We haven't heard much about Glyphic Entertainment or the studio's Warlords DS port since publisher Strategy First dropped all of its DS titles, so we assumed the worst for the Ohio-based developer. Apparently, however, they picked up another publisher for Warlords DS (Fog Entertainment) and are hard at work on an original game for the Wii and DS -- Markerman!
MarkerMan!'s mobility and physics-based puzzles are like a cross between Kirby: Canvas Curse and Crayon Physics (or its DS homebrew equvalent, Pocket Physics). We would accuse it of looking too much like Crayon Physics, actually, especially with the identical soundtrack, but there's still plenty of time for Glyphic to establish MarkerMan's character before the game's scheduled "Q3 2008" release.
Though it doesn't look like a high-budget production at all, that's part of the charm! We're in love with the graph-paper background, crayon scenery, and the stick-figure dog. We wish we had a stick-figure dog, now.
[Via GoNintendo]
_thumbnail.jpg "Prince of Persia: The Fallen King")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-16-2008 @ 2:33PM
kevin_ho said...
What's he like? It's not important.
Marker man
Is he a crayola, or is he a Sharpie..
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2-17-2008 @ 5:10AM
Poor, poor, DS. said...
Is this the best the DS can muster. This is really sad.
It is 2008: where are the graphics. The CD level sound. Why the midi? Come on Nintendo: try harder.
2-16-2008 @ 2:35PM
DomoBraden said...
Can you say lawsuit? (Unless of course the team behind Crayon Physics is involved with this game.)
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2-16-2008 @ 7:56PM
Hyre said...
why would you say lawsuit? It's a drawing game that has a similar style to it, sure, but are they using the same code? Crayon Physics doesn't necessarily have the same abilities as Marker Man. For example, I think that you can construct working objects like cars and whatnot in Crayon Physics(been a while since I saw the vid for it, so might be wrong), and Marker Man has, so far, appeared to have nothing more than weighted lines and boxes. Again, might be wrong, there might actually be a case, but then, I don't like people who say "ooh, lawsuit" ;P
2-16-2008 @ 8:24PM
DomoBraden said...
Well, outside of the similar concept and appearance, this even has the SAME FREAKING MUSIC. Although it has different gameplay mechanics and probably has original code, it wouldn't be very hard to prove that this is directly based off of the concepts and presentation of Crayon Physics.
No, I honestly don't expect a lawsuit, but with such blatantly obvious similarities it wouldn't take much to give a strong argument against it, (again, assuming that the creator of Crayon Physics isn't involved with this).
2-16-2008 @ 10:51PM
Hyre said...
Ah, didn't catch the music thing, that does indeed make it a lot more likely for it to be a ripoff.
2-17-2008 @ 1:43AM
raindog said...
If having a similar plot and using the same music in the trailer were actionable, there would be a lot fewer big action movies coming out of Hollywood. (And romantic comedies, for that matter.)
I really like Pocket Physics, but I kind of wish it had a mode with goals of some kind. This looks like it'll fulfill that need to some degree, and I'm sure I'll buy it.
2-17-2008 @ 9:18AM
Core said...
If you bother to look, they have the appropriate disclaimers for the song - taking it from the public domain for the video. There's nothing wrong with that. I notice that's not done in any of the Crayon Physics shorts, yet noone is calling foul there. It's a pleasant song for an easy going video; a good selection in my opinion.
You might try reading the promo sheet as well which gives you an idea of what the game is about. It looks to be leaps and bounds over Crayon Physics. Every puzzle in Crayon can be solved with a couple of straight lines, and you can do all 5 in under a minute. Markerman is a mixture of an action platformer and a drawing puzzle game, and that's pretty unique!
Yeah, maybe they made a bad decision to use that music (I think it was a great decision, just look at the spirited response over a single song!), but certainly don't compare apples to oranges here. Other than it involving drawing and physics, Markerman is nothing like Crayon Physics, and has the potential to be so much more than the 60 second puzzler that Crayon is.
Did you also notice what looked like a free form game in demo where you can draw whatever you wanted? There were lifts and platforms as well as see-saw. Looks like you can draw more than just lines, boxes and circles based simply on that.
I'll wait and see what the game evolves into, but at this point they have my money when it hits the stores.
2-22-2008 @ 11:10AM
MagFlare said...
*cough*Core's a corporate shill*cough*
Even if the game develops its own identity later, it's painfully obvious that these supposedly professional developers are trying to ride on the coattails of an unexpectedly popular independent game. Ganking ideas is sort of a mainstay of the games industry - look at the 2D fighter scene after Street Fighter II hit it big - but Glyphic is making no effort to conceal their theft, and they chose to steal from a guy who's yet to make a dime from his work.
Dirty pool, man.
2-16-2008 @ 3:48PM
Dio said...
Triangle wins?
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2-16-2008 @ 3:56PM
Mr Khan said...
Kirby Canvas Curse sez hi
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2-16-2008 @ 11:47PM
sharris said...
Kind of reminds me of a mac game SketchFighter 4000 alpha. Which would probably be a nice port to the DS. I think these kind of games are charming and will buy markerman as soon as it comes out.
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