[PS3] LittleBigPlanet Impressions

[vanquish]

It would be great if the game were that scalable. Having all that already creative content being able to mix between a PS3 and PSP version would be an instance buy for me.

Yeah, I'm not that interested in the PS3 version (other than the premise). I don't have the time (or imagination) to create elaborate levels. And the core gameplay isn't that fun to me (and I think Sackboy is ugly).

But if they translate the scope (and the physics especially) to PSP, it would be an instant buy, as on a portable system you'll have the time needed to make the most of the game.

That's why the PSP is so great, it is the first portable system that allows you to have a near console experience.

 

[Arwin]

I'm not expecting too much from the PSP version - it's very likely going to be severely scaled down, and any links with the PS3 version will be limited to something like making custom music.
I've been catching up on some levels and wow, some great stuff there. I liked Shifty's buggy, but I loved Maxed Out 2, and wow that latest level by Jaeyden is ... just ... incredible!

 

[patsu]

Article on LBP physics:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22933

David Smith, technical director, Media Molecule, delivered a talk at GDC on Thursday on the complexities and rewards of implementing physics in LittleBigPlanet -- with his main thrust being that although it's challenging to conform to player expectations, physics add to games in surprising ways.

When it comes to physics, says Smith, "The important thing isn't the answers we chose, but the questions that we chose to answer."

 

[patsu]

I've just published a new level, this one vehicle based. I doubt many will appreciate the subtle background techs. The wind noise for example is being randomly modulated - it doesn't come out of the box like that. I've also cracked the airbourne enemy after a lot of learning. The buggy is remarkable robust. I'm a bit shocked how at the fluke on the suspension settings that balanced out really well first try, making a great change from the usual tweaking! It'll climb over all sorts of terrain.

Most importantly though, there are none of my puzzles or story elements! It's a straight forward get in, drive, shoot and get points level.

Heh, we spent about 3 hours on the level.

It reminded me of the Helghan desert. The background and props are all rather convincing (e.g., the constantly blowing wind, the skeleton, rover, aliens, wreckages, etc.). I thought it stood out in presentation.

Our main challenge was crossing the ravine. We tried countless times but something always go wrong when I laid the floor board over the ravine. Sometimes the board slided into the ravine because of volcanic activities, sometimes the rover plunged into the hole, sometimes it reversed and toppled backwards, sometimes both of us got killed by the aliens. A few times, the wheels under the rover ran ahead of us (Ha ha, that was a surprise).

In the end, both of us ditched the rover as it dove into the fire. Then we dashed madly forward, not knowing how far more to go. Took us 3 attempts, but my son finally made it alone. I died just before the space outpost came into view.


What my son learned:

* Like all kids, my son hates losing. We took the opportunity to teach him patience and practices. After the game, he pointed at the TV and proclaimed, "Five. Five.". Took me a while to realize he wanted to rate your level 5 stars out of 5.

What we learned about our son:

* After one of our mind-numbing deaths, the four year old uttered an expletive to himself. I went "What did you just say ?". I have no idea where he picked up the word from. My wife blamed it on me. XD

I spent the whole day gaming after 2 months of relentless work (Still more to go !). Replayed Everyday Shooter, MGO, and KZ2 (with Phil -- was that you ?) briefly. Was hoping to try out R2 patch but your level took up all our time.

EDIT: Keep up the good work !

Now I have to find another time to try Jaeyden's, Geosautus' and Qugz' levels.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Thanks for the feedback! The bridge was a rather small fit,. I should add some anchor points like the rock on the first ravine to lock it into place.

 

[patsu]

Forgot to say that the kid also figured out he could kill an alien by touching it (at the risk of getting shot). Near the end, he preferred to hover outside the rover and "melee" the aliens instead.

As we improvised our strategies, the jetpacks also helped both of us survive the plunge into the ravine. Whether it's intentional or not, these variety/options added depths to the gameplay.

EDIT: In this case, the failures worked rather well because (i) There was only 1 major challenge in a short segment, and (ii) most of the time, we almost made it but fell short barely due to freak accidents or our carelessness. It encouraged us to retry the game until we got it right. If it were insurmountable like the wheel of death in the original levels, we would have given up on third try.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As we improvised our strategies, the jetpacks also helped both of us survive the plunge into the ravine. Whether it's intentional or not...

Not intentional. Just LBP's natural variability and 'emergent gameplay' I tested the ravine a zillion times and don't think I had any failures on the final build (though of course there were lots prior to changes). Positioning the bridge correctly provided a very stable platform. I guess the problem is the positioning? I'm also curious if four people on jetpacks would have enough oomph to actually fly the buggy! You can equip jetpacks, fly to the front of the buggy and grab hold to drive it while thrusting. With two of you, you may well have enough thrust to lift the nose of the buggy.

Would be nice to get more multiplayer involvement in development, but as if the lack of online creation doesn't make that hard enough, I still have little luck with online. Deepbrown had trouble joining me this morning.

 

[patsu]

Not intentional. Just LBP's natural variability and 'emergent gameplay' I tested the ravine a zillion times and don't think I had any failures on the final build (though of course there were lots prior to changes). Positioning the bridge correctly provided a very stable platform. I guess the problem is the positioning?

It's a combination of enemy fire, volcanic rocks from below (which dislodged the board a couple of times), balancing the board in-flight, experimenting with where to position best, and fat fingers. To prevent the board from sliding, I tried to jam one end of it into the cut-out where the distressed astronaut stood. That didn't work out well.

Took me a while to realize what he was doing. I was like "Lucas, get BACK into the car NOW ! [size=-2]Daddy is going to die right here because of you[/size]". I was pleasantly surprised he took out all 3 aliens on his own while I was demolishing the rocks.

I'm also curious if four people on jetpacks would have enough oomph to actually fly the buggy! You can equip jetpacks, fly to the front of the buggy and grab hold to drive it while thrusting. With two of you, you may well have enough thrust to lift the nose of the buggy.

I think we tried lifting the rover when it toppled but couldn't.

Four might be able to do it. The wheels can be separated (since they came off several times when we pushed the rover too hard )

Would be nice to get more multiplayer involvement in development, but as if the lack of online creation doesn't make that hard enough, I still have little luck with online. Deepbrown had trouble joining me this morning.

I didn't know the online creation patch is out already (Is that introduced in 1.10 ?).

 

[patsu]

I didn't know the online creation patch is out already (Is that introduced in 1.10 ?).

Hopped over to the LBP official site to answer my own question, and then some:
http://news.littlebigworkshop.com/en-us/post/2009/03/Sack-it-to-Me--The-CORNISH-YARG-Edition.aspx

CORNISH YARG (aka 1.12 game update)
We don't yet have a fixed release date for this update, but it has now finished primary development so won't be too much longer. Additional fixes, particularly for online connection reliability and save game/profile size problems are already well into development and we'll bring you more news on that just as soon as possible.

This update addresses several outstanding issues with the game :

* There is a new music player which lets player’s choose their own music from the XMB to play during create mode and in their Pod

* Improved decoration mode makes it easier to customize your Sackboy

New options to help prevent profiles becoming full of unwanted community objects:

* Option to delete all (unhearted) community objects and photos

* Option to select whether to automatically collect community prizes and photos

* A number of improvements have been made to make profiles more robust and to recover from certain errors

* We now support Japanese and Korean IME for text chat.

* Emitter prediction has been improved (this should help fast-moving projectiles e.g. in MGS levels)

* The player proximity switch now has a ‘require all’ option in it

* An option has been added to cycle between various level information when viewing community levels on the earth

* Various LittleBigStore improvements

1.10 doesn't seem to enable collaborative creation.

 

[DrJay24]

Much needed patch, my profile is full of junk and their is no easy way to clear it. I used to think getting stickers and stuff was cool, then people put tons of crap in their levels which just kills your profile. Then these "free 600 objects" level were top of the charts which made no sense.

 

[razredge]

This was a pretty cool creation I thought, apologies if it's been posted before.
A working 8-bit calculator, which is pretty neat.

Apparently it's an electronic one as well, not a mechanical one (though it looks like one with all the wheels and wire).

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/09/working-calculator-m.html

I wonder if it would be possible to make a Turing machine. Has anyone tried?
Is it impossible, due to level size or object number limitations in the editor?

 

[Phil]

I think you will find that that the creator of that 8 bit calculator posts here under the name Quaz51.

 

[patsu]

I follow GAF's LittleBigPlanet user level thread from time to time: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341622&page=26

It's a great resource for finding recommended levels and creators.

 

[tha_con]

So there was an update today, but I don't think it was 1.12....was it?

I tried to play some music through the XMB in create mode, but nothing played, is there a custom player?

 

[patsu]

When's the last time you play ? It could be 1.10

EDIT: It's 1.11. Content-only changes.

 

[Jaeyden]

Thanks for the feedback! The bridge was a rather small fit,. I should add some anchor points like the rock on the first ravine to lock it into place.

I played this a couple times this weekend also. I really thought the presentation was fantastic. I did however encounter some of the same issues that patsu ran into. I was never able to get the vehicle across the bridge. I also got stuck against the first rocks, without the ability to put it in reverse I ended up starting over when I couldn't cross the ravine. I don't mind the fact that the ravine can be a fail point, because you can continue on from there on foot, but maybe some more gameplay that challenges the player on foot if they can't get the vehicle across the ravine. I think this level has potential to be popular with the kids out there. It's fun and challenging and looks great.

I should also mention that I've really enjoyed your other levels too Shifty. Scourge has a look and feel that's rather unique and quite enjoyable and although it appears to have been difficult for some players, I really respect what you did with it. Keep em coming.

 

[patsu]

I played this a couple times this weekend also. I really thought the presentation was fantastic. I did however encounter some of the same issues that patsu ran into. I was never able to get the vehicle across the bridge. I also got stuck against the first rocks, without the ability to put it in reverse I ended up starting over when I couldn't cross the ravine. I don't mind the fact that the ravine can be a fail point, because you can continue on from there on foot, but maybe some more gameplay that challenges the player on foot if they can't get the vehicle across the ravine. I think this level has potential to be popular with the kids out there. It's fun and challenging and looks great.

The buggy/rover has 2 grab pads. The right one (beside the windscreen) moves it forward. The left one (beside the ammo store) reverses it. I missed the left control the first few times too. Shifty, you might want to highlight the controls (if not already).

Overall, I'd say the vehicle is pretty well designed. The weight feels right and the movement is realistic. The wheels came off or the vehicle may get stuck mostly because I tried to brute force the vehicle over the rocks without removing all the "connecting joints".

I should also mention that I've really enjoyed your other levels too Shifty. Scourge has a look and feel that's rather unique and quite enjoyable and although it appears to have been difficult for some players, I really respect what you did with it. Keep em coming.

Yes, I like the narrative in that level. The LBP narration mechanism is a tad clumsy though.


EDIT: Aiight Shifty, I am scheduling a trip back home tonight just to test your new level. Thanks for inviting me as a tester.

 

[patsu]

Media Molecule expanding community effort by hiring from the community ^_^
http://www.littlebigplanetoid.com/article/good_news_bad_news_-_so_long_and_thanks_for_all_the_fish

Dear Planeteers

As the headlines suggests, we have some good news and some bad news. First of all, let’s go for the bad: I’m afraid the news is true, we are closing the site, and ceasing updates of news articles, features and LBP tidbits, which we have been bringing to you since the start of November last year.
It will remain as an archive of news and features, and the comments will remain open for a time, and eventually all expire so that the site is a static archive of information, forever floating in space.

Do not fear however! We are not leaving the community, the opposite of that is the truth, for we are broadcasting to you now from the offices of Media Molecule, in our new jobs as Community Managers. You heard us right - after a long period of proving ourselves worthy, we have been hired by the creators of LittleBigPlanet!



Whilst we join you in the mourning for this site, we hope you can join us in celebrating our new positions. Everything you love here, we will bring to you again in some form, although what form that will be is yet to be decided, but with the backing of Mm and Sony, we promise to bring you something bigger, better, badder and sexier that the Planetoid could ever become.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I played this a couple times this weekend also. I really thought the presentation was fantastic. I did however encounter some of the same issues that patsu ran into. I was never able to get the vehicle across the bridge. I also got stuck against the first rocks, without the ability to put it in reverse...

This is a designing fault I have at the moment - creating within the languahe (principally visual) of the players. The vehicle is designed with a strong aesthetic, and I leave the instructions to a speech-box which just isn't effective. It's a shame we can't add red highlight words like MM do. The controls on both sides need to be highlighted a bit more to stand out. Leaving the Grab Widget visible clearly isn't enough on its own.

I sent Patsu a test level last night. This time around I'm trying to get feedback during design so I don't release wtih these sorts of little faux pas's that slip past the designer! If anyone else wants to be a tester, let me know.

 

[patsu]

Argh Shifty, the level was downloaded in my office but my LBP disc is at home. Will try on Friday.