Little Big Planet Level Recommendations

Organise online games for XBL / PSN / PC / Switch

Moderators: General Chaos, Candy Arse, jizzlobber

Post Reply
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

Absolutely loved it. One of those levels that has character. Not in a patronising way either!!!!
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

Fuck!!! Beta testing mine could take a while. Pretty ambitious stuff in my first level that has a habit of not working and killing my sackboy which requires having to emit replacement vehicles if all goes wrong - unless people have the patience to start the level again, and I'm not sure it has a "must see it all" feel.
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

Thanks for giving it a bash marto. Did you have any problems with it? There's a couple things that I think could annoy people - the first bouncy bit which for some reason at times doesn't send you as high as it should (I left a slight backup plan for that one), and I suppose there's a bit of a trick in getting the bear to his final spot (but I left multiple ways of doing that too).

Looking forward to trying yours. Taking on vehicles with emitters 'n stuff does sound ambitious for a 1st level, but I guess it'll make you an expert pretty quickly.
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

Had no problem getting the bear to the end. However what's good is that it wasn't particularly easy either. Having played craploads of user levels I honestly reckon yours is up there.
User avatar
mech
Phase 3: Profit!
Phase 3: Profit!
Posts: 14858
Joined: 04 Jul 2006 09:55 am

Post by mech »

I want to play your levels.
User avatar
Gamma
Dot Eater
Posts: 4280
Joined: 04 Jul 2006 12:05 pm

Post by Gamma »

I just had a proper go of Morning After and really liked it. Like marto said, there's character. I love the voice you've chosen for the bear, and the flailing arms at the scene of the crime cracked me up. In terms of the gameplay I particularly liked the part where you had to get to the jetpack then return for the bear, you could probably make an entire level around that concept since you could be forced to take a much different path through the same obstacles. Props also for the chequed pattern of glass tiles, it's a simple device but it works well.

I tried for a while and couldn't get the jump pad near the start to screw up- seems pretty solid to me. A couple of suggestions: I'd make the lift activated by the bear rather than the player- as it is you can jam the bear in the lift, or get him stuck underneath it, though you have to try. Of course that would also mean bringing the bear to that point is a requirement rather than an option, and that may not be what you want to do. Also, you can kill the enemy at the beginning simply by standing still in the circular alcove and letting it move into you. Didn't test whether it can kill you while you're there, and it did occur to me that this trick may have been intentional since it's far more obvious to take the stairs. I tried using the bear-jump (which is great BTW) on myself by letting him slide down the hill onto the button, up above there might be somewhere you could hide some hard-to-get points bubbles if you were so inclined, though it'd be tricky to place them so they can't be reached by jetpack.

Stylistically you've used a variety of materials, engaged with the different background depths and I think it looks really nice overall. Far more freeform and organic in appearance than I was expecting given your professed grid fanboyism. The mechanical bits are nicely spaced out throughout the stage, the humour works, and most importantly it's fun to play through. Hearted, nice one. :up:

marto wrote:Pretty ambitious stuff in my first level that has a habit of not working and killing my sackboy which requires having to emit replacement vehicles if all goes wrong
I'll be interested to play your final product as I'm running into a similar problem. Terrain that's impassable without a "vehicle" (using the term extremely loosely), but for weight reasons I can't attach a checkpoint to it, so if you die you're stranded. The issue though is that I can't think of a way to destroy the vehicle to force an emitter to make a new one. I'm thinking of putting an invisible trigger over the checkpoint that tilts the section of ground the vehicle's on and rolls it back to its original position instead, but it's going to be a big job.
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

Damn having to go to the movies tonight - I'd much rather spend many hours finishing my level.
Corey
Immersion Patent Expert
Posts: 4909
Joined: 03 Jan 2007 07:05 pm

Post by Corey »

Gamma have you played the Lunar Lander level? Might be able to use something like that rather than a car or motorbike type vehicle.
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

Whoa, awesome detailed feedback there Gamma - thanks heaps! Massive ramble follows...
A couple of suggestions: I'd make the lift activated by the bear rather than the player- as it is you can jam the bear in the lift, or get him stuck underneath it, though you have to try. Of course that would also mean bringing the bear to that point is a requirement rather than an option, and that may not be what you want to do.
That's how I originally had it, but getting the bear onto the platform is a little tricky (you generally have to be leading him, not following) and there was a potential problem where you could watch him going up on the lift while you're stuck at the bottom and I couldn't think of a neat solution to that. After I changed that bit I decided to make him completely optional elsewhere as well. I'm very glad some people took him to the end though - I was worried nobody would bother. Oh...I put a hint in the level description too - if you get some of him squished you can still get the reward by just taking either his head or torso to the required spot. He's much quicker to drag around that way too. :)
Also, you can kill the enemy at the beginning simply by standing still in the circular alcove and letting it move into you. Didn't test whether it can kill you while you're there, and it did occur to me that this trick may have been intentional since it's far more obvious to take the stairs.
Yeah, I realised that (and it doesn't kill you). I normally jump from the top down to the enemy which then sends me into the alcove. I wanted to keep it all fairly simple at the start and add a little difficulty as it went on, though it turned out that the only difficulty is in getting points...as evidence by the final part which is the hardest but you can completely bypass if you're not interested. Again, I'm just happy that someone went left. I always do that at the start and there's usually nothing there, so I thought hey...a little something for the effort.
I tried using the bear-jump (which is great BTW) on myself by letting him slide down the hill onto the button, up above there might be somewhere you could hide some hard-to-get points bubbles if you were so inclined, though it'd be tricky to place them so they can't be reached by jetpack.
It would be tricky but that's an awesome idea. Did you jump off his head at the start to get to the platform?
Far more freeform and organic in appearance than I was expecting given your professed grid fanboyism.
I kid you not, virtually every fucking thing is basically grid aligned. I cannot get past that. I think I have OCD. Anyway...at the end of the day my effort was all quite laughably crap and amateurish, but I'm happy now that I've at least done one. :)

I'll be interested to play your final product as I'm running into a similar problem. Terrain that's impassable without a "vehicle" (using the term extremely loosely), but for weight reasons I can't attach a checkpoint to it, so if you die you're stranded. The issue though is that I can't think of a way to destroy the vehicle to force an emitter to make a new one. I'm thinking of putting an invisible trigger over the checkpoint that tilts the section of ground the vehicle's on and rolls it back to its original position instead, but it's going to be a big job.
I'd like to do one more level based more on machines that I build myself. Couldn't be arsed for the first one, but I reckon it would be fun just trying to make some complex things work. As I've said previously too, perhaps it would be nice if we could build a bit of a GR library of fancy stuff, or share the load for creating some elements. Not sure if that's possible with the current version though. I've been keeping an eye on the LBP Builder forums - there's some knowledgeable people there so check it out or even post your problem and see if anyone has some ideas.

Edit - Can you describe your problem a bit more Gamma? I just had some ideas but I'm not sure if they would suit what you're doing...
Corey
Immersion Patent Expert
Posts: 4909
Joined: 03 Jan 2007 07:05 pm

Post by Corey »

Played your level just a minute ago, Twit and I thought it was really well done. Good stuff.
User avatar
Gamma
Dot Eater
Posts: 4280
Joined: 04 Jul 2006 12:05 pm

Post by Gamma »

I've played it some more too, it's a really fun level for speed runs (still getting all of the points though). I find a bit of depth buggery afoot at the top of the stairs leading down to the stone arches. I'd take out the block in front of the hole to make it easier to jump down, then cover it back over with a 2D block in the foreground if you want to keep it semi-hidden. That's just me though.

I did use the bears head to get up onto that platform. It took me a little while to notice the sponge pegs (in a good way), so I took a leap at the other platform before figuring it out. There was another moment like that the first time I got up to the two half-electrified rollers with the electrified floor between them- my first instinct was to keep jumping and try to land on the second roller, and I realised my mistake the instant it became too late. You only get one first play (the lag-a-thon didn't count), I like little things like that.

The simplest solution I can think of to your bear lift situation is to require the bear and the player, and when the lift is triggered so is an emitter which spits a wall out from the underside of the roof to the right of the lift (making an elevator shaft basically). You could do it so the bear was still optional too... it'd take a bit more mucking around though. Check out the level "Free Level Design Components (Basic)" if you want to try it, that should give you a headstart.
Corey wrote:Gamma have you played the Lunar Lander level?
I hadn't, it's a cool ship. That wouldn't work in my level, but I've since come up with a simple solution. I've just placed safe footing in such a way that you can always get to the "vehicle", but can't cross the hazard completely without it. That one's testable now if anyone wants to give it a crack, I don't want to publish it yet though as it's incomplete and made from hideous basket sponge.

BTW, mech, can you remember exactly where/how you got crushed in Felt Castle?
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

I use basket sponge all through my level :(
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

Cheers Corey.

Gamma - bear and player could be done with an AND switch... I'm not sure I understand what your emitter would be for? Maybe now with that one out of the way and all the mistakes made, I could apply some of that thinking to a next effort. Maybe a similar vein and expand on the concept or something.

I'll probably be on a little later if you need some more testing (if it works and doesn't go all lag spastic again).
User avatar
Gamma
Dot Eater
Posts: 4280
Joined: 04 Jul 2006 12:05 pm

Post by Gamma »

The emitter was to stop the bear or player getting off the lift on its way up, but in hindsight the switch setup would solve the problem. Might be able to drop the bear from a height and get it to fall under the lift, but I don't think it'd be game-breaking.
marto wrote:I use basket sponge all through my level :(
I mean I've carved the whole level out of basket sponge and only changed the material where it absolutely had to be changed for functional purposes. It's a big, fugly, angular floating block of basket sponge. I'm sure it can look good used in the right way, but mine looks crap at the moment. :)
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

I just played one that I would recommend called Gaucho's Quest by go4relax (I find it best to search by author). It's a puzzler, though he gives away plenty of hints to make it easy. Nicely executed with some good ideas.
Corey
Immersion Patent Expert
Posts: 4909
Joined: 03 Jan 2007 07:05 pm

Post by Corey »

This is an amazing game.
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

It is.

Question...does anyone know what happens when you upload the same level again? Does it wipe out everyone's high scores 'n stuff or just neatly replace it and everything continues on? I think there's a bug in mine which I should fix, but not if it clears everyone's scores.

Edit - some more costumes coming (not free), this time from SSF2THD:

Image
Sauce
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

I had to republish mine to fix an issue where some people were getting unfairly low scores. Sorry about that!

It turns out there were some score bubbles (which are supposed to drop as a result of taking the bear to the right spot) getting stuck in the mechanism I used to drop them. Not all the time, just occasionally. I've changed it to an emitter setup to fix this.

I also did some other minor tweaks. If you play it again your score will end up being higher than what it would've been on the 1st version.
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

My level is now up. I got sick of testing so just put the fucker up. It's called Flaming Rollers.

Please let me know if it fucks up so I can fix.

/bites nails
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

Well someone played it gave it 1 star and tagged it "lousy". Awesome!!!!!!!!!
Corey
Immersion Patent Expert
Posts: 4909
Joined: 03 Jan 2007 07:05 pm

Post by Corey »

I'll check it out later.
User avatar
Gamma
Dot Eater
Posts: 4280
Joined: 04 Jul 2006 12:05 pm

Post by Gamma »

Wow. I really like it. It looks great, and the music suits it. I'm too maggot to give it a proper evaluation at the moment, but there's two issues so far: You can dodge all of the obstacles at the start by being at the back level of depth. Or maybe the middle. I can't see properly at the moment, but you can definitely get on one axis and run through the whole section unscathed. Also, you can take the jetpack to the right hand side of the glass block/piston device, in which case you're fucked. I'll give it a proper go tomorrow, but I like what I've seen so far. :up:
User avatar
Twit
Noticeably Unintelligent
Noticeably Unintelligent
Posts: 2877
Joined: 11 Jul 2006 09:50 am
XBL ID: Twit AU
PSN ID: KAKwit
Steam ID: KAKwit

Post by Twit »

Very difficult in places (but then I'm also spastic).

Ignore the 1 star crap early up. Someone would've just hit it as a new one, couldn't finish within 2 seconds flat, and rated it down.

Unfortunately I couldn't finish it either. I kept getting killed on that race part? I can't handle those spinning platforms. Perhaps if they had a little more tension in the bolts I could do it. Or perhaps if I hadn't had as many beers.

But anyway, there's nothing wrong with making a difficult level. I'll try to give it a proper bash tomorrow. My first thoughts were...looks funky and inventive, I like the sliding glass bit near the start that sends you down below. Inside the wheel thing was fun too, and you stopped it well. The bouncy grab things with the bombs around was tense but actually reasonably easy to get through, and the lead up to that was fun too.

Sorry I didn't get further, but yeah...will try again tomorrow.
Corey
Immersion Patent Expert
Posts: 4909
Joined: 03 Jan 2007 07:05 pm

Post by Corey »

I finished it. Well done.
User avatar
marto
Top Bloke
Posts: 638
Joined: 07 Jul 2006 10:19 pm

Post by marto »

Gamma wrote:Wow. I really like it. It looks great, and the music suits it.
Thanks
there's two issues so far: You can dodge all of the obstacles at the start by being at the back level of depth. Or maybe the middle. I can't see properly at the moment, but you can definitely get on one axis and run through the whole section unscathed.
Thought I had fixed this - gave it a quick go to fix this morning and haven't done it properly but will try again when home tonight.
Also, you can take the jetpack to the right hand side of the glass block/piston device, in which case you're fucked. I'll give it a proper go tomorrow, but I like what I've seen so far. :up:
Oh yeah forgot to glue down the jet pack - should be fine now.

Thanks for the feedback - it's really hard to know what will go wrong.
Post Reply