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rtm223
Killin' Them Logics-ly
Interview conducted by Teebonesy
"Nobody notices the details, they just notice the lack of them." So goes the reasoning behind spending numerous hours fine-tuning and detailing and tweaking micro-details. The reasoning behind planning and laying out clever bundles of hyper-efficient logic to do things wondrous and innovative. The reasoning behind the months of tweaking and turmoil that form rtm223's short but luminous body of work: It's all there so that you won't notice it.
And it's true. Put the average LBP player or a non-LBP player into Subterranean Setbacks, and ask them what they thought of it. They'll likely tell you about their experience. How hard it was - how they couldn't figure out the generator room - how they got past the rat - but what you probably won't hear is "Oh my GOD, how did he manage to make ____? That should be impossible!" The truth is, it's absolutely full of amazingly clever tricks. And perhaps the best trick of them all is how all this cleverness manages to stay appropriately hidden behind the curtain.
And that's because Rich isn't here to show off his fine skills (and they are fine, but we won't tell him that because his head is conspicuously large as it is). He's too busy utilizing that unbelievably oversized, overstuffed, shockingly proportioned, likely-unbearably-heavy cranium in crafting an experience, where countless hours of careful planning and building go into the subtlest of nuances to enhance the trip. In other words - he's here.
The rest of us are down here.
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AWW! MY KEYS!!
All right, this one isn’t really a question, but if you would be so kind, please list the levels you’ve published to date and any statistics you’d like to share with us, i.e. plays, hearts, how many rocket animals per level, etc. Whatever you feel like sharing.
Well, for proper levels, I only really have Subterranean Setbacks. It is pretty good, if I say so myself. It was nominated for Level of the Year (2009) by the lovely folks here at LBPC, but that's the full list right there.
Now, tell me... of these levels, which is your favorite? And why?
What do you mean, "Of all these levels"? But... OK. Well, I suppose I have to say Subterranean Setbacks.
What was the first full level you ever built? And what was it like?
.... Ummm ... Subterranean Setbacks? Look, I really don't think these questions are working out so well, are they?
Oooh kay. I can see SOMEONE'S not taking this seriously. Now I have to come in here and mess with our perfect formula. We wrote these questions to cover everyone we might spotlight, they're universal to great creators. Here's a question for your little interview: Would we even spotlight someone with only one full level published?
I don't know, you were the one who asked me to come here but didn't bother to think the questions through!
Oh, I guess we're better at making jokes than answering questions. How about I field that last one myself since you're not having such an easy time of it: No. No we wouldn't spotlight a "creator" with only one level.
Hang on there, I'm not letting you field any more questions. You've had your spotlight (which, by the way, is all rather suspect, seeing as you're part of the team who chooses the spotlightees) and I'm not about to let you hijack mine with your kooky, incomprehensible babble, just to cover up the fact that you haven't done your research. As I said, I only have the one level, so all the questions so far have had the same answer: "Subterranean Setbacks". Are you even paying attention? Or just reading questions off those cards?
Oh, so you're going to bring up the cards now. We're taking this all the way into the gutter. You're going to play the "cards" card.
Whatever man, just read what's on the next card and let's get this over and done with, for everyone's sake.
Jerk.
You know what. No. I don't need the cards. The kid gloves are coming off. *Checks card* So how long have you been playing LBP, then?
A little over a year, properly. I only own the game because it came with my PS3 and in honesty, I was planning on selling it on as I just thought it was some silly kiddy game (please don't hurt me). Sheer laziness meant that it never got listed on eBay and curiosity got the better of me. I played story mode for a few months as a casual thing whenever friends were round, but it took me until April '09 to start realising that the creation tools actually had some potential. So I was actually quite late to the LittleBigParty, but in many ways I think the community was still finding its bearing. It would certainly be very daunting turning up now, with 3,000,000 levels published and so much skill, knowledge and expertise knocking around everywhere you look.
A little over a year? And only one level. I'm not calling you a liar. I'm just saying, it isn't polite to lie.
I'm not lying - I've only published one full, playable level! But there are are a few other things I've published or been involved with creating that are worth a mention, I guess:
- Demitters, Remitters & Dissolve Everything: An early Tech Demo from way back. It's a very simple concept but one that hadn't occurred to most creators at the time.
- The Ordered Inputs Tool: Quite a unique bit of tech when published, it was a very lightweight solution to a problem that was being posted around the forums and was based on some pretty original methods.
- Wheeley Good Switches: Another Tech Demo which was pretty innovative and still has some interesting techniques for various types of speed / motion detection logic. It'll be interesting to see how this translates to the microchips of LBP2.
- TechnoLegs: My winning entry for the 7th contraption challenge. This was pretty much born out of insomnia and at it's core is a really simple mechanism, but it evolved into a logic monster!
- Cap'n Sackbeard's Booty: A level co-created by myself, comphermc, GrantosUK and OmegaSlayer (published under comphermc's PSN) and originally built in a single week for a very tight deadline in the water beta. The version published now was overhauled and extended from that original, but most of what is now uploaded was created in that week, which is quite insane and I'm really proud of what we achieved in that level.
- The LBPCentral Logic Pack: It certainly wasn't the first logic tutorial out there or the most advanced, but it's gotta be one of the most famous of LBP's community creations. I just happened to be lucky enough to be involved.
Plus there are some tech demos and other miscellanea published and I have so much stuff unpublished, or simply deleted. Then there were the logic blogs and my brief stint on the spotlight team. I have kept myself busy, despite my paltry portfolio of one!
What creators and levels (if any) have inspired you to create?
I think I'll be copping out a little on this one because I don't like to make lists of favourite creators or anything - I'd just miss people off by accident or in some way or another upset someone by accident and I don't like doing that. So instead, what I will do is answer a question you didn't ask and pick out the very first level that really struck a chord with me. Now that was mrsupercomputer's Zephyr Valley, which was published just after I arrived in the LBP community and
Aside from drawing inspiration from other creators and levels, is there anything in the world outside of LittleBigPlanet that inspires you? This could be a hobby, profession, or even a particular movie or type of music. Pretty much it can be anything in your personal life that has contributed to your experiences as well as inspired you as a creator.
Oh, just about everything. After spending so much time playing the game, thinking about it and planning things when I'm away from my PS3 and also dreaming - literally dreaming - about it, I'm now at that point where just about anything that catches my attention begs the question "how might I achieve that in LBP?". So films, games, novels, architecture, art, weird bits of engineering theory, machinery, anything... Occasionally it gets quite worrying, but then I tell myself that I'm not really addicted and remember that denial is such a wonderful, wonderful thing. Yep, I could stop obsessing over LBP any time I wanted... I just don't want to right now.
Weirdly, probably the one thing that doesn't have any influence on me is music. I pretty much always create with music on, but it's just background, it does absolutely nothing for me as a muse, which is in stark contrast to most people's experience of listening to music during creative activities.
What are some of your favorite video games (excluding LBP) - new and old?
I've been gaming since I was really little and there were quite a few from my early childhood that I can't even remember the names of (except Flashback, oh my God, Flashback was awesome), but slightly later than that I remember Mario Kart, Donky Kong Country and Street Fighter 2 as some of my favourites on my SNES.
From the original Playstation era onwards is where I've done most of my gaming though and the following are just some of franchises that have really stood out for me over the years: Odd World, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Doom, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Quake, Unreal, wipE'out, Grand Theft Auto, Tekken, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Assassins Creed - the list goes on... Sadly, looking through that list, there are quite a few that I haven't found time to play the latest installments of, due to a certain game rinsing all of my free time. Also, most of them are very violent... Make of that what you will...
However, my all time favourite game franchise is Legacy of Kain. It's just... soooo good.
If you could list your favorite things about LittleBigPlanet, what would they be?
Everything! And LBP2 will be better, because there is just more, more of everything.... *sigh* I don't think I'll ever live down those words. Though, in my defence, I'd been conscious for over 30 hours when Alex cornered me for soundbites, of course I was just spewing nonsense!
Although, in a way, that's kinda true. I think most gamers have, at least at some point, wanted to make games. That's just the way of the world and as LBP really is far more sophisticated than just a map editor, and brings the concept of making games that little bit closer to reality for the average person. The sophistication can be a double-edged sword though. For some people, it means that you are required to fully implement the art, the direction, the gameplay, the control systems... Nothing is done for you. For me, that's a plus. It's an opportunity to take full control of your creation, and that is a wonderful thing.
It's also a closed system with far more complexity than MM ever really let on, so the community has taken it upon themselves to discover the rules that govern it, break the system down and each time we find out new bits of info about the subtleties of the engine (or find a way to break it with glitches), people can start adding that knowledge into their toolset and the community takes a big leap forwards. It's fascinating seeing how the community has come along and being able to be a part of that is probably the thing that keeps me involved the most. I genuinely love experimenting with the tools to find out what the limitations are.
And your least favorite thing(s)?
This one is a tough one. Most of the irritations with the editor are things that I've learned to work around, to the point that the button presses to avoid certain issues are subconscious. Part of me wants to say the community, but I think a lot of the issues there stem directly from the community system. Between the abuseability of it (spam publishing, auto-moderation) and the "one-size-fits-all" ethos of finding levels, the system is just so unsuitable for what the community has become. Although saying that, H4H has never bothered me. I'm happy for people to trade hearts if they want that trophy, or if they simply want more hearts and I'm sure very few people would care that much if it wasn't for the spam that goes with it. But all the criticisms are so easy to say with hindsight - I don't think most of what we have seen could have been predicted in advance and I fully welcome the complete overhaul we will see in the new game. It can't change the nature of people, but it could at least be a viable tool for finding levels that are suitable for each individual as a player and that will be a massive leap forward for this game.
Oh, that and the time demands... I love that create mode is so deep, but it practically sucks your soul away if you really want to create anything beyond mediocre! And to think that I quit WoW after I decided it was taking too much of my time!
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while creating?
Loss of work is the most obvious thing and thank God for the improvements in saving and backing up that MM have provided us with over the last year. There have also been some nasty experiences with levels simply being too freakin' awesome for the game to handle (or at least that's what I put it down to). For a while I couldn't bring anyone into OC in Setbacks because it would freeze both machines and finishing off the boss in Cap'n SackBeard was freezing my PS3 in solo, offline create every few minutes while I was trying to solve a really tough problem. Stuff like that is not good for your blood pressure!
On a sort of similar subject, have there ever been any great ideas you had that failed or for any other reason you never implemented?
Oh loads, but most of them have never been finished simply because I stopped work on them, or never found the time. There haven't been many ideas that I've tried to create and been unable to find a solution, it's just me not bothering to complete them, or getting bored, or deciding that I don't have that much interest in them - I really am my own worst enemy in that regard.
If you worked for Media Molecule, what would your first order of business be? This could be anything from adding materials or tools to eradicating H4H.
I don't even care about H4H in honesty. To my mind, the only problem with it is the spam that comes with it. Ideally, H4H could just exist without any bother if there was some in-game method for the H4Hers to find each other without pestering the rest of us - basically like how you have the kiddie table in the corner at dinner parties, so the adults can just have a little bit of peace! That would be just lovely. Anyway, back to the question: if you'd asked me a few months ago, I'd be listing a whole bunch of improvements to the community system, but what's the point? MM have that covered. They also have so many more tools on the way that it's hard to pick anything significant in game that isn't already coming, although there are a ton of tweaks I'd love to get into the new tools. I think I'd probably just pull up a beanbag and a laptop, get my geekface on and browse through the LBP source code while the other guys finish of what will undoubtedly be the game of the year. Then try to find some way to take credit for all their hard work!
Oh, and just to earn me brownie points with the community, I'd make is so the creatinator has a couple of alternative meshes!
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I'm taking this baby to the moon.
What's up? ...Wait, why am I getting deja vu? Hm. Anyway, what's up?
What? Why don't I remember that other interview? Did you just make that all up? I'm not like that at all!
[at this point rtm223 punches Teebonesy in the face and screams at him for several minutes for no reason at all]
Hey, what's that you're writing on the card? Are you adding a new question?
Oh, nothing. I was just... I was writing a description of your handsome haircut. Don't worry your sweet little hairs about it. Down to business: You're known as a logic and gadgetry wizard in LBP. You have far more behind-the-scenes inventions than full levels. Could you explain the road to this unique LBP throne of yours?
Well, it probably won’t surprise anyone that it was the logic that drew me into LittleBigPlanet create mode and of course, for everything else I can do in this game, that is by far what I do best (apart from sucking at platforming, reputedly). But there are a lot of people who make awesome logic and I’ve actually never built a boss or a calculator or anything impressive like that - although no one seems to have fully clocked that yet, so keep it on the QT, yeah? What I did do, however, was to approach logic design in slightly different ways to what most other people we doing when I arrived on the scene. I was far more interested in digging around in the subtleties of how the game engine works and deriving new techniques and alternative ways to solve problems than building systems out of standard gates and the well-established methods. Really reinventing the methods and approaches to logic design, rather than using the same building blocks over and over. I’d like to think that it was that about me that grabbed people’s attention more than anything – a lot of what I was creating was slightly unique and, of course, I have that weird obsession with thermo efficiency, which is something that every creator can understand the benefits of.
Saying that, I don’t doubt for a second that there are others out there who could have come up with these things, and probably did. So more than anything what led to this "throne" that you speak of is that I was sharing these techniques and methods on the forums, so I was simply more visible than others. That and I always speak in strange technical jargon that makes me look cleverer than I am!
A true story, I've noticed how much you frequent the Help forums. You always seem eager to extend your technically-savvy brain tendrils to aid those in technical need. I've utilized your remitting/demitting concept, and you also helped me wrangle the Seagull Crane on the old Banana Peeler. You may just be the most-thanked creator in level descriptions everywhere. What gives, are you some kind of helpful jerk or something?
I think there's probably as much showing off, ego stroking and self-congratulation as any genuine desire to be helpful when I'm spending time helping people around the forums.
Realistically, I guess it comes down to a few factors. Often I already have the solutions, or at least something close, knocking about in the dark recesses of my mind, or on my moon, and in those situations it seems rude to not help out a fellow creator. Other times I have absolutely no idea how to solve it and it's just an intriguing challenge. I've find that just messing around with the tools will teach you a considerable amount, but when you have an application - a problem to solve - that's when you start to push back the boundaries. Necessity really does drive innovation more than anything else and as I only have a certain number of my own applications, taking on other people's is actually quite useful.
Also, one of the things I love about these forums is the level of technical discussion you find around here. The sharing of ideas and techniques in our Help and Object Showcase forums is unmatched anywhere else in the community as far as I'm concerned, so it's always fun to get involved with that.
Subterranean Setbacks, until recently, was the only level you've single-handedly authored. It is also the most popular level thread to date on LBPCentral and was named one of the best levels of the year by Media Molecule. What secret formula is in place here? Does it involve voodoo magic?
Actually it still is the only level, remember? I assume you wrote these questions a while back assuming I'd get Resonance finished and didn't think to update them before meeting me? Also, if you check, gevurrah22's Azure Palace holds the honour of most fed back showcase thread on LBPC, by a long, long way.
Jeez, I was told you guys were pros!
What? Who told you that? And what do you expect me to do, ACTUALLY research stuff? Nah, I'm just kidding, we're professio--OH NO MY SOUP IS BURNING
Thinking back, a lot of what went into that level was me attempting to fill what I saw as gaps in the LittleBigPlanet "market", if you like. I think in the past year those gaps have been well covered and there are plenty of great levels in the same bracket. But back then, it was quite unique in the community. So whilst it only really had niche appeal, that particular niche was very much wanting and I made sure it got to the right people. In addition, there was a fair bit of natural hype surrounding the release - I'd been on these forums for 5 months showing off with my create mode skills, and giving quality feedback in the level showcase threads but never actually publishing anything of my own. People were curious what I'd come up with after all that time so it instantly got a lot of attention. After that it all kind of snowballed, a spotlight here and then a long, quiet period whilst the level gathered a bit of a cult status. I suppose I was very much lucky with that Sackie though - if that hadn't been done partially on votes from this community at LBPCentral I don't think I would have stood a chance of getting a nomination.
But I digress.... on top of the niche appeal that is all the fancy logic that is going on behind the scenes. I have this ethos that logic should be there to drive the player experience and that is very much what I did in this level. For non-creators, I'd hope that the technical aspects of the level are transparent enough that they would never, ever realise what was going on. Even to experienced creators, who will appreciate the complexity in some places, I think there are plenty of bits of tech in there that aren't obvious, but my view is that while people might not consciously notice these details (and they shouldn't), they would notice its absence. I don't care if they understand that the magic mouths subtly change, depending on which path you take first in a certain area, or that in places there is complex logic controlling camera angles, or that half an hour of my life and a tiny piece of my soul was eaten away, setting up each of those minuscule details. The overall experience is improved ever-so-slightly and I believe that people do notice this. Even if they don't know why. Often it's the undefinable qualities of a level that really make it stand out.
But why so few full levels?
There are a number of reasons for this. If we take out the time to create the Logic Pack and Cap'n SackBeard's Booty, along with my time on the creator spotlight and producing logic blogs (which take a lot longer than you might imagine), a whole chunk of time has been taken out of what could have been spent on creating. I've also had a lot of real-world commitments this year that have made it difficult for me to get much create mode time, especially when you consider that I'm not one of those people who can grab a spare hour and create - to actually get anything worthwhile done I need a good 4-10 hours straight, to gather momentum.
The other main issue, bar time, is the stupid projects I've attempted to undertake. After Setbacks, I wanted to do something different, so I started on a puzzler. The logic was a nightmare, the puzzle design was a nightmare, the failure-safety and the various gameplay issues were also a nightmare.... And the visuals caused me way too much of a headache before I finally arrived at something that worked for me. The biggest issue really is that the entire thing needed to fit the same mechanic and I've found that incredibly frustrating. It's incredibly stifling to your creativity and motivation to work for so long on such a limited project and I found myself, more than once, believing that the concept was crap. I had spent so much time on it that what was once an idea that I loved had become old and boring. So motivation was a massive issue there. I'd still like to get that level done, but I may have to "dumb down" a couple of bits and loosen the boundaries a bit to get it done before LBP2 comes out.
Walk us through the rtm223 experience of creating a level. What's the approach? How do you begin, develop, and craft a whole level?
Well Setbacks was just a mishmash of gameplay concepts to begin with, largely logic-driven, and as I started to piece them together a plot (if you can refer to such a flimsy narrative as a "plot") began to develop. Then at some point I turned off the grid and started making these free form caves and found it was a blast creating gameplay directly out of the scenery. It's also quite challenging to create interesting gameplay out of almost completely static objects as well. As I got towards the end of the level I realised I had designed in some backtracking and it occurred to me that this was never going to work - all of my gameplay involved moving sideways or upwards... I needed to lose a lot of height, and quickly. So I shoehorned in a few vertical drop gameplay elements to balance it a bit! In short, I winged the entire thing from start to finish!
The other two levels I began work on, and Cap'n SackBeard, were all different as they were born out of specific concepts that were to be developed and I think, realistically, I find that less fun than just bodging it together and making the whole thing up as you go along.
The one thing that Setbacks did have that wasn't bodged was The Rules, which went something along the lines of:
- Everything must make sense in its environment.
- Everything will be fair - no sneak deaths and all puzzle elements will be visible.
- Platforming will be hard and in line with rule 1 & 2.
- Puzzles will be relatively simple, but in line with rule 1.
- Bubble combos are not to be obtained lightly.
- Things that break unexpectedly means win.
Having a set of rules like that at the core of a creation you create is a fantastic way to tie the gameplay of a level together without tying you down to limited mechanics (the error I made with other levels). For me, #1 was the most important, even if I broke it quite a bit (there are arbitrary smashers under the generator? And also, why is there a lift going up to the generator, when there is no door on that side of the building) but you know, rules are there to be broken. Which is especially true when you are the one making the rules!
You were integral to the creation and development of the logic pack, which has endured as a permanent staple of the LittleBigUniverse since its release. How was it working on the dream team of Ccubbage, comphermc, mrsupercomputer, and ConfusedCartman? Did you set those misbehaving kiddies straight?
It was quite a dream team. Honestly though, when ConfusedCartman first contacted me with the idea, I had no idea how it was going to turn out - especially the scale of the thing. I think he had the game plan in the back of his mind from the start, he just didn't let on straight away so he could sucker me in, the tricky devil! My main role was obviously just putting together a (rather large) shortlist of devices, including multiple designs for most of them and a few original designs. So the vast majority of my work got cut, but that's part of the deal when you're trying to find the best solutions. The rest of the team was really well balanced - mrsupercomputers visuals and polish are sublime, CCubbage/Cuzfeeshe really does have great ideas for the little puzzles and anyone who knows of comphermc understands that the boy is a creating machine - it's scary, it really is.
Overall though, if anyone kept the "kids" in line it was ConfusedCartman. Managing the team and directing us, keeping the commonality and flow between the various components and stopping us rushing off all excited about ideas that probably wouldn't have worked. Ironically, he is the youngest of the group.
You were one of the Chosen Ones tasked with being whisked away to Mm Towers on Sony's magic carpet in order to play LittleBigPlanet 2 before anyone else, including the press. You wrote up a great deal of impressions right after the fact, but what about now, a few months later? What are your lingering thoughts on those wacky few days, and are there any sordid new details you'd like to divulge?
It was all a bit crazy to be honest. Everyone was so excited and possibly the Molecules more so than us. They'd been working on this stuff for a year and not been allowed to tell anyone about it. I think finally being able to put the tools properly in someone else's hands was a really exciting moment for them. You literally couldn't go 10 minutes without someone coming over to see what you were doing, or just wanting to show you something cool that they had done! It was great though, they all genuinely have a lot personally invested in the product and the community and that was really cool to see first hand.
As for "sordid" details, I think we've had quite enough of that from jackofcourse and FULLGORR, don't you?
It may be just a matter of time before Media Molecule extends an invitation to you to work in their lofty castle. Is this something you might agree to? Could we possibly someday see you posting as Mm_Rich?
Haha, I don't know if that's something that's liable to happen any time soon, the Molecules seem to be getting along just fine without me! It would be rather flattering to be on the receiving end of such an invitation though! Weirdly though, I'm probably one of the very few people who love creating but wouldn't actually want a full-time job doing it. That said, MM Towers does seem like a wonderful place to work, and if I'd probably jump on the chance to work on the software and the design of the creation tools, so if Media Molecule were to offer me the right job then how could I possibly say "no"?
You've mentioned the varying inspirations you utilize in Create mode, and you've talked a bit of create-philosophy. But where in the world did all this technical know-how come from? How did you replace your brain with logic goo?
It was a Master's Degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering, where I mostly specialised in software and digital system design, which has directly led into my career and obviously has much to do with LittleBigPlanet Logic systems. However the course also covered a lot of other topics: analogue electronics, signal processing and comms, human-computer interaction and cognitive theory, artificial intelligence (which was the core of my thesis)... The list goes on.
I think it's fair to say that I've drawn upon all of that in LittleBigPlanet to varying degrees and with the improvements to the tools in LBP2, I can only see this knowledge becoming even more useful. There are also the mental processes and problem solving / analytical skills that go hand in hand with that and probably make the biggest difference though - no matter how much knowledge you have of real-world hardware or software, the concepts will never properly translate to LBP and, at some point, sticking to those paradigms will only hold you back.
Even in LBP2, where the devices are being described as 'electronic' and some of them do directly mimic real-world components under certain conditions, there is a lot in there that doesn't really conform to anything real. Personally, I think this is wonderful - whilst the game is taking a huge leap forwards by having better tools, the community will be dropped back into the position where we have no concept of the scope of the tools. People were blown away when we announced the basic, simplest functionality and the possibilities seemed amazing, but give us a year and we will have achieved so much beyond what anyone currently believes possible.
Let us in a wee little bit: What are some of your sapling ambitions for LBP2, and in a broader sense, what do you feel about the future of custom content creation in videogames?
I do have quite a few ideas and I think when the game does come out, I'll be starting with a clean slate. It's likely that I'll push any unfinished LBP1 projects into a corner of my moon and never return to them. I might also do some collaborative work, as it completely changes my work ethic if I know that other people have a stake in the project. But I'll still be attempting to carry out projects on my own and I just hope that I don't get myself stuck in a rut again. One thing you can count on is me continuing to work on ways to push the tools given to us beyond their obvious uses - I've already got a few tricks up my sleeve in that regard, but you'll have to wait until release for those!
I'm not sure what to expect of the future of custom content in games. LBP wasn't the first, but I think it's probably the most accomplished game to feature user generated content and has obviously influenced a couple of other titles that follow the Play-Create-Share paradigm, which I think is a good thing. LBP is not for everyone (if nothing else, for the sheer amount you have to put in) and the alternatives offer a very different creation and playing experience. I'd hope that it stays this way though - as a relatively niche corner of the games market with a few, varied titles - and the rest of the gaming world carries on regardless. We don't need 20 LBP2 clones, that simply spread the creative community thinner.
On a lighter note: Are the rumors true that you keep comphermc in a cage in your basement and give him work to do in LBP in exchange for food pellets? Inquisitive minds want to know.
I don't really see how that's a light-hearted question, about forced human captivity and slave labour!? Also, I really think you need to stop listening to rumours on the internet... He sure as hell doesn't get food pellets! Occasionally I throw a prize bubble in his face, but that's not for sustenance - I just like throwing things in his face.
Finally, is there anything you, as a creator, would like to add to this? Or any other experiences you’d like to share? If not, I’d like to ask one more question of you: If you could give any bit of advice to new creators out there who are thinking about entering the wonderful world of creating, what would it be?
I mentioned earlier that coming into the community at this stage would probably be a bit daunting, but it really shouldn't be and I have two very good reasons why, and both link into what this creation thing is.
Firstly, this is a game. It's the number one thing to keep in your mind. LittleBigPlanet is a game and the absolute, sole purpose is to have fun - you don't need to compete with anyone to have fun and creation itself can be a joy. If it isn't, then possibly the create part of the game isn't for you. You don't have to create to play this game, you could just be a player and in this game, players have the luxury of other people delivering brand new content, free of charge, every single day. Which is a pretty fantastic thing, when you think about it.
Secondly, creation is art. Video games struggle to be taken seriously as an interactive art form, even in the modern world, but I look around at other creators and I see artists. As a parallel, consider painting. There have been people painting for thousands of years and there are some awesomely talented painters out there. Should that make it daunting the first time you pick up a brush? Of course not. And do amateur painters get upset if they don't get 100,000 views of their painting? Again, no. Yet for some reason, most LBP creators want to get those thousands of plays and hearts, because they have bought into the mindset that creating should have some reward at the end. Sure it's nice to know people like your art, but really... what is a play count vs actually enjoying creating art?
But that's all a bit serious. Just stick to the first point and have fun. Find some people to mess around with in create mode, play with the tools, learn from the other creators and play through their levels for ideas and just enjoy yourself
Oh, and one final piece of advice: if anyone tells you I have beta codes, do not believe them!!
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Here's a photo of rtm223's basement, or something.
They say there's a logic master out there somewhere. Elusive. Wise. He resides in a fantasy world called the "Logic Lodge" where the laws of the cosmos can be bent to your will, if only you can learn to control them. Swathed in lavender-hue'd ninja garb, he waits, and he constructs, and he plans.
Yes, they say he's out there, alright.
Somewhere...
There you have it folks.
Well, that's all, folks! We hope you have enjoyed this installment of the Creator Spotlight. For past spotlights, please visit this link. See you in two weeks!
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