Archive: 16 posts

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Hey guys! This is the first level I've made in a long time, and my first LBP2 level. With the new logic tools, I saw an opportunity to create a level with a branching story and lots of little choices to make. It was also an experiment in a timed story. In case you're wondering, it's single player only. "You have one day left to live. How will you use it? Choose your path in this open adventure game. Features a day/night cycle and branching story." Hope you enjoy it! Any comments and criticism are welcome. http://lbp.me/v/yygty9

2011-03-15 12:48:00 Author: Unknown User

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Wah, this sounds interesting! I'll queue it up and be sure to leave as detailed a review as I can (in-game). I'll also edit this post after I play to include my thoughts and stuff for others to see. EDIT: 'Kay, I've finally had the chance to give it a try, and I think it's a thumbs up from me. I think more than anything the concept makes this level great. It's a sad and touching tale, common in real life, but never really something we seriously think about from day-to-day life. Part of what's effective is what you can do, or choose not to do in the course of the day, whether it be bad or good, so we think about those inspiring stories of people doing heroic deeds at the expense of self. And if people were a little like me, they even took a little time to think about their own lives. A level from LBP has never done that for me before. The review I left on the level is as follows: I really do love this level. Even though it's a little 'darker' than most of the levels we see, it drives home the point: what changes can you make in the world with a small time left? And I think that's why this level has become so popular. I've thought about what I would do if I was to pass away soon, but never made any concrete plans. Maybe I will now. I tried the level twice, and: The first time, I delivered the packages, introduced the zombies to each other, brought granny to the kebab shop, saved the child from the fire, found the ring, brought the street guy to jail but then got locked in too. So I waited until the day was over. I noticed I had a few 'bad karma' points, I guess from pushing the trolley down the hill. The second time I did the same good things, but didn't push the trolley down, I painted the guy's house, and bought some candy before going to the girlfriend's house. But I noticed when I ended that one I still had some 'bad karma' on my scale. What could I have done that was bad? And were there other outcomes besides the park/lake scene What I can suggest would be... making the dialogue at the end a little more like a cut scene. Like, when they reach the lake, they'll stop for a while and chat with all the cinematic camera angles, shots of the moon and stuff, before you regain control again. Walk a bit more to the park bench and they'll sit down and talk about something else... that sort of thing. I found that when I went right to left, there was a lack of dramatic timing, and either slow or speedy dialogues. As for the level design, whenever I want something to look like I want it to, I have to have a reference. Like, for me... I roughly know that a truck is a big vehicle with big wheels and a large back, but if I want to build it like they look in real life, and not the hideous vehicle in my head, I'll look at a picture online and try to create one to look like it. Seriously, I did do that for my level. And I reckon that basically applies to everything. How does a broken window look like, what does a shop look like, what do the sewers look like, et cetera. Gah, I must have edited this thing about five times now. The only other thing is, in my opinion, if you left both James' and Mary's or whatever they were called, out, and leave them nameless. So that when people play, they think more that it's them in their shoes. EDIT: Oh! And congratulations on your level's success! I'm quite envious!

2011-03-15 14:51:00 Author: Elhaz Posts: 11

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Well I'm sure I didn't do all the things there are to do in this. It's a great premise for a level, and I enjoyed it. I'll try to give you some specific feedback about my experience. Tinkering around in the part where I deliver the two packages, I somehow got the elevator to go up without me but with both packages on it. Some of the tasks were simple and others I couldn't figure out. Painting the house was simple. Retrieving that item in the sewer(?) was relatively simple. There was someone wanting to share eating a cake or something. I figured I would need a grabinator for that, but no grabinator was near. I tried pulling the cake around and the sackperson around but nothing came of that. I was not able to figure out any of the tasks that involved money. I saved the kid from the burning house. I was going to retrieve the drug the dealer wanted, too, even knowing that it would probably count against me somehow, but time was starting to run out then so I moved on. I was unable to tell exactly what the final judgment on me was. The scale had one side with red objects and the other with blue objects (I don't remember which was heavier), but it wasn't clear to me how to interpret that. What kind of branching happens, btw? Does the branching effect the ending as it relates to... Mary?

2011-03-15 22:09:00 Author: zabel99 Posts: 179

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Jesus, my level exploded overnight! Totally unexpected! O_O Although looking at the comments, it's clear some of it is slightly broken or unclear, so I'll try to fix it when I get the chance. Thanks for playing, zabel! To answer your questions, I think some of the objectives might've been too vague. The idea was to make them puzzle-like with some level of backtracking. The money was tricky. There are three ways to get it. You can steal the guy's wedding ring and sell it at the pawn shop, or if you have good karma, the rich guy will give money to you. There's also some money in your house... As for final judgement, the blue scale is good karma, and the red is bad karma. The red starts off heavier because of past deeds that the character has done. And yes, the branching mostly relates to what happens with Mary. [edit]Oh god, am I on Cool Levels? Christ, I should really try and fix the level's problems. XD If you find any bugs, please report them! Many thanks in advance!

2011-03-16 00:53:00 Author: Unknown User

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Sorry for the bump, but I'd really appreciate it if you guys could help me out with the bug checking. I don't really have time to check every single possible combination of events. >_<;;

2011-03-16 05:22:00 Author: Unknown User

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I'm probably the only person here who saw you and immediately remembered the All Quiet on the Western Front level from original beta. >_> <_< Anywho... just played. Objectively, this level is really mediocre. Visually it's sloppy and technically it's buggy. However, it's still the most touching level I have played in LittleBigPlanet. I could try and point out all the tiny faults that ruin its objective quality, but I'd rather just say it's a nice... experience let's say, and very touching. That, and I also am too lazy to try and say stuff to fix. /cough

2011-03-17 01:09:00 Author: RockSauron Posts: 10882

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Agree exactly with Rock.

2011-03-17 01:31:00 Author: LukeCF Posts: 790

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Thanks for your honesty, Rock. I'm surprised you still remember that old level, funny that you mention it because it seems like this one suffers from a lot of problems All Quiet had. haha I guess I just lack the skill and patience to polish. >_<;; How long do you guys usually spend creating levels? This one took me about 26 hours or so and I thought that was pretty ridiculous. [edit]Oh, and do you know any other levels that might be similar to mine? I'd love to see what other people have made in the same vein.

2011-03-17 07:12:00 Author: Unknown User

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It looked like crap I loved it. I'm not a very emotional guy, but I was.. really sad during the ending. On my first playthrough, I had equal karma and Mary didn't walk with James. It was really sad seeing him die alone in his bed. I replayed and got the good ending, and the whole conversation they had was heartbreaking, especially since I knew what was going to happen. Then seeing her alone in the bed the next morning, it really almost brought tears to my eyes. The karma system works really well. The scale at the end gives accurate results of what good and bad things you've did, if you look at it closely. The multiple endings are also very well done! I was planning on having a karma system in my next level, but now I'm not sure I can do as good as you! Obviously, the level fails in design. However, I think you know this and the rest of the level is so great it really doesn't matter! and a <3

2011-03-17 16:18:00 Author: Testudini Posts: 3262

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Cheers, glad you enjoyed it. I really would love to see what you come up with if you end up implementing a karma system. I was disappointed when I couldn't find any levels doing what I tried to do, but if my level can somehow start people making similar stuff, I'd be overjoyed. Hopefully everybody else can do a better job than me! XD [edit]Just read your impressions, Elhaz! Thanks for playing! In regards to your comments: It's never made completely clear, but the game starts off with 4 red karma blocks which are there for previous misdeeds done by the character. I added that in for balance, otherwise I can imagine most people would try to be nice, and if it started off neutral, it'd be very easy to get the good ending! My original plan was to have the ending more cutsceney, but I was running out of thermo and there were honestly just too many connections in the level to deal with. If you saw this thing in create mode... gah, it's a nightmare. Although in the end, I think I prefer leaving control to the player, even if they're just walking. Just an extra layer of interactivity, I suppose. Thanks for the design tips too. I've never really considered using references, but I may give it a shot from now on. Best of luck for your level, it was really awesome and definitely deserves to be up there with some of the best!

2011-03-18 12:26:00 Author: Unknown User

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For me, I really don't mind that the level doesn't look like a realist painting or whatever. Considering what it has - multiple endings, detailed interactions and possibilities and all, I thought it looked pretty decent. What really won me was the idea and how it was executed. How long do you guys usually spend creating levels? This one took me about 26 hours or so and I thought that was pretty ridiculous. Oh, that's an interesting question. For me, by the time I finished making my level, my "Pin Counter" that is keeping a record of how much time I've spent actively in Create mode was up to 5000. Let me work out the math there... 5000 minutes, Equals 83.3 hours, equals 3.47 days. But not all of that time was productive. Sometimes thinking of what to do, sometimes figuring out things to cut out, sometimes experimenting and sometimes just ironing out bugs.

2011-03-18 19:10:00 Author: Elhaz Posts: 11

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Oh, I totally forgot to answer about the names thing. Originally they didn't have any names, but when writing the ending dialogue... it just felt really unnatural without them referring to each other with any names. (Plus, I found an opportunity for a Silent Hill 2 reference :3) Wow, 83 hours... that really puts things into perspective! haha I guess I'm a bit impatient, and I'm just in a hurry to get as many ideas into a level as possible before I forget it all. I wish I had the extra patience to add that level of polish. :/ Off topic, but guess what? Woo, I was temporarily suspended from PSN for something in LBP2, the reason being "Image is offensive." I'd imagine this is because of my level Frown Town (which seems to have been deleted) which was chock full of immature humour (it was my way of trying to make a fun-spirited level, results were mixed lol). So I'm wondering, what is Mm's stance on mature content now? I remember back in the LBP beta, a level would be deleted if it used a red splatter as blood. I hear it's more lax now, but is there a list of what will get you moderated on LBP2? I just don't wanna get permabanned from PSN. xD

2011-03-19 02:58:00 Author: Unknown User

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Red spatter is a no no? God my bird hunting has tons of red spatter. Every time you shoot a bird. XD

2011-03-19 04:56:00 Author: LukeCF Posts: 790

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Pretty sure it was a no-no back in the beta days at least. Isn't that why The Azure Palace got deleted?

2011-03-19 06:38:00 Author: Unknown User

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sorry for bringing this back from the dead, but i actually cried in level, and im 15 and a dude!! At first i though it would be all fun and games and cheerful since its your last day, but then when you reach the girlfriends house. I was like, oh, this is a serious level. but thats not what made me cry. What made me cry was the bad karma ending, just dying alone is sad. However the games did had some problems -Should a bit be more detailed -I had a problem getting the kid out of the burning house, every time i hit the ceiling the kid would get out over its a good level. Matter fact the ending made me think all night and i couldnt sleep till 2am

2011-03-21 04:02:00 Author: wait wtf Posts: 853

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Thanks, dude. The reactions people are having are really overwhelming for me, it's hard to believe my level could have that effect. :,) That said, the next time I create, it's clear I need to put a bigger focus on the aesthetics. >_<

2011-03-21 12:20:00 Author: Unknown User

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