US, May 9, 2007 - DS is taking off, and publishers are getting the memo. While the system - like every before it, and every after it - is getting its fair share of licensed products, movie-to-game tie-ins, and throw-away titles, DS is also becoming a platform where virtually any development team with an inspired concept and semi-aggressive budget can throw their creative hats into the ring. Such is the case with 5th Cell's Drawn to Life, published and presented by THQ.
Our first experience with Drawn to Life for DS was over a year ago, as we had a chance to take a brief look at the conceptual title from a then publisher-less developer 5th Cell. In our preview, the ambitious developer-for-hire outlined the concept and story of its latest adventure. Drawn to Life is part action/adventure, part user-created content. Utilizing both developer-made levels and player-made assets, Drawn to Life looks to utilize the DS in a whole new way, blending creativity with core gameplay in a way that no other game can do, and no other platform can facilitate.
In Drawn to Life, players take the role as the "creator," the unseen deity that's called on to restore a cursed land filled with snow and waste. As the creator, it's your job to design a hero (literally), take to the lands, and begin restoring the world one piece at a time. The game blends core gameplay of action/adventure with platforming, being inspired from games like Mario and THQ's own previous platformer titles. Players will defeat baddies with a variety of weaponry and tactics, as they slowly restore the land to its previous greatness.
Where Drawn to Life aims to hook gamers though, is in its impressively in-depth asset creation system (which, by the way, supports local trading between DS units). Make no mistake about it - Drawn to Life isn't a game designed (and directed) for just a younger demographic. The ability to literally create a mass of unique content is something that looks to appeal to gamers of any age, so while it may look and feel like it's geared towards a younger SKU, it aims for mass appeal. We had a chance to take a look at this unique gameplay mechanic in action, as THQ gave us an exclusive first-look last week, and the game is shaping up nicely thus far.
Here's an example: When kicking the game off, players will be prompted to literally create their hero. In creation mode, the bottom screen takes the role of something like the old-school pixel-pushing program D-Paint, with hard lines defining the collision of your character regardless of how it's drawn. Think of it as an invisible frame for your character. Players can either take template designs and color them (combing torso, leg, arm, and head pieces together like a virtual version of Mighty Men and Monster Makers), or design entirely free-hand, drawing and shading down to the pixel. If, for example, you want to create Mega Man, Richter Belmont, or Mario as your main character, it's entirely up to you. If instead you want to create a Mii-like version of yourself, that's also open to you. It's entirely free-form, and that's the beauty of Drawn to Life.
Once you kick into the main game, it's a progression of design and gameplay, with a solid line between the two. Players will progress through levels using classic platformer controls, playing Drawn to Life like any other title before it. At times, however, you'll hit areas where part of the world is missing. The game literally pulls you from the action and into the creation tool (which by the way, offers shading, drawing, brushes, zoom, and a ton of pretty complex stylus optoins), and prompts you to draw new assets for the game. This can be something as simple as a cloud, or as complex as a giant whale which will later act as a platform for an auto-scrolling level. Like the player creation, boundaries depend on the specific task. Some are as simple as coloring in the lines (adding a 3rd eye in the process perhaps?), while others are entirely an open canvas for your creative pleasure. Sometimes your creations will be used right away, as you'll literally see your creation plop into the world in front of you, while other times you'll draw something and later see it "snuck" into the world. It offers some great "Oh wow!" moments, as the game definitely makes your creations into art. Interesting at the very least.
As far as the overall package, Drawn to Life has definite potential, but we'll have to spend a bit more time with the game in order to get a feel for how deep this rabbit hole goes. The team uses some pretty complex trickery to make use of the player's art, stretching and pixel blending for animations, and moving arms/legs/head programmatically with the equivalent to boned models. The game has an overall light and cheery look to it, though we're curious if the somewhat kiddy look could also lend to shallower gameplay as well. At this point, it isn't a question of if Drawn to Life is an intriguing and innovative game, but just how intriguing and innovative the final version turns out to be. From what we've seen first-hand, the game has a solid style, some entertaining gameplay, and is a great portal for user-created content.
Submitted by Guyver
10/05/2007
84
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