The LittleBigPlanet pre-release Saga

[Arwin]

Upload of Deepbrown's level is in progress. I'm not sure when it will be finished ... I tried hurrying through it but it's still a 64mb file after initial compression. Maybe I should have been more strict in the compression, but since youtube has the higher quality option, I guess it's worth it this way.

Here it is ... as you can see I"m missing a lot of secret points, just rushing through - though the second half was new to me so I'm clumsier there :

 

[slider]

It's a great level. Real demonstration of what's possible.

But the most interesting part about it for me was how much difference presentation makes. It's very pleasing to the eye.

As he's in the KZ2 beta I wanted to find fault with this level but I can't. Well done deepbrown!

EDIT: Ha, it seems you didn't actually trigger the race sequence!

 

[Cornsnake]

Wow, nice level Deepbrown. How long did it take you to make that so far?

 

[patsu]

It's a great level. Real demonstration of what's possible.

But the most interesting part about it for me was how much difference presentation makes. It's very pleasing to the eye.

Yeah the world of LBP is rather inviting. The material textures add more visual interest to the game too. After playing this cool colored level, I dropped into deepbrown's pod. It was a stark difference. His pod is hot orange with assorted stickers. ^_^ That made an impression on me. Mine is still bare cardboard pod.

As he's in the KZ2 beta I wanted to find fault with this level but I can't. Well done deepbrown!

He might chew you up !

 

[slider]

I haven't really decorated my pod either. I don't want to get carried away but this game is very special. And in a very open-ended way. The elements of your personality that are reflected in the various elements of the game are quite astounding. I mean, who'd think to have their pod hot orange?? And some people are pumping out levels like crazy. I'm still working on my first! Hmm, I think I'm over-playing it so I'll stop here...

On the presentation thing. I think all the materials are very inviting. They give off a real toy box feel. Even the cardboard. I said it a while back (maybe on GAF) but the meccano aspect is very appealing.

But if you compare, say, the Little Big Uncharted(?) level to deepbrown's it's almost like night and day (although I did really enjoy LBU too).

 

[wco81]

Looks nice but seems like a standard platformer, getting to hard-to-reach places to get stars, etc.

What about getting to places which could only be done with co-op?

And do people get competitive about getting the stars?

 

[patsu]

For the platforming levels, they are err.... platforming levels ! But it's the creators' personality that comes through especially if you know that guy via his post history. ;-) So far I have played dinosaurs, moonwalking, bank heist, dragon slaying, snow slede racing, Gears of War, Uncharted, etc. levels. I mean these people did put their imagination and time to work, no matter how simple or crappy the levels.

The story mode has one 2-player puzzle (You can't solve it alone). You can presumably make more.

Some levels (including deepbrown's) have a race track, so you can compete; or cheat by grabbing to the front of your opponent's vehicle.

Getting stars is ok. People do compete a little but not much.

 

[deepbrown]

Upload of Deepbrown's level is in progress. I'm not sure when it will be finished ... I tried hurrying through it but it's still a 64mb file after initial compression. Maybe I should have been more strict in the compression, but since youtube has the higher quality option, I guess it's worth it this way.

Here it is ... as you can see I"m missing a lot of secret points, just rushing through - though the second half was new to me so I'm clumsier there :

Thanks for the upload Arwin!

You are missing all the secret ways...just for B3d I'll tell you where they are. All the cardboard stars are sticker triggers, and open up secret routes.

There's also a secret route half way through the second sledge run - if you spawn at the point just before the logs fall on you, you can run right behind the metal truss...into a secret hole full of bubbles...there's then a second hidden area here, where you place a red block into a hole, to make a wall disappear and reaveal another hidden hole Find em all and you're going to be scoring 200,000

And you're the second person to pull on that level furiously next to the Snowman...he does say "pull the lever to get rid of the electrified floor...the floor you got killed on lol"...but I did try to make a solution by adding a camera point to move down to look at the floor when you pull the trigger. However, it doesn't work...it lets me attach the switch to the camera, but it just doesn't work. I presume this feature will be in the final game.

BTW...that level hasn't filled the meter completely. But there are problems...the level "overeats"...i think it's because I've added too many bubbles. I was going to add more, but I have stopped now, and just decided to make it a bit more pretty and tweak it.

 

[deepbrown]

It's a great level. Real demonstration of what's possible.

But the most interesting part about it for me was how much difference presentation makes. It's very pleasing to the eye.

As he's in the KZ2 beta I wanted to find fault with this level but I can't. Well done deepbrown!

EDIT: Ha, it seems you didn't actually trigger the race sequence!

It's very easy for you to find fault. I used a template (the wilderness one, look for yourself). Both sledge runs were already created for me...I just added sledges. I think you can actually find a video of this level from WAY back...I just wanted to play it now and make it my own....I have completely changed it, adding in different routes, and blocking off others. I think it's cool I can do that. And I'm kind of put off doing huge levels due to the problem I posted above. Hopefully that's fixed in the final game.

Wow, nice level Deepbrown. How long did it take you to make that so far?

To get to v0.9 it took me around...15 hours?

 

[deepbrown]

Many thanks for the constant feedback!

Okay, that's useful info. There are vids of shrunk objects but these are in-game meshes, like the skateboard or balls. These appear to be shrinkable smaller than the depth of the current z-plane. It sounds like building blocks are fixed width between planes, which is a shame. You can't build something like a giant match with a flaming end that the Sackboy has to drag around the level. This means every magnetic key type control is going be a thick block in depth, or an in-game object. Hopefully there's enough of these to sit most situation, but it makes designing a level pretty hard when you don't know what objects the final game comes with!

At least it's making sense now, how the stuff fits together. I can do my buildings which should look cool.

Ooo, here's an important question. Can blocks be moved into different planes? I don't think so as all forces are in the x/y axis. The only way to 'move' and object forward or back in the z direction is probably to destroy the original and create a replacement in the new plane.

You can create a match...as you can make objects "thin"...so either a block as the depth of 1 plain, 2 plains, or 3 plains...and thin. Hope that helps...

As for zip lines...however you can work it out. My way of doing it was to use dark matter as the wire (it floats) and then adding an ice triangle to slide down it. For this ice not to move before the player grabs the line there is dissolve material blocking it, which dissolves when the player grabs it. For the other one, I just put explosions.

I'm sure there's many ways to make a zip line...I've seen another one made of wheels. But remember...string and elastic etc. go through all objects...so you can't just put up some string and use that as the wire.

 

[deepbrown]

Could you create your superstructures piecemeal and save those pieces out as objects? That might be a workable undo feature to restructure a whole level.

Videos would be very, very good! Trying to design a level on paper is hard when you don't know the ins and outs of the 3D structure. The level is split into 7 alternative lanes (z planes) of thin/thick. Is it possible to have built objects thinner than the thickness of the thick lanes in the thick planes? Can you add a block of that size and then shrink it? And then can Sackboy pick it up? Is it possible to build a street lamp that's a thin column in the thin lane, and has an overhanging arm one thick-lane in depth consisting of both a short length and a light? I wouldn't have thought so, but if you can build the arm in two pieces large and shrink it before attaching, perhaps you can? How are zip-lines added?

Too many questions!

Well i was using a template...so i was able to go back to that template and copy some of the sections...and paste them into my level. However, if I wanted to copy the sections in my own level, I would have to unattach that from the rest of the structure....and as I said, do that and other things will unattach...and possible disappear.

Now that my level overheats whenever I select the structure...bits keep falling off and breaking and then disappearing...the whole of that second sledge run went missing....and it would have been very difficult to get it back. Instead...I had to go and copy my published level and overwirte all my edits...extremely annoying.

 

[FirewalkR]

Just watched the video, beautiful work Deepbrown! Can't wait to get home and.. ummm.. "test" it.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Monday is almost here guys!
PLease, I am in office and can't go after a beta code.Puhlease help me out !

Anybody who can grab an extra code for me......anybody ! Please.

@deepbrown: That level is so cool! Ice !!! and the baddies are so cute !

 

[Arwin]

Yes, thank you. Everyone who fathers a 2-3 year old needs something like this (many Alphabet games !).

Yeah, I'm thinking of creating more educational levels - there are some great possibilities here I think. I immediately started experimenting with a clock for instance that you can set to a certain time, and if you pick the right time, you can progress to the next level. I also thought I could make levels with multiple choice questions fairly easily where you have to jump into one of several gaps marked with the answers, and the only one that will bring you to the next question is the correct one, the other is one of the three lethal stuffs for instance.

Ah so many possibilities!

 

[goonergaz]

Out of interest, can you play with gravity at all?

Would you be able to make something 'act' heavier or lighter?

Can you make it so SB isn't affected by gravity (or change how much it affects him)?

TIA

 

[Arwin]

Out of interest, can you play with gravity at all?

Would you be able to make something 'act' heavier or lighter?

Can you make it so SB isn't affected by gravity (or change how much it affects him)?

TIA

No, that's not possible. Everything behaves according to real life physics. So everything you want to do that fools around with that has to revolve around that. However, there is a 'helium filled' style material that lifts things up. You can mess around with that to make something 'act' heaver or lighter by incorporating this material.

The closest thing to SB not being affected by gravity is by hooking him up to a rocket-pack I suppose. Interestingly enough you can choose to not hook up the anchor of the rocket-pack (as I found out by accident), which allows you to fly around all over the place, which is very similar to having SB not being affected by gravity.

EDIT: by the way, this Indiana Jones inspired level shows how you can indeed use dragging around an object:

 

[goonergaz]

Thanks...I suspected your answer would be the case, it's very nice to have it confirmed.

I have a fews plans and now I can begin to think about things more clearly

 

[Shifty Geezer]

EDIT: by the way, this Indiana Jones inspired level shows how you can indeed use dragging around an object:

Nice clip demonstrates exactly a dragging solution. The idol is one plane deep, but can be wielded, vaguely.

 

[tha_con]

I simply cannot wait to publish my level!

 

[Arwin]

Nice clip demonstrates exactly a dragging solution. The idol is one plane deep, but can be wielded, vaguely.

Yeah. It's a good example of where I think using a bit of floaty material or other would help, if you want the object to be lighter (though mind you in this case I think it was fairly suitable).

Again I have to point out that the power of the creation tools is simply astounding - look what people manage to do in so little time!

This is a franchise for sure, and it will be one of the games that people will look out for on the next generation of hardware as well.

Long live the new little big king!