Skribble.io Critical Play:
- About the game: Skribble.io was made by @ticedev. That is the creator’s username on Twitter and I couldn’t find their real name online
- Target audience: A group of friends online. I have played the game with friends during quarantine and it was a lot of fun. I have also tried playing the open online version but it was messy and not as exciting.
- Formal elements of the game: A room can have as many as 12 players. Although 2 players can create a room. The players must choose a word from a few words shown by the game and make a drawing for other players to guess the word. Rounds work by players taking turns drawing the word they picked. An interesting players dynamic is that is other players guess your drawing quickly you get more points. This pushes the drawing player to create a clear drawing for other players to guess.
- Fun: The creative liberty makes the game really fun. You have plenty of options as the person drawing. You can choose a pen thickness and any color you want to draw. Another fun thing is that the game allows you to create a custom dictionary. So if you’re playing with a group of friends, you can list any special words that have a meaning for you such as places you’ve visited or nicknames you have for each other. This makes the game especially interesting for a group of close friends.
- Game mechanics: To start the game you must create a room and send the room code to your friends. When creating the room, you have the option to design your custom words dictionary. The platform then randomly selects the order of players that will draw. When it’s a player’s turn, they choose a word for the few displayed, and start drawing. There is a space to write answers. The guesses are written in a space that looks like a chat window where you can see everyone’s input. You can’t see the right answers though.
- Improvements: Some of the words displayed are weird and complicated. Sometimes there is just no option that can easily be drawn. An improvement could be to have the option to get a new set of words to choose from. To prevent a player from taking too much time to choose there could be a timer.
- Similar Games: This game is identical to the Jack Box game Drawful. The only difference is the timing and guessing. In Jack Box everyone draws at the same time. The guesses are then written by everyone and in another round the players vote on the right answer from everyone’s guesses in addition to the correct answer mixed in with the guesses. Drawful adds different layers to the game that make it more fun especially for the guessing dynamics.
- Vulnerability: This game doesn’t push the players to be vulnerable at all. Unless a player feels vulnerable drawing, this game isn’t about showing artistic skills but more about being able to quickly draw representations of words.
