Pencil and Paper is an adventure/platforming game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by NextGen Solo . It was originally going to be called RaW eViL: Colortia's Problem, but the name was a bit long, and it didn't fit the theme of the game as well. The game is NextGen Solo's first on the 3DS, and utilizes the 3D features to create a more visible world.
Story[]
The native people of the Colortia Islands, coincedentally called the Nativs, were a simple people. They lived in tribal ways, with primitive rituals, tent-like homes, and the like. Their god was the Color God, Hue. They said that Hue used a magical ink staff to draw all of the world and its inhabitants. Across from the Colortia archipelago was the Grayscale City , a gloomy world in shades of gray. They said that their god, Shadin, was robbed of its color from Hue, and forced to create a world of gray for the city's inhabitants, the Grayscals. Now, this is why the Grayscals hated the Nativs. All they had to do was look across the sea, and the citizens of Grayscale City could see a world of beautiful color.
The leader of Grayscale City, the one that the Nativs called "The Great Shadow Being", decided to do something terrible to the Nativs. The Nativs had built an ink staff, as they imagined Hue had used. If The Great Shadow Being used his staff on the Nativs' replica, it would become "alive" and The Great Shadow Being could use it to draw an army of monsters to combat the defensless Nativs. Keep in mind that The Great Shadow Being could pass between grayscale and color. When the evil villain came over to Colortia, he immediately ran to the Sacred Ink Staff, knocking out any Nativs in his way.
He used his dark staff on the inky relic, and it became filled with shadow powers. When The Great Shadow Being picked it up and began to draw, his monsters actually appeared! They were set to do his orders naturally, too. The monsters fled to the 7 islands of Colortia archipelago, and took the Color Drops off of every island's Altar. Now, you, the skilled warrior Nativ, Taka-Alaon, must rise to the challenge of defeating the monsters and returning color to Colortia!
Gameplay[]
The gameplay of Pencil and Paper is fairly simple, and uses the 3D as a ways of helping the player, and not so much on visual impact. The list of controls is below:
- Moving Taka-Alaon
- Attack
- Jump
- Use Equipped Item
- Use 2nd Equipped Item
- Raise Wooden Shield
- Pauses the game; Pause Menu appears.
- Opens Items menu.
Worlds[]
Each World has an Overworld, where most secrets and collectibles are collected, and a Dungeon, where monsters are abundant, the World's equippable item is collected, and the boss is defeated for a Color.
World | Information | |
---|---|---|
Green Lands Land |
Color to Obtain: Green Boss: Dumdong, Club-Wielding Cyclops | |
Yellow Sand Land |
Color to Obtain: Yellow Boss: Rattlebites, Rattling Fanged Snake | |
Blue Ocean Land |
Color to Obtain: Blue Boss: Killerca, Predator of the Sea | |
Orange Canyon Island |
Color to Obtain: Orange Boss: Rokton, Living Rock Golem | |
Indigo Nighttime Sky Island |
Color to Obtain: Indigo Boss: Vampyro, Hot-Headed Vampire Bat | |
Purple Poison Island |
Color to Obtain: Purple Boss: Shade, Ghostly Servant of Shadin | |
Red Lava Island |
Color to Obtain: Red Boss: Magmarius, Fire-Breathing Shark | |
Grayscale City |
Color to Obtain: Ink Staff (all colors collected) Boss 1: The Great Shadow Being Boss 2: Shadin, The Dark Staff |
Items[]
World 1 Item: Nativ Grapplehook (a grappling hook)
World 2 Item: Skaterboard (a skateboard that glides across the sand)
World 3 Item: Sails Boat (a sailboat)
World 4 Item: Clamber Gloves (gloves that let you climb up canyons)
World 5 Item: Night-Lighter (a candle-lit flashlight)
World 6 Item: Protector Mask (a gas mask)
World 7 Item: Color Crystal (a secret item that lets you toggle color in Grayscale City on/off)
Gallery[]
Expansions/Add-Ons[]
Utilizing the 3DS Shop, players can download expansions and add-ons for Pencil and Paper. Confirmed and released add-ons are below.
The Lost Treasure of Grayscale City Expansion[]
The Great Shadow Being has a labyrinth of paths and dead ends under the black-and-white cityscape! Find the lost treasure to win!
The Taka-Shadow? Add-On[]
This add-on lets you customize Taka-Alaon in a Clothes/Costume Editor, much like that of The Sims. You can cutsomize what he's wearing ONLY. However, costumes are pre-set and not changeable, yet they can change anything on the Nativ warrior.
The Grayscale All-The-Way Add-On[]
This add-on is a simple one, it allows you to play the entire game in Grayscale City's black-and-white aesthetic.
The Flipswitch Expansion[]
This expansion allows you to play as The Great Shadow Being, in a quest to bring black-and-white back to Grayscale City after Taka-Alaon uses his color powers to colorize the city!
The worlds are the same, except now you must destroy the Color Drops on each island's Altar, then come back to Grayscale to engage in a fight throughout the city streets with Taka!
The 10/10/10 Add-On[]
In celebration of this once-in-a-millenium date and time, this add-on let's you watch a 720p 10-minute (yes, TEN minutes) cinematic of the Nativ's Millenium Celebration Day, and how The Great Shadow Being tries to ruin it.
RaW eViL Expansion[]
The last expansion is a big one! What better to satisfy the true gamer than to produce a fully completed beta of a great game! The beta includes the same level count as the official one, but with story change and character difference. It's the 1st finished copy of the game, in your hands!
NOTE: This expansion costs $10.00, while all the others are free. This is because your basically buying a new game with this expansion.
The Dark Spires Isle Add-On[]
The last add-on/expansion for Pencil and Paper, this "adds-on" a new island to the game. The island makes use of a P&P2 preview item called the Line/Curve Tool.
The stats are:
Special: Dark Spires Isle
Color to obtain: Gold
Boss: Tremorton, Living Rock with a Mega Stomp
NOTE: The item wasn't supposed to be classified as a P&P2 preview, but since the letter leak, it was a reasonable change.
Sequel[]
On October 11, 2010, a letter planned to be released a day before VRC was leaked. It reads:
"As many may know, tomorrow's events will release information on many new games
being developed. Due to the high reviews for a recently released game, and our desire to work on
things that the fans will truly enjoy, I am proud to officially announce the most-wanted next game of Vectrix's...
Pencil and Paper 2! More info on that one tomorrow."
This letter was leaked by an American fan who so happened to come across a bug in the NextGen Solo website by chance. The bug gave him access to the letter in a confidential document "room" containing more password-protected docs. The letter was the only document that wasn't protected. He hasn't been found out, but the bug has been fixed.
Reception[]
The game got mixed-to-positive reviews, mostly praising the story and the varied worlds. The graphics are also highly praised for their cartoony and realistic combo look. The only criticisms of this game is its lackluster 3D usage and slowing frame rate during intense action sequences.
Trivia[]
- Evidence of RaW eViL is still in the game. For example, one dungeon's wall says "Villains must be RaW. Villains must be eViL." This could've been a wall on a Grayscale City building before the final game.
- A box on a delivery boat in Grayscale City says Delivery #P&P2. This could be a reference to a Pencil and Paper 2, although it is not confirmed.
- A Grayscale City building says "Erase all who stand in the way of Shadin." Now, you may think that this is a praising of the Grayscals' god Shadin, but actually, it was confirmed that the wall has text from another wall in The Great Shadow Being's castle, and TGSB was originally named Shadin. It also is text from a game build that had an eraser relic as well as an Ink Staff.
- This game, without the updated graphics and the 3D world, could easily be mapped to the DS. In fact, RaW eViL was originally a DS game!
- Pencil and Paper has a structure like a Banjo-Kazooie-Zelda Dungeon combo, but the game's inspiration was from Drawn to Life.