Scribblenauts Unmasked is almost here. The game set for the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC will allow gamers to play as virtually any DC Comics character they can think of. Now we know not every single character can be included but you will absolutely be impressed with the line up and variation.
The game is scheduled for a September 24 release. We got a chance to see more of the game at San Diego Comic-Con but still had some more questions, including some I noticed the Comic Vine Community wondering about. We asked Caleb Arseneaux, Senior Producer at 5th Cell, in order to find out more.
Comic Vine: Has a number of DC characters in the game been set yet? Is it possible for more to be added before release or would you rather not reveal the exact number?
Caleb Arseneaux: What we can say is we have over 2,000 objects from the DC Comics Universe in the game. That is made up of mostly characters but also has vehicles, costumes for Maxwell and equipment.
CV: We've seen virtually every possible character appear in the demos and trailers. Were there any that you just said, "Let's not use this one?”
CA: There were some that would have seriously affected our rating, which is E 10+. While I’m not going to specifically call these characters out, it would be safe to say that if there is say a character that, I don’t know, welds dogs to people’s faces or something then that character would be a concern.
CV: Did DC work closely helping select and define characters or was it just left open for you to use whichever characters you wanted?
CA: They gave us an initial list after a good two months research on their end but we kept expanding on it. Every time we’d find a new character we’d go back and get their approval on the art for it. There are some ownership gray areas with some characters so everything we added to the game went through an approval process with DC.
CV: Did DC put any restrictions on characters they didn't want included?
CA: It was definitely more collaborative than anything. If there was a character either of us had a problem with we’d have a discussion about it. Some characters we didn’t have access to, like anyone in the non-comics media such as the 90’s Batman animated series and the Christopher Nolan Batman movies.
CV: We've seen Geoff Johns and Jim Lee in a trailer. Can they, or other creators, be spawned into the game?
CA: They are in the game, as is every developer who worked on the title. If you watch the credits, everyone at 5TH Cell has their own character with a special ability!
CV: What about other secondary characters? I'm sure Alfred is in the game. What about Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen?
CA: Yes and yes! Secondary characters we have a lot of. Some characters that are not heroes specifically, say a cousin of some non-hero character we may not have.
CV: What about the Milestone characters like Static Shock or Hardware? Or Wildstorm characters like Grifter or Zealot? They've been incorporated into the DCU but were created elsewhere.
CA: We stuck with mostly the main line DC Comics characters that have been created by DC, but you may find a few surprises!
CV: Is there any chance of this coming out on PlayStation or Xbox?
CA: We don’t have any plans at this time to put it on Playstation or Xbox.
CV: What are some of the favorite/most fun characters amongst the developers?
CA: We really loved working on all the green lantern characters. We have over 137 of them in the game and it was cool learning about the lore and backstory behind all the different lantern corps including Red and Blue!
Scribblenauts Unmasked will be released on September 24 from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and 5th Cell. The game is rated E10+ and will be available for the Wii U, 3DS and PC. Are you planning on picking it up day one?