Scribble it is a free to play drawing game. Design wise the game is not dissimilar to charades in the sense that you are provided a word. Then you must show your interpretation of the word on screen. Through drawing what the word is so others can guess what the word is based on what they see what you have drawn.
Unlike your standard charades game there is few differences in game design. Namely that you have to draw what your word is rather than acting it out through mimes/gestures. I also dislike the fact that you can only have 60 seconds to draw your picture. In many other charades based games you are timed but I would have liked for the option to customise how long each round was. As it would be handy to able to draw for longer/shorter time depending on everyone else I was playing against at the time.
Although what I do like is that users can share and create their own word set lists. I think that it is helpful for those who would like to create a purpose based/new set list. Since most of the words in the game are standard everyday terms such as cake. Alternatively you get long and complex words such as psychology. I feel that for many people it is basic. However in order to have the privilege of accessing/using the Steam Workshop in game. You have to pay £4 for the premium version which I think is a bit of a shame. I think that the game should give you access to the content on the Steam Workshop for free as it would get more people on the game.
One question that might be asked who wish to play on the game is what tools are on offer to help players. Particularly if they think that they can’t draw. Alternatively aren’t able to draw very well (either physically on a tablet or with a mouse.). To answer this question there is some help on offer so you can draw/colour faster. The game offers a good selection of different tools including shape drawing. Which draws shapes namely circles/squares on screen to your fit. There is auto colour which I think is the most useful of all of the tools on offer, as it will colour in shapes for you automatically. I feel that the other drawing tools are ok for anyone especially anyone who is unable to draw well. However I didn’t use them as I tend to draw better with a mouse/graphics tablet.
But I think that the tools provided for drawing are extremely basic. Nor are the tools anything special. The tools are merely just to enable players who cannot draw some access to the game/make things done faster. However for some images such as a dog, I would imagine it to be very difficult to try and draw a dog with the tools provided. I would imagine that it is difficult especially if you are trying to do it in the allotted time. Although I did manage to recreate a toy brick in free play using the tools provided. So it is possible to draw images using the tools however the tools aren’t very good.
Technically I also think that the game is flawed as this game is based around language and communication. In this game it is impossible to translate any word and have every player draw an interpretation that is what they think it is. Whilst everyone has to guess it in their language, although it can occasionally work, most of the time it doesn’t.
As a result of this the game isn’t balanced difficulty wise. This is because the translations of words are poor. Whilst some words particularly those common in the English language are rarer in other languages. As a result of this the game is more difficult in other languages and vice versa. Since one word could mean a completely different thing in another language. For example elf in German means 11 whilst a German player would draw the number 11. However a Canadian player would draw an elf.
I think that the 2 players would confuse each other I will also include cultural differences as well whilst I am at it. For example chips in America are the equivalent of crisps in the UK. However chips in the UK are their equivalent of fries. I also feel that it erases the fun of the game. Since the game is based on creativity on drawing a pre determined item. However drawing an item in a unique and clever way is one task. However do it in a way that everyone can understand is limiting due to cultural limitations.
Shoving issues aside I think the game itself is poor. Scribble It is multiplayer based and the pool of people playing is shallow. Generally there are less than 440 people playing at a time. Once you join a game they can kick you on sight. However it is common that people will leave if they don’t win. This happened for me about 1/5 of the time. However it is expected since there is a lot of idiots that play this game. Sadly you cannot easily avoid people that just want to draw irrelevant or silly pictures. This is common place in many games. As I have joined games with drawings that have no relevance to what I was supposed to guess.
Overall sadly I cannot recommend this game as it offers a poor selection of content for players to access. Even though if you can find a game with people to play with. You will either be booted from the game or be playing with idiots. It might be ok for a small of group of friends to play on. However there are better options of playing like minded games out there.
