Archive: 6 posts

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Anti-LBC1: A Very Sony Christmas PSN: Teebonesy Location: Pacific Ocean, just West of USA (Best results are to search for "Teebonesy".) This level was made very shortly before Christmas. I never expected to make a level quite like this, but I was hit with a burst of inspiration when playing through other peoples' entries in the LBC1 competition (Make a level for the PS3's birthday). There were tons and tons of pretty bad entries, and even the very very best levels really came across as Sony commercials. The whole contest started to look cynical to me, so I thought I'd bring a bit of my own cynicism to the table and make an entry. So it's not really a level that's at all about Christmas. It's my cartoon satire about consumerism. To me, nothing in the level is actually all that ridiculous compared to what happens in the real world, or as I have come to call it, "ScaryBigPlanet". It's Christmas '06, the season of the Playstation 3's birth. Back in November of that year, I was one of the crazy people who stood in line at a mall to get my hands on one. It was utter chaos. People got hurt, police were called in. I thought I'd tell THAT story, along with some of the other aspects of the PS3 that are easy to leave out of a contest entry - the exorbitant price tag and the loss of numerous exclusive titles. My idea would be that Santa's trying to steal PS3s from the mall and has to fight off a massive mob of crazed shoppers, and you're going to help him out so you can get a system to poor little Billies back at home. Because of your good deed (that is, helping a thief steal a $600 piece of electronics), Captain Sony shows up and takes you up into the clouds to Playstationland, where you learn all about the sordid history of the Playstation 3. In making my first level, I had a rude awakening - Before I even finished the house at the very beginning, my thermometer was half full. I was screwed. I ended up cutting the level in half, eliminating the entire "Playstationland" aspect and finishing at the delivery of the system under the tree just in time for Christmas. It's been hectic getting all of the mechanics working and foolproof - it may never be perfect, but it's getting close. I've spent more hours on this level than is healthy, so I really hope people give it a chance, despite the fact that it's now after Christmas. Oh, and did I mention that after working all day on the level and staying up all night and publishing at noon, I ended up getting the level in just AFTER deadline for the contest? Good times. I tacked "Anti" at the beginning of the title to seal the deal on my cynicism and STICK IT TO THE MAN! *shrug* Hopefully anyone who hasn't played this level gives it a chance despite the fact that we are now far away from Christmas! If you've ever held a loathing in your heart for malls, this level may just strike a chord. If you've ever worked retail, this level may just pull your heartstrings. Note that I originally had this listed under my thread for The Movies, but decided to separate it out, as otherwise it would go almost entirely unnoticed. Another disclaimer: these screenshots were taken with the in-game screenshot tool, meaning that all sorts of good stuff like lighting gets completely lost. The level isn't quite THIS flat-looking, but it certainly gets the idea across. http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i202/teebonesy/APhoto_5.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i202/teebonesy/APhoto_4.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i202/teebonesy/APhoto_17.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i202/teebonesy/APhoto_12.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i202/teebonesy/APhoto_13.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i202/teebonesy/APhoto_9.jpg

2009-01-20 13:06:00 Author: Teebonesy Posts: 1937

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Thank you for the link on the other thread, This level is really well done and if you haven't played it you really have to, I've hearted all your levels and you =) I'll play this level again to give you some better feedback to refresh my mind

2009-01-21 05:21:00 Author: Thee-Flash Posts: 3154

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Wow, I really appreciate this! I just last night made a little tweak. I played it through to take some screenshots and was blown away to find that the freaking Santa lift didn't GO UP ALL THE WAY, at least the first time up. I just couldn't believe my eyes. How did that get past me. and how long has it been like that?? So I fixed that. Everything else SEEMS to be working. I hope to God at least. My biggest issue with the level is probably the arcade room. It's just sloppy. The food court used to be just awful. Ugly, confusing, hard to navigate. It was just jUNK. You didn't even know what you were looking at. Just random, ugly shapes and colors. So I re-did it from scratch, made it clearer, simpler, and containing recognizable items. I'll probably do that eventually with the arcade too, make it a much cleaner experience (and actually recognizable as an arcade). I mean from scratch, the whole room need to be torn down and re-made from cloth. Aside from that, the main thing I've gotten criticism from is the "maze" in the last level. It went from being frustratingly diabolical to being uglied-up a bit in the process of making it easier, to being almost empty, to finally reaching a kind of middle-ground where it remains now. Also, I don't think everyone gets that when you pull down the "bridge" in that room, you can short-cut across the top of the crowd so you don' t have to deal with it again. Not sure how to make that more clear, I like to avoid arrows, but that might be appropriate there.

2009-01-21 05:28:00 Author: Teebonesy Posts: 1937

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fantastic level. written well and looks brilliant. Fun and funny. I would suggest fixing the elevator so that it only goes up or down when you are on it rather than just constantly going up and down. It became a bit frustrating when i kept accidently standing under it and getting squished because the mob was in the way. but overall 5 stars and hearted

2009-01-21 07:34:00 Author: muttjones Posts: 843

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Oh, yes, the mob is a little nightmare there... Crap, that sucks that you were getting killed by the lift. what I might do is give the player control over the lift. So it goes up and stays up, and then allows them to call it back down if they fall. that's the problem I had before, when I used to have it set to direction and only go up once - if you fell, you were screwed and couldn't get back on. I don't know what would be the most convenient method - Ideally I'd like to do it without having to explain anything with text. the problem with having a call button is that if the player hits the call button before getting on the lift, it would send the lift up without them. Not that they're screwed, but it is a bit unintuitive. hmm... I'll have to mull this one over. It's a good find though, I definitely feel like there's still a lack of polish there. I don't think it's possible, or at the very least, remotely easy, to break the level anymore and make it impossible to beat (that used to be a problem EVERY TIME I published) but I'm still on the lookout to streamline things and make them as smooth as possible.

2009-01-21 08:10:00 Author: Teebonesy Posts: 1937

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Played this last night night and even though I had my fill of Christmas themed levels you did a particularly good job with this one and I enjoyed it immensely. I liked the fact it wasn't all "happy happy" and you added some dry humour in there. Great Job!

2009-01-21 09:29:00 Author: wexfordian Posts: 1904

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