Archive: 19 posts

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This level is an object demonstration of (surprisingly enough) a three stage rocket. Not only does it go up however, you need to pilot it carefully so it will land within two poles. There are guiding lights in the sky so that you can see how you are going. If you see red lights, that means you will not make it. Yellow means you are close, right over the pole. Green means you are on target and right over the scoreboard. Just be careful though, the rocket is very sensitive. Use gentle movements and be aware of your center of gravity. I've had this object built for while, but I just have not got around to publishing it. With the Set the Scene (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=t=6647) contest going on right now it's inspired me to put some finishing touches to it. It's a very complex beast. The lift you use to get it contains half the launching system to get it off the ground. But really, you have to see it for yourself. But remember, gentle movements! Red is bad, yellow okay, green is good! There are signs saying if you have overshot the mark wildly. If that's the case, then you will need to restart. The object is too complex, especially with the object capture bug, to be able to be put into a one shot emitter system. It's not a big walk though to restart. Enjoy! UPDATE I've added an electrified ground above the score board. Previously it was possilble to jump out mid-flight and land on the score board when you were over the right area. This is no longer the case. This area will dissolve when stage 3 gets near it though, so you likely will never even see it. I've also added extra "red zone" stickers on both sides so it's even clearer when you are flying the wrong way. Finally I'll give this level a go in the F4F system. It's only really an object demonstration though rather than a full level, it's just a very souped up and very complex one. I'll give feedback on 5 mini-games or object showcases if people request it. I'll try my best on longer levels, but because of it's short play span I'll just be focusing on the equivalent. ANOTHER UPDATE I've given the whole level a major overhaul. A brief summary of the changes include: There is now a scoring system in place. The better you pilot, the higher your score will be. This should encourage people to finish it, try again, and see how accurate they can be. I've done a major overhaul of the guidance lights. It's now MUCH clearer as to where they are, making piloting easier. I've also extended the right "red" zone out a much longer distance so it's clearer when you overshoot. I've done a tonne of little graphic and sound changes as well. It's a much cooler and prettier expereince. WHY YES, ANOTHER UPDATE Changes made: I've slanted the top of the stone pillars you need to fly between, in the direction of the landing pad. That should make things less frustrating if you land on top of one, and you should need to give it less of a push to get it going in the right direction. Minor changes have been down graphics and sound wise, see below. And for the first time ever, here are some pics. I took them in edit mode so all those who are curious can see all the wiring. Even I have trouble working it all out through sometimes. :blush: UPDATES STILL Stage one (the big section at the bottom of the rocket) would sometimes land on the scoreboard, making it impossible to read the scores. Hopefully it will now dissolve itself and fly off harmlessly if this is the case. The lift was being problematic with multiple players when it was set to "sense all". I've changed it to sense one and used the magic mouth to highlight you can jump up and grab the light in the lift to stop going up if there are multiple players. Hopefully I've run out of changes to make, and people can now enjoy the level. If you have further suggestions, however, let me know! BUT WAIT! STILL MORE! I've gone and added a LBP central sign. Seeing as this is officially entered into a contest on the site, it only makes sense to advertise the site a little bit more. I've revamped the scoring system. It should be more generous and accurate, while still rewarding good piloting. Finally, I've increased the brightness of the red guiding lights. It's not a huge change, but it should make them a little bit more visibile.

2009-01-01 09:50:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Pretty slick rocket. Can't say I have any real problems with it. Maybe I don't watch enough rockets, but shouldn't that pink floaty ball be more parachute-like instead? It's fine, it just kinda looks odd to me for some reason. It's not a big deal, but if you veer to the right at the right time, you can make it over the wall before the pink floaty appears. Maybe the wall should be taller? Anyway, nice job! I can't find anything really wrong with it. It seems well put together.

2009-01-02 18:25:00 Author: gameguy888 Posts: 159

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Well, it took me five tries, but I made it. First time, not far enough. Next three, too far. Fifth time, landed on the wall. Nothing seems wrong, didn't encounter any glitches or anything. In hindsight, the reason I did bad was because I completely forgot about the color system. You might want to color the rocket though, cardboard-color is sort of bland.

2009-01-02 20:42:00 Author: BassDeluxe Posts: 984

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Pretty complex and ingenious invention you got there Elbee. The only problems I've encountered is the first 3 tries or so the floatie didn't trigger. Maybe this was because I overshot it big time. The button inside the console really makes it a pain to move to the left or right, but I think for success your not even supposed to move off the button? I got it on my 6th try and barely moved. But the 3 stage rocket idea was crazy cool, and I applaud you for trying something that I've never seen before Bravo!

2009-01-02 20:58:00 Author: Neverynnal Posts: 374

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theres some proplems turning the turning thing ends wy to fastor its to hard for me

2009-01-03 01:24:00 Author: hiyo38 Posts: 20

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It's a secret design trick, but the pink floating landing system is actually triggered when you reach "cloud" height. It's on a delay, but it you never reach the clouds, it will never fire. If you don't reach the clouds though, I don't think it would be possible to land in the landing area. You would have way too much velocity and should be overshooting it big time. If it's possible to actually land in the landing area without the parachute system firing, then let me know. I did briefly consider a more "conventional" parachute design, but it's an emitted object, and you can bolt an emitted object onto an existing one. Though it kind of looks dorky, some of the older rocket modules had parachutes going everywhere when they landed, so I used that for inspiration (and practicality). The steering is very sensitive indeed. I stand in roughly the centre, maybe a little bit to the right, and only use small movements until well into stage 2, when it's got enough velocity it won't change things too much. You don't have to stay on the button. I originally had a grab switch to initiate everything, but once I worked out you could move to steer quite accurately, I turned it into a button to encouage moving around. The vehicle is built out of cardboard and dissolve, with a bit of polystyrene to make it look nice and clean and for when I was intially experimenting with a grab switch. It looks nice though, so I've left that in. I had not stickered it up though too much, as I was afraid I was breaching the rules of the contest (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=t=6647) I've entered on this site. It's relatively obvious what it's made out of though, there is no way you could get the thrust dynamics that I use with heavier material, well, at least I think there is not. :blush: So that's why you can see all the keys and most of the mechanics, because it's part of the contest. I still have some less essential stuff hidden as it looks awful with too much stuff, like sound effects and some non essential sensors, but most of it's all there. If you can work out the 10 keys and 6 pairings I used to make it all work, well, I would be impressed. But I might go and sticker up the body anyway. I'm thinking of updating it again and adding some more graphical touches to it. I'll also likely extend the "red zone" lights on the right even further so people know for sure they have gone too far. Finally, I'm planning on implementing a scoring system that will give out points for every "green" light you fly over and for landing near the scoreboard, to try and encourage people to pilot skillfully and to encourage replays. So stay tuned for more updates!

2009-01-03 04:30:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Just played and I found it very original. It took me 3 tries to get it right though and "parachute" thing was a nice surprise, reminds me of "Red Planet" where the pod is involved by airbags. Anyway, as I said, one of a kind, but something that took my attention away were the visible switches though, still, good job.

2009-01-03 05:03:00 Author: Morri Posts: 53

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Just played and I found it very original. It took me 3 tries to get it right though and "parachute" thing was a nice surprise, reminds me of "Red Planet" where the pod is involved by airbags. Anyway, as I said, one of a kind, but something that took my attention away were the visible switches though, still, good job. I have to keep the switches visible for the contest (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=t=6647). It's a complex enough system that I don't think people will work it out anyway.... well, if they do, they will likely improve on it, which is not a bad thing. Once the competition is done I'll go back to covering up everything again.

2009-01-03 05:15:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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I have to keep the switches visible for the contest (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=t=6647). It's a complex enough system that I don't think people will work it out anyway.... well, if they do, they will likely improve on it, which is not a bad thing. Once the competition is done I'll go back to covering up everything again. I see, but it was very different, I liked the spotlight touches, just like real launches where they keep the launchpad iluminated, I always say that the beauty of a design is on the smallest details.

2009-01-03 05:18:00 Author: Morri Posts: 53

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Hey just played and I really liked the way you can control the rocket by moving left and right, beats a switch or 2 grab switches! Did it on my third go, first 2 I overshot however third time i landed on the wall and jumped along until i fell into the finish zone lol. maybe to stop this you could make the top of the walls into a spike or just make them thinner. Also i just had a brainwave about the parachute! (not sure if it'l work, havent tried) -Create a parachute object and a small circle of wood or something and join with a piece of string or two. Create an emitter on the rocket which creates the parachute so that the circle of wood is inside the ship and the parachute is above it My thinking is that as the pod falls the wood will hook it and the parachute is attatched by string so it will slow its descent!...Let me know if that made no sense, I just splurged out everything i was thinking about back there at once! Overall though I am impressed with the rocket, very good concept which I can see quite a few people taking inspiration from!

2009-01-03 10:55:00 Author: turnipeater Posts: 83

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I've just finished a MAJOR overhall of this level. Let me list the changes: I've added a point system now. The longer and closer you get to the green lights, the more points you will get. Even if you barely reach them yet still manage to land in the goal, you should still get some points for the achievement. I managed to get over 1100 points while testing, and seem to average around 600ish. So the better you pilot it, the higher your score will be. I'm sure it's possible to get much higher than 1000, you just have to find the perfect spot for it. I've done a major revamp of the guiding light system as well. I've added lights which give the correct coloured glow for quite a large radius, so it's really really obvious as to which zone you are on. This should make controlling a lot more easier as it's easier to see where you are, especially if it's your first time playing. Speaking of the guiding lights, I've extended out the red zone on the right for quite some distance, so it should be quite obvious if you are over the mark by the constant red lights you should see. I've put in a sound for the lift, and added "count down" lights to the launching platform. Those are just cosmetic changes, but they make the whole launch sequence cooler. I've repainted the rocket. It's now a much more serious black and white design. Finally, I've added a new speech bubble mentioning the new scoring system. Not only does it tell you this, you get to see the whole rocket from yet another cool angle. --- I was considering revamping the parachute system. But then I remembered it would be a very, very complex thing to fix. I almost have to build a whole new rocket to do so. Although it looks straightforward, it was a very hard thing to calibrate. The current system does work, and though it's just dorky pink floaty, it does the job and does not look too awful, especially if you don't know what to expect. I might look at changing it at some point, but it would be a major overhaul for a system that's already working fine, so it's a low priority. As for changing the columns, I guess I could make them slant very slightly to make it easier to roll into the landing zone. Making them pointy would be too punishing on the player if they land on the wrong side, but a small slant might help it roll a bit if they get close. Thanks for the suggestion. --- Overalll though I'm running out of changes to make to the system. I might add some sort of buzzer sound to the count down sequence as well, but I think the level is getting about as good as it can get. I may make further cosmetic changes to the rocket itself as well. And yes, it's still all acheived by one button press. UPDATE Some more changes have been done. I've slanted the top of the columns towards the landing area. This should make things easier and less frustrating for people. Though of course, you won't get as many points if you land there, but at least it's finishable. Thank you turnipeater for the great suggestion. I've added sounds to the countdown lights. It's a cosmetic change, but it's a cool one. Finally, I've put a black stripe on the body of the TSR so the "S" is clearer. I've also gone and taken some pictures in edit mode. They are hyper small as it's using the in game image capture, but you can kind of see all the wiring going on in all the shots.

2009-01-04 07:31:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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I tried this out yesterday (before the changes were made I think) and I really enjoyed your creation. I took the "gentle movement" speech bubble a bit too seriously though and did not even see the green "zone" until after I landed lol. Your TSR is a well constrcuted verhicle that I am sure other creators would be able to find a use for (especially where space themed levels are concerned). Based on all the updates you made I will be checking it out again. I also had a chance to play your Dr. Spongehead tutorials and thought they were great, both hearted

2009-01-04 07:40:00 Author: OCK Posts: 1536

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I've done a small update yet again. Sometimes stage one (the big section at the bottom of the rocket) would land on the scoreboard itself, blocking off the scores from the player to read. I've changed the situation where if this is the case, hopefully stage one will dissolve itself. If this causes a problem for the players, that being large rockets hitting the landing pod on descent, it's likely this effect. If this occurs, let me know and I'll have to consider alternatives. Due to the difficulty in recreating such things, it's difficult to play test this part to death, as it's happened only twice in all the play tests I've done. From what I remember of the flight paths, it should not be a problem though. --- I've also made the lift sensor "sense one" instead of sense all, and changed the magic mouth with it to mention that you can grab the light above you and the lift will go down again as you will be outside of range. The lift light grabbing thing was always there, but I changed it to sense all when I was playtesting this with one friend. I noticed however that sense all was causing even more grief with 4 people, however, as you have to precisely time the jump off the lift together or else people will likely get left behind. Once one person jumps off in a large party, the lift drops as it's no longer "sense all". That's not good as the rocket launches without everyone on board. So hopefully, the lift will stay up if there are multiple people in it, and give them enough time to climb into the command module before stage one fully fires. It's a second or two before all rockets for stage one fire. That's the theory. Let me know if this is still a problem as well. --- I really think I've run out of ideas on how to improve this stage though. I think it's getting to be about as good as it could be. If people have any other ideas or suggestions, however, let me know.

2009-01-04 15:21:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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It's a very nice concept. Three times I went too far. The third time happened even though I was standing directly dead center the whole time. By the fourth attempt, I hit the green area. Got 340 points, I think. I think the rocket is too finicky though. It's also hard to know where the colored areas are, and by the time you figure it out, it's too late to really do anything. Perhaps space the colored lights more closely together so easier to see the line you're supposed to take? And perhaps you could make the background dark to resemble space or a night time sky. It'd just make the presentation which is average right now, and just make it a bit better. Of course, this is just an object presentation level, but I'm a sucker for a pretty level any day.

2009-01-04 23:58:00 Author: Unknown User

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Well, as I've said in the first post, I've gone and tweaked this level even more. Let me list the changes here as well. I've gone and reworked over the scoring system. It should be even easier to get a high score now, maybe even a little too easy. I'll have to see as time goes on and further testing occurs. It's also a lot more reliable now, the score bubbles should all fire in a fair manner. Sometimes the emitters were not quite doing what they were suppose to do, but that's all been fixed. :blush: I've put in a LBP Central sign. Seeing as this is a part of the "Set the Scene" contest on this site, it only makes sense to advertise here a little more than I normally do. I've increased the brightness of all the red guiding lights in the sky. They should be even more visible now. I've also gone and done a few small lighting changes around the place. Nothing huge though. I did also experiment with different backgrounds, including the wilderness ice background. It just made the whole thing look cold and wierd. I think I'll just leave it as a default. The darkness and guiding lights make it look like I've not been too lazy in this area anyway.

2009-01-08 20:18:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Interesting. Here's my take on it. The rocket itself is nice, it's cool watching it separate and stuff. However, I think it would work better in a more guided design (As a novelty in some shuttle mission level or something). My reasoning for this is because it really only flies correctly during the initial trajectory if you are in just the right place on the cockpit and generally you aren't going to know where that is in one try. It's a real pain to have to try again (esp. with all that dialog at the beginning) and since you can't use an emitter to create another one, the only way is to restart. Because the initial thrust is the section where your position influences your flight most dramatically, not knowing where to stand makes it basically based on luck. However, I do like the scoring system for this level. (the one time I successfully flew to the goal I got the top score! woo!) Perhaps, as a way of making it more guided, the base was made of a heavier material and had a weight offset built in so its center of mass was skewed enough that it flew in that direction. Edit: almost forgot: rated 4 stars, Tricky

2009-01-09 08:02:00 Author: phort Posts: 74

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judging from what I've read this rocket is pretty cool and i would like to try it, but where is it?That is how do i find it in the community levels.

2009-01-21 00:35:00 Author: The Comedian Posts: 113

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The rocket itself is nice, it's cool watching it separate and stuff. However, I think it would work better in a more guided design (As a novelty in some shuttle mission level or something). My reasoning for this is because it really only flies correctly during the initial trajectory if you are in just the right place on the cockpit and generally you aren't going to know where that is in one try. It's a real pain to have to try again (esp. with all that dialog at the beginning) and since you can't use an emitter to create another one, the only way is to restart. Because the initial thrust is the section where your position influences your flight most dramatically, not knowing where to stand makes it basically based on luck. However, I do like the scoring system for this level. (the one time I successfully flew to the goal I got the top score! woo!) Perhaps, as a way of making it more guided, the base was made of a heavier material and had a weight offset built in so its center of mass was skewed enough that it flew in that direction. Edit: almost forgot: rated 4 stars, Tricky Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the rocket. The entire rocket except for the final part is now made out of dissolve. I could use "dissolve glue" to have parts seperate and have heavier parts, but that would drastically affect the thrust levels. At the moment they are on relatively low settings and would need to be boosted dramatically if the weight is increased, possibly to the point where it hardly flies well at all. Also having non-dissolve parts could pose a problem for landing. On very rare occassions the base of the rocket will land on the score board itself, making it unreadable. I've worked around that by having it dissolve itself if it gets that close. I could do that I guess with the final stage going on the landing area, but I can't dissolve the floaty easily, so there is not much point. The amount of time the rocket is in the air varies, it's not simply a matter of giving it a short life time. Overall I could make the rocket more guidable, but I think it's showing just how accurate the physics engine can be. It's a different challenge to the usual run and jump platforming. You have to take account of momentum and angular velocity. It also shows that it's theretically possible to land this big rocket practically anywhere, and all from just a tiny sack person moving about. For guiding it in general, I stand in the middle, maybe a bit to right. If I am all the way on one side it won't pilot well at all. I then just move as needed while the rocket is mid flight, sometimes all the way to one side if a big change is needed. Where you are for each stage change seems to be particularily important. It does get harder to control as it goes on, but it's not like your movements have no effect at all, it's just already got a lot of momentum behind it by then. As for the length of replaying, I just keep pressing circle when I am walking and testing just the rocket itself. It's not a big walk at all if you skip over the dialogue. If I somehow shortened it by moving the checkpoint closer with a sticker switch, for example, by the time you walked there it would be the same time as doing that. :blush: judging from what I've read this rocket is pretty cool and i would like to try it, but where is it?That is how do i find it in the community levels. You can search for my PSN as a creator, "Elbee23", or you can try the level name "The TSR - Three Stage Rocket". Just go to the right of the "Community" button and there should be a search function. I think the specific search section is at the top of the list.

2009-01-21 01:19:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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the rocket is pretty cool but i found a glitch in the scoring system if you do ok and you land between the poles you can get out of the control moduel, collect the points on whatever side you land on, then get back inside the pink circle and walk inside to roll the rocket to the other side and then get the points there as well. That's how i got the high score on your level today. Yeah, I figured that out after a while and found it. Thanks though.

2009-01-21 04:30:00 Author: The Comedian Posts: 113

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