LittleBigPlanet Monthly

[GribbleGrunger]

I think it's about time that a magazine was released for ALL LBP games. it would cost around £4.99 and in the first issue you would get a copy of LBP1. perhaps in a later issue you would get all the video tutorials from ComphermC.

it would be broken up into sections from the latest games to the first game and within each section there would be general advice, tips and tricks and printed tutorials. (in the first addition there would be a brief overview of each game). at the very beginning there would be the normal letter sections, which would be followed by 'Creator of the Month' with pictures from their levels and opinions from the creator. all the well known community sites would be listed. there would be a news section with information about shows, DLC, games etc. at the very end of the magazine you would have a chart of ALL the existing DLC available for each game.

I'm sure there are plenty of other sections you guys/gals can think up!

it's late. this is not very well written, but i really think this is a good idea

[Ostler5000•]

Nah, I don't really picture this working at all. It'd basicly be like paying £5 to do what I can already do for free by browsing a fan site like this one for ten minutes and then taking a trip to the Playstation Store.

Plus, I really don't think there would be enough content in one month to flesh out an entire £5 magazine.

[GribbleGrunger]

Nah, I don't really picture this working at all. It'd basicly be like paying £5 to do what I can already do for free by browsing a fan site like this one for ten minutes and then taking a trip to the Playstation Store.

Plus, I really don't think there would be enough content in one month to flesh out an entire £5 magazine.

every single subject is covered by the net but people still buy magazines. and you don't think there would be enough to flesh out a mag every month?!!! really? you could fill a phone directory with all the tricks, tips and tutorials for LBP1 alone.

[Chazprime]

... you could fill a phone directory with all the tricks, tips and tutorials for LBP1 alone.

If someone put out an advanced players guide with all the tutorials, tricks etc. along with photos, I'd pony up to buy it. As for a monthly magazine...meh, I'd probably pass on that. I don't think that there'd be enough content for every month to make it worth buying.

[GribbleGrunger]

If someone put out an advanced players guide with all the tutorials, tricks etc. along with photos, I'd pony up to buy it. As for a monthly magazine...meh, I'd probably pass on that. I don't think that there'd be enough content for every month to make it worth buying.

i just have to strongly disagree. there's enough new content put up on this site alone to print a magazine, and that's before LBPVita and LBPKarting release. to put it another way, you could print a big magazine based purely on tutorials every week, let alone monthly. you could print a magazine JUST on basic logic and things you could do with it! now add in some of the things i mentioned in my first post and it would be EASY to fill a magazine every month.

letter section
news section
creator of the month section
Logic of the month (a section of complete logic including: elevators, lifts, doors etc)
A list of creations worth playing (20 a month)
LBPVita section (each section broken up into tips, tricks and tutorials)
LBPKarting section
LBP2 section
LBPPSP section
LBP1 section
ALL DLC so far
and any other interviews from Sony, MM etc...

and i'm sure there are lots more that could be added.

giving away a copy of LBP1 in the first issue would guarantee great sales of the first mag.

something like this would fill two or three pages alone:

So I've been working with the infamous "emit/destroy" in my recent levels and I think it's a very cool and useful tool for creators who work on levels that strain the thermometer.The cool thing about this technique, and lbp2 for that matter, is that whenever an object sits in a emitter, they don't take up the normal space of thermometer they normally would being outside the emitter, so this allows you to squeeze more in a level. When I say "emit/destroy", what I mean is that in the level, you have sections that are emitted whenever they are needed for the players, and then are destroyed when the section is no longer needed. For reference, I will be referring to my Jak and Daxter levels as they run solely on emitters

Theres nothing there?

Getting Started
So it's pretty simple, create a section of your level, and place it in an emitter! Nah, it's not entirely that simple, but it does become simple once you learn the in's and out's of how it works correctly.

Level Design
For most people, you create your level and the sections of your level sit there like a rock and wait for the player to come across it only to be left alone once again, you create until there is no more room in the thermometer and that's your level. However, if you had created your level with the sections being emitted, you would be able to fit more into the level. That's where the "emit/destroy" technique comes in handy. It allows more to be in your level, and it opens more possible additions.
Now for creating a level using this process, design your level sections as you normally would, create in the empty space that is the level, now when you are finished with a level section, make sure all parts of it are glue or connected properly. Capture it and place it in an emitter. For me I usually create my level like normal, and as I go along, add the emitters with the objects in them. I check to make sure it emits correctly (Ex: it actually emits, lined up correctly) and before I begin the next section, make sure I have my previously created section emitted out already so I can line up the section boundaries nicely when they are emitted next to each other.
In my second Jak level, most of the sections are separate little island mounds, so it was easy to have them sit quietly without disturbing the other sections :P


Setting Up The Emitters
So you have your section sitting in an emitter, what I'm about to say is basic stuff, but some beginner creators might not think about right away. Make sure the settings are set to "emit once" and the "max emitted at once" set to 1, reason being, the thermometer will set aside room for extra emitted pieces if it's sitting at "max emitted=10" or something. For the emitter to start, for me, a tag sensor works best, but whatever you feel works best for your level, use it

Here I have the tag sensor that emits the sections, that not gate is wired to a tag that triggers the destroy, I use this to quickly remove sections during create mode

Applying The Destroy Part
So each of your emitted sections need to be destroyed whenever they are no longer required, so set a destroyer on the said section, preferably with the "disappear" setting so it doesn't make noise when destroyed. Add a tag sensor and name it something easy to understand (ex: Destroy Island 3), now you have it ready to be destroyed! Oh and make the radius of the tag sensor big, the max setting is nice for this. Now you are able to wirelessly destroy it

Pretty simple really

Here I had to add individual destroyers to the bridge planks since they aren't glued to the main level section

Making It Work
So now you need to set up some logic to trigger when the emitter emits the section and when it gets destroyed, I myself used a impact sensor since the player is using a sackbot the entire time, other methods, like using a players sensor etc. work well too, so whenever a sensor is triggered, it activates the "emit" or "destory" tag.

Here you see that going in one direction activates the emit tag for the upcoming section and a destroy tag for the previous one


So there you go, you have successfully implemented the "emit/destroy" technique and now can add more to your levels!

Bits 'Ol Knowledge

• It's best that the player doesn't see the sections emit, keep the player view in mind when setting up the emitters
• Keep each section moderately sized, otherwise you risk the chance of causing frame-rate skips/lag due to huge amounts being emitted at once, and the chance of a ps3 crash
• Keep in mind the thermo, this technique works around it, but keep in mind things won't emit if there isn't room left in the thermo to compensate for it
• If a level is multiplayer, keep in mind that empty thermo is needed for a level to run properly with more players, if you build a level that uses every ounce of thermo, it will cause ps3 freezes for large online parties
• Sections with a thin back layer won't emit over pre-existing level sections that use the 3d layers, so if a thin layer overlaps some 3d layers, change the setup, or like me, change the thin layers to theck
• I've found that deleting the emitters themselves during playmode, when the sections that they emit are no longer needed, is important, it frees up thermo as you continue along in the level
• Also, the loading time will increase based on how much extra you put in the level via emitters, keep that in mind

Cool Levels That Use This Technique
Community Font Kit 2.2.1
WATCHMEN

So questions comments? Post below!

[Woffit66]

That would be awesome. I support this idea.

[Halfire]

That would be awesome. I support this idea.

Same here.

[GribbleGrunger]

like i said, they could give LBP1 away in the first issue. that would surely sell a hell of a lot of copies and then later on they could offer Conphermc's tutorials on a Blu-ray too. this HAS to happen.

a monthly cartoon would also be a nice touch

[xxMATEOSxx]

Ok, I draw the line at a cartoon. There were way too many bad video game cartoons in my youth for that one to slide.
(Just thinking of the Super Mario Super Show almost makes me shudder).

Home Blu-ray release of something easily accessible on youtube also seems excessive.

But the magazine itself could work. Even though all of the information on it can be found online, at least there it'll be nicely packaged and organized. People buy strategy guides for games ven though the same information and more is online, so its concievable that this could work.

It just comes down to people wanting to buy it monthly or weekly. For that, I honestly don't know if it would the the majority. It would be a somewhat risky spending endeavor that I think would be better directed towards improving the games themselves. If we're ever at a time when there are no (major) problems people would rather see fixed, then looking into spending on a magazine might be worth it.
(although I'll concede that by then, it would probably be too late for it).

[Woffit66]

I think he meant a comic-panel cartoon, not an animated series.

[xxMATEOSxx]

Oh ha, that makes a hell of a lot more sense.

Now I just feel silly. Well, not that silly, for that I would have understood "comic strip" more.

[GribbleGrunger]

yep, i just meant a cartoon strip in the magazine, not an animated series. although i know you can get the information online, you would be surprised how many people don't bother looking for it. i for one would buy the magazine even though i DO know you can get it online. i remember when i used to buy a magazine for the Spectrum way back. the logic used to take you forever to type in but it felt worth it (when it worked)

[Rabid-Coot]

So what would you expect the average monthly circulation for this to be?

[GribbleGrunger]

So what would you expect the average monthly circulation for this to be?

i haven't got a clue. i'm sure the first edition would sell really well if LBP1 was included but then it would be down to the quality of the content to sustain the readership.

[Dav1d0]

I'm not sure about that... I mean you have a point with giving away the first game free to attract attention and all... but sony already played that card with the welcome back package after the psn outtage last year so may not attract as much people as you think.