Archive: 20 posts

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Greeting, Sackies! I have a new level to share today, called... http://i5.api.vita.lbp.me/img/bl/8f570edb8d68cd1c757de45a0df33c754fee34ea.png The Other Side "Certain of her brother's fate, a girl crosses to The Other Side." http://vita.lbp.me/v/dh1f9 Background (skip this if you don't care) I was very fond of the game LIMBO, so much so that I made a level in LBP2 called The Fourth Wall (http://lbp.me/v/52y95r) that mimicked its art style and gameplay. I was incredibly proud of it at the time, but looking back it's very rough around the edges. I've grown a lot as a designer in the past couple of years (thanks to my day job!). Add to this that Limbo was recently released on LBPVita, and it got me thinking about my old level. I replayed it and thought that there was so much that could have been improved if I were to rebuild it. Well, what better place to rebuild it than in LBPVita? I started working on it about two months ago, just basically building the mechanics that would make the level design possible. I designed a new ledge/wall climbing system that would allow climbing up walls or jumping away from walls and ledges. Then I created a new method of climbing ladders which allowed the ladder to move while the player was on it. These changes REALLY opened up the gameplay possibilities, and I knew I made the right call to revisit this level idea. I've been on vacation for two weeks now, so I made a mad rush to finish it... and here we are! During the first parts of creating a layout for the level, I had an idea for a companion of sorts: a little firefly bug that followed you around the level offering hints and generally adding a bit of personality. I knew I wanted to do secrets in the level, so it worked out really well to have the secrets (in this case hearts) power up the firefly. As such he gets bigger each time you find a new heart - my inspiration for this idea came largely from the scarf in Journey. I originally wanted to have the player grow attached to the firefly, only to have him be unexpectedly eaten out of nowhere right at the end. This idea evolved quite a bit, but I won't say any more for fear of spoiling the ending! Lastly, since it was greatly inspired by LIMBO, I thought I wouldn't beat around the bush. The tagline for the game LIMBO reads: "Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters LIMBO." Thus, I went with the above name and description for my level. The title is both inspired by "Limbo", but is also a play on words to mean that this is the other side of the LIMBO story - from the sister's perspective. I want to throw a shout-out to mrsupercomputer for helping to develop that idea. Without him, the name would have probably been "Penumbra (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penumbra)" and the ending would have been very different. The Story http://i.imgur.com/DDd5sJn.jpg The story is intentionally left vague and open to interpretation. All you need to know is that you are girl who is looking for her brother. That said, you will definitely want to stick around for the end! If you cannot finish in one sitting (it may take as long as 30 minutes), your progress does get saved periodically so you can come back at a later time.* The Gameplay http://i.imgur.com/4KvmVLs.jpg So the level is all about combining platforming and puzzles, often mixing the two seamlessly. Added to the normal LittleBigPlanet skillset are ledge climbing, wall climbing, and ladder climbing. http://i.imgur.com/KXGrDwf.jpg The gameplay follows a smooth progression that will start by introducing the mechanics and puzzle elements, but quickly ramps up to put your skills to the test. If you ever get stumped by a puzzle, keep an eye on your firefly companion. He will often hover over locations to point you in the right direction. Throughout the level, there are 10 hidden hearts, ranging from very simple to collect, the deviously tricky to find. http://i.imgur.com/VQbiweU.jpg I've also made conscious efforts to make the game feel very distinct from LittleBigPlanet, while still being familiar. The walk animation has been modified, jumping is slightly higher, pushing and pulling boxes feels more natural, etc. I want you to get lost in the level and forget that you are even playing LittleBigPlanet. http://i.imgur.com/hJOzgCm.jpg So there you have it. Find a dark spot, crank the volume, and enjoy The Other Side (http://vita.lbp.me/v/dh1f9)! --- If you run into any issues playing the level, please let me know and I'll try to fix it. Thanks! *Starting a new game will reset any previously saved game.

2013-07-30 20:45:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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Yay, Published! 8D Queued! I want to play it again!

2013-07-30 20:51:00 Author: Pulparindo15 Posts: 334

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Mwahahaha first play and first in-game review :kz: This level... Is just... Perfect! It is a true MUST PLAY for every LBP Vita owner. So honoured and glad I could help you BETA test this. If this doesn't get Team Picked I will eat my hat. And I have never eaten my hat after saying such thing. Never.

2013-07-30 21:16:00 Author: yugnar Posts: 1478

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Amazing Level design, Stunning soothing visuals and a perfect atmosphere. A worthy successor of Limbo and there aren't enough synonyms of "amazing" to describe it!

2013-07-31 00:11:00 Author: dsdavve Posts: 72

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looks very interesting, I actually made a level that used your ledge climbing mechanic a while back called "Mist Cavern" from watching a couple of your youtube videos but it never really got that many palys... The wall jumping and moving ladder sound pretty cool. I'm gonna have to play this asap!

2013-07-31 02:59:00 Author: Papp-CASS_777 Posts: 46

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This level makes me want to drag my goat through ten miles of broken glass just to show my appreciation. This level was very neat, all of the puzzles were simple but well done, the secrets were well hidden and the layout was phenomenal… which is kinda to be expected from you. The ending was especially neat, easily the most striking setpiece in the level. How the score is calculated was also very neat, and I might look into doing something similar in my next level (where there will just be a ton of arbitrary penalties for things beyond the player's control). This was actually much less tedious than LIMBO, so congrats on that. If I do have an issue, it's that I found the movement to be a bit janky. It's nothing that really interferes with my enjoyment of the level, I just found the jumping a tad imprecise. I constantly misjudged distances, which is why I did so terribly when I played the beta test. The hitboxes of the saws occasionally isn't very clear. Everything about the movement works fine, so most of the trouble I had was due to me being terrible and hardly touching my Vita the past few months. The artstyle was nice and atmospheric, but I think a few places seemed a bit empty. I understand why you can't include any more detail, but it would give this level an extra layer of life. I think that the ending is the only part that really sticks out as memorable, but other players will probably think differently. Come to think of it, this level would probably be a bit more atmospheric if I wasn't blasting KMFDM at the time. So yes, kicking rad level and such and such. It's nice to see you're back with a real platformer. Anything else planned? Roller Inc Vita (hint hint) perhaps?

2013-07-31 04:23:00 Author: bonner123 Posts: 1487

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So yes, kicking rad level and such and such. It's nice to see you're back with a real platformer. Anything else planned? Roller Inc Vita (hint hint) perhaps? http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg495/yugnar/9e258f3156f0ee592adf59f550a74b77_zpsbcf08755.jpg Now seriously... It would be so AWESOME to see a Roller Inc in Vita from you comph. It is probably my favorite level ever. Once I even tried to make a tribute to it in LBP PSP but, unexperienced as I was back then, I never got the barrels to roll properly I really hope you can find some time to make Roller Inc 3: Revitalized or something!

2013-07-31 04:40:00 Author: yugnar Posts: 1478

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I love silhouette levels, so seeing that you had a new 'Limbo' style level published I just had to try it. The gameplay was great! Full of cool puzzles and mechanics. The visuals were more basic but that was alright.I managed to find 3 hearts the first time through and this unlocked the 'bad' ending. I won't ruin it for anyone else but this was the highlight for me! I would love to see this idea expanded upon in any possible sequel....

2013-07-31 07:18:00 Author: thespacemonkey187 Posts: 318

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Cool ! That's published ! I won't repeat what I said in the Beta Test section (it's amazing, all that stuff...). How many time to be picked ? BTW if you're so fond of Limbo style, you could maybe (if you have a couple of minutes) try the stunning level by Zedcocozza : http://vita.lbp.me/v/dxkf7 . There is no true gameplay, but visuals are awesome !

2013-07-31 11:21:00 Author: Gwaeron Posts: 170

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How the score is calculated was also very neat, and I might look into doing something similar in my next level (where there will just be a ton of arbitrary penalties for things beyond the player's control). That scoring system was much more of a headache than I intended, the timer in particular. I ended up using a timer set to 1 second to fill a series of 9-target counters (for digits 0-9) and reset when full and triggered again. This caused some weird race conditions between the reset and step inputs, so I had to add frame delays and all that nonsense. This was easier than trying to interpret the signals from a master timer in order to display the correct digits. But then I opted to ALSO have a master timer which was used to pay out the points. The tricky part was that I didn't want the seconds digits to actually need to be calculated during the count-up sequence, since you can only update once per frame, so stepping through 30 minutes, for example, is 1800 seconds. If it takes one frame for each "second" during the count up, then that's 60 seconds of waiting for it to count up. Instead, the seconds digits are actually just counting up as fast as they can, while the the minutes digits are counting one every .2 seconds. When the minutes get within two of the target value, I free up the seconds digits to stop on their target. Yeah, completely unnecessary and nobody will ever notice. Then I had to make sure that the score display took the same amount of time to "count down" as the timer display took to count up. I had to research that .2 second timers (which were used for the minutes displays) take 7 frames, not the expected 6 frames, and blah, blah. Whatever... it works! If I do have an issue, it's that I found the movement to be a bit janky. It's nothing that really interferes with my enjoyment of the level, I just found the jumping a tad imprecise. I constantly misjudged distances, which is why I did so terribly when I played the beta test. The hitboxes of the saws occasionally isn't very clear. Everything about the movement works fine, so most of the trouble I had was due to me being terrible and hardly touching my Vita the past few months. Finally, some actual criticism! I totally agreed about the movement. I think it's a combination of the much higher air-steering in LBPVita and super small joysticks. It's really touchy to get precise jumps. As such, most of the motifs are designed around just doing a maximum jump. If I asked the player to jump between hazards, I set it up so that you do a max jump, and then just stop pressing the stick at all. That may yet be too vague. The only place that I continue to struggle with the jump is the secret near the big spinning cog you platform on. I'm not sure if there is anything I could have done to make improvements on this. The artstyle was nice and atmospheric, but I think a few places seemed a bit empty. I understand why you can't include any more detail, but it would give this level an extra layer of life. I think that the ending is the only part that really sticks out as memorable, but other players will probably think differently. Yep, agreed again. I realized pretty quickly that I was completely in over my heard, art-wise. I'm a designer, not an artist. If someone were to make art assets ahead of time, I could arrange them in a decent way, but it's the making of the assets that I get stuck on. I was also a little burned out from adding art near the end and just needed to get the level published. It's been sucking up my vacation time. I created and finished the ending set-piece in a separate level, so it was "final" by the time it even got added to the level. That's why it seems so much more complete compared to everything else. Come to think of it, this level would probably be a bit more atmospheric if I wasn't blasting KMFDM at the time. Haha, probably true. So yes, kicking rad level and such and such. It's nice to see you're back with a real platformer. Anything else planned? Roller Inc Vita (hint hint) perhaps? I really hope you can find some time to make Roller Inc 3: Revitalized or something! Oh man, we'll see. I'll probably take another big break from creating, as I tend to burn myself out by going too hard on a level. But I will definitely consider it. Add to that the 3 month old puppy currently chewing on my leg, and it's a headache to even find time to work on things. We'll see how I'm feeling around the end of the year. If this doesn't get Team Picked I will eat my hat. And I have never eaten my hat after saying such thing. Never. Well, we'll see. I got in trouble when I published Hexagonal because I didn't clear it by production. The LBPVita Gods (Syroc) may still be cross with me.

2013-07-31 15:04:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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That seems really nice, I'll queue it up for whenever I get time for Vita.Anyways, I'm really glad because vita heavily lacked levels like these last time I checked.Really makes me want to wipe the dust out of it ASAP.

2013-07-31 23:18:00 Author: Unknown User

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I enjoyed this level a great deal! I do hope you do a tutorial one day on how you made that firefly look as though it was flying randomly around my sackgirl. There were two things a little frustraighting to me. . . Firstly, on my second playthorough I found a secret heart that I missed the first time but it took a few deaths to get to it. So I restarted the level so I could get the heart without all the deaths in hopes to improve my score. But what happened on the replay was the hearts I previously got were gone and I no longer had credit for getting them. As a result, when I got to the end I was given a very poor score. (so when hitting start and clicking replay... there are some issues there) Secondly, The box that you move around in the level kept falling on me and killing me. I just think that was an unfair death because if I'm strong enough to move a box it shouldn't be heavy enough to kill me. lol. All that aside though, I really loved this level! I wish you would make levels more often. I so look forward to your creations and this was a great level by the great Comphermc!

2013-08-02 19:16:00 Author: Bitter Sweet Posts: 95

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I enjoyed this level a great deal! I do hope you do a tutorial one day on how you made that firefly look as though it was flying randomly around my sackgirl. I don't know if it merits a whole tutorial. The basic idea is to use a Look-At Rotator and a Mover set to go up/forward, with the local space option enabled. I used some randomizers to pick between several different speeds of Look-At Rotators, and then every so often I would activate a normal rotator for a random amount of time to sort of mix up the movement. There were two things a little frustraighting to me. . . Firstly, on my second playthorough I found a secret heart that I missed the first time but it took a few deaths to get to it. So I restarted the level so I could get the heart without all the deaths in hopes to improve my score. But what happened on the replay was the hearts I previously got were gone and I no longer had credit for getting them. As a result, when I got to the end I was given a very poor score. (so when hitting start and clicking replay... there are some issues there) Did you choose New Game and have this happen? I have memorizers set up if you either Resume or Load Chapter to remember which secrets you found. Selecting New Game is the only way to reset this (and enable the timer at the end). If I didn't do that, players could just collect all the secrets, then replay and race to the end without finding any of them, resulting in an unfair score. Secondly, The box that you move around in the level kept falling on me and killing me. I just think that was an unfair death because if I'm strong enough to move a box it shouldn't be heavy enough to kill me. lol. Ah yeah, I did notice this problem. The boxes are actually metal, and you would not normally be able to push them around... but I created a system where if you are grabbing a box and pushing/pulling, Controlinators on the box detect that and help you out by applying movers in the direction you are trying to go. I opted to make the boxes heavy so that I could do platforming stuff on them without them moving around too much (like jumping on them or grabbing the corners). I don't really have a good solution to this, though. Watch your head! All that aside though, I really loved this level! I wish you would make levels more often. I so look forward to your creations and this was a great level by the great Comphermc! Thanks! I may or may not be making things all the time for work, so take solace in that!

2013-08-03 15:34:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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I did choose new game. I just tested it again and it definately doesn't reset some of the hearts while it resets others.

2013-08-03 18:49:00 Author: Bitter Sweet Posts: 95

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I wanna to play it, but now I don't have possibility(( The Fourth Wall - one of my favorites silhouette levels in LBP2

2013-08-05 16:19:00 Author: ZedCOcoZza Posts: 59

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I have no words to describe this level. This is something great, sensational. You are once again reminded of who is the best! By the way, do you mind if I use your "look at tags" system in my next level?)

2013-08-13 15:34:00 Author: ZedCOcoZza Posts: 59

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YAY ! It's finally picked ! Congratulations comphermc !

2013-08-22 15:31:00 Author: Gwaeron Posts: 170

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If this doesn't get Team Picked I will eat my hat. And I have never eaten my hat after saying such thing. Never. Well, we'll see. I got in trouble when I published Hexagonal because I didn't clear it by production. The LBPVita Gods (Syroc) may still be cross with me. It seems I won't have to eat my hat this time The LBPV gods seem to have forgiven you. Congrats!

2013-08-22 22:40:00 Author: yugnar Posts: 1478

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By the way, do you mind if I use your "look at tags" system in my next level?) Of course I don't mind. Play, Create, Share.

2013-08-26 21:03:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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I played this level last week and it was brilliantly done. The silhouette visuals, challenging puzzles, additional controls, all of them are creative and fun. Awesome work. PROS: +Silhouette visuals +Clever puzzles and obstacles +Grab and jump control +Hidden hearts CONS: -Nothing OVERALL: A yeah, heart, and positive review

2013-08-31 19:20:00 Author: JustinArt Posts: 1314

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