Do you recall the very first time you saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (yes, saw the movie. Not read the book. I'm going for a visual here. [Just so we're absolutely clear, we're going Gene Wilder!])? Do you recollect sitting through the lame songs of the first act (DO NOT defend against this. "Cheer Up, Charlie" was the worst travesty in film since the death of Basil Rathbone) and waiting an eternity for the factory visit? Do you remember the amazement that you felt when that tiny/huge door swung open, revealing an awe-inspiring array of edible scenery? I recently had a similar event hit me with that same level of childlike wonder. I had the uncommon privilege of peeking behind the scenes of Takeshi's
Little BIG Planet creations.
Takeshi's Sackboy on the set of his third level, Sackburger(TM).
I recently began anew work on LBP levels of my own (re-inspired by my playthrough of Takeshi's latest level:
Sackburger[TM]). This past weekend I put in a ton of time into it. Wanting to show it off my progress, I went straight to the greatest level designer in Dtoid history. After taking a tour and talking a bit of shop, he invited me to his pod to take a tour of some of the things that he was working on. What do you say to something like that, aside from "Who do I have to kill?"
Haxan's Ico-themed Sackboy visits Sackburger(TM).
I'm not going to ruin anything that he's putting together by divulging any specifics. What I will say is that I toured a new level that is nearing completion (which is every bit as great as what he's come up with up till now), I also got a peek at something we all remember from our childhood being recreated in LBP-form with fantastic results so far (Remember the dude that built the working calculator in LBP? Amateur by comparison).
Beyond that, though, was one of the coolest things ever. Takeshi has levels that are essentially warehouses of unused ideas. You enter the level, and you're immediately hit by cool device after cool device. Many things were created for levels, but ultimately didn't fit, or were inspirations that he's hasn't incorporated into a stage yet. It's like a garage where he tinkers and perfects a contraption before moving it out to it's final destination. An inventors workshop in a virtual realm. I can't even describe how impressive this all was to see.
Takeshi's evil mastermind terrorizes the Sackville Shop n' Drop.
If you own a PS3 and don't yet own Little BIG Planet, you're doing yourself a major disservice. If you've got both and haven't checked out Takeshi's levels, then you're seriously selling yourself short on this whole existence thing. Get on it, now. Do a community search for "johanhin", add him to your "hearted" creators and be sure to heart up his levels if (rather when) you've enjoyed them. And keep an eye out for more. I've seen the things that he's cooking up, and you're in for some serious surprises!
Takeshi and his first level: Destructoid.
If you've not seen them already, check out Takeshi's posts regarding his two of his previously released levels:
Destructoid and
Sackburger(TM). Also, check out his excellent
tutorial for building your own Little BIG Planet levels.
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Your first image rocks.
I still haven't had the chance to play them yet, been playing Prince of Persia, SF4 and Dead Space. I have a big backlog.
But I will get round to them Takeshi :] As I've heard plenty of good things.
Haxan,
When you said you were going to write a blog about LittleBigPlant I didn't know what it was about. I certainly wasn't expecting this! Needless to say I'm overwhelmed, overjoyed and touched. This comment is taking a long time to write because I don't know what to say. I'm kinds speechless right now. Which almost never happens.
Man, I thought you needed that picture of my character to make up a little story of you creating your level. I was really looking forward to it because I love your writing skills. When I read the title I knew it was going to be something else.
I was honored to take a look at your level in progress. I know your imagination knows no limits. That's basically all there you need to create kick-ass levels. I'm looking forward to your final results and I love to test it. I really wish you could create levels in online co-op mode.
I just want to add if you want to use anything you saw in my 'warehouses' you're free to use it. I'll send it to you if you want (that's another great feature of the game. Sending your home made contraptions to each other).
And that first image? I'm gonna frame it.
Haxan, thank you very much.
For everything.
Takeshi, I'm going to try you're levels as soon as possible.
Haxan, that image is priceless.
LBP is probsbly my #1 reason for wanting a PS3 and amazing Dtoid creators just make me want it more.
Takeshi's levels are awesome. They're like mini stories that really can't be told in any other video game. Very imaginative.
The brown-mouthes disturb me though :p. Thankfully none are red haha.
YES.
@Takeshi,
Honestly, dude, you deserve it. You're an inspiration at this game on every level. From your dedication to a game that always felt like it slipped under the radar despite everyone knowing it's name, to the clever ideas that are on display when playing one of your levels. The level of imagination present is fantastic.
Beyond that is the personal stamp that you put on it. most of the best user-created levels are based on other properties. They use other companies' IPs as a crutch. You kick that crutch away and make things that are completely your own. I doubt that anyone else in the world would ever have made a race of people that have underwear for heads. It's that delightful silliness that bleeds pure imagination.
When I played Sackburger, I literally had a smile on my face the whole way through. The only word that can describe my feelings was "joyful". I seriously consider it your greatest achievment so far. It's really very simple in theory, but the various burger characters and what they convey in just a couple lines of dialogue is incredible. Each has it's own personality. They hint at backstories. It's so simple, but conveys a full world. All the while exuding an innocense that is pure fun.
It really is pure imagination. And it's very inspirational. Immediately after playing Sackburger, I finally got up off of my lazy LBP ass and had to get work on something of my own which I've been putting off for 7 months now.
Keep it up, my friend. You deserve the accolades.
Thanks again Haxan. Your kind words mean a lot to me.
Next thing I'm gonna try is to recreate your awesome drawing in LittleBigPlanet! Can't promise it's gonna move though!
@CelicaCrazed
Thanks man! Haha I made those brown poop mouths by accident. I just took some dirty underwear and created a head. Then I saw the poop was still on and left it there. It looks kinda cool but if you think about it, it's pretty damn dirty!
The screens from Sackburger look awesome! I rarely play LBP anymore (I played it a lot when it first came out with my sister-in-law who's a non-gamer)... but it looks like it would be worth skipping a night of Battlefield and loading up LBP for a look at his levels! :)
(though I hope they're not difficult... I'm not real good at platforming and my lil sackgirl dies a lot! )
This makes me really want to get into LBP again. I've actually never even tried the editor outside of just playing around for a couple minutes.
Consider me inspired <3
Sorry I missed this earlier! Stuff looks amazing, and your write-up here is great. I'll have to get back to LBP sometime just to try these guys out.