Max & the Magic Marker, developed by Press Play, follows the story of Max and a Magic Marker that appears one day in the mail. Naturally, Max decides to draw using the marker and soon discovers his creations come to life on the paper. He draws a monster and soon realizes that it is wreaking havoc in his imaginary world. Max draws himself on the paper and so begins Max’s adventure through various worlds on his quest to stop a monster of his own creation.

The game is being developed for WiiWare and is already well on its way to becoming a great new title for the service. Max’s magic marker is a key gameplay feature of Max and the Magic Marker and is used in almost every situation as you play the game. The first few levels have various tips and tutorials on how to use the marker to get to higher platforms or across pitfalls. This can mean drawing a staircase or a simple ramp, or a bridge to get across some water. The current build of the game was on the PC so the mouse is utilized for the magic marker, but the WiiWare version will of course use the Wii Remote.

At its core, Max and the Magic Marker is a platformer. The game shares many gameplay similarities to platformers before it, but it features a rich new gameplay mechanic in the form of the magic marker. Gone are the days of trying to find a secret ladder or an invisible block to reach a higher platform. With the marker, Max can create many different objects to obtain more ink, new items, and eventually reach the goal. The first few levels are pretty easy and are really there to get you used to the controls and solving puzzles using the marker. As you progress in the game, the challenges get much harder and require you to freeze time. By pressing the freeze button, the graphics change to a hand-drawn look. At this moment, you can add whatever shapes you want with the marker without having to worry about time. This is very handy in spots where you have to think fast. The game also features a real-time physics engine that allows objects to be manipulated not only by Max, but by gravity as well. In order to kill enemies, you’ll have to draw objects high enough that when they fall, they’ll crush the enemies. Max can also push anything that you draw such as boxes or staircases.

So far the game looks very nice graphically. It features lots of colors and rich 2D visuals. Max’s movements are already very well animated and the game shows a lot of polish. Many of the levels are large environments that span both horizontally and vertically. As a result, each level can have many checkpoints throughout, especially before a difficult section of the level.

There’s no word on the exact release date of Max & the Magic Marker, but it’s definitely a title to keep in the back of your mind. The developer lists the title as coming to WiiWare ‘very soon’ so stay tuned for more information.  In the meantime, check out some more screens for the game below: