have a different problem, which is that it's not very responsive to mouse movement. I was frantically trying to move the mouse to make the window scroll to where the blobs would be walking, so I could plan my next lines. The cursor would lose window focus and I'd be furiously wondering why the window isn't going anywhere as my blobs drop to their death. Grrrr.
jay
i am pretty sure you and many others have noticed the recent rise of drawing platform games of late .. it just shows how one game can be made and riped off so many times in slightly differnt forms .. i must say i have wrote this msg with out acturly playing the game so i dont know about this one in particluar but i have the idea that people have just seen a good idea and then taken it to far them selves making it too hard to find the real one that had the brilliance of such a good yet simple idea
Motzo - As I implied in the review above, I believe the proliferation of drawing games to be a direct result of the popularity of Nintendo's DS handheld console, which uses a touch-screen for input as one of the two screens of the device.
An input mechanic (such as drawing with the mouse or stylus) can inspire countless variety in games different enough from one another to be considered unique. It's the innovation itself, a new form of collecting input from the player, that becomes the source of the inspiration, and I do not view the appearance of all these games as being a bad thing at all. On the contrary, it shows that game design is alive and well and living among the masses.
That being said, the drawing mechanic in browser-based games (that I am aware of) can be traced back to gameLab's Loop (Shockwave), which appeared in 2001. Ferry Halim also created a similar game in Flash with a drawing mechanic, called Floats, in April, 2004.
the blots need to move faster. I got fed up playing the game because I was just waiting for them to cross the next barrier.
"patience is a virtue" =)
I see there is another Brandon here, so I'll cal myself Brandinat0r from now on. x]
It kinda reminds we of the other Nitrome game, sandman or something. And I love the soundtrack. <3
motzo - I wouldn't knock any game for being 'ripped off' of something that existed previously - look at the hundreds of different clones of Asteroids or Breakout or any other classic game, or any top-down shmup, or countless others - they're all just minor variations on the same theme, but usually each brings something unique to the table, and I think they should all be judged on their own merits.
Creating a game based on a great new idea is awesome, of course, but creating an excellent implementation of a great OLD idea is also a good thing. (Or TWO great old ideas, like this one: Lemmings + drawing).
The graphics take me back to Yoshi's Island, but as you note the pacing needs some tuning. If there was a tactical redesign to make it a bit more forgiving and well paced this might be something worth 20 bucks.
I've noticed the mouse isn't ideal for these drawing games as your precision can be somewhat taxing on the inner hand muscles. I think casual development for Wii, possibly using Flash 9 with a Wii-mote API, could be HUGE.
I get my Wii on Sunday and can not wait, I have it preordered, along with Red Steel, Trama Room, and of course LoZ TP!!!! :p
4 days (November 19, 2006) till the Wii (Revolution) comes out can't wait. This game is okay, but the blots are slow like people said.
On a semi-unrelated note theres a glitch that will kill a blot the ressurect it, and do it again. I'm not sure how to do it but I think that it involves having the line that a blot is on intersect the collision detector of lethal objects...
Well.. The music sort of get to me after a while. Does anyone know just how many levels there are total? I know it has a % unlocked, but after a while that went away because a new level gets unlocked every time, now it says level 0undefined 0%.
I know there a couple different zones, like the jungle, and the junkyard... I only made it to level 25 before I had to stop.
Fun game.
This game is fun, but i wish, oh do i wish, those stpid blots would run. Or at least speedwalk. And the enemies too.
Clck on my name, Puh-wease.
This game's scrolling issues remind me of Lemmings' scrolling issues: Sure you can scroll, and sure it's paused while you scroll, but if you stop scrolling for even a second it will start moving again and if something bad happens, there's nothing you can do about it. I say a far better solution is make it possible to see the screen and move around while paused, rather than relying on moving during the game. In other words, instead of (or besides) pausing the game automatically while moving, make it so that when 'pause' is selected the game window is viewable and movable as well so that you don't have to worry about missing that blot about ready to walk over that spike pit because you didn't click and drag as soon as the screen scrolled right far enough. The game is good, but this is a rather painful flaw that I think could have been avoided.
As for the speed, I think it's fine, but I can see how some would want things to move faster, especially if they'd got everything set up just right and were waiting for the end. And strangely enough, I also only managed to hit level 25 (though it was a bug that crashed IE rather than any lack of interest).
I thought it was the first game whare you draw the platforms that actually had some good gameplay to it.
Is this the new evolution of games?
Wow. At first the game was a bit boring, then it got interesting, then it got really tedious. In addition to the extremely slow pace (you really do spend most of the game waiting), I thought there were some bugs in the way the lines were handled that made the game frustrating. For example, if you draw two lines that intersect, when the first line disappears it takes the ink from the second line with it. So if you happen to touch or draw over an old line by mistake, that line will disappear along with the old line. It made working in tight spaces quite difficult.
Great idea, I think, just not the best execution.
no i do not think that this relitivly new genre (if you can call it that) is such a bad thing eithr and i have noticed you havent rely posted any games of this type that are not original in themselves. Paint ball ,Draw play(not sure if that ones on this site think it is) and scribble are definatly very differnt from each other and have differnt pros and cons but i do try to play most of these games as they seem to bring great creativty and orignality into the game OH and i have to mention line rider i rely like that one and so did every one i showed it to.
oh by the way im posting all the way from australia so that might explain why my posts are abit outwack with the rest =)
OH i never noticed all the stuff you had to say at the top of the page was all that there the other day when i posted
well i hope you didnt think i was having ago at you or anything =S
I noticed a few bugs: For one, if any of the flags hit zero, you can advance to the next level, when it's fairly clear, from some levels, that the intention is to make it so you need to have all the flags hit zero to advance.
Also, it's fairly irksome how, if you unpause, the game will start up again (things moving, blots dying) the second the box starts being erased, but you can't actually draw anything until the box is finished being erased. As well as the fact that the game is going on with a giant box taking up the screen as it's being erased very slowly.
This is totally unrelated but I can't log into chat at work (which is a good thing xD). I found (off of 4colorrebellion) this interesting article about the Wii and the thinking & time that went behind it's creation:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061116_750580.htm
/me just realizes he could of emailed you >.>
The problem I usually have is trying to draw slopes, often times mine end up being more "wallish" than "slopish" to the blots. I do like some of the fun elements like
bombs & fire, and centipedes...except figuring how to get them to slice apart usually ends with me slashing like wild
.
Though as lemmings-ish games go I think I prefer Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 xD, but with a little more work this game could be more fun.
Also, I didn't really like sandman just because of how the way the gameplay worked made it run really slow on my comp (Holy sand particles batman!)
@ Harukio, as lemmingsish games go you usually have to pay for the game or as in the case of Mario vs donkey kong pay for the cart, this is a FREE webgame. I think a lot of thought and effort has been put into the title and it has a lot of fun ideas. Sure its not perfect, but show me a original free game that is.
hey..
how do you blow up the bombs?
i loved it. perfect game for lying cuddled in bed with just one hand poking out to handle the mouse. the disappearing lines are part of the whole thing! i liked the fact that it wasn't too fast. some levels were frustrating but with a little timing it wasn't to hard to complete. i was just chillin and listening to stern and passing the time. that's what these games are about right? casual play. great game and i loved it!
I love the game, I used to tease my dad when I was a kid so he would play lemmings and I would watch them go up and down. Drawing lines is a cool idea, though it is frustrating to wait for them to move, they're waaaay too slow. I'm not sure about the eraser, in some levels the trick is just drawing a precise line so you won't mess around. The graphics are cute, and the music nice if a bit repetitive. I wish I could play it for longer, but I have work to do, so I can only do 4-5 levels every day. I'm up to level 14 now.
francis - you blow up the bombs by
drawing a line from a flame to the bombs. It'll work like a fuse.
love the game so far but am i just thick?? i finish the first level and it tells me it has unlocked the next but i cant get there!! am i missing something or has Miniclip restricted it??
I'm really stuck on the lasers. Is there an easier way than just clicking??
ok i need a little help on level 2 about the bombs i dont get it what are u supposed to be.
how do u get past the areas where you cant draw
I cant get passed level 13. Any help??
in respose to the previous query - There are 25 levels to complete....
Level 13 help:
Split up the explosive mice so you can use them to blast through the bits of walls that get into your way. Try to get them near to the wall so you should only need 1 to break through. You should create a fuse to the bombs whenever you can to save your mice. For the last section you need to draw a path for the last mouse over the campfire, if he touches it he will blow up. Then once he is traped in the section after the campfire, scroll up and scribble over the soft ground that is pining in the fire enemy. he should fall into the same section as the mouse and blow him up. The fire enemy should now walk down past the flag and out of harms way...Now you should guide your blots to falg in safety. Note to make the mice blow up trap them between two vertical lines one by the head and the other by the tail.
hope this helps...
fuse amd laser help
fuse - just draw one continuous line from the top of the bomb to a fire or fire enemy.
Laser - what i did was to draw a solid line across the path of laser, then 10 seconds later another below it when the first line disapeared i redrew it - that way you always have a backup....it does help to group your blots when possible too..
it is very annoying and perhaps a flaw in the design that they randomly run up or through a line.
grr
Help with level 20 please. I cant blow up the bomb because the lines keep dissolving before it gets to the fuse. HELP!!!
please help, i dont even know how to blow up the bombs!!
how do i pass level 6
how do i do level 25
I am not replaying the levels, so i hope my memeory is correct. I finally finisehd the game, but i agree some levels were very annoying.
level 20-if your line keeps disappearing before reach your fuse
first, make sure there is no wall between your fire and your fuse. if the wall is blocking, you are not gonna be able to draw a line across.
Next, make sure you aren't out of ink. You need to figure out a strategy to avoid using up the ink, since you need to draw very long lines.
Level 6, if you still need clues
you cannot touch the spikes, draw a line above them to allow your blobs to cross
Level 25 (it's the last level)
No real strategy really, you just need to time very well and allow 1. enough ink 2. the ink not to disappear before all the blobs cross 3. make sure you block the lasers before you cross. you don't need lots of ink to block the laser, all you need is a tiny dot to block the entire laser (just click once). 4. did you open the gate with the key? There's a key towards the top. You need to open the gate to get to the flag.
blowing up the bombs
somebody else already answered the question, please scroll up and read their response. But basically, you just need to connect a solid line from the fire to the bomb
level 22
I just can't get past level 22. I do not have enough of those explosive blue things to get to the keys. any help?
thanks!!
Help!!!!! how do you complete level 20?
Im stuck on level 22! please help!
level 21 is quite funny
you just need to make all the blobs go to one finish post! you get 16000 in 5 seconds (i was about to post "2 seconds" instead of five, but they do move quite slow!)
how do i get past level three? cause in one part u can't draw anything so u can't get over the caterpiller thing
I love this game, but I can't beat level 12. Any tips?
how do u complete level 2
Okay I'm gonna sound silly, but I REALLLY need help w/ lvl 5!
Please?
no miniclip hasen't restricted level two, but i really need help on it can anybody help me
please?
i need help with level 5 please !
Help on Level 22-
first, you dont need the one blue guy on the right side. the rest of them, make a hole in the left, go down to the key. make 1 explode and make a hole for the blots and another to get out (near the corner)on the right side, make the bottom guy explode near the blue squares in the middle, and make the other make another hole in the bottom... get your blots to the bottom left and you're done!
i found a crazy glitch that im trying to do deliberately but im having no luck. on lv2 i had one blot left and i was in a pit with an enemy and even though the fat dudes can go through lines i drew like crazy to stop him. he kept stepping on mi last blot and i was confused was the game was still going. turns out i got the enemy to turn into a blot. i was moving him and he didnt walk through lines. it was very interesting
I just found this game, it is so simple yet quite a find, very addicting.
Help on the last level-
to pass this level, you need a bit of timing and ink. First, make sure all of the blots are together as they walk for better timing. Then, block all of the top lasers, while also quickly drawing a path for your blots. I hope you wont need anymore help on through the rest of the level, but make sure you have enough ink and ALWAYS remember to block all of the lasers. Hope you enjoyed the whole game!
-T
Can someone post spoilers for level 14 I can't get past it
Um, I meant Level 24.
what the heck is going on in level 15? I don't know how to get those stupid blue monsters to the bottom or any kind of strategy to get the fire and monsters at the bottom at the same time.. can someone plz help!
Level 8 - The Hills. Need a little help. I can't seem to figure out how to go down between the levels of dirt. There are no bombs or anything... I go down to where the blue guys are, contain them, then can't progress. Thanks in advance for your help!!!
i am having a lot of trouble with level 5. I am new at this game, i suck at it. how do i get past the peanut thing walking by the key? thnx
OMG!!! how do i do level 6???? it is impossible!!
How do I do level 16 - The Jungle?? It seems impossible!!!
wow! am the last person to post things on this for a while. I need someone to check this because i CAN NOT do level 22 (i think) the one with the pipes and millions of different flags. Help!!! thanks!
I really need help on level 8. How do I get through the ground when there aren't any bombs? Help please?
Nevermind! I figured it out!
Level 8:
The bugs are like walking bombs. All you have to do is us one on each of the "levels" and it will blow it up. Blow up each "level" then bring your blots to the finish!
I was playing a while ago and I got to the Last level with all the Lasers and stuff...then I had to go somewhere so I saved it. i came back and...Poof an error and I couldn't load it. Grr :(
I thought this was a fantastic game! Reminded me very much of lemmings. I love the concept! If the blots could climb slightly steeper hills, I believe it would greatly improve the game. That was my only concern. Great job guys! ;D
i finished the game and it said new level unlocked quota something..... i submitted my score but ididnt see the level
Help On Level 6 Please
Help Me Please
I cannot do level 14, the lasers keep killing my blots, anybody have any hints?
I wait till theyre right under the first one till i stop it then i stop them from going back then i get the key but i just cant keep the lasers that go horizontel away from my blots and if i can i cant get them down to the next part, help please.
This game rocks its the best game ever although i only got to level 12, i got stuck can someone help
p.s this game rocks!!!
who is playing the soundtrack??
I have to say this has to be one of my favourite Nitrome games.
The soundtrack is catchy and fresh but not at all annoying, as a lot of other game's are.
The drawings are irrisitable,and always makes me smile.
Nitrome has produced yet again another fantastic game full of originality and cuteness.
So cute in fact, I couldn't help but name my blots.
How many games can you name that have that sort of power over you?? :p
Three cheers for the Nitrome gang! Hip, hip, Horay!
on the 2nd level how do you explode the bomm its anyoying me so much i've been trying to figure it out for ages
NEED HELP ON LEVEL 22!!! Theres not enough blow up things!!!
please!
How do you get past level 2?
anyone,
i cannot get passed the bomb on level 2!! Can anyone please tell me how to blow it up?
thanks.
ok i figured it out.
to blow up the bomb you draw a line from the fire to the bomb.
now i just can't get passed level 8. how do you get from one level to another when there aren't enough blowing up monster things?
help.
Level 20 seems impossible!!
HELP please!!??
I had played the first level a couple of times and gave up. It was a little slow for me. But my 10 year old son and I started again on Saturday. We were up till 2am. We love this game!! One of the best I have played in a long time. I hope you come out with another one. We have had a blast. Thank you for a great game.
Heather
Hello.
I still don't get level 20. How do I blow up that bomb?
Can people stuck on level 22 tell us how to do it?
What is the strategy to avoid using up a lot of ink? I can't work it out.
Can't get past level 17 with the guys that drop on top of my blots. Any tips on timing?
I got to the level with the lasers. Unfortunately, the save game didn't work and I have to start all over again. :(
A tip to conserve ink
I'm not sure what level, but it's the long strech of spiked floor. To conserver ink you must use a shingle pattern.
/////////// except steeper. Because there is a delay between each line, it won't disintigrate as a whole. As the blots land on the next part, the previous dissapears and so on.
how to I light the bomb on level 20?
hey guys...
i love this game!
i can NOT pass level 15!!!
can some one help me please?
i am desperate! i am hooked on this game and i NEED to finish it!!!
how do you blow up the bomb on level 20?
how do you make the line not go away before it gets to the bomb?
i cant get past level 12! help!
I was having problem with bombs and the line disappearing before it blows it up.... draw a midlength line. stop. draw a line from the perfect end of the first. stop. repeat until your are the whole way across the gap from the fire to the bomb
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