[PS3] LittleBigPlanet Impressions

[Arwin]

$46 at Amazon, shipped.

Worth it?

Play.com still has it for 23,49 euros. This game is worth full price, but at that price it's a steal, and it's been high on the play.com selling list for a long time now because of it.

 

[patsu]

Yes, worth full price but don't stop there. Throw in the MGS4 DLC too.

 

[Jaeyden]

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.

Thanks for playing it Shifty. We really considered the difficulty through out all of our play testing and decided that true Contra fans would probably be disappointed if the levels weren't a challenge. We did try to implement the "Cheat Code" from the original via a sticker and sticker switch right at the start screen to swap out single life checkpoints for doubles in order to give players an option on the levels we could. As a creator I am keenly aware of the profile error and I tried to not force anything on any player. You can easily beat my stage without getting more than one sticker (the cheat code). We wanted to reward players...alot of average players enjoy prizes, and stickers are easily deleted without having to enter the editor. I have two objects in prize bubbles but they are locked in the first power up safes and you have to find the "secret sticker" in order to obtain them. The invisible pistons are indeed set to "0" and hidden behind material in the thin layer. To get the flame off the candle, simply select the flame in the editor with your pop it and copy it. The stuff you don't see is probably what I'm most proud of on my level. This was the first time I built entirely on the grid (I like to freeform and just build as I go) and I am thrilled with the design and construction I ended up with. I spent a ton of time working out my explosions. I wanted make a run and gun level that most people could get to the end of but would need to learn the boss in order to defeat it. All in all it's a pretty good effort from all of us. Leonidas and I spent every night for a month bouncing different ideas and object designs off each other and we were able to create and share alot of different art assets and object to the rest of the team. I think its pretty good for a bunch of guys on the internet with a goal, working for free, and on a relatively short time frame.

 

[patsu]

How many people in "We" ? How long did it take you guys to implement the level ?

 

[Jaeyden]

There were seven of us, each with his own stage and one guy named Orz who did both of the bases. We started just over a month ago. Leonidas2123 and I have 120+ hours into each of ours and I know some of the others vary between 40-80. We had a guy signed up for the Snowfield but he failed to produce anything after two weeks, so I went and found someone else to work it out on short notice. We are also awaiting the completion of the final stage by donkeyshow which was about 75% last time I saw it. Hopefully it should be done tonight.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Thanks for playing it Shifty. We really considered the difficulty through out all of our play testing and decided that true Contra fans would probably be disappointed if the levels weren't a challenge.

Sure, I get that. Can't appeal to everyone! It was a good call as a tribute.

To get the flame off the candle, simply select the flame in the editor with your pop it and copy it.

Okay, cool. Funny little tricks all over the shop on this game! By chance I found how to separate the scoreboard from its base, and I played a level where someone had captured the Paintinator shot and used it as a spawnable object. That's sooooo useful! It's easy to set up Paintinator switches that'll fire after a few times. eg. Jump on a button 4 times to release a Thingum.

The stuff you don't see is probably what I'm most proud of on my level. This was the first time I built entirely on the grid

Yeah, I'm focussing more on grid aligned stuff at the moment. Did you get any grid drift? Some things are impossible to align, and you can even copy a whole grid-based object, move it, and then have it misaligned. In my bubble maze, I copied the oringal and the copies were off in the vertical

I spent a ton of time working out my explosions.

They worked really well. Did you try putting a tiny, foggy LED in the middle? That might add a good flash to the smoke.

I think its pretty good for a bunch of guys on the internet with a goal, working for free, and on a relatively short time frame.

It's excellent! Just a crying shame online creation isn't operating, as that'd improve things considerably, especially testing. As is, you would have to come out of edit, team up, play, split up, edit, team up and play, leaving the test party hanging around bored while changes are made.

BTW : How do you get access to mail attachments and sent items?? I sent a level key to a mate and it was attached to the mail, 1kb in size, but there was no way to access it. Couldn't click on the attachment icon. No option within the menu for the mail. I've received pictures too that I haven't been able to look at.

 

[Jaeyden]

BTW : How do you get access to mail attachments and sent items?? I sent a level key to a mate and it was attached to the mail, 1kb in size, but there was no way to access it. Couldn't click on the attachment icon. No option within the menu for the mail. I've received pictures too that I haven't been able to look at.

You hit start while in game and there is an option called LBP messages. Select it and it'll pull up an XMB screen with only LBP attachment messages, then you download from there into your pop it.

 

[-tkf-]

Is there any way to keep the Contra lvl´s in case they are pulled because of whatever reasons some mega corp can think of.

 

[patsu]

There were seven of us, each with his own stage and one guy named Orz who did both of the bases. We started just over a month ago. Leonidas2123 and I have 120+ hours into each of ours and I know some of the others vary between 40-80. We had a guy signed up for the Snowfield but he failed to produce anything after two weeks, so I went and found someone else to work it out on short notice. We are also awaiting the completion of the final stage by donkeyshow which was about 75% last time I saw it. Hopefully it should be done tonight.

You hit start while in game and there is an option called LBP messages. Select it and it'll pull up an XMB screen with only LBP attachment messages, then you download from there into your pop it.

Impressive ! I think Media Molecule should contact you guys to refine their roadmap (or at least help them to beta test their collaborative authoring patch).

 

[goonergaz]

Thanks Jaeyden!

There were seven of us, each with his own stage and one guy named Orz who did both of the bases. We started just over a month ago. Leonidas2123 and I have 120+ hours into each of ours and I know some of the others vary between 40-80. We had a guy signed up for the Snowfield but he failed to produce anything after two weeks, so I went and found someone else to work it out on short notice. We are also awaiting the completion of the final stage by donkeyshow which was about 75% last time I saw it. Hopefully it should be done tonight.

Hey Jaeyden, I signed up to NeoGAF just to say one thing to you - and as I'm still waiting (now something like 1mth LOL) - and I see you've posted here (must have been sleepwalking previously to completely miss you...and I don't think I've said it before!) I'll say it now...

THANKS!

You're a LittleBigPlanet God man. Thanks to each and every one of your merry band, I hope you continue your efforts and never grow old of the "game of forever". I wish I had the time and understanding to achieve anything like what you do...it's the only downside...you make the rest of us look pants! lol

 

[Jaeyden]

Wow! Thanks. With compliments like that I won't be leaving LBP any time soon. I figure I'll just make levels and keep getting better until MM has no choice but to give me a job. I'll pass your compliments on to everyone else over in the thread at GAF.

 

[patsu]

If they have valor points in LBP (like KZ2), I would have assigned all of them to you and your team.
[size=-2]Oh plus some for Shifty and deepbrown too ![/size]

 

[Shifty Geezer]

You hit start while in game and there is an option called LBP messages. Select it and it'll pull up an XMB screen with only LBP attachment messages, then you download from there into your pop it.

Thanks. The flame trick was an eye-opener. It's clearly using the Decoration mechanic, but is handled as an object. And is a light-source! I'd love to know the data structures going on here, how the components are differentiated. I can only guess that the flame was created as an Object before they had the Decoration type, or it was an early model and they handed pinned down what as an object and what was a deco back then.

 

[tha_con]

Shifty - Well, I'll finally be back to my home this Thursday, and as promised, I will play your level! I seriously cannot wait to play more Community levels, and finally get a chance to publish my level...even if it is extremely basic and boring

 

[Jaeyden]

Thanks. The flame trick was an eye-opener. It's clearly using the Decoration mechanic, but is handled as an object. And is a light-source! I'd love to know the data structures going on here, how the components are differentiated. I can only guess that the flame was created as an Object before they had the Decoration type, or it was an early model and they handed pinned down what as an object and what was a deco back then.

You're probably right. The flame was the only source of light during the beta. We had to go find it in the wedding template then make into an object and remove the flame to add light anywhere else. You can change the color of your flames too by adjusting the candle first then copying the flame.

 

[Arwin]

Media Molecule is doing a podcast:

http://www.mediamolecule.com/2009/03/05/media-molecule-podcast-no1/

 

[tha_con]

THAT IS AWESOME.

I wish I could download it right now so I could listen to it on my 6 hour drive home I've been saving 1up podcasts week after week for this trip, and would gladly take an MM podcast over that!

 

[patsu]

They should make it available via the in-game News section too.

 

[tha_con]

So, I listened to the Media Molecule podcast, but sadly, I was pretty disappointed. It just wasn't very meaty at all, I guess Bungie and Insomniac spoiled me with wonderful developer podcasts

Shifty I finally got around to playing one of your levels! (The black and white one). I couldn't figure out how to kill the dragon in the end...any advice? I thought I saw a switch on his head, but died every time I went to hit it.

I published a level, but it wasn't the one I had worked on for some time. The one I had worked on for about a week kept falling apart, things were shifting, and every time I went to detach one thing, 2 others would detach as well and fall apart So, I just published a really simple level with some boring mechanics, no enemies, etc etc. Sad day indeed

 

[patsu]

Shifty I finally got around to playing one of your levels! (The black and white one). I couldn't figure out how to kill the dragon in the end...any advice? I thought I saw a switch on his head, but died every time I went to hit it.

Heh heh, pay attention to the villagers' hint, especially the kids'