Drawn to Life: A New Trend?
Create A Video Game Character on the Nintendo DS With the Stylus
Drawn to Life lets the user bring to life his own creations in the game by drawing the sprites that he will use save the Raposan village.
The idea of creating your own video game character has is appealing, but unless a person was a programmer or graphic designer, the idea for the game would either have to be sold to someone who had the skills needed to bring the idea to fruition. The need to be technically savvy to create your own video game characters and objects has changed with the release of Drawn to Life for the Nintendo DS.
The Nintendo DS was the first game system to include the stylus that has long been a standard offering on PDAs and other hand held devices. The touch sensitivity means that items can be drawn on the screen. Many Nintendo games for the DS use this feature, but Drawn to Life was the first release for the Nintendo DS to use the stylus capability of the system in this manner.
Grab a Stylus and Draw the Hero in Drawn to Life
The story of Drawn to Life begins with the Raposa abandoning their village because one of the villagers obtained acess to a magical object called The Book of Life. Anything drawn in The Book of Life becomes reality. The rogue Raposa started out with innocent intentions, but his creations became dark and twisted. As his drawings continued to wreak havoc the Reposan village became a ghost town, and pages from The Book of Life were lost. This is the point where the player assumes the role of the hero. He must draw his own creations usin the Nintendo DS stylus to save the village and get the Reposans to return.
As the story of Drawn to Life unfolds, the player will have to draw the objects he needs to complete the game. Obviously, this is good for the person who likes to draw and show off his creativity. Drawn to Life uses an intriguing concept made possible by the way the Nintendo DS implemented the stylus as a controller. The game also shows a trend in video games away from traditional controllers. The 25 color palette may be limited, but it is not intended to block the creativity of the user. It is intended to mimic the cartoon graphics of the game.
Is Drawn to Life Starting a Trend?
The unique use of the stylus in Drawn to Life may be the start of a trend in console games where more interaction and imagination on the part of the player is required or it may just be a cheap gimmick designed to sell more copies of the game. Fortunately, the release of Line Rider for the Nintendo DS means that the trend will continue, which means button mashing may be less important in future releases. It could be that Nintendo s carving out new niches by using non-traditional controllers for its systems.
