[PS3] LittleBigPlanet Impressions

[Shifty Geezer]

I was half expecting a pin-ball type bouncing level when I got the balloon. At the pace I'm floating and kicking along, it may take me a while to clear the level.

the problem here is the jump button functions as a pull-harder button when you grab hold of something, so if you're runnig with the balloon and then jump, instead you just give itia yank. You have to jump first, then when airbourne move around, and not overdo it. Tried it with friends last night and they had similar control issues. One was okay with the balloon but the other hit the common problems of learning a new control technique. They also didn't pick up on the clues. Two attempts didn't reach the final boss, but then the camera was wrong with 3 players which made the last bit of jumping even harder than usual! If I'd known then what I know now, I wouldn't have gone to all that flippin' effort to build the end sequence!!!

 

[patsu]

Yeah, I usually "reset" SB's position first and then jump, to make sure he's not stucked in some pulling action.

I should be able to complete the level. It's not exactly as hard as the dreaded wheel of death in the real game.

 

[Gradthrawn]

New search function.

 

[tha_con]

Oh yeah, the jumping. I can understand, we took like 15 minutes to complete one jumping section.

It was a series of progressively higher pillars that you had to jump on, and halfway through their depth position changes so you had to judge how far you should walk in before jumping to make the jump, but walking too far in would cause you to fall off the pillar you were standing on.

Quite frustrating cause the camera is parallel with the environment, making it harder to judge depth.

Especially when all 4 people have to get up there.

The camera is not parallel with the environment, there is an angle to it. I've never had a problem with depth. Even then, the game automatically switches planes for you while you are in a jump, the only action the user needs to take is jump.

The problem with the platforming is that it's physics based, but after a short time playing it, you will have enough of a feel for it to run through it like any other platformer.

 

[vanquish]

The camera is not parallel with the environment, there is an angle to it. I've never had a problem with depth. Even then, the game automatically switches planes for you while you are in a jump, the only action the user needs to take is jump.

The problem with the platforming is that it's physics based, but after a short time playing it, you will have enough of a feel for it to run through it like any other platformer.

It is quite nearly parallel though, unlike other 2.5D games where the camera is at more of an angle.

 

[patsu]

Which level is this ?

Sometimes if you're playing with multiple players, the camera would zoom out, making things harder to see. In general, it should not be parallel. I wonder if this is something the creator can change.

New search function.

What happens if I just type in something without all the new hints ? Will it search all the fields and still rank them in terms of relevance ?

 

[vanquish]

I think it was the toy story level (don't know which one, if there are multiple levels with the same theme).

The camera did change elevation some times, but during some of the jumping sequences it was very nearly parallel (perhaps 5 or 10 degrees from being perfectly parallel).

 

[patsu]

I think when the crossing is very narrow, the camera may swing to being very close to the "bridge/jump". I have encountered it once (Some early "Rocket" level). It should be possible for the creator to adjust his/her level to avoid this situation.

Shifty may have a better answer.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The camera object is probably in use here. You can set camera zoom and position, and whether it's static or tracks the player's position. It's possible fo rthe creator to choose to have a slightly top-down view for the whole level, or almost parallel. This is used particularly in silhouette levels, with the camera positioned low and zoomed out to compress depth and give a more 2D view. If the level is built to have no plane swapping, it works very nicely like a 2D platformer.

 

[tha_con]

I think it was the toy story level (don't know which one, if there are multiple levels with the same theme).

The camera did change elevation some times, but during some of the jumping sequences it was very nearly parallel (perhaps 5 or 10 degrees from being perfectly parallel).

I'm almost certain you must be talking about a user created level, and not the game in general. I've never had trouble determining what plane I am on with the base view, depth is very easy to determine.


I'm currently working on a level that has more of a "crushed" perspective, and will use the rear 2 planes as "scenery" with the front most plane being used for gameplay. I want to create a good 2D experience w/out any plane jumping or other things, just more reliant on solid platforming and puzzles.

 

[2real4tv]

LittleBigContra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPBdKQBYHg

 

[DrJay24]

I've seen Jaeyden online working on his LittleBigContra level for some while, I'll have to give it a go despite never playing Contra. Bad release time with KZ2 though :

 

[Scott_Arm]

I've seen Jaeyden online working on his LittleBigContra level for some while, I'll have to give it a go despite never playing Contra. Bad release time with KZ2 though :

Never played Contra?! What?! If you have a DS, grab Contra4 now.


On topic, I have little big planet and have barely played it. The weird thing is, it isn't really the game itself that's keeping me from playing it. My social community on PSN is very very limited and I hate that you can't chat with people while you're playing different games, as far as I could tell. If I could play LBP on my 360 where my little community plays, I would probably play it very regularly.

 

[DrJay24]

Never played Contra?! What?! If you have a DS, grab Contra4 now.


On topic, I have little big planet and have barely played it. The weird thing is, it isn't really the game itself that's keeping me from playing it. My social community on PSN is very very limited and I hate that you can't chat with people while you're playing different games, as far as I could tell. If I could play LBP on my 360 where my little community plays, I would probably play it very regularly.

You could:
A) Talk to the people you are playing with in LBP
B) Talk to your 360 friends while you play LBP, you already said you were playing different games, why should the console matter?

I've never had this dilemma, I don't ever want to chat with people on my friends list unless I am playing a game with them. I also don't visit Face Book or use IM, maybe I'm just to old for this social stuff.

 

[patsu]

On topic, I have little big planet and have barely played it. The weird thing is, it isn't really the game itself that's keeping me from playing it. My social community on PSN is very very limited and I hate that you can't chat with people while you're playing different games, as far as I could tell. If I could play LBP on my 360 where my little community plays, I would probably play it very regularly.

Try this for a start: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=35887
Shifty and Jaeyden play LBP pretty often. deepbrown is an enthusiast too.

I personally just let LBP match make me. Playing with strangers can be rather fun in LBP too if lag doesn't strike. SackBoy will lip-sync with voice chat. When I played with friends, they would most certainly push me down the cliff (or fire pit), or just smack me.


EDIT: The community is nice so far. The folks were willing to wait p-a-t-i-e-n-t-l-y for my 4 year old to muck around. Conversely, don't be surprise if you get matched to kids. They are rather cute to play with, especially when they talk through Sackboy's lipsync ("I can't do it. Waahhhh !" ).

 

[Jaeyden]

I've seen Jaeyden online working on his LittleBigContra level for some while, I'll have to give it a go despite never playing Contra. Bad release time with KZ2 though :

Yeah, we finally pretty much finished it. Was a lot of work but fun, and that's all that matters. As far as the release goes, we're pretty pleased. We watched the main community pages getting fewer and fewer plays every week and figured if we wanted any chance for exposure in the old "Cool Level System" we should go as soon as we were done. Coincidently, MM changed the way that system works and we honestly couldn't have timed it any better as we have now landed front and center on the main community pages. Whether you are a Contra fan or not the levels are worth checking out just to see what a bunch of guys can do with their time.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Ye, it's a much needed change. Now the same old boring hogs are gone and different folk have a chance at getting more exposure. Will check out the Contra stuff when I can. How authentic is it? Does it recreate the same content as the original, the same events in the same places, or is it Contra in principle but with new layouts etc.? And how was management handled? Was each creator given a level to work on, or did creators share building, creating assets for others to use? I wouldn't be surprised if MM covered it in a story, as it's a big thing and a great achievement, especially given they still haven't given us online coop creation!

 

[Arwin]

You can read all about the Contra level in the thread on Neogaf. Basically it's been a coordinated effort of a number of people each making different themed levels, coordinating how they connect, etc. It's based on the original.

 

[wco81]

$46 at Amazon, shipped.

Worth it?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Full price is worth it! The Contra levels seemed very good overall, with some excellent features like the drop-ship respawn. Gameplay is definitely hardcore difficult, which probably reflects the original very well (I never played it). Everything's very nicely pieced together and the consistent themes are excellent. Jaeyden's done another sterling job. There must be quite a bit of background wiring connecting all them lights etc. I don't go a bundle on the millions of stickers though. I already get the 'full profile' message too often, and in this case it even caused my death, appearing just as I was about to jump and stealing focus from the game so I didn't!

There's a couple of tricks I don't know. The invisible piston is just a piston with minimum length set to 0, right, and the little dog-end hidden away somewhere? And how do you get a flame independent from a candle? I've found no way to rip it from a candle object.