24 Hours With LittleBigPlanet

We recently mentioned an event at the Parsons New School for Design and Technology in which students were divided into teams, given copies of LittleBigPlanet, and had 24 hours to develop levels for the game. GameSetWatch has the story of how the design contest went, what the winners and other notable finishers designed, and how the judges were surprised that "what they played could be completed in 24 hours." Further coverage is available at GameSpot, including a videos of several different levels. "Team Good Sportsmanship's level consisted of a single massive moving monster. SackBoy had to find his way up the monster, go through its digestive track while dodging stomach acid and eventually get on top of its head. The level featured an anatomical tour of the beast, complete with rib cage, beating heart even a dangling uvula. Once the player made it up to the brain, there was a hand-drawn animation of what the beast was thinking: eating SackBoy. Once the player got past the teeth and used the tongue to lob themselves on top of the monster's snout, the level was over."

Comments

SackBoy the new Gerbil King?

[megamerican]

SackBoy had to find his way up the monster, go through its digestive track while dodging stomach acid and eventually get on top of its head

FROG KING: Lemmiwinks, you must find your way out of this place, or you will surely die. This way has been closed off by the great sphinctor. To escape, you must journey up to the dark reaches of the intestine and pass the stomach! Who am I? Just a friend. Heed my words, Lemmiwinks. Your time is running out. Make for the large intestine. Start straight ahead.

SONG: A great adventure is waiting for you ahead. Hurry onward Lemmiwinks, for you will soon be dead. The journey before you may be long and filled with woe. But you must escape the gay man's ass, or your tale can't be told.

Lemmiwinks, Lemmiwinks, Lemmiwinks, Lemmiwinks!

Lemmiwink's journey is distant, far and fast! To find his way out of a gay man's ass! The road ahead is filled with danger and fright! But push onward Lemmiwinks with all of your might!

FROG KING: Lemmiwinks, you are coming to the enterance off the small intestine! There you must seek out The Sparrow Prince!

SONG: The Sparrow Prince lies somewhere way up ahead! Don't look back lemmiwinks, or you will soon be dead! Lemmiwinks, Lemmiwinks, the time is growing late. Slow down now, and seal your fate.

*Sparrow Prince Appears*
SPARROW PRINCE: I am The Sparrow Prince! Long has my spirit been trapped within this place! Before you lies the maze of the small intestine. One path leads to the stomach, the other to certain doom. Take with you this helmet and torch. Let them be your guide! *Gives Lemmiwinks a helmet with a torch*

SONG: Take the magic helmet-torch to help you light the way, there's still alot of ground to cross inside the man so gay! Ahead of you lies adventure, and your stregnth still lies within! Freedom from the ass of doom is the treasure you will win!

DEEP SONG: Lemmiwinks came to the stomach now. 'neath the dance of the lungs and heart.

*Catata Fish appears*

CATATA FISH: You have chosen your path wisely Lemmiwinks! I am the Catata Fish!

DEEP SONG: Catata fish of the stomach's cove!

CATATA FISH: If you answer this riddle, the esophogus will let you pass.

DEEP SONG: Catata fish's riddle will soon be told!

Later...

FROG KING: Hang on Lemmiwinks! You solved the Catata Fish's riddle, your trials are nearly through!

MR. SLAVE: *coughs out lemmiwinks*

SONG: Lemmiwinks has made it out, his tale is nearly through!

CATATA FISH: Great job, lemmiwinks!

SPARROW PRINCE: Thanks to you we are all free!

FROG KING: But your adventures are just beginning! *Takes off Lemmiwinks' helmet* You are no ordinary gerbil Lemmiwinks, you are the Gerbil King! *Puts crown on Lemmiwinks' head*

ALL ANIMAL GHOSTS: All hail the gerbil king!

SONG: Now that you're the Gerbil king has more adventures to go on! Fly away to faraway lands and to the setting sun! So many enemies and battles yet to fight! For Lemmiwinks the Gerbil King's tale is told throughout the night!

Le-Le-Lemmiwinks Lemmiwinks Lemmi-Lemmiwinks Lemmiwinks, Lemm-Le-Lemmiwinks Gerbil King!

Re:SackBoy the new Gerbil King?

[spire3661]

JESUS CHRIST!

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

can you do that in 24 hours?

LittleBigDisappointment

[sexconker]

LittleBigDisappointment

Not mind blowing, but not bad

[KoD7085]

For 24hrs. I'd say not to bad. What would impress me more is to give them like a week to create something and see what can be really done. But it does show there can be quite a lot done with the game.

Re:Not mind blowing, but not bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep in mind that these are also students at a design and technology school. Though they may not be aspiring level designers, they're probably better at this than many of the fanboys will be. Not to say that there won't be some great user-created levels, but I expect that there will be a whole ton of crap to wade through.

Dangling...

[Anonymous Coward]

I just read "dangling vulva". Strange mental image.

Re:What?

[MozeeToby]

Apparently yes, you did miss something. It was a level design competition. A big part of the game is the fact that it allows massive and complex user created levels. They were given 24 hours to see what they could do.

Looks... frustrating

[Fross]

From the two videos I saw, seemed a lot of the time was people wrestling with the controls, trying to execute a jump or hold onto something. A LOT of the time. Gives the impression the controls are fiddly and inaccurate, if you assume that the people operating the characters in the videos are at least familiar with PS3 controls.

Re:Looks... frustrating

[Anonymous Coward]

I was lucky enough to get into the European online beta the other day, and I must say, the controls are anything but. The video gives the impression because Sackboy flits about as you would expect any ragdoll to, but the platforming and controls are as tight and refined as any other I've played. Very impressive, considering it's an old build.

Re:Looks... frustrating

[Chuck Chunder]

Indeed, it looked very pretty but from the videos executing a simple jump, particularly from a standing start, seemed rather difficult to pull off.

For a game that fits largely in the 'platform' genre that seems like a cardinal sin.

Re:Looks... frustrating

[somersault]

I'm not much of a platformer myself (I only completed my first Mario game a couple of years ago when I found an old SNES in the holiday house we were staying in), but even I could see that the guy running around the level just wasn't very well co-ordinated or experienced. He ended up cheating just to show off the level. That game does look like good fun though, especially if level editors are going to be provided with it and there's the multiplayer element :) I was pretty underwhelmed at first there because I wasn't expecting it to be a 2D affair, I was expecting them to be wandering around inside a moving 3D body. That would have been pretty impressive for 24 hours work..!

I've not done much modelling and level editing in the past, but designing levels for a 2D platformer is pretty easy (yes I made a platform game as a teenager, though the levels weren't dynamic, and I've also spent time making Half-Life levels and mods etc).. in this case it was the ideas that were important rather than the implementation since I expect all the funky stuff like the kinematics for the bouncing platforms, swings and such is built into the game engine. Still, good stuff to get it all built from scratch in under 24 hours..

Re:Looks... frustrating

[elrous0]

Bad platform design make'a Mario cry.

Re:Looks... frustrating

[Beezlebub33]

Agreed.

One of the great things about Portal was that when you got the idea right, it worked, even if you are a klutz when it comes to the controls. If I had to absolutely hit the portal correctly, then it would have taken forever and been much less fun. Adding in a 'funnel' capability means that if you're close, then you make it. It also means that my 7 year old can play (well, the non-death levels anyway)

This should be added to LittleBigPlanet as an option I think. it doesn't need to be heavy handed, just a auto-align or magnetic area. If you have to jump and grab onto a swinging rope, then if you get 'close' (for some definition of close), then you grab it.

Re:Looks... frustrating

[ivan256]

I don't see how you can get that from these videos. Some of the more fiddly bits seemed like they were related to the level design, and these were custom levels, not official levels. I have a hard time believing you could draw any (valid) conclusions whatsoever from a gameplay video that doesn't include a video of the player.

Re:Looks... frustrating

[mstahl]

Don't be so hard. A lot of the problems I was seeing were level design problems, and as they only had 24 hours to work out the kinks I think it's pretty impressive.

Re:What?

[Kenoli]

Looks like you missed something actually. Probably the incredibly uninteresting videos that show someone struggling to get past simple obstacles in a rather strange looking platformer.

LOLWUT

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of 'uninteresting', you're clearly an expert.

Re:LOLWUT

[spire3661]

ZING!

Then you fail to understand the game

[SuperKendall]

From the two videos I saw, seemed a lot of the time was people wrestling with the controls, trying to execute a jump or hold onto something. A LOT of the time.

If elements of the level are too hard for you, make 'em a bit easier. Or slap a big 'ol danger label on them. The controls are only part of the game, a large element is that you can change anything...

Re:Then you fail to understand the game

[Fross]

I fully understand the game, when playing it it's a simple platformer. My gripe is that performing basic moves seemed difficult to the users. A poor interface can make even a very simple game frustrating.

Parking in rear.

[Anonymous Coward]

"SackBoy had to find his way up the monster, go through its digestive track while dodging stomach acid and eventually get on top of its head. "

Oh why couldn't it have been a girl monster?

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you use the term very loosely. All they did was place a bunch of prefab parts together. That doesn't qualify as level design to me.

Amazing what you can do in 24 hours

[elrous0]

In just two days, I can have a fully functioning videogame from this event *and* an awesome outfit from one of those gay dudes on Project Runway. God bless America!