The LittleBigPlanet pre-release Saga

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The question is, how? Same with user generated content. Are all the stickers and objects going to be created by the devs, and user content is just arranging it? Or will users be able to create their own set designs etc.? The latter is really needed IMO. You don't want to limit the playground to limited sets. Some people will want DnD style, and others Space Opera, and other Cowboys and Indians. That's a lot of content for one studio to produce, but leaving it open to the users will see them develop their own resources.

All valid questions that point to how customizable this game might be. My interest in this game mostly stems from it looking pretty and being a great unknown. I just don't know what to expect from this thing...
 
The question is, how? Same with user generated content. Are all the stickers and objects going to be created by the devs, and user content is just arranging it?

From the Edge interview:

"With this you can place objects in the world, decide their physical properties, move them, reshape them, create new ones from scratch, apply stickers, paint pictures, add sound, import photos, design costumes. You can work with a blank slate or from a template, and there's a scale of creativity from arranging ready-made components to designing your own. Media Molecule is calling the system Poppet for no particular reason."

Now, that doesn't elaborate on the low level detail of - say - how you create something 'from scratch'. Obviously you cannot start from nothing, cannot produce something out of thin air. I get the impression that a base set of 'building blocks', of various materials, is provided. So you could, say, specify a block of wood, attach some wheels at each corner, and hey presto you have a vehicle of sorts (i'm actually borrowing this from the 'online' video released at GDC :p). I'm guessing you'll be able to import stickers from the HDD (as with photos), although the Edge preview suggests you'll be able to 'paint pictures' in the game itself. I think the 'online publishing video' is the best indicator we have so far of what you can do..it features a stop-motion, accelerated video of 'creation' and it's pretty neat what they build out of a pretty simple base objects.

The Edge article also mentions that you'll have sophisticated per object 'rights management' over your content. So you can specify if people can take objects you've made from your levels and reuse them in their own. You could have a cool object you've made as a reward for finishing a level you made, for example. Having a system that allows people - with your permission - to take objects you've made and re-use them, or build upon them, is a pretty neat way of growing the 'pre-made' content base and allowing people to benefit from the skill of others in their own design.

This all still leaves questions, but I think we'll get a better idea of how things work at a lower level at E3. LBP seems to be a test-case in balancing freedom with accessibility, and imposing limitations where it makes sense. Even from what we've seen so far, you can see they've made some tough decisions, but ultimately good ones IMO.

edit - here's a link to that vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFMDNfxi4bg Pity I can't find it in high res..might be easier to see what they're actually doing via the Poppet interface. But you can see certain things like..asides from stickers it seems you can paint colour directly onto objects. For example, you can see them paint lava onto a volcano, and paint some text onto a block in another part.
 
The GameTrailers vid shows character customization. Very, very cool (including facial expressions. Wonder how they've got that controlled?). This is what Wii's Mii's should have been!
 
IGN explain the controls...

"One aspect of the gameplay I really enjoyed was the freedom that your characters have. Holding L2 or R2 while using the analog sticks provides sovereign control of Sack Boy's arms, while the Sixaxis tilt function controls the head. Hold R1 and you'll grab something, tap the d-pad in a specific direction and you'll emote with different faces that, by the way, are contextual and change based on your character's current emotional level (happy, sad, angry... whatever). In other words, you can do a lot with your happy little guy even if you're not building an outfit or a world around him."

Sixaxis looks to be invaluable.
 
IGN explain the controls...

"One aspect of the gameplay I really enjoyed was the freedom that your characters have. Holding L2 or R2 while using the analog sticks provides sovereign control of Sack Boy's arms, while the Sixaxis tilt function controls the head. Hold R1 and you'll grab something, tap the d-pad in a specific direction and you'll emote with different faces that, by the way, are contextual and change based on your character's current emotional level (happy, sad, angry... whatever). In other words, you can do a lot with your happy little guy even if you're not building an outfit or a world around him."

Sixaxis looks to be invaluable.
I LOVE that feature! Makes it fun. It brings up memories from when I was a kid and playied with pappets. Only thsi time it could be more fun and far more expressive because the characters dont look "soulless" :D
 
I like LBP, but it seems my cack hands are going to need a dexterity lesson to play the game.

They can just about manage changing gear with R2 and accelerating/steering with the thumbsticks at the minute.
 
This game makes my boy (and me :D ) smile every time something new is shown.
Just absolutely love the style!
 
Customization and avatars is where it's at. I always had the most fun with a game when I could create stuff, sadly most such games are extremely boring. Now with multi-play it will enable the games to have lasting fun factors.

Why do you think people play WoW? It's just for the thrill of getting random high value loot, and new gear. The same reason people go to the casinons, except that you spend time over money;)
 
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To Media Molecule...

Please make a toy arrow accessory... I would like to put one through my Sac-Boy's head :)

... and more animal suits (like a wolf, sheep, Godzilla, whatever), with Sac-Boy's head showing through its mouth.

... and a beer can. The game is incomplete without a beer can or keg. ;)
 
To Media Molecule...

Please make a toy arrow accessory... I would like to put one through my Sac-Boy's head :)

... and more animal suits (like a wolf, sheep, Godzilla, whatever), with Sac-Boy's head showing through its mouth.

... and a beer can. The game is incomplete without a beer can or keg. ;)

You just have to love the freedom in customization

One character looks like mario, another looks like Katamri, the other like the Ninja Cyborg from MGS, one more looks like Hercules Poirot and another from Lilo and Stich!!!

Hahaha simply BRILLIANT
Ninja_01.jpg

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I still don't get the hype for this game. I think a lot of people are going to be very disappointed come release day.

This game is the equivalent to a sandbox in perpetual god mode. I'm sure everyone else here has played them. How many seconds does that last before it's not fun anymore?

If they actually pull together some structure and have a good default experience for this game, it could be a cool platformer. But all of this hype seems so completely out of proportion to what this game is.
 
I still don't get the hype for this game. I think a lot of people are going to be very disappointed come release day.

This game is the equivalent to a sandbox in perpetual god mode. I'm sure everyone else here has played them. How many seconds does that last before it's not fun anymore?

If they actually pull together some structure and have a good default experience for this game, it could be a cool platformer. But all of this hype seems so completely out of proportion to what this game is.

Looks incredible. User created content. Is funny, has a sense of humour. I can't find anything wrong with the title, but only things right with it.

I'll say it again. User-created content, competitive co-op, cg movie visuals, sense of humour.
 
Now you have done it. :)
I can see SacBoy's head popping off, and beans/feathers/wool pulled out from his seams now.
 
rabidrabbit said:
It needs more shiney shine and a rocket launcher to be a good game
I do believe that got upgraded to "it needs snap, crackle and pop to be nexgen" in 2007 :p

I imagine it'd be the perfect addition to Sony's shiny portfolio too - next to goats and exploding batteries, have billions screaming mothers suing them over their daughters having nightmares about blood spurting disemboweled plushies.
Or maybe they should just let TakeTwo publish it...
 
Also, slow motion. Needs to be in slow motion. With lots of HDR. And real HDR this time, not that fake stuff.


(Did we push all the buttons yet?)
 
I still don't get the hype for this game. I think a lot of people are going to be very disappointed come release day.

This game is the equivalent to a sandbox in perpetual god mode. I'm sure everyone else here has played them. How many seconds does that last before it's not fun anymore?

If they actually pull together some structure and have a good default experience for this game, it could be a cool platformer. But all of this hype seems so completely out of proportion to what this game is.

Level of freedom, simple and fan, beautiful, creativity, exchange of that creativity.


What is there to be dissapointed for when:
Nobody is expecting mindblowing AI
Nobody is expecting super physics
Nobody is expecting huge 3D worlds
Nobody is expecting it to be the equivalent of GoW
People love it for what it is

A huge junk of the things people discuss and kill each other in other topics "my game looks better than yours, my game has better simulation physics than yours, the other games of this genre look better" etc are simply not there because it is not compared directly with anything else. It has its own simple expectations.

There is nothing technical or sophisticated. It is liked for its simplicity on top of great presentation and level of freedom with your characters and level design. People wont see this game and say "oh what a stupid AI, these textures are flat, it is linear, I dont like that animation it is not realistic I know other games that did it better, it is too short, I shot that door with a bazooka and didnt explode, the other console does it better, why doesnt the water look like the real think, GoW looks better etc etc"

The closest thing to "dissapointment" for this game is "bored" but not because it wont turn out to be what we are being told. But because initial excitement can wear off or bvecause some people discover after they play it that it is not their cup of tea.

If people are trully dissapointed it would be because the level of freedom is at the end much less than what it was thought out to be

Until that happens though people have every reason to be excited
 
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