LittleBigPlanet - Getting the Most out of Your Game
LittleBigTips
So, you’ve just gotten your hands on a new (or maybe used) copy of LittleBigPlanet, the game that’s taking the PS3 creating community by storm, and you may be sitting around wondering “now what?” After all, there is just such a selection of creator tools in the game that initially, making anything can be a daunting task. To that end, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 hints for increasing your LBP productivity and making your levels really shine.
Tip #5 - Complete the Tutorials and then recreate in your own Level
I know this seems like the most obvious tip I can give you, but really, just by sitting down and completing all the tutorials in the building part of the game, you’ll be surprised at just how much you’ll learn and how many ideas you’ll actually have. Most of the best ideas I’ve had for my first LBP level came from tweaking the concepts I learned in the tutorials. As a matter of fact, like most things in life, the reality is that the more you know, the easier it will be to create difficult and interesting setpieces.
Tip #4 - Start Small
My first creation in LBP was an idea my brother had for a “self-propelled wheel”. A wheel that, when activated, would spin on its own and carry the sackboys across the level. By failing miserably (read: Sackboy death every time), we not only had a great time, but we both learned that refining ideas is typically the way to go in LBP. So much so, that by the time we were completing our level, we would create prototypes of new level ideas in a corner of the level before actually implanting them. So start off with something simple and fun, and from there, try to make it more complicated.
Tip #3 - Work the Camera and Those Cutscenes
Working the camera properly is one of the best tips I can give you. A properly placed camera zone can be the difference between a perfect level and a level that makes no sense. Cutscenes can draw special attention to the parts of your level where you feel the players’ focus needs to be.
Tip #2 - Create your level one setpiece at a time
Levels are made or broken by their elaborate setpieces. Imagine if the “Azure Palace” didn’t have a properly working dragon for you to defeat at the end of the level - it would just be a mediocre level rather than the amazing level it is. In our level, my brother and I started work on a “space squid” for the player to battle. As such, we spent weeks just refining that one mechanism, and not working on anything else. Polish is everything, and polished setpieces make a huge difference.
Tip #1 - I Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is…More Logic Gates!
Logic gates are your friend. By creating a simple box wherein a piston moves up and down with a magnetic switch mechanism enclosed within, you’ve just created the key to various things. Logic gates serve as delays for your level, they serve to hide away the mechanisms by which your creations work, they serve to create chaining mechanisms and to give your level a great, polished look. Logic gates are great, and as such, if you can master how to use them (box, spinning, multipronged), you’ll be able to take your creations to new and dazzling heights.
