In LittleBigPlanet, players control small characters (nicknamed either "Sackboy" or "Sackgirl", owing to their material and appearance), each of which can jump, move, and grab objects. Players can use their abilities to shape and develop the highly manipulatable environment to build custom spaces either individually, collaboratively, and/or competitively. Levels focus on co-operative, physics-based gameplay, and players can use mechanisms such as cogs and blocks to build anything from small level parts to large, complex worlds. The game will also allow opportunities for players to acquire new skills and tools.
A major focus of LittleBigPlanet will be on the global community features through the PlayStation Network for players to interact and share their "patches" - levels and other modifications - as well as online play.
Players can navigate their way through the world by jumping, pushing, grabbing, running to overcome numerous puzzles provided by the game's robust physics engine. Players will also face physics-based enemies ranging from the small such as burning logs, to big "bosses" built around one of six AI "brains" available in the player's toolset. In addition, harmful objects can be placed in the game, such as pits of fire and being "squished" or flattened by an object that cause the player to restart that section of the level; players pop and roll out of restart points nearby.
A scoring system is also in place, in the form of a time trial with a start and end gate and players collecting world items such as sponge. Scoring is based on both time and execution of the level.
All objects and surfaces can have "dangers" applied to them. Any object can be set on fire, electrified, or frozen and the character will react differently when it comes into contact with each of them. Fire will singe the character if it is touched briefly but he will die if in contact with it for a longer period. Similarly, electrified items will electrocute the player and eventually kill him if he is in contact with it for prolonged periods. Prolonged contact with frozen objects will set the character in a block of ice. During this time the player cannot move but the ice cube acts under the physics of the game and can therefore slide around and be pushed around by other players. The player can break free from the ice by shaking the controller[12]. Explosives are also to feature in the game.
The player can also be crushed if trapped under or between heavy items
Objects are made of many different, selectable materials, such as felt, wood, metal or sponge. The materials act realistically; wood does not change shape when you stand on it or grab it, while felt "squishes" and deforms. Objects are selectable from a pull-out menu, nicknamed "Pop-It" [16], accessible at any point during play.
Usable items are not limited to physical objects; from the "Pop-It" menu "stickers" are also selectable. These "stickers" are pasted to any object or wall throughout the world, limited only by the player/level creator's imagination. The stickers can be created from photos taken from the PlayStation Eye.
Players can jump, move, and grab objects by using the controller. The analogue sticks are used for movement and camera control during the game, but may also be used to move a characters' arms by pressing a certain button to swap between functionality. The head can be moved by using the Sixaxis tilt control.
Character movement will also be based on how hard the controller is used, much like pressure sensitivity; for instance, when the L2 or R2 triggers are held (for the left and right arms respectively), jerking the analogue stick will cause the player to slap another player inside the game.
Grabbing is also a key ability; it allows a character to pull an object, or even another character, in whatever direction they are currently moving. This allows, for example, a chain of players to hang off a rope when only one character is actually grabbing the rope. Also, it allows a jetpack-equipped player to carry other players through the sky.
Emotions are also a controllable aspect of the characters. Aside from the normal expression the player's avatar exhibits, the player also has a choice of four different emotions to show, each emotion triggered by pressing a directional button on the controller's D-pad. Starting from the upward directional button and going clockwise, the emotions are as follows: happy, angry, sad, and nervous. Each emotion has three different levels of intensity, the emotion growing more intense with each consecutive press. Kyle Schubel of SCEA also mentioned they want to expand the emote system even more.
After the player has completed three of the levels which ship with the game they will be able to access Create mode, LittleBigPlanet's integrated content-creation system. Any level or individual object can be edited by the player. This includes those which ship with the game, are created by other users or are created by the player. When in Create mode, the player can fly around the level on a jetpack. Pressing the down button on the d-pad will deactivate the jetpack, allowing the user to test the level under normal game conditions. Create mode allows the player to dynamically place, edit, morph, rotate and interact with objects within the game world. The tactile design of the objects and materials available react as at the player would expect when under game physics. Objects can be made out of glass, metal, sponge, polystyrene, cardboard and rubber. More complex items can be built using these materials in conjunction with glue, bolts, string, rods, springs, elastic, winches and pistons. Players will also have access to a range of pre-made objects, such as vehicles, which are shipped with the game or user-created objects which can be given as rewards by the creator for completing his or her level. The user can obtain new objects and materials by collecting the Prize Bubbles placed throughout the pre-made levels.
The player may place stickers onto the objects in their level. These stickers can be images included in the game or stored on the user's hard drive, photos taken using the PlayStation Eye camera or screenshots taken in-game. From here, levels can be uploaded onto the game's servers where other players can download play and edit them. When levels are created, the player can choose to provide a reward for completing the level. Objects given as prizes can then be used in the player's own level, however they are not able to provide it as a reward. The developers hope that this will help expand the share aspect of the game by encouraging users to discuss others' levels with each other and in turn exponentially improve a level's popularity.
The player may customise their character in a range of ways. They are able to select a base colour and texture for their Sackboy from a range of materials and designs. They are also able to create items for the character to wear such as masks and clothes as well as give them pre-made items including swords and capes. The game will also feature items based on other PlayStation 3 franchises such as a Killzone 2 mask and character models based on Kratos from the God of War series , Nariko from Heavenly Sword and Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series.
LittleBigPlanet features a range of multiplayer options. Levels can be played online with up to four players, locally with up to four players or with a mixture of up to four online and local players. Up to four local users can play together in Create mode, the ability to create levels with up to four players online will be added in and update at some point after the game's launch. How multiple users play with each other is dependent on the design of the level and how the users choose to play allowing the players to choose whether they play cooperatively or battle against each other to get to the finish line first or collect the most bubbles. Each local player will also be able to sign in to their own PlayStation Network account and individually collect trophies for their own account. This is the first time such a feature has been included in a PlayStation 3 game.
Both Sony Computer Entertainment and Media Molecule have undertaken a robust marketing campaign in the run-up to the game's release. In North America, SCEA have partnered with several of the major online retailers including Amazon.com, GameStop, Circuit City, Best Buy and Game Crazy to offer unique bonus gifts to customers pre-ordering the game from the selected retailers. These gifts include codes to access additional in-game characters, a sticker book, a burlap pouch for storing the game disk in and an official game guide published by Brady Games. The game's developers have also created retailer-specific trailers for Amazon.com and Wal-Mart. These videos feature in-game footage of levels featuring the retailer's logo built using the in-game toolset and have been embedded into LittleBigPlanet's product page on their respective websites.
In the UK, SCEE have partnered with Play.com to offer a downloadable Nariko character (from Heavenly Sword) to customers who pre-order the game. Also, a temporary shop has been set-up in Manchester's town centre where people will be able to play the game before its release. This shop is due to move to central london in early october
The unveiling of LittleBigPlanet at the GDC 2007 elicited numerous positive reactions. In his BBC News blog, technology editor Darren Waters wrote, "LittleBigPlanet is perhaps one of the most dazzling demos I've seen in the last 10 years." IGN described the game as "beautiful" and reports that "Even in the presence of Home, Sony's impressive new community software, LittleBigPlanet stole the show at Phil Harrison's Game 3.0 practice conference, and was the thing that everyone was talking about.". 1UP writes that "There are plenty of questions remaining about LittleBigPlanet … but it's clear from the reaction to the game so far that it has already won over many fans" and that "this could be something very special."Slashdot Games editor Michael Zenke suggested that the game could be the PlayStation 3's killer application, saying, "if these elements are for real, this is the reason to buy PlayStation 3". Even Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, praised the product, though he was unsure how the game would fare on Sony's platform
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