This past weekend, over 150 students of Parsons New School of Design broke up in to 19 teams for the LittleBigPlanet Design Jam. The goal? Design and build an original playable level for Media Molecule’s upcoming PlayStation 3 title LittleBigPlanet using the in-game creation tools provided. The catch? Do it in 24 hours.
The students worked from noon Saturday to noon Sunday, functioning on nothing but soda, Red Bull, pizza, and their own creativity. The results were revealed at an awards ceremony that was held yesterday at Parsons, with the winner — Team Good Sportsmanship for their Shadow of the Colossus-inspired design — taking home $1,000.
Speaking with some of the students, they were all impressed with the built-in design tools Media Molecule is offering for LBP. While some remarked that they had to get pretty creative in their use of things like textures (they were also able to import their own by way of the PlayStation Eye), everyone enjoyed the amount of freedom it offered. Nearly all of the students I spoke with wanted to get their hands on the game when it’s released this October … but most didn’t have PS3s.
It was also announced during the awards ceremony that all of the levels designed by the students would be shared at the game’s launch, in a “Parsons City” area of the game. For you wannabe LBP designers, that means one thing: the bar’s already been set high. Time to get creative.
