The LittleBigPlanet pre-release Saga

[archangelmorph]

It seems ot me like this is the kind of experience where different users with different interests can get different things out of it.. I think alot of the fun in playing will be in just generally "cooperative creation" & that in itself being a game.. I'm sure there will be thousands of people who don't do anything else & even if they don't create anything worth while, they'll still be able to enjoy sitting & playing together trying to come up with silly, wierd, wacky & meaningful creations..

I see so much potential in a game like this & with the depth of customisation the prospects for creation are almost endless for those who are *really* innovative & expressive..

Imagine a little assault course for one or two players where you have to climb inside (using the push & pull actions to open & close the hatch) of a ball-shaped object & basically hamster-roll it through an entire level full of loop the loops & all kinds of interesting landscapes.. Each player could sit on a seperate depth plane & you could even set it up like a race where you have a set time to reach the end (using the timer present in the video shown above..) Through complimentary function of the engine, if one player gets far enough ahead then the second will be ejected from the map & "lose" aswell..

This is the kind of thing which makes the prospect of the game so appealing to me.. It's as if all the tools are being put in place for the user to have the ability to build whatever is in there capacity to dream..

Can't bloody wait!!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Also, how does LBP compare with other development tool-chains and can the principles be adapted? Could the Poppet interface be adapted to create assets for other titles? One problem would be the geometry creation and UV mapping. As it stands, poly count seems a non issue due to limited objects and simple polyhedrons. Then your maps are slapped on with a limited projection. Thinking of what Digital Molecular Matter is supposed to do though with it's volumetric shapes and tessellation, the prospect exists to create a world from volumes a la LBP with a geometry engine that can handle LOD. Then the artists would just need to have some funky sculpting tools and they'd be away! This is what ID5 is doing, giving artists a 'live' modelling interface; a WYSIWIG level editor. Does this show the way forward, where tools are much more 'organic' and integrated, creating and testing content on the fly?

PS : Sweet concept archanglemorph!

 

[doob]

Some "Aiaiai" "Caramba" sounds would fit well with that design theme.
Another thing about this tittle, water(with some physics if possible to interact with) is missing, it would be awesome to create some (under)water themed levels.

 

[archangelmorph]

Some "Aiaiai" "Caramba" sounds would fit well with that design theme.
Another thing about this tittle, water(with some physics if possible to interact with) is missing, it would be awesome to create some (under)water themed levels.

Well I guess they have to leave SOMETHING for DLC right...?

 

[doob]

kaay.. could be, but then i hope they add snow/winter themes as well

 

[cthellis42]

Well it may be the case that this game simply isn't for me, or people like me, but I think if it misses that mark, it will also have a big problem with mass appeal among gamers in general.

Probably the same opinion many held about Katamari Damacy, and--indeed--this game appeals to me in much the same way the KD did even BEFORE I played it.

It's never going to be a massive seller the way other mainstream games will, but even KD carved out a healthy niche and attracted a lot more attention and acclaim--and sales--than people expected. There's a lot of people out there who are really looking forward to the "simple, fun gameplay on top of an utterly imaginative framework" that very few games provide.

 

[patsu]

Another interview

http://www.gametap.com/home/read/article/3164

GameTap: Speaking of Halo 3, and the Forge specifically, people have come up with ideas that weren’t originally intended for that game. Do you expect the same sort of thing to happen with LittleBigPlanet?

Pete Smith: Definitely--and that’s already happening. One of the levels that we kind of have behind the scenes is not even a platformer. It’s just on a single screen. People are asking, “Could you do a shooter?” And we’re saying, “If you can build it, you can do it.” There are so many things you can do and it’s amazing. We’ve got things like pivot points, and you think that it spins things and that’s the only way it can be used. Then you let the designers get their hands on it, and they do the most amazing things. One week, the team went mad building robots and machines that stomp around and fire things. It’s like, what have you put new into the game to do that? But no, it’s all the same stuff. We’re just using it in a different way.

GameTap: How do you plan on supporting the community in terms of downloadable content or even requests for new tools?

Pete Smith: We’ve started that already with the beta trials and from the QA stress test point of view. We’re listening to the beta users in terms of what would help them be creative. The launch is just the start. We’ll be doing loads and loads of downloadable content as well. Some of that will just be new stuff and some of that will be just helping the community make extra cool stuff.

 

[tirminyl]

Thanks Patsu for that interview. I have been writing down to game concepts to build in LBP, now I will be adding a shooting robot in it as well!

 

[patsu]

Yes, I have been thinking about LBP ideas too.

I think they should add in-game web access to LBP. While people can create physics-driven objects or steal ideas from classical gameplay, they need interesting content/themes to drive and orchestrate the social community aspect. This can be done by better integration with Internet content and human networks (e.g., embedding youtube video).

As an example... I am in Asia these 2 weeks and am inspired by some Asian movie enough to want to stamp it everywhere I go (In fact, I can probably start a whole series featuring different subjects ):

I thought a simple mini-game can be done using it as a backdrop and/or level design It is compatible with LBP's texture stamping tools too (and H.263 should be pretty light-weight).

There are obvious perils in doing this, but at the same time, there seem to be win-win business case to do it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Something just caught my eye suggesting giant monster combat in LBP! At the top of this page is a 3 image LBP slideshow. We see four sackboys, the LBP logo, and also a mini Japanese town, with clouds held aloft by strings in an orange sky, and two transparent ghost-monster Godzilla and Mechagodzilla (I think). The mind boggles...

 

[Cornsnake]

Thats most likely just part of the background. But if you still want big monsters, they have shown that you can make your own.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Ahh, yes, you're probably right. When I first saw it I thought the strings were connecting the monsters which set up the rest of my perception.

 

[Nesh]

Yes, I have been thinking about LBP ideas too.

I think they should add in-game web access to LBP. While people can create physics-driven objects or steal ideas from classical gameplay, they need interesting content/themes to drive and orchestrate the social community aspect. This can be done by better integration with Internet content and human networks (e.g., embedding youtube video).

As an example... I am in Asia these 2 weeks and am inspired by some Asian movie enough to want to stamp it everywhere I go (In fact, I can probably start a whole series featuring different subjects ):

I thought a simple mini-game can be done using it as a backdrop and/or level design It is compatible with LBP's texture stamping tools too (and H.263 should be pretty light-weight).

There are obvious perils in doing this, but at the same time, there seem to be win-win business case to do it.

Damn you patsu! I am in love now

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Nextgen.biz has a preview with a few tasty morsels of info :

LittleBigPlanet is now fundamentally complete, in pre-alpha bug-testing and due for a closed beta trial in early summer for some final tweaking.

The Pop-It menu essentially allows you to cut, paste and resize at will with any shape you choose or create, and can be accessed at any time in the game (barring certain sections of the ‘story’ levels where it would obviously render the challenge impotent).

The more conventional side of the game is the ‘LittleBigStory’, with a basic narrative connecting over 50 levels to be played through with one to four players. Those players can be any mix of local and PSN sackboys, and each level only begins when each member is at the starting gate – it seems clear that, when the fundamentals are mastered, LittleBigPlanet’s basic levels put the emphasis on players racing each other to fluff (the basic pick-up for content creation in LittleBigStory) and to the next challenge.

“We’re not going to limit people,” says Smith. “We’re providing basic properties to combine, and the possibilities are pretty limitless. That’s not to say there won’t be quite a few basic tools to play with, and more as they’re needed by the community, but it’s amazing what people can create with just a cog and a piston.”

“The pistons and pulleys, for example, are the kind of thing only we can provide, and based on feedback from the community we can look at what they want and hopefully provide it.”

There's a little more at the link, so go visit and give them the hits!

So, there we are, confirmation of what we've been saying for a while now, but absolute confirmation at that. There's a standard 50 level game into which is added the building and the making and the stuff with the card and the wood and the boy with the box on his head. There are more mechanical items - this is the first I've heard mention of pistons. Furthermore the devs will be looking to add tools as needed, so it'll only be getting better over time. The LittleBigStory levels will have regions where creation is locked out, presumably challenges of a sort. Then there's all the custom creations and the distribution network. It sounds to me to be shaping up almost exactly as wanted

 

[Cornsnake]

Sounds good. If I remember correctly there is a video of LBP that does show the pistons.

 

[Arwin]

LittleBigStory ... comes ever closer to Little Big Adventure ...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Another quote comes from Eurogamer :

Asked about Sony's plans for the Media Molecule game, marketing man Nick Robinson - a senior product manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe - confirmed the title will be released in September on Blu-ray disc only.

It's gonna be a long year...

 

[wco81]

What about the Beta?

And will the Blu-Ray disc have those user-created levels?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

My guess is the nature of the beast has changed, and they aren't going to include user created levels in the disc version, instead designing all those levels in house. That's just a guess though, but they have changed their mind from providing two flavours of LBP including a download version.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

2 page Eurogamer preview...