Howdy folks. Sozo here with completely random LBP2 create advice. This will be pretty much merely a blog where I'll keep any LBP2 create advice for you folks whenever they bubble & pop into my head. I know many tricks & useful-tidbits! So keep checking back and just enjoy it all as it slowly comes! Yohooho hooho~
Also here to help us is Dr.Eggman Robotnik! :'D
http://i4.lbp.me/img/ft/a24560dc2169...45556dfaa8.jpg
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Tutorials! YaaAy!!
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Random Creation Advice!
Spoiler - Advice #1. (Remember to normally set powerups to unremovable.)
Advice #1. (Reminder to often set powerups to not-removable.)
http://i.imgur.com/EfPDjEo.jpg
Unless you have a good reason... Otherwise until they are unneeded do not make powerups removable. After playing some levels awhile-ago I noticed a messy-trend with some people’s levels. Powerups were left removable by default. This can get really annoying especially in jet-pack levels… Alright imagine this scene, you are soaring across the sky when suddenly a poorly drawn cutout character pops up and says “Hi!” afterwards you quickly push circle-button by habit to make the message go away... But oops! by mistake you drop the jet-pack and are now falling down to you doom… Thanks Mr.Poorly drawn cutout!. >:’(
My Point? Well unless it actually be part of your planned gameplay for the player being allowed to drop their powerup always whenever… but if not? then fix the setting so it can't be dropped.
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Advice #2. (Using creative names for sack-folk)
http://i.imgur.com/C0eKUyI.jpg
Far to often do I see people using uncreative names for generic sack-people in their levels. The boring examples are Sackthing or Sackboy. In my opinion there is no great reason for this to happen.
Yeah sure Sack-Thingy is a slightly amusing name for sack-citizens... but it’s from the LBP2 story-mode! not very creative if you use that... and far worse is when people just use the word Sackboy when calling the player by a name. You have absolutely no idea if the player is male or female, and especially you have no idea on top of that if the costume the player is wearing/role-playing as is whichever gender if even either whatsoever! xD It kinda ruins the role-play experience if you simply force a gender role on the player’s character. LBP at the core is about customizing. The sack-beings which the players control are suppose to be without-gender by default so that way the players can make them whatever they want. So with that in mind try not crushing other players creative fun by telling them in your own levels that their avatars are a “SackBOY” ... It may not be a HUGE issue perhaps, but it still matters to enough folk... so keep that in mind ok? It is really only fine to call the characters Sackboy/Sackgirl or any other solid labeling words if the user is playing a obviously-precise character in your personal story/level where it isn't suppose to be the player’s avatar. A example is the character that the player takes control of in the story-level is named "Jack Boom The-Sackdude!" Clearly in that case Jack is a precise character, not the player‘s avatar character. And that makes all the difference. But regardless Sack-boy/girl/thing are not creative names if you decide to use them yo! Without doubt it is more fun + exercises your writing skills coming up with other methods.
Being truly inventive with your own content & ideas is nearly always the better choice. So instead of copying everybody else with concepts that you’ve seen loads of before... how about you think up something silly or cool for names yourself? Here are some fun examples. Hero. Fluff Ball. Sacko. Rag face. Cotton Heart. Sackdoll. Zipper folk. Stumpy Toy. Baggy. Punching-bag. Potato Sack. Lumpy Sock. Puppet. Well you get the idea. Try being creative & think of names that suits your story my dear friendo!
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Advice #3. (How to help avoid losing a level to corruption)
If you start to get “Failed to load” messages on your level. Then it maybe about time for you to move everything within that level into a new moon slot. Because if you are getting “Failed to load” messages on your level that means something might be corrupted in the level data and to safely avoid it from getting worse all you need to do is keep trying to load the level until it actually loads, then copy everything within the level and have all the content placed within a completely new level.
If you find that it is impossible to load the level whatsoever no matter how many times you try, then it is already to late! This subject's advice I gave is to only help prevent your level from corrupting worse. It is not a way to explain how to fix a already completely corrupted level. All I can say in that situation is to wait for a new LBP game patch... because that sometimes will fix a old corrupted level for whatever reason.
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Advice #4. (How to save on moon space & make your profile smaller.)
This was just obvious to me, but seems it isn't for everybody. If you have any levels on your moon that you are not working on at the moment and you feel that you most likely won’t be touching them for a long time, but you also clearly don‘t want to permanently delete stuff. Well… here’s a good thought! instead of wasting moon & profile room or deleting something you may actually need in the future, instead simply do the following! Ever noticed that backup level option on your levels? Well I find to many creators don’t even bother to use it… or they don’t make good use of it regardless. Did you know that your PS3 can be used as a storage device instead of your LBP profile itself? along with the fact unlike your moon that your PS3 can hold almost infinite levels? plus that you can trade levels back on & off of your PS3 & LBP profile anytime you want easy? …No? Yes? Well now you certainly know if you didn't already! ;P
That’s right! Go ahead and clean up your moon by backing up all unneeded levels for the moment by using the super handy backup level feature which will place the levels onto your PS3’s HDD instead which has kinda unlimited room unlike your LBP-profile. Afterwards delete the levels from your moon which you backed up. And Boom! You now have a much nicer clean space to work on~
But that is only the start! Do you have a messy popit full of knickknacks & junk? Overflowing goodies bag? Super tons of stickers? Costumes that you never wear or use for anything anymore which you still love? Well… why delete the lovely extra content when you can just back it all up onto your PS3’s HDD instead? That’s right folks! Place all your unneeded content in prize bubbles & or just plop them all down in empty levels which you should probably name “Storage-#(input number here)” proceed to backup the level when finished, then afterwards delete it from your moon or popit. BOOM! Yes you are done! You now have a cleaner moon/popit/LBP-profile to work with! never again worrying about running out of space or getting lost in your own silly mess!
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Advice #5. (Notes are very useful.)
Surely you know what the "Notes" in which I am talking about are correct? If not? then look for those in-game handy yellow text papers in yo logic page. So you may be thinking “No duh?” …Well I say do you actally bother to use them often? Perhaps you do, howeveer do you use them effectively? I must say… Whenever you get a good idea in your head and don’t consistentlly have access to a computer or other such devices for quick easy use. Then use notes to write-down any floating ideas in your head. And don’t tell me or yourself that it’s to much effort to bother with. Nowadays I write-down tons of notes on LBP2 without even using a keyboard. It isn't super hard and you’ll thank yourself later.
So you now may be wondering what type of stuff is worth writing-down? Well the obvious answer is that you can use them for anything! But here are some of the basic uses.
#1: Write-down any ideas for your level that you are working on but won’t be implementing for awhile. Enemies/Boss-Battle concepts. Objects. Scenery. Contraptions. Costume/Character concepts. Random gameplay ideas. Basically anything that you’d like to make sometime but can’t actually do at the moment.
#2. General stuff to remember. Heh! Another good use is even thoughts that have nothing to do with LBP2 itself! such as… creating notes telling yourself to go start a topic about something on a forum later. Or a note telling yourself something important something your friend told you to remember. Basically if you worry about forgeting anything that matters whatsoever, why not simply write a note down on LBP2 for yourself? Of course this advice is only useful if you play LBP2 super often.
There is many other things you can use notes for, so don’t limit yourself. Use them for whatever you can think of uses for. A tiny tip. Keep all your random notes that don’t belong anywhere specific in a microchip and keep that microchip in your goodies bag. This way you can always pull it out when needed.
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V-New-V
Advice #6. (Enemies & Platformers are like… Cake & Icecream.)
http://i9.lbp.me/img/ft/a59fd2def8e4...8223211b42.jpg
One thing I see a seriously sad lack of in LBP levels is enemies. They had some enemies in the LBP story-modes along with most games having them in general. So why should anyone forget to include them? Jumping across platforms & solving simple puzzles is all fine... but levels that don’t include far more content I think are really lacking & quite boring. Unless you enjoy your level feeling like a dead wasteland. But if not? then you should try imagining ways to liven it up! So throw in some NPCs & other stuff… But more important to gameplay consider crafting in sets of exciting enemies. Also make sure to be creative with how players can get pass or defeat them! Because you are not limited to anything really ya know? Just make sure it is fun… Furthermore Boss-battles are amazing too! ... Hahaa as long they are not overly annoying. But I’ll cover this Boss-battle subject fully another time within a different subject. Anyways! Basic enemies normally should be simple & easy enough to deal with. They should add mostly more fun to a level and offer bit more challenge. However avoid making them a bothersome drag if possible. If you do a good job with enemies then your levels have a higher chance of being totally awesome!
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Random Creation Tricks!
Trick #1. (Easy way to create invisible material)
http://i.imgur.com/qnmENOU.jpg
Ever said to yourself that you wish you could use invisible material in your level for whatever reason? And find shrinking dark matter to be annoying and easy to lose? Well fear no more! There’s a much easier way to create invisible material that is so simple you’ll want to kick yourself in the bum for not figuring it out before now.
Step-1. Take out sticker-panel material or turn something else into sticker-panel material.
Step-2. Change all the settings on the sticker-panel material to 0%.
Step-3. Use the material changer tool in your toolbag and change the sticker-panel material into “Corruggated Plastic” material.
Step-4... There is no step-4! So congratulations! You just made invisible material that can be edited at will and can be changed back into any other material of your choice whenever you want.
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Trick #2. (Somewhat change the color of fur decorations.)
http://i.imgur.com/QyweQJd.jpg
Yes you know them fur decorations in your deco bag? Ever wished you could change their color in order to make them look more like grass or something else? Well you mostly can! By using lighting to your advantage. So let me lay it out for you folk.
Step-1. Take out a “LED Light Bulb” from your goodies bag or any other similar lights from your goodies bag that can just be easily placed on objects.
Step-2. Place the lights on a long thin block of sticker-panel material in a row pattern with some spaces between them.
Step-3. Place a row of fur decorations on the same sticker-panel material.
Step-4. Change the settings on the lights to the point they make the fur glow a different color. This can take some playing around with to get a right match for what you need. Here is a example to get you started. (Brightness 70%) (Radius 20) (Fog 30%)
Now you are done. Enjoy your color changed fur! This is a useful trick that a handful of expert creators like to use. It can be used on other things as well... test stuff out and be creative!.
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Trick #3. (Easy logic setup to have multiple objects destroyed.)
http://if.lbp.me/img/ft/e6fdb53db080...cdac44af24.jpg
First thing to do is decide what will be the core object you want destroyed in which we will count as the main object. On the main object just place a NOTgate on it. Then place a NOTgate hooked to a destroyer on all the other objects you want destroyed except on the main object which should just have a NOTgate. Then hook the NOTgate from the main object to all other NOTgates on the other objects that you want simultaneously destroyed… I call this way of destroying “A Lazy-dude's annihilation logic.” It is probably not the best way to destroy multiple objects. But I found it sure is 1 easy quick way to do it!
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Trick #4. (How to select multiple logic components simultaneously.)
A long time ago this was a useful create method that took me a long time to understand how it was accomplished at the time. Time to start the explanation. Hold R2 down while using your popit cursor. Then tap X once on different logic components of your choosing. Then afterwards let go of R2. You now can easily select multiple logic-pieces without grabbing the wrong logic-pieces while doing so. This can be used on objects or whatever else too! Enjoy~
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Trick #5. (Positional Sequencers are great! Find out why!)
http://i.imgur.com/LqU9hDw.jpg
Sequencers set to “Positional” are very useful for a great number of scenarios. Perhaps even far more then you could had guessed?
1 example is. Hook a counter up to a sequencer set to positional in it‘s settings. You’ll notice that the higher the number on the counter will equal a higher position on the sequencer too… Now let that single idea I just told you sink into your mind for a moment. You’ll hopefully start to realize how useful it could be.
Another example is. How would you like a sackbot that runs with just barely a push of the analog stick? Or perhaps you would like a sackbot that only walks slowly no matter how hard & far you push the analog stick? Well here is how you can easily set that idea up. First thing you need to do is create a basic playable sackbot that only reads the exact signals you want it to read. Meaning for example you need to understand how to create a sackbot that can only jump by pushing the R2 button and for the normal X button to not make it jump at all. This is basically what is know as rewiring a sackbot. This allows you to change the control setup to anything you wish it to be... All this requires is having 2 DCS/Control-Seats inside the sackbot with one set to “Override Bot No” with wires from that 1st DCS plugged into the inputs of the 2nd DCS that is set to “Override Bot Yes”… I’m not going to bother to explain the rewired sackbot in more detail tho! if you can’t figure-out how to make a similar bot still... then go lookup a tutorial about it. Now back to the actual point. Take out a sequencer set to positional and put it onto the 2nd DCS within the bot. Then from the 1st DCS within the bot plug it’s Right/Left analog stick output into the sequencer. Then place a battery in the sequencer. Have it fill the whole sequencer bar up from start to end. Then plug the battery’s output into the 2nd DCS’s Right/Left analog stick input… now if you did it right! whenever you push the analog stick while playing as the bot it will always move at the speed the battery % is set to no matter how little or how far you push the analog stick, just as long it is pushed! You’ll have to double this logic for both left and right movement. But hopefully you can finish the concept yourself without my further help considering I already told you the most important aspect of it.
Of course you can get super more complex with this concept in general. But I’ll leave you to think of that for yourself. It may take you awhile to get the hang of it. But soon enough you’ll learn the great uses a "Positional Sequencer" can give you.
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Trick #6. (Stick decorations on costumes in places you shouldn’t be able to!)
http://i.imgur.com/5dFSz3t.jpg
Small Warning: The following is actually a glitch which might not be around forever and could have odd side-effects. But to my knowledge it is perfectly safe to use. Onward we go! Ever wish you could place decorations anywhere on/near your costume? Tired of only being able to place them on the basic surfaces of your costume and disappointed after you remove a costume part any deco on it goes away with it? Well I’ve found a way to semi get around that problem indeed.
Step #1: First imagine where you want all the deco on your costume that you require along with how you want the costume to look. This is important as you need to understand ahead of time for everything you will want.
Step #2: Choose costume parts which will only be used as holders for the decorations you want on the costume. Try to imagine these costume parts as invisible in your mind as this is the case later on. Remember the parts you are choosing currently are only suppose to be a object to stick the deco on. You are not suppose to be keeping these costume parts themselves on later.
Step #3: After you are finish with placing all the deco on your costume parts. Go ahead save the costume and put it on yourself if you didn’t already. Now afterwards head on over to a tutorial level in LBP2... Yes that’s right, I said a “Tutorial Level” …Any will work! Personally I like to use the Bounce-Pad tutorial.
Step #4: Once you are in the tutorial level. Remove all the costume deco holders you put on… Next is important! Now put on any costume parts that you’ll want to keep on the complete costume permanently. Don’t worry about how all the decoration seem to disappear like normal once you removed the holders. Afterwards leave the tutorial level.
Step #5: When you get back you’ll notice something odd. All the decos that should be gone are now back on you in the same places that you had previously left them! Stickers you may have had on will also be back on even if it is a completely different costume part! As a final note! Make sure to save the costume on yourself & reload it onto yourself… Now the wacky costume ritual is complete… Have fun!
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Trick #7. (Way to semi-fix the decoration render bug on objects.)
http://i.imgur.com/kgzCUzv.jpg
This may be hard to understand for people who don’t use tons of decoration in their level. But I’ll try to quickly explain it. LBP2 has nasty graphic render problems with decorations when they are placed on objects depending on where you placed the deco. A simple example is go place a pipe deco facing towards the layer behind itself on a thick object and then place a thin wall object behind that thick object... Notice anything odd yet? Of course you do! The deco doesn’t show up correctly whatsoever! And the problem is worse then just that single example. Basically getting decos to look exactly what you would want them to look like in a level can be a annoying big challenge for even the epic expert creators. A decent way to get around this problem is by placing the decorations on-top counters to fairly bypass the render problems. It’s not a perfect solution but it is better then nothing. So simply take out some counters & make them very small while setting them to “Visible” That’s right! Not invisible! Then place the counters wherever you want them… Note that placement & testing is still important. As it may still mess up if you do it wrong.
Side-Note: Sadly there is no similar fix for the same problem for deco on costumes. We will likely annoyingly have to wait for future LBP games in the series to have this problem truly fixed.
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Trick #8. (Force heavy flying objects with movers to move correctly.)
http://i.imgur.com/VthlwYA.jpg
Now I don’t know about other sentient lifeforms, but I like to have a lot of flying objects move in repeating patterns… they sometimes go up for awhile... then go back down for just as long smoothly. Lets not forget about fun objects that move right & left! Plus everything in-between all by using movers on repeating sequencers. However! I noticed that some objects “typically heavy ones” will go off direction given awhile and end up who knows where later… A nice way to fix this problem is to actually not place the repeating movers on the main object itself. Instead for the main object that you want to be flying around go place a follower with the tag settings on along with max speed on. Name the tag something like “Object-01:Move” now go create a invisible cube of holo/sticker panel and place the original repeating sequencer that has all the movement pattern logic inside it onto the cube. Next place a tag inside the holo/sticker cube logic with the same name as what you typed in for the follower which was placed within the main object… The object will always follow the tag from the holo/sticker cube which should mean to my knowledge the nonphysical cube will always stay on track because the holo/sticker cube is weightless & unaffected by other stuff which means the main object will always stay on track too. This is just 1 trick to help you keep flying objects on their correct set path. Might not be good enough depending on exactly what you want. So do tests & keep a watchful-eye always.
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V-New-V
Trick #9. (Emit/Destroy Techniques)
http://i2.lbp.me/img/ft/532ce2a5ca47...78135b4576.jpg
This trick is not only important to LBP levels... it is a method used in most other games altogether. A good rule to remember while creating is if the player can’t see it... then it probably shouldn’t be there until you want it to be seen! That’s right! Content should be emitted & destroyed only when it matters. Using this trick also lets you make levels much longer if wanted.
HUGE important warning note!: Do not forget to also keep EVERYTHING you plan to ever emit for levels copied within backup storage levels. Never ever risk emitters getting corrupted/malfunctioning someday and losing massive chunks of your beloved project. Backing up your content super often should just come normally to you barely without thinking after awhile if you truly plan to use a lot of emitting tricks.
To make it easier on yourself you can make sections cut you off after a certain point of progression the player makes in the level. Basic example is have a big boulder drop down onto the end of a pathway so the player can’t backtrack or have a door shut & close permanently. After you do that, go have the whole previous out-off section & everything within it the player can’t return to be destroyed in order to open up more thermo that can be used to emit new level sections later.
But beware as emitting complex stuff can majorly drop the frame-rate & lag the game for a moment. If this is a big problem for you, then 1 way to help with this problem is to make only certain content emitted & destroyed instead of everything. I feel that the basic level layout should nearly always be left alone. For example the floors & walls and other basic layout stuff. While content such as excess decoration & enemies & characters... along with other extra content should only be around when actually required. Basically only content that takes up tons of thermometer or space is the stuff you gotta worry about.
A note you should pay attention to when doing this is events that mistakenly repeat themselves when you leave elsewhere & return to the older areas later. To avoid this hiccup you are going to have to set up the logic for it. Logic that remembers your visits, for example when enemies were destroyed by the player. Unless you want enemies to keep re-spawning? but if not then you will need custom memory logic made for it. My preference is if the player killed something then it should stay dead unless there is acceptable reason for it to not be.
To get you started with the idea. You are gonna need “named tags & tag sensors” to get this emit/destroy trick working right. There is many different setups to get this working. but I’ll just go over 1 basic way to make this simple. Create 2 tall blocks of sicker-panel or holo with a tag & a impact sensor set to only sense players on them. Have the blocks side by side with a nice gap between them. When hitting the left block it will be used to send a tag signal to the emitters for the section on the left to emit the needed stuff for that area. The rectangle on the right will do the same except it’s for the right section. To keep emitting less crazy, make sure it only emits a section when that section is actually gone. You just need a tag that tells you when the area is there or not and a tag sensor to not allow emitting when it sees the tag. Also setup the logic so when you hit the right rectangle the content in the left area gets destroyed, ETC… everything I just said is to just help you get used to the basic concept. You’ll have to do more complex logic if you want it to work better. But this advice was not meant to explain step by step how to do all the logic for the trick. It's just here to help you understand the basic concept correctly. So after you learn what I told you fairly enough. You may want to go learn how to do a better version of the trick on your own.
Hopefully this covers the basic idea behind Emit/Destroy for you inspiring creative folk. If there is anything else you need to know about the creation trick then just leave a comment!
Side Note: This trick is mostly only for solo single player levels. It can be done with multiple players sure, but it will get far more challenging for you to deal with! You are warned, so be extra careful!
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V-New-V
Trick #10. (Nearly anything can be used as visuals.)
http://i0.lbp.me/img/ft/3d0f4976a79b...73ed5f9164.jpg
There be one visual create trick I find to be very useful I didn’t think much of at first. The fact is anything that has visuals can be used as... well duh visuals! Don’t understand where I am going with this odd subject yet? Hohoo! Well let me tell you more then.
Ever looked at the magic eyeball object? Yes? Except… ever thought of using it for something other then a eyeball? If not? then let me tell you this tiny tip. “Thinking outside the box leads to good times.” That means don’t look at & think about things in only 1 flat way. Try to use things for reasons other then why they were originally created for. Hook a logic gizmo to close-up that eyeball and use the eyeball as something else altogether. I even like to use the sound objects as deco for my objects… They even can be painted!
You absolutely will find that you now have more deco content to play around with if this tiny trick is new to you. Go have fun!
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That's all for now until next update folks. Hohoo! C:
