Archive for February 17th, 2011

Community level designers in LBP2 can give details about the level in a little text bubble that appears as the level loads. Some folks take advantage of this by begging you to heart their level. Some folks simply describe what the player can expect, in whatever language. Some folks apologize:

Hello ! This is my first level so there are maybe some problems and it is maybe short but, please, be cool :] [Minimum 2 players]

I’m usually not a fan of artists opening with apologies. The thing about these community levels that I haven’t really mentioned before, though, is that they are all works in progress. Perpetually. It took me awhile to get hip to this. Having been burned by the Special Editions(tm), I’m not crazy about revisionist artistry. But here I’ve come to respect it, and even find my interest piqued by it. A couple of designers whose levels I’ve featured in Daily Little Big Planet 2 have contacted me to let me know they’ve tweaked the level and have asked me to give it another go. One time, as I was trying to figure out how to upload extra pictures, I saw a screen of the revisions one designer had been making to a level. It showed revisions leading up to a moment three minutes before. That designer was still working on the level and I’d finished with it hours before.

The community world in LBP2 is far more alive than I initially realized. There is fluidity here, and I find this exciting. The above quote, appearing in the details for the level It ‘s everyone destiny, is a perfect example of this. I find this level mesmerizing. It’s mysterious, and it’s got atmosphere–partly because of the haunting music–and because of that the fact that I’ve gotten stuck doesn’t bother me. The designer admits there are glitches here in the opening tags and in the above text. Cool. I like where you’re going…I’ll come back and give you more chances. Especially since I only now noticed, after playing your level a few times, that it requires more people than just me. My bad. Regardless, props for being honest about where you are.

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The game has been going on for a while. It’s a close one! Characters are changing dramatically as they get up to levels 13, 14, 15, where their distinct abilities are coming into their own. Dire stuff is happening all around. Now equipment is powerful enough to really matter. I’ve got Karma up to level 14, even though I’ve been mostly sharing a lane. One guy on the other team is level 17 already! We’ve traded a couple of turrets, but no one is getting steamrolled yet. It’s getting real.

I look over at everyone’s level on our team to see how we’re doing. Dingus is level 7.

After the jump, I get by in spite of my friends Continue reading →

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This Playstation blog entry for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game is mostly one of those self-serving “Hey, look at what a collaborative team we are even though we keep pointing out that Ed Boon is in charge!” write-ups. Here’s how they come up with new fatalities at the studio that used to be Midway:

Inspiration can come from anywhere — gruesome murder news stories, old horror movies, and actual nightmares have spawned more than a few of our most disturbing fatalities. There is a usually a lot of “You know what would be cool…” and “What if…” The designers pantomime many of the motions for that fatality and the reaction of the other team members in the room determine whether a fatality is good enough for inclusion in the game. Ideas with the strongest team reactions are the ones we all build on and polish into a final concept. Ed then goes on to storyboard each fatality for the motion-capture session.

I’d love to be at one of those pantomime meetings, watching the dev team act out fighting moves. I imagine they’d make Ghyslain Raza look like a rank amateur.

By the way, the pre-order incentive for the April 19 M-rated reboot is that you get a code that lets you watch fatality videos before the game comes out. The Mortal Kombat series is kind of a joke these days, and fatalities are the punch line.

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