Little Big Planet 2 announced!

I have been getting back into the groove of Little Big Planet. Recently I have created a new level that recreates the events from Fallout 3 that earn you the gold trophy "The Bigger They Are..." where you have to kill 4 Super Mutant Behemoths.

This morning Media Molecule has released the trailer for Little Big Planet 2.



After playing so many hours of the original, I can't help be be excited for this new sequel. The video says that all of the original user created levels work with the new one. That is good news.

Personally I'm more curious to see how much more they have put into the creation tutorial side of things. While there are plenty of user forums and home made videos giving explanations on how to create the more complex stuff, I can't help but wonder how much Media Molecule will add of their own.

The video also highlights how users can create whole stories. The original Little Big Planet tried to do this with the Community Key that you can create and add to each level. My experience with this though is that user generated levels tended to lump all of their keys in at once instead of stringing levels along. Maybe this new implementation will make that more intuitive.

One of the best "upgrades" to come to Little Big Planet is the ability to see each created level in it's own webpage. The ability to view information about levels while away from the PS3 and add them to your own queue to play at a later date is a huge success. One of the biggest disadvantages to the current Little Big Planet is the fact that once you create a level you are at the whim of the community to find the level in game. Sure you can promote the title on forums etc, but the ability to link to each level individually is probably the best thing that could happen to user created content in this game. Hopefully the initial deployment of this infrastructure doesn't buckle as soon as the new game is released and everyone rushes at once to see their own levels on line.

I'm sure that more of this game will be revealed at E3 next month. Stay tuned.

Finished my LBP level

Last night was a night of gaming and creating.  We rented Super Smash Brother's Brawl for the Wii.  That is a game I just don't get.  Of course the boys had fun because you could play as Pokemon trainers and summon all sorts of Pokemon.  But the battle system is just a bit beyond me.  If I wanted to play a fighter I'd rather play Street Fighter or Soul Caliber...or even old school Karate Champ.

The upside to the boys playing on the Wii was that it gave me a chance to work on my LBP level.  I ended up getting another section put in (basically putting it at 75% complete) but I was still having problems with a prize bubble room which was driving me nuts.  After probably 3 hours of level creation I tried out the WET demo.  That is one crazy game.  The controls take a bit getting used to but it will definitely be something worth playing (likely as a rental) when it does come out.

Woke up this morning, fed the boys and headed back downstairs to finish off the LBP level.  I had an epiphany while eating breakfast on how to make the secret bubble room work.  So I went about making those changes (which worked) and then had to finish the last quarter of the level.  After putting in several layers of detail stickers and adding the story elements (talking sackboys and girls) I put the level out for all to play.  So far it seems like it has been moderately received.  The boys found it to be a bit challenging.  It is definitely easier to play solo than with 2-4 players.

Check it out if you have LBP.  The level name is Save Sam and AJ.

More later folks.

More LBP fun...and THX too

Last night had me back for more LBP level editing.  The level is coming along nicely and I have to say that after drawing out the map to explain the level to my co-workers this morning I've been inspired on what to add next.  I've also gotten some good feedback from some of the players who have tested it out already and I'm looking forward to the weekend to get some more "in-depth" time to add details and tweak some of the finer mechanics.  So far the level travels from the small Sack village into the cave of doom.  The cave of doom has burning wood and several areas of jumping.  I worked out a secret bubble prize room but I will need to go back and tweak the emitters.  End game design I want to have the player travel through some additional sections of the cave of doom and then end up on the outside at the other side of the mountain/cave.  If I get really ambitious I may pull out the camcorder and record some footage and post it afterward.

On a side note prior to loading up LBP and waiting for the evening activities to settle to slumber I put in Indy 4 on Blu-ray to pass the time while cleaning up around the basement (mental note--if you let kids spill milk, have them clean it up right away otherwise it turns into a nice gluey substance that doesn't come up easily).  The THX logo test pattern at the beginning of the beginning of the movie was outstanding!  The animations for THX test patterns have always been a cool little preview for the movie after, but the THX folks have really out-done themselves with this one.  Flowers and plants unfolding into a chaotic awesome melody.

More later folks.

A little bit of LBP

So I finished Uncharted Tuesday night. Such a great game. I finished it and then wanted to go back to collect a few more trophies. The plan was to play it last night as well but instead I got a bit side-tracked. Instead I put in Little Big Planet. This is a game that the kids and I have enjoyed from the beginning. The only problem with the game (if you want to call it a problem at all) is the fact that the level editor is very VERY robust. If you want to create your own level you can easily do so, but to make a GOOD level you need to actually spend some time planning out the course, theme, story etc that you want to convey in the game. Building the level can be fairly easy but adding all the extra details to make the level really pop....that is where it gets hard.

As Garnett Lee from 1UP said last week on the ListenUp podcast, "Making good levels is not as easy as just going out and finding good levels made by other people. If I want to play LBP I'd rather play it than build it." I'm paraphrasing a bit but I can totally agree with his sentiment. I've published the level with the intent that tonight I'll go back and add a new swath of content to "enbiggen" the level some more. If you want to look for the level and give it a go, please do. The title of the level is called Saving Sam and AJ. Currently the title won't make any sense as I haven't added the story elements to it yet. I have to say that once I get into the level editor I do find that my creative mind sets ablaze and I find myself getting inspired to try new things.
More later folks.