I am officially done with Marvel. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is listed as a November 13th release on Amazon.com. So in the meantime, I need something else to play. For those who don't have me on Facebook, I recently had a birthday, and added more games to my ever-growing library(read: "backlog").
All of these games except Infamous 2 are largely unplayed. Yes the Dead Island is unopened. Yes the tag on Infamous 2 says 49.99. The most recent additions are the games with arrows, Disgaea, Dead Island, and Resistance 3. However, I can't play them until I finish Infamous 2. I don't have a lot of time each day to play Infamous 2, especially with online games like League of Legends and Dragon Nest about. When you have people that watch you play games, it is difficult to play things behind their back. If your friend bought a single player game and you want to watch the campaign (rather than spend 60 bucks to play it on your own!) you would want them to wait for you before progressing through the story, right? Now that I am finished with Marvel, I need a game that I can play that doesn't require spectators.
I was talking to a co-worker the other day about PC games. My laptop got a little bit of attention during Hurricane Irene. It only has a 30 minute battery life at best because it is so old, but I was able to play 1 particular game on it: RPG Maker XP. At work, my fellow associate and I talked a little bit about RPG Maker. During that conversation, I realized that 99% of anything I could have made on RPG Maker, I could be making in Little Big Planet 2. I popped it back into the Playstation 3 for the first time in months earlier this week.
I am not quite sure what made me stop playing LBP2. It is still one of my favorite games and has infinite "replayability." I do not have the Platinum Trophy for it either; as I am still missing many community trophies. My one level that I published is also mediocre in my opinion. It isn't the worst level I have ever seen, but it doesn't draw in people to play it. In fact, many of the levels with 500+ plays aren't even worth the energy my PS3 uses to load them! Outweighing these is the plethora of amazing levels that I WISH I had the skill to create.
For those who don't know, LBP at its core is a 2.5D platform game. You move left and right across the screen. You avoid obstacles and battle enemies as well. You can change the layers of 2D you run in, making the game 2.5 Dimensions instead of being a full on 3d platformer. There are also objects to interact with, usually by grabbing. LBP2 expands on this almost indefinitely. By manipulating the camera, you can create top-down 3D games. Obstacles are customizable via logic switches to do just about anything you can think of. Objects to interact with have gone from sponges with wings you can grab hold of to actual vehicles you can fly around the level in. It is difficult to list the many things you can do in LBP2 because that would be near-impossible. I believe it to be easier to imagine core concepts in the game and extrapolate from them.
So that brings me to one of the main reasons to get back into the game: creating levels. As I talked about in this ye olden post, I showed how much of an upgrade my LBP1 level needed. I did publish it again, but after months of not playing, it seems that the bar for level design has gone up. The new standards of excellence include many things, but the most important are:
Creator: X-NOBODY-X
Level Design: this is a no brainer. We all know that good looking levels get played. However, the real professional designers have finally agreed upon the use of the "Extra Layer Glitch" for LBP2 levels. Previously frowned upon, this glitch allows you to extend the unplayable depth of your level, giving it great detail and atmosphere. You can create great chasms, a cityscape, stalactites, or anything other immobile object and bump up the beauty of your level. The amount of strain of your level's thermometer is pretty harsh, so more people have started using Level Links. This isn't so bad though as the 3d Glitch creates some nifty transitions between your levels. It is possible to combine the 3d glitch, let’s say a road that appears to lead into a forest with any sort of transition(Teleporter, level link, etc). This eliminates the need of elevators, stairs, or other primitive level transitions.
Hardcore Logic: The bar has also risen for complexity. In the past, you could just toss a box on wheels, give it a gun, target a player, and call it a tank. To make something amazing, most creators combine Holographic Materials with their Logic. Holo material is the ultimate problem solver. It is your source for custom animations, HUD displays, Hit boxes, targeting, and many other awesome things. Remember my bird from Sacknight Part 1?
It flew left and right across the screen, stopping at certain intervals to drop eggs(cardboard ovals with bombs inside) on the floor. It got a small LBP2 upgrade by removing a "wheel-based timing mechanism"(I made that up) and replacing it with a simple sequencer. The floor had spotlights could fire at any sackboy that enters its field of vision. This was replaced by the holographic squares you see on the floor. These act as alarms. When a sackboy touches the material, the spotlight will fire, eliminating the inconsistency of the spotlight's default detection. I left my miniboss this way, but after returning to the game, it could use even MORE upgrades.
1)Flying left and right is far too plane. Using the advanced mover, I can make it fly in circles. I could even randomize its flight patter using Direction splitters and a randomizer.
2) Cardboard ovals with timed bombs inside? How about actual eggs with a microchip?
Most games also use Sackbots rather than real Sack boys and girls. You can load a player into a bot at the start of the game to change what they can and cannot do. I am unsure if I want to take this route, but many of the popular levels on the Community Page are action platformers and menu based games. Instead of picking up a paintenator off of the floor and coloring spiders until they die, your Sackbot could have a fireball spell. Every time you press Triangle(the read chat bubble icon) as a Sackbot, you shoot fireballs. Give the fireball an awesome animation I could be swimming in level plays. You can also give it sword slashes, double jump, dash, anything you can think of really. The levels with the most plays have extremely complex Sackbots.
While I toy around with LBP2, trying to get better at level creation, I will try to upload some pictures or videos of my ideas. The ultimate goal is to get a Platinum trophy of course, but I want to do it and feel like I deserved it. For those who want to see my (mediocre) Sacknight Level, you can search for it by name or search for my moon. PSN: Ealdnarche
Want an example of what looks awesome and what..isn't as awesome?
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