What You Didn't Know About Scribblenauts

Game development often lasts for years. And in that stretch of time, studios have their fair share of ups and downs. From humorous game bugs to stress-relieving antics, Game Informer peers behind the curtain of game development. In our second Tidbits entry, developer 5th Cell reveals glitches that didn't make it into the retail game.

• Before AI finalization, a lion would eat itself when gluing bacon to it.

• At one point in development, two rabbits next to each other would infinitely spawn additional rabbits until the game crashed.

• At the 11th hour, we discovered that we didn’t add “lowrider” to the game. It is now one of the most beloved objects.

• We created a tool that would spawn/delete every object in the game like a slideshow. This would let you ‘fast forward’ through all the objects making sure they spawn without crashing.

• Guns initially had unlimited ammo, but we limited ammo to three for game balance.

• There was a bug similar to the two rabbits, where two Santas would keep giving each other gifts until the screen was full of presents and the game crashed.

• We had a team of “Wordsmiths” whose job was to basically comb dictionaries and the Internet for words to put into the game.

• We put in code that played a donkey’s “heehaw” at max volume on a loop if the level was missing its music track.

• There was a bug that prevented tank shells from doing damage, but still would push people around when shot. This allowed you to ‘surf’ on a stream of tank shells.

For other Tidbits entries, click the desired game name: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Scribblenauts