[color=green]Pyro's off on a spirited jaunt through the Caribbean. With nary a stray WiFi signal to be found, he sent GWJ headquarters a carrier crab with the following information...[/color]
Take Conan O’Brien’s hair, Calvin’s irrepressible imagination, and Commaner Keen’s raw athleticism and you’ve got Max, the titular protagonist of [url=http://maxandthemagicmarker.com/about/]Max and the Magic Marker[/url]. One morning, Max finds that his marker can make his drawings come to life. After unleashing a monster across his doodle-world, Max takes it upon himself to right the happenings of his 2D creation. To do so, Max draws himself into the world. Max aides his scribble-self by using his orange marker to provide bridges, blunt objects and stairs.
Max and the Magic Marker doesn’t capitalize on this metatextual feast. There’s no commentary on the duality of Max and Scribble-Max, no in-your-face preaching about the role of the player as godly director vis-à-vis the game’s pause mechanic – hit space to stop the world, turning it from beautiful photoshop project to a spastic second-grader’s squiggles. There isn’t even an attempt to get you to feel as though (gasp) you are Max.
What you do get is a beautiful marriage of Super Mario Bros and Crayon Physics Deluxe, with enough tchochkes strewn about to create a reason to do some extra bit of drawing. It’s not Risk, but it’s a great way to spend an afternoon. It’s unfortunate that publishers were too gun-shy to pick Max up (recession woes and questions about marketing demographics led to half-hearted commitments), but the game lives on as a digital download. It’s probably for the best, since the low price-point is picture-perfect for a 4-ish hour romp.
Why You Should Check This Out: Max and the Magic Marker combines the simplicity of a platformer with the freedom of physics puzzlers. The art direction is top-notch, alternating from gorgeously soft cartoon visuals to crude pastel scribbles, with matching music. It’s simple, endearing, and very well polished. Plus, you’ve got to hand it to the developers, Press Play, who had enough dedication to stick it out and finish the game when investors showed some hesitancy.
[size=26]Play Demo Now[/size] (requires Unity Web Player install)
Buy ($20.00)
Comments
I'm playing this one the Wii...and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. One of the most interesting things I'm finding in the game is how different people go about getting to different areas, in different ways. My 14 year old was just drawing ramps all over the place...and getting frustrated when Max's body weight would cause it to fall over. When I would get into a bad spot, I'd rather draw some stairs for him to climb up. My only gripe, and that of my younger children, is that it's hard to draw straight lines with the Wii controller.
I'd like to go on spirited jaunt someday.
I was going to read about this Indie Game Thing, but then I read "carrier crab" and was immediately sidelined.
XboxLive: Clemenstation
Likewise.
Twitter: @grobstein
Switch friend code: SW-7176-9307-5215
Battle.net: Grobstein#1571 (I used to play a lot of Hearthstone)
... and that's the story of how Cory spit coffee all over his desk.
"$10 - Exclusive Sean-cam where he just shakes his head, over and over." From Pyro's Kickstarter, "Endless Pit of Human Misery Livestream"
Breaking news, new communique received:
It says "Play the game, ignore the crab. Stop. Having great time. Stop."
WrekTaFyr, I'm having the same problem with weight/friction causing my crappy bridges to wobble around. It can be frustrating, but sometimes it looks like he's wall surfing, so that takes the sting out of my inadequate design skillz. Is it much different on the Wii?
Revel in the sheer improbability that in a universe of such mind-shattering emptiness, you have someone to love - Coldstream
They stopped being meaningful to me as devices a long time ago, and now they've stopped being meaningful as things-ClockworkHouse
No dice! The crab has beguiled me with its raw athleticism and adorable little backpack.
XboxLive: Clemenstation
I'm afraid that reading this post will give me carrier crabs.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
Or you could just go with Harold and the Purple Crayon, which is what the game is explicitly not titled for copyright reasons.
Steam: DrNathaniel
Blizzard: DrNathaniel#1913
Pyro is, in fact, in Hawaii.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
Perhaps his spirited jaunt included a trip through the Panama Canal?
Steam ID: Itsatrap
Would that make you a carrier crab carrier?
It could be worse—muttonchop could be right too.
And in the morning I would be a crabby carrier crab carrier.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
I am actually somewhere between inebriation and complete blackout drunk.
Definitely looking forward to checking this game out when I get back to sober, normal reality.
Sober, normal reality is overrated, you know.
Certis: Quintin is both smart and attractive.
Fedaykin98: Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!
Yonder: It's weird to say this, but Quintin Stone may be the wisest person here.
So I played the demo and as much as I would like to finally spend my few thousand Wiioints, I just don't see this working nearly as well on the Wii. Pointing with the Wiimote is laggy, slow and inaccurate and since the physics in this game are remarkable well done, a crooked column to hold up something can be the difference between being able to jump onto it and the whole thing falling over.
*sigh* Any suggestions on "must have" Wiiware titles? I already have "World of Goo" for the PC though and I'd rather not buy it for the Wii for pretty much the same reason as mentioned above. Try doing the timed OCD achievements with a Wiimote...
Sentient pearwood trying to figure out how to handle a sixaxis with feet only...