After describing the gimmick and hype behind upcoming Nintendo DS game Scribblenauts, 5th Cell's co-founder and creative director Jeremiah Slaczka shared his story of how the studio was founded along with its early challenges, including having to lay off everyone but a single intern in 2005 when the market for its mobile phone games dried up.

It was during that time when the developer switched its focus to DS games and began working on what would become Drawn to Life, according to a report from The Seattle Times. As innovative as the platformer's concept was (drawing your own hero, weapons, platforms, and more), however, Nintendo initially rejected 5th Cell's request to become a licensed developer.

The studio kept working on the title with a "hacked" DS to build a demo, and sent a video of Drawn to Life to Nintendo nine months later, this time convincing the platform holder. 5th Cell used its royalties from past mobile releases to hire interns from game-development college DigiPen to finish the game (the company now has 34 employees).

Drawn to Life went on to sell over a million copies worldwide, spawn a SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off, and receive two upcoming sequels, both titled The Next Chapter, for DS and Wii. The game's success also likely helped green light Scribblenauts's original design.