LittleBigPlanet Beta

[Eel O'Brian]

I feel icky even being in that gaf thread.  No one actually wants to discuss anything brought up in the review, just claw their eyes out over the score (which I couldn't care less about).  So I'll just repost my thoughts here.

from the review:

The game's Story mode is a suite of some 20-odd levels made by Media Molecule that circumnavigate LittleBigPlanet's imaginary world.

I thought there were 50+ levels?

Also, this review didn't answer my question about whether there was some way you could share created levels offline.

Regarding the creation being difficult:

I think level creation will actually get easier over time for everyone, when there are hundreds (thousands?) of players creating community-shared levels, making created objects collectables, etc. People who want to make things like rocket sleds or hot air balloons but are a bit overwhelmed by the process can use pre-made and shared pieces, scale and decorate them to fit the syle of their own level, and not have to worry overmuch about piecing it all together. Basically, the more people there are uploading and sharing objects and levels, the easier it will be for casual users to get into the creation aspect, which in turn will lengthen the lifespan of the game for everyone.  I'm always going to share anything I make, and I'll never lock my levels.  They don't really belong to me anyway, you know?

[WrikaWrek]

Hilarious to see PS3 fagz damage controlling a glowing 9/10 from EG. Seriously.

[duckman2000]

I feel icky even being in that gaf thread.  No one actually wants to discuss anything brought up in the review, just claw their eyes out over the score (which I couldn't care less about).  So I'll just repost my thoughts here.

Wait, are they complaining about it? Not that I give much for Eurogamer reviews after that Hailstorm bullshit, but a 9 is pretty good, yeah?

[Eel O'Brian]

i enjoyed your levels in the beta, swaggaz

Thanks, but I thought most of my levels weren't very good.  All of them were really based around a gimmick idea I had without considering the level as a whole.  The last few levels I made weren't actually levels and just various tests to see what I can do in the engine, except none of them turned out quite right.  I made a Pong game, a Rock em sock em robots one, trying to have animated gifs in the game, and working mech, but they all had issues.

btw, did you ever play that level with the dragon at the end? that one was really impressive and just looking at all the ways the creator got it to move amazed me.

I believe I did, but I don't think I finished it (if it is the one I am thinking of - there were several levels with dragon creatures).  That's my biggest problem with the user-created levels - there were a lot of levels I thought were beautiful artistically, but just too damned frustrating and hard gameplay-wise.  Some of them were almost gleefully sadistic.  Those were the ones I quit without finishing, because even in the beta there were dozens of levels to try.  Creators can construct a beautiful piece of art, but if I don't enjoy playing it, if it's too frustrating, if it seems like they're just getting their kicks coming up with different ways of killing off my little sackdude and not paying any attention to how much fun I as a player am having - then I'm just going to leave without finishing, and so are a lot of other more casual players.  I think I might personally settle into making kid-friendly levels - I'm not sure how many folks will be doing that.

[Eel O'Brian]

I feel icky even being in that gaf thread.  No one actually wants to discuss anything brought up in the review, just claw their eyes out over the score (which I couldn't care less about).  So I'll just repost my thoughts here.

Wait, are they complaining about it? Not that I give much for Eurogamer reviews after that Hailstorm bullshit, but a 9 is pretty good, yeah?

yeah, they are, and going on and on about it.  i don't go to gaf very much, but i get the feeling that these are the usual suspects when it comes to things like that.

[cool breeze]

I took the 20 level thing as 20 levels for the story, other extra ones to mess around with.

And I agree that creation will be quicker and easier as you keep messing with it.  It is kind of like when you first used photoshop and the first thing you do is break out the eraser tool to erase parts you don't want, but then you slowly realize what each of the tools are and no longer use the archaic eraser tool.

[duckman2000]

I feel icky even being in that gaf thread.  No one actually wants to discuss anything brought up in the review, just claw their eyes out over the score (which I couldn't care less about).  So I'll just repost my thoughts here.

Wait, are they complaining about it? Not that I give much for Eurogamer reviews after that Hailstorm bullshit, but a 9 is pretty good, yeah?

yeah, they are, and going on and on about it.  i don't go to gaf very much, but i get the feeling that these are the usual suspects when it comes to things like that.

Granted that this can be traced back to far too high scores given in the past, so it's not like the critics are blameless, but then I'm also going to wager a guess and suggest that many of those who are complaining about the score haven't played the game enough to really give it an honest rating themselves.

Oh well, no use bitching about them. I need to get an eyetoy next week, my awesome levels will make it a 10/10 for sure. Or not.

[cool breeze]

I believe I did, but I don't think I finished it (if it is the one I am thinking of - there were several levels with dragon creatures).  That's my biggest problem with the user-created levels - there were a lot of levels I thought were beautiful artistically, but just too damned frustrating and hard gameplay-wise.  Some of them were almost gleefully sadistic.  Those were the ones I quit without finishing, because even in the beta there were dozens of levels to try.  Creators can construct a beautiful piece of art, but if I don't enjoy playing it, if it's too frustrating, if it seems like they're just getting their kicks coming up with different ways of killing off my little sackdude and not paying any attention to how much fun I as a player am having - then I'm just going to leave without finishing, and so are a lot of other more casual players.  I think I might personally settle into making kid-friendly levels - I'm not sure how many folks will be doing that.

Yeah, when I was thinking of levels to make I keep worrying about if it would be too easy or too hard, if the person would know where to go, and other things like that.  I think I will settle on making easy levels that focus on exploration and the experience of playing it more than testing your skills.  I still haven't seen a good Metroid/Castlevania style level where you have to explore an environment and all that.

[Eel O'Brian]

Oh well, no use bitching about them. I need to get an eyetoy next week, my awesome levels will make it a 10/10 for sure. Or not.

prepare to be underwhelmed by the PSeye (eyetoy)

it's kind of a crap camera, you need a lot of light

i'm thinking about making a stand to prop up things I want to take pictures of for the game

[duckman2000]

Yeah, I have a feeling that my current webcamera is a ton better than the Eyetoy. :/

[Eel O'Brian]

I believe I did, but I don't think I finished it (if it is the one I am thinking of - there were several levels with dragon creatures).  That's my biggest problem with the user-created levels - there were a lot of levels I thought were beautiful artistically, but just too damned frustrating and hard gameplay-wise.  Some of them were almost gleefully sadistic.  Those were the ones I quit without finishing, because even in the beta there were dozens of levels to try.  Creators can construct a beautiful piece of art, but if I don't enjoy playing it, if it's too frustrating, if it seems like they're just getting their kicks coming up with different ways of killing off my little sackdude and not paying any attention to how much fun I as a player am having - then I'm just going to leave without finishing, and so are a lot of other more casual players.  I think I might personally settle into making kid-friendly levels - I'm not sure how many folks will be doing that.

Yeah, when I was thinking of levels to make I keep worrying about if it would be too easy or too hard, if the person would know where to go, and other things like that.  I think I will settle on making easy levels that focus on exploration and the experience of playing it more than testing your skills.  I still haven't seen a good Metroid/Castlevania style level where you have to explore an environment and all that.

I really enjoyed this pirate-themed level that had some hidden places - I forget the name (it wasn't the Air Pirates one, although I enjoyed that, too).  Did you play that one - you actually "set sail" for an island and use the ship's cannons in it.

[cool breeze]

I don't think I played that one.  The only pirate one I played was the linear sky pirates one.

And yeah, the PS Eye is a pretty shitty camera for taking stills.  The main way I take pictures is using a USB extension cable and placing it on my Seinfeld box set looking at my PC monitor. 

[pilonv1]

its still better than the DSi. but its not that great.

also I wondered the day when 9/10 isn't a good score, since sometime a few years ago 8/10 ended up being shit (Mario Karts 7.9 probably). God I hate the system wars homos

[tiesto]

just logged on for some quick post-blu-ray platforming -- haven't been on in a while, been distracted by armored core and life -- and played a phenomenal level called 'world of colour.' in terms of its scoring and platforming gimmicks and its subtle responsiveness to player actions, it's a real step up over the stuff i was playing last week. there is so fucking much you can do with this game -- though personally i can never get much farther than, say, a vague gingerbread man with a giant rotating felt penis. and the crazy dedicated people out there are learning. this is going to be phenomenal

if our local xfags are working towards a total loss of credibility -- and i can only assume that they are -- bashing this game and the stuff people are doing with it should be very productive

Yeah, I played a number of the online levels and I stumbled upon the "World of Colour" one. Honestly, most of the online levels are really amateurish and shitty, but that level was really creative and pretty cool, it looked like a bit of effort actually went into that one.

Also, after playing a lot more, I don't like the controls in the game... it's too floaty, and I hate the perspective shifts (especially how it can sometimes be automatic), especially after playing Wario Land: Shake It or MM9, the controls really suck.