Archive: 11 posts

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It's not perfect, and it takes a bit of patience, but having made one myself now I think I can make a clear assessment. The really important thing I would say is to scale down. Keep things as simple as possible. Right now, because of the potential for breakage, complexity is your worst enemy. It is much less frustrating to remake a simple piston-based elevator than it would be to remake an elevator with callback, sliding doors, the works. Is all that glitter really necessary? For instance, I had inadvertently glued the entire backdrop of the level section to my Octopus boss. I didn't realize it until I was finished setting up the boss "logic". I couldn't unglue the backdrop because it was a captured object (thus deleting my entire boss instead), so I had no choice but to unglue the boss piece by piece. Thankfully, I had kept my boss simple. It was composed of only four pieces glued together and moved by a stiff piston. Fixing everything took all of about one minute or two, but it could have been a lot worse had I gone more complex (and I had several complex ideas in mind, which I discarded or toned down in the end with no regret). I think having accepted the limitations and quirks of the create mode instead of trying to fight against it, I actually learned to enjoy creating the level instead of feeling frustrated. The time would fly while on the train, and I even stayed up until 1 AM putting the finishing touches on the level. I thought I wouldn't be able to create on the fly, but that's exactly what I did. Barely any planning, no graph paper, just some fairly random shapes and ideas thrown into a blender. Since I kept everything simple, I didn't have to fight against the Create mode on more than a couple of occasions. And even then I simply accepted the limitations after a while and moved on to simpler or more imperfect solutions to get the result I wanted, which turned out alright. Having published my level, I felt there was a kind of void when looking at "My Published Levels". Sure you get the rating and play/heart count, but there's no level pictures and no comments. I didn't feel the same kind of attachment to the people who played the level, since all they can give me in return is a set of numbers. So I encourage everyone to post the level here in the showcase. Even just one comment on LBPC is worth 100 plays and hearts. I also encourage everyone to advertise for LBPC as well for this very reason. LBPC makes LBP more fun, whether it's on the PS3 or PSP. So that's pretty much my experience having made and published a level. Now to cook up the next idea.

2009-11-28 18:04:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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Thanking you

2009-11-28 18:11:00 Author: KQuinn94Z Posts: 1758

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The only issue, then, is.... is making levels for LBP PSP worth it? I can totally see how making levels such as yours, Jaeydens, and JackOfCourse's is feasible. Basic platforming with very little mechanics. The problem is.... many of us here have been playing basic LBP platforming levels for over a year now. And as soon as JackOfCourse tried to do something that was interesting, he got frustrated.... same with me. I totally agree with your assessment, and I'm glad you had a good experience - but I REALLY hope the basic bugs are fixed soon. Also, I really think the publishing "emptiness" is going to seriously affect people being motivated to create. I couldn't find your level at all unless I did a direct search for it. And if you lose the hearts and plays when you republish, how many will continue to be excited? I'm a bit worried about the long term health of this game.

2009-11-28 20:23:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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It definat needs comments and photo. cuz there might be bugs that need fixing etc. Also neds all the bugs fixed and a snapshot tool etc.

2009-11-28 20:31:00 Author: Unknown User

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I think I will keep it simple for now, but in the long run I want to be able to do complex things.

2009-11-28 20:42:00 Author: Darth J464 Posts: 343

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I agree wholeheartedly. The fact of the matter is we should be able to make complex levels if we want, but that currently seems impossible without a ridiculous amount of frustration. I'm also worried about the future of this game. Everything hinges on SCE Studio Cambridge's investment in listening to the community and promptly addressing the issues raised. LBP was full of bugs and much fewer features when it was first launched. It only survived thanks to Mm's dedication and the player's faith that they would make it better. Will LBP PSP survive the same trial of fire? I can't really tell yet, but I'm hoping it will.

2009-11-28 21:31:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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Agreed... I started creating with LBP on initial release, but it DEFINATELY was nothing like this. The thing, I believe, made LBP catch on so much was that the basic engine was sound - it did, for the most part, exactly what you expected. If you glued something to dark matter, it stayed. If you attached a switch, it worked. If you attached a piston, it did what you would expect. The thing that worries me is fact that basic things, such as pistons not staying straight or material moving, implies a serious create engine issue that HAD to be known prior to release. I'm not trying to be overly negative, but imagine what will happen in the next few weeks when tons of people are finishing the story levels and decide to start creating.... people who aren't nearly as competent and patient as us. This game will get a horrible reputation really early.

2009-11-28 21:47:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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I agree with everything that's been said here. I am nearly halfway through my level (half thermo too) and have had annoying bugs come at me when I try some logic. I even have a simple piston that pushes out a little creature when a sensor switch is activated. However, I watched the piston and pressed pause and play (up) about 10 times and as it is a stiff piston, by the end the creature was in a totally different place. I will address this issue right before publishing the level I've decided. Also, I've avoided using any pistons at all now on my level. Though some may be needed at the end. I will finish my level and I am enjoying creating still, but it really is a pain at times. But since I have no PS3 in uni this is better than nothing

2009-11-28 22:14:00 Author: ryryryan Posts: 3767

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I've been able to use pistons and bolts correctly, but sometimes they do the material shifting and other times they don't. I've even had the eyes of my giant enemy crab shift away... but they were static objects simply glued to the eye stalks. After fixing them with the corner editor (selecting all of the corners to move it at once), they didn't seem to shift again for the remainder of the level. I'm attempting to reproduce the piston shifting problem myself, but the buggers won't budge. Does anyone know a surefire way to get the material shifting to occur?

2009-11-28 22:38:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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I've been able to use pistons and bolts correctly, but sometimes they do the material shifting and other times they don't. I've even had the eyes of my giant enemy crab shift away... but they were static objects simply glued to the eye stalks. After fixing them with the corner editor (selecting all of the corners to move it at once), they didn't seem to shift again for the remainder of the level. I'm attempting to reproduce the piston shifting problem myself, but the buggers won't budge. Does anyone know a surefire way to get the material shifting to occur? Well I've got a floating static object with a piston to captured basic rubber object with a stiff piston and it happens every time i unpause. A pain :/

2009-11-28 22:55:00 Author: ryryryan Posts: 3767

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I am not sure. I have not run into the problem yet, but I wanted to test it out to see if it would happen to me. I made tried to make an extremely complex machine and saved as much as I could and switched in and out of create mode, but the only bugs that happened was that a piston broke and a switch would only work if it was glued down. If someone could come up with a test that should make that glitch happen, then I would be very happy.

2009-11-28 22:59:00 Author: Darth J464 Posts: 343

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