Drawn to Life

Drawn to Life
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Developer(s)	5TH Cell
Publisher(s)	THQ
Designer(s)	Jeremiah Slaczka
Series	Drawn to Life
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release	NA September 10, 2007 AU September 20, 2007 EU September 21, 2007 SK January 15, 2008 JP TBA, 2008
Genre(s)	Action-Adventure/Platform
Mode(s)	Single Player, Multiplayer

Drawn to Life is an action-adventure/platform game for the Nintendo DS developed by 5TH Cell and published by THQ. This game is known for letting players create their own playable characters, level objects and accessories by drawing them using the DS's stylus and touch screen.

Overview

Drawn to Life requires the player to create a hero in order to free a cursed village from an encroaching darkness. It features numerous platforming levels, a top down RPG Village and other elements (such as vehicles, weapons, platforms, etc.) which are drawn or colored by the player using the stylus. A Wii Version is also in development.

Gameplay

Drawn to Life is an 2D game with the unique hook of drawing your own playable character, weapons and accessories, platforms and objects. This is game targeted towards children, young adults and non-gamers due to its more simplistic and ease of play than a hardcore gamer would choose. The game separated into 3 different play modes:

Village Mode - A top-down, central "hub" where the player progresses the story and interacts with the Raposa, purchases items from the item shop using rapo-coins collected from Adventure Mode and also accesses levels. Players draw different items at the Raposa's request to enrich their village. Over the course of the game in village mode, the player will play mini-games, participate in a town festival, hunt for a thief and help the Raposa thrive. Here players are given their objective for the next Adventure Mode level.

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Drawn to Life screenshot

There are two main buildings in this mode - Creation hall, where players can edit their previous creations. And the Item Shop, where players can purchase songs, patterns, stamps and even new abilities for their hero.

Adventure Mode - A side-scrolling platformer, laid out into 16 unique levels. Adventure Mode is where the "meat" of gameplay is done. Here the player battles enemies, rescues Raposa, collects items. Players draw unique platforms that allow the player the progress through the level. Bosses are also battled through this mode. There are 4 different worlds Ice, Forest, Tropical and City each with their own boss.

Players are tasked with rescuing 3 Raposa (usually 1 named and 2 generic), and 4 pieces of a page from the Book of Life which will be used to create a new village object. Players can also collect "secret" orbs (3 per level) that will then unlock and be purchasable in the item shop. In each section of the levels players tap on an easel icon to enable Draw Mode which tells the player to draw some new type of platform or object. Once drawn the player goes back to Adventure Mode and can then use or interact with the newly drawn object.

Draw Mode - The tool, similar to a robust version MS Paint through which players use to create new objects, weapons and even their hero. This is done through the stylus and touch screen input. Once drawn objects and the hero itself will animate through the game's own design. The player can design up to 3 different humanoid heroes using a variety of colors, patterns and stamps. Character creation also features 15 or so pre-made character templates which can be traced, or have their body parts swapped in and used for those people who are less artistic.

An interesting side feature to Draw Mode is that the game's title screen can be drawn and saved, so players can make their own unique title screen.

Players can trade their drawn heroes and other objects via local WiFi only.

Storyline

The main "race" of creatures inhabiting the universe of Drawn to Life are anthropomorphic anime-inspired fox like beings known as the Raposa. (Raposa means Fox in Portuguese.) They were drawn by the Creator, who also drew their world and everything upon it. But the Creator abandoned the Raposa long ago.

The story begins with a Raposa named Mari crying out to you, the Creator, to help save the Village she lives in. Along the way, you meet her best friend, Jowee, and her dad, who’s the mayor. These characters are the last remaining villagers. You design a hero for them, and then run into Wilfre, a corrupted Raposa that dabbled in creation, and spawned a legion of evil shadow-like creatures. You start by rescuing the Mayor, who set off to bring back the Raposa to the Village. As your progress, you learn that Wilfre was once a prominent member of the Village, and that in his lust for power; he stole the Book of Life, and tore the pages from it. The Mayor asks you to find and return the pages of the Book of Life, so the Creator can once again draw the missing objects from the Village.

You start by designing the Eternal Flame, which is then used to clear the darkness from each section of the village, each time you return from completing a level. Along the way, you rescue a cast of villagers, who agree to return to the Village and open up shops, restaurants and other places of interest. Mari begins training to take over as Mayor, and the Village plans a festival to celebrate. Meanwhile, adventure-hungry Jowee sneaks into a level, and you have to save him and help find an appropriate gift for Mari. This reckless act causes a rift between Jowee and Mari, but they eventually make up and grow closer as they help the hero restore the village to what it once was.

After numerous confrontations with Wilfre, he finally tricks the Mayor into appearing alone, and kills him. Mari and the villagers are devastated, but after seeing the village descend into chaos, decide to band together and stop Wilfre for good. The hero defeats Wilfre, and returns to the Village. Jowee plans to leave on a Treasure Hunt, and after saying goodbye, Mari reminisces about the past, upset about losing her dad and best friend. The story ends with Mari on the beach, shocked at seeing Jowee walk up behind her. She runs to him, watched over by the spirit of the Mayor, and the hero, on the cliff above.

Characters

Name	Type	Description
Mari	Main Character	She is the Mayor's daughter, and is the only one who prays to the Creator for help just before her father decides to abandon their village for good. She is next in line to become the village's mayor, but Mari feels she is not yet ready to accept her responsibilities even in training. Mari is worries about Jowee's recklessness, whom she cares about deeply. Mari is eventually thrust into the role of mayor at the villages darkest hour after her father's untimely death at the hands of Wilfre. Mari is featured on the cover of the game's box.
Jowee	Main Character	Mari's best friend and love interest. Jowee loves to explore and yearns for adventure, he also serves as comic relief to Mari's straight man routine. Over the course of the game the Hero and Jowee become fast friends. At then end of the game, Jowee passes up an opportunity to go on an adventure across the ocean with Pirate Beard to stay with Mari and help her manage the village. Jowee is featured on the cover of the game's box.
The Mayor	Main Character	A Raposa that is the mayor of his town. One of the oldest Raposa still in the town. He wears a monocle, a blue coat, a brown hat and has a cane. He is very wise and knows how to deftly deal with all of the other villager's daily issues. Late in the game, before the final showdown with Wilfre, he is lured to a secluded spot away from the village and his killed by Wilfre. However during the ending sequence his eternal soul is shown standing on a cliff with The Hero, watching over Mari and Jowee. The Mayor is featured on the cover of the game's box.
The Creator	Player Character	The Creator is God. The omnipotent being that created the world, nature and the Raposa themselves. The Creator draws objects onto pages of the Book of Life to When Wilfre stole this book the Creator was very saddened and angry and left the village to wither away (or at least seemed that way to the Raposa). The Creator response to prayer and seems to have a very paternal relationship towards the Raposa. The Creator can speak directly to the Raposa and can interact with their world; however the Creator usually has the Hero as the mediary.
The Hero	Player Character	This is the Creator's character, the one drawn by the player sent to restore the village, rescue the rRaposa and defeat Wilfre. The Hero is often asked questions about his adventures outside of the town, to which the player is given a set list of replies. The Hero is often asked to help the Raposa with even the smallest of problems, and the Hero seems all too happy to oblige. Over the course of the game the Hero becomes deeply involved with the Raposa's lives, befriending Jowee, dancing on stage with Navy J, hunting for a thief with Cricket and many more interesting adventures. The Hero eventually restores the village, brings back all the Raposa and defeats Wilfre.
Isaac	Supporting Character	He is the shopkeeper of the village. He's very practical and stocks helpful items for the hero. He and his family were the last Raposa to leave the village. Isaac constantly feuds with Chef Cookie.
Farmer Brown	Supporting Character	Farmer Brown is the village farmer; he grows a crop of banya stalks (the indigenous food source of the village) that feeds the rest of the villagers. He has a wife and son, all of whom talk in a southern drawl.
Chef Cookie	Supporting Character	He is the village's chef and the owner of the only restaurant in the village. He speaks in a French accent, and works with his assistant chefs. He loves to cook; Banya (the staple food of the Raposa) is his favorite ingredient to cook with. He has a running feud with Isaac the Shopkeeper.
Heathers	Supporting Character	Heathers is a strange Raposa who is half engulfed in the evil shadow goo that consumed Wilfre. The Mayor assigns Jowee to watch over her, and the two develop a close friendship. She is mute for most of the game, but at the end of the game speaks when Crazy Barks demands what she wants.
Zsasha	Supporting Character	A Raposa thief and Cricket's rival. He claims that he cannot be caught, but usually feels bad for what he's done and ends up giving back what he steals. At the end of the game Cricket finally catches Zsasha, but realises Zsasha has been taking care of a young Raposa girl, so Cricket doesn't arrest him.
Cricket	Supporting Character	The policeman and defactor detective of the village. He has a very old school approach to work. He's been after a "legendary" thief named Zsasha that will define his career. He has a running feud with Unagi once the Hero saves him.
NavyJ	Supporting Character	A singer, dancer and songwriter. He has many groupies and he is an obvious reference to Elvis. During the village festival he sings on stage along with the Hero, however his lyrics are rather horrible and confusing.
Crazy Barks	Supporting Character	A crazy yet harmless Raposa. He seems to believe that he is a dog. Standing guard near his most prized possession, a large rock. He teaches Heathers how to speak like himself, when she wanders up to his rock.
Indee	Supporting Character	Indee is a world famous explorer and adventurer who travels across the globe on his adventures. Indee is a blood relative to Jowee who admires Indee a great deal, and . Indee is an obvious spoof on the character Indiana Jones from the movie series of the same name.
Pirate Beard	Supporting Character	A Raposa Pirate, originally set on plundering the village with his crew, but is convinced to stay after being given a pirate ship by the Mayor. He and ‘’Jowee’’ were going on a treasure hunt, but Jowee decides to stay with ‘’Mari’’. Pirate Beard seems to be a spoof on the character Jack Sparrow from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cindi	Minor Character	The daughter of Isaac, her mother and father left the village to look for her, unaware that she was still in the village where Mari and Jowee found her.
Tubba	Minor Character	Tubba is a young and very fat Raposa who loves to eat, especially Chef Cookie’s food. He protects Chef Cookie from the hungry Raposa before the midnight festival.
Galileo	Minor Character	Galileo is an astronomer who lives and works at the village’s observatory, where player’s can view the day and night skies they’ve created.
Samuel	Minor Character	A Raposa that dresses like a Sistine monk, he is very quiet, but gives wise advice. You rescue him from inside Deadwood.
Bubba	Minor Character	Tubba’s twin brother, he also loves food and is very fat. He gets along very well with his twin; the only distinguishing difference between the two is that Bubba wears a hat.
Count Choco	Minor Character	Count Choco is a vampire Raposa or at least wants to be a one. He desperately wants to be a real vampire, but he can not stand sight of blood, let alone drinking it. Instead he prefers tomato juice. He speaks in a very clichéd Transylvania accent.
Mike	Minor Character	Mike is a human that somehow got trapped in the Raposa’s world. The Raposa often ask of him, "What happened to your ears?" referring to his lack of Raposa ears. Mike, himself, often says, "What the heck is a Raposa anyway?" He wishes to return to his own world.
Unagi	Minor Character	Unagi is a secret agent dressed in a black suit, assigned to protect the Mayor who considers Cricket and his security ways old-fashioned. His character is a parody to Men in Black. His name means "eel" in Japanese.
Dr. Cure	Minor Character	A female doctor in the village. She attempts to resurrect the Mayor when Wilfre kills him, but fails. She is the only other adult female raposa of interest besides Mari.
Wilfre	Villian	A Raposa who thought he could usurp the Creator using the stolen Book of Life. However, his attempts at creation were "black and twisted". Frustrated by his failures and the new antagonism from the other villagers, he tore up the book of life before he was driven away (by the Mayor, Cricket, and a third Raposa who might have been Cricket's Deputy). He gained control of the darkness and sent it to cover the village. Although Wilfre is first seen as a shadow creature himself, flashbacks reveal he once was a relatively normal Raposa with grey hair. The game can only end with his defeat. He ends up killing the mayor as well. Wilfre tries to defeat The Hero on the final level, but is defeated instead and turns into his normal self before being vanquished.

Bosses

Frostwind - A dragon corrupted by Wilfre. He is the first boss in Drawn to Life. He can shoot out ice spheres at you.

Deadwood - A tree corrupted by Wilfre. He is the second boss in Drawn to Life.

Angler King - A giant angler fish corrupted by Wilfre. He can shoot out ink fish from his crown. He is the third boss in Drawn to Life.

Scorpion - Wilfre's scorpion. He is the first boss in the Shadow Lair; Wilfre being second. He is also known as the fourth boss in Drawn to Life.

Soundtrack

Drawn to Life has over 40 unique songs which can be purchased in the game's item shop using rapo-coins. The game also includes a touching full vocal track for the ending, appropriately named The End [1]. Composed by David J Franco (the game's music and sound designer), sung by Hayley Chapman and David J Franco.

Trivia

• Once the 4th section of the village is opened players can ventured behind the observatory where there is a circle of mushrooms, written in the grass inside the circle are the words “Miah *heart* Kaori”, Miah is the nickname of the director, lead designer and co-founder of 5TH Cell of the game Jeremiah Slaczka. Kaori is his fiancé and is listed as Kaori Yamada in the game’s credits under the "Special Thanks To" section.

• If you deposit 10,000 rapocoins in the village well it will take you a small grove (known as the developer's grove) where you can read a message from an iconic representation of each of the developers in the game. This seems to be homage to one of the alternate endings from the SNES game Chrono Trigger.

• In the developer's grove, Jeremiah’s icon is that of a “Ninja Shark”, this is a reference to the company’s competitive sports league flag football team name, the Ninja Shark with Lasers. The team is listed in the game's credits under the "Special Thanks To" title.

• In the developer's grove Jeremiah says "Did you find the secret flower to save the mayor in Wilfre's lair? Or is there one?" referring to the Mayor's death late in the game and implying there is a way to save the Mayor. Another developer, Joseph the Executive Producer, says "Don't listen to Jeremiah" inferring that there is no secret flower. It is unknown if this flower exists or not.

• On the level select screen of world 4 the usual last stage (4) is skipped, the levels go from 4-3 to 4-5. Some speculate 4-4 is "Wilfre's Lair" referred to by Jeremiah in the developer's grove and is a hidden level where one can find the secret flower. However, it is currently unknown if level 4-4 really exists.

• THQ in partnership with IGN held a promotional contest was using a flash version of the game’s drawing tool, to create your own hero, thousands of contestants entered. The contest’s winning entry was announced on August 28th, 2007. His entry is featured in the game as a selected Hero template.
• THQ held a naming contest to choose the name for the Korean version of the game had over 20,000 submissions entered. The winning title was Geuryeora, Touch! Naega Mandeuneun Sesang, was chosen. Roughly translated it means Draw, Touch! The World I Create.

Reception

Awards

Drawn to Life was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Story Development at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards along with Bioshock, Mass Effect and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune during the D.I.C.E. Summit. It was the only handheld game to be nominated in the category. At IGN's "Best of 2007" awards Drawn to Life won Most Innovative Design (DS) and was runner-up for Best Platform Game (DS). In Gamespot's Best of 2007 the game was nominated for (Genre Awards) Best Platformer (All Systems) and (Special Achievement) Best Original Game Mechanic Nintendo Power nominated Drawn to Life for Best Platformer (Wii & DS) for its 2007 Nintendo Power Awards. Drawn to Life was also a finalist in the inaugural Independent Games Festival: Mobile awards for Achievement in Art and Audio Achievement.

Sales

In THQ's 2007 holiday quarter sales conference call with investors, THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell said the publisher was please with the performance of the franchise and that [the game] had sold "several hundred thousand units worldwide [for the holiday season]". Adding that, over THQ's past three fiscal quarters its DS sales had risen 94%, primarily driven by Drawn to Life.

The game was very well received in Australia making its debute on the Top 10 Australian sales chart (GfK) for all platforms at #3 right behind Halo 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. It continued to stay on the Top 10 sales chart over the next two months until Christmas.

Sequels & Spin-Offs

Spongebob Squarepants Drawn to Life

A spin-off title on the was announced on February 27th, 2008 for the Nintendo DS titled Spongebob Squarepants Drawn to Life. The game is based on an episode from the tv show Spongebob Squarepants from Season 2 titled Frankendoodle. This game is not being developed by the original developer 5TH Cell, it is being developed by Japanese developer Altron.

Drawn to Life Wii

A Wii version of the game was announced by THQ's CEO and President Brian Farrell on February 5th, 2008 at the company's holiday quarter sales conference call with investors.. It is unknown at this time if it is a sequel, a port or a new game entirely. It is assumed that 5TH Cell is working on the title, but this fact is unknown.

See also

• 5TH Cell
• THQ

External links

• 5TH Cell's Official Drawn to Life site
• THQ's Official Drawn to Life site
• Official Australian site