[PS3] LittleBigPlanet 2

[Yashamaru]

The keyboard support is even in LBP 1 i don't see any revolution except the Mouse support (more responsive than the Sixaxis/DS 3).

Except that i see a lot of improvement in every aspect of the game (firstly the IQ is very good), the use of MLAA seem to be superb too.
I love this game.

 

[Gitaroo]

http://www.1up.com/media/03/8/0/9/lg/621.jpg

new light model.

 

[nightshade]

Quite a bit of a difference.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I am not disagreeing to the fact that it'll be better....it'll be better than a controller for sure. What I'm saying is that it still won't have the 'full potential' as the interface is designed for the controller from start.

In LBP, the developers ended up using the in-game tools because they were more efficient. Map Popit functions onto a right-click context-sensitive interface, and it'll be exactly what you'd design outright for KB+Mouse. So I disagree with you!

And drawing a straight line is better with an analogue btw

Drawing straight lines wasn't a problem as you had the grids and point-editing creating straight edges. The problem was drawing curves. Creation of detailed objects was very hard and time consuming, with careful point-editing and struggling with the agrressive LOD that'd eat points. Move/Mouse input (which I assume supports tablets too) will free up model creation considerably and elliminate one of the big barriers to user generated content (the biggest barrier being unresolvable - time and perseverance!).

http://www.1up.com/media/03/8/0/9/lg/621.jpg
new light model.

So far looks like they've added shadow casting on top of their irradiance slice. Look forward to learning more.

 

[2real4tv]

Some more here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/s3ntry93/sets/72157624037447628/

Note: taken from GAF credit to Sentry

 

[inefficient]

I was hyped already from the trailer. But I just watched that Interview video with Alex Evans. And now I am REALLY excited!

 

[2real4tv]

Looks like AA is not being applied to some edges in this shot any reason why?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As the ibjects not receiving AA are the 'ropes,' I can only assume at the moment they are being drawn after the AA phase. Which doesn't make a great deal of sense!

I really hope they have good rope mechanics. Most roping games have been very poor in my experience, but a game called "Fury of the Furries" on Amiga had some superb rope play that made it extremely fun to swing around a level. That was achieved in part by disregarding the laws of physics and allowing the player to hold a postion at an angle against gravity.

 

[ultragpu]

Wow, I'm getting a Monster Inc. vibe from some of the screens, irradiance slice is really something else! Is this lighting model too much for a game like Uncharted 2 or Killzone 2 to handle though?

 

[deepbrown]

As the ibjects not receiving AA are the 'ropes,' I can only assume at the moment they are being drawn after the AA phase. Which doesn't make a great deal of sense!

I really hope they have good rope mechanics. Most roping games have been very poor in my experience, but a game called "Fury of the Furries" on Amiga had some superb rope play that made it extremely fun to swing around a level. That was achieved in part by disregarding the laws of physics and allowing the player to hold a postion at an angle against gravity.

What about PixelJunk Eden?

 

[deepbrown]

Looks like AA is not being applied to some edges in this shot any reason why?

Apparently this isn't their current build. May change.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Wow, I'm getting a Monster Inc. vibe from some of the screens, irradiance slice is really something else! Is this lighting model too much for a game like Uncharted 2 or Killzone 2 to handle though?

Yes. The technique doesn't work for large 3D depths, which is why LBP was 2.5D. The lighting model is the perfect fit for a side-ways scroller, and of course extensions of that pizza-box proportion (big and shallow) environment like kart racing which LBP2 can pull off.

What about PixelJunk Eden?

No, that didn't have it. I can't explain why. I'd need to play 'Fury of the Furries' again to pinpoint what made it shine. Perhaps it was the level design?
Edit : I had a quick look at some YouTube clicks. This one is a 2.5 hours playthrough! Just jumping through it, at 30 minutes you can see the rope in action, both holding the Furry out to the side, and then being able to work upside down. It was an utterly unrealstic method, but lead to a very fun mechanic - something modern phyiscs engines seem to have a neegative impact on.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Another good interview. This time with Alex Evans.

The QR codes [2-D barcodes] for print are a fun feature that we didn’t emphasize in the presentation. If you make a QR code of a link, “lbp.me/john” or whatever your link is -- the game is constantly looking out with the PlayStation Eye for QR codes. And if you hold a QR code of a level up, it will take you to that level. Hold up the QR code of a creator, it will take you to that creator’s stuff.

Read more: http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/63750/lit...gPlanet-2-Interview-Alex-Evans/#ixzz0ncy56WmZ

I was wondering how they planned on implementing Move given the additional overhead it imposes. But given that the camera is already, always, active perhaps it's a trivial matter (performance wise) for them.

Thought this was interesting as well:

G4: Are you limited by the choice to keep backward compatibility with LBP levels?

Evans: Yes!

G4: Was there any debate on that decision?

Evans: There was no debate, actually, and it was the right thing to do because people have made such an investment of time and money. I love the fact that we’re doing what no other sequel has done in terms of the value you get. On launch, you get 2 million levels built with the content of a game you don’t even have to own. Plus a new story, plus the new [content]. So the value proposition is awesome. And we were like, “There’s no reason not to do [backward compatibility].”

And then I realized that there is: It’s a technical nightmare. Just investing in the testing to make sure that we don’t break the 2 million levels is really hard. I’m so glad we did it, and I hate myself. [Laughs.] So, yes, from a design standpoint, it was the right thing. From a technical standpoint, we’ve had to rework so much stuff and remaster so much. It’s been a great challenge. Maybe I’d say “never again,” but it was still the right thing to do.

 

[patsu]

I'd say Sony should make QR code standard for PS3. I should not need to type in promo-codes. They should be able to encode special deals and virtual items in events and print advertisement with QR code or barcode. It's one of the features I thought should be standard in PSEye (and Natal too) !

 

[ultragpu]

Yes. The technique doesn't work for large 3D depths, which is why LBP was 2.5D. The lighting model is the perfect fit for a side-ways scroller, and of course extensions of that pizza-box proportion (big and shallow) environment like kart racing which LBP2 can pull off.

I see, guess it's a pretty smart design decision by MM then since they could have just gone with any other conventional way of rendering. Can't wait to see their new particle system which I heard was something amazing.

 

[patsu]

Okay, after so many references, I've got to ask.

Shifty, what exactly are the advantages of irradiance slices ? What makes it different and how ?
[size=-2]It sounds like a Ratchet and Clank weapon, or a Kung Fu chop[/size]

 

[Scott_Arm]

Pics are looking really nice. I was a huge fan of the first one in terms of concept, but wasn't a huge fan of the execution, at times. With one game under their belt, I'm sure this one is going to nail the controls the way I was hoping the first one would. Seems like there's a lot of new interesting stuff. Backwards compatibility for the levels is an incredibly smart idea. The main thing is people have a huge amount of content to start from, that they can expand with all the new features. If they were stuck starting from scratch, with all the added complexity, it would take far too long for good content to come out. The new browser better be awesome because finding content in the first one was a horrible experience. I'm really looking forward to this after reading some of the details.

 

[_phil_]

Okay, after so many references, I've got to ask.

Shifty, what exactly are the advantages of irradiance slices ? What makes it different and how ?
[SIZE=-2]It sounds like a Ratchet and Clank weapon, or a Kung Fu chop[/SIZE]

LBP is the first case of realtime GI for games.Crytek GI paper has also references to alex evans too(amongst others...).

 

[patsu]

No time right now. Linking in Alex Evan's presentation and Crytek's presentation:

Media Molecule:
http://ati.amd.com/developer/siggra...ions_for_Lighting_of_Dynamic_Scenes-print.pdf

Crytek:
http://www.crytek.com/technology/presentations/

Reading _phil_'s post, I think he's refering to:

Kaplanyan, A.: Light Propagation Volumes in CryEngine 3
This is a SIGGRAPH 2009 talk from "Advanced Real-time Rendering Course" about new ligting technique in CryEngine 3. The new technique called "Light Propagation Volumes" is used for Global Illumination and Massive Lighting, which significantly improves the lighting quality. The concept and its implementation are explained in the paper. Slides from the talk with talk notes as well as the video are provided.

 

[AlNom]

Shifty, what exactly are the advantages of irradiance slices ? What makes it different and how ?

Indirect lighting in real-time, well, heavily approximated, but adequate.