So Sumo just revealed a Game Jam they're holding this weekend (11 community creators getting hands on time with the game to see what they can come up with. The results of the LBP2 jam showed up in a trailer later on). During the jam, the creators are allowed to reveal a bunch of the new tools that they're working with, which is pretty exciting for anyone interested in the create mode.
I'll be posting any new information here, but to follow the jam yourself, you can check out the official LittleBigPlanet twitter or try at any of the following
@StevenIsbell
@SarahWellock84
@gevurah22
@jackobviously
@rialrees (Best source of new info so far)
@Sackinima
@itsChimpanzee
@Shropshirelass2
@DeKa1357
@radio_statik
@glitchfish
@SpaceMonkey187
@scarybiscuitlbp
@R2ooD2
You can also search around using the hashtag #lbp3jam
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Now, for the new stuff
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- "Collectibells" appear to be a form of currency used to buy costumes. Perhaps its so that you can focus on getting the costumes that you want when you want them rather than having to wait until you reach the level where you can earn them. However, these are usable by creators as well, as a form of in-level currency. Great for RPGs! [LINK]
Spend your hard earned collectibells on new costumes in the shop! #LBP3JAM
- Player score can also be used as currency, and you can create your own custom Shop Stall (and buyable items) as seen below.
- You are able to play as the new characters while creating [LINK]
Building with mah buddy swoop #LBP3JAM
- Localized Water (as a material) might be a thing (uncertain whether this is legitimately locally placed water, or a material that has been tweaked function like water, which might be just as good). Short video in the link. [LINK]
Currently making a water object you can swim in! It's possible with logic! People will be so happy! #LBP3JAM
- The Interactive Live Stream Sensor lets people who are watching someone streaming in a level affect what happens. Since it's just a sensor, whatever happens is fully tweakable by the creator. [LINK]
Can't play with this yet ofc, but oh the possibilities.... #LBP3JAM interactive livestream sensor
- There is a new animation-based tool called the Character Rotation Tweaker, apparently allowing for top-down gameplay without the use of controllinators [LINK]
And err, you wanted a top down sackbot / sackboy, right? #lbp3jam
- Decoration Mounts (briefly mentioned during the Gamescom create mode demo) allow you to tweak decorations through various sizes/shapes/animations [LINK]
Decoration mounts are now in the game, in a variety of shapes and animation types, stretch rotate etc! #lbp3jam
- You can make and track "quests" using a new tool/feature called the Organisertron [LINK]
- There is a new Object Saver tool that will save the state of a specific object when you leave a level, keeping it exactly the same for when you return.
As well as the memoriser, we now have an Object Saver tool, which will save the state of any object its placed upon. Say you move a piece of grabby sponge, leave the level, and come back. If this tool is used, itll be right where you left it. (Source)Object saver saves the state of an object when you leave, like memorised item on your return to the level #LBP3JAM
- You can easily set materials to be Dynamic or Static (physics/no physics) This is a returning feature from LBP Karting and LBP Vita [LINK]
Anyone see this one yet? Static / dynamic coming to a ps4 near you
- There are several new tweakers, including an Opacity tweaker and a "Shardinator"
Tweakers, tweakers everywhere... Gravity, opacity, material, physics, attractor, destroyer, shardinator #lbp3jam
- There are tons of new "Effects"-type decorations, such as water, smoke or fire.
Bags of effects to play with, opaque, transparent, all colours! Beautiful! Water, smoke, fire, etc #LBP3JAM
Can't do these justice without animation, but here's some effects #lbp3jam
- There are new 3d shapes under objects that can be merged and recolored to give the player some ability to make their own custom-built objects.
#lbp3jam goodies bag now includes 3d shapes to make your own custom objects. All recolourable and mergeable!
- Decorations have a similar group of recolorable basic shapes
Recolour able decorations, all shapes you can imagine #LBP3JAM
- There are a plethora of new materials, including a Fog Material
#LBP3JAM DAT SASSY FOG MATERIAL ^-^ #Ohmy!
- There is a new tool under logic called a Wave Generator.
This tool will output an analogue signal which oscillates from +1.00 to -1.00, at a speed and frequency you control. No more fiddling with timers! Whats the point in that, you may wonder? Im sure others can answer this better than I, but a few thoughts that come straight to my mind include easier visual and audio effects, utilising dimmer input settings on lights, audio objects etc. (Source)
- There is another new logic tool called the Broadcast Microchip, allowing you to make logic once and send it wherever else you'd like throughout your level. It can be sent to a specific character, a tagged item, a character within a certain range, an item within a certain range, etc. Endless possibilities. Can be used to send logic directly to the player without having to use a Sackbot (as we know, Sackbots don't play well in water). Will clear up a lot of wire clutter.
New broadcast microchip. Make logic once and send it anywhere in your level #LBP3Jam
- There's an Advanced In/Out Mover allowing for smoother movement of objects between layers. The exact nature of how this works is unknown at the moment, but it sounds like it will open up a great number of options for 3D platforming gameplay.
Advanced in out mover lets materials glide smoothly through layers - and I LOVE IT
- Looks like a metric ton (or should I say tonne?) of new content. Here's a look at some new foliage decorations, a section which is more than double the size it was in LBP2 even with all of the add-ons. Also note that everything marked with a color-wheel can be recolored.
- Lots of new objects as well
- There's a new race-gate specifically for top-down levels
- Lights appear to have been moved from the Goodies Back to the Tools Bag, and there look to be quite a few new types, including what looks like a Plasma Globe!
- The Sackpocket (a feature that is supposed to let Sackboy store and switch between multiple gadgets such as the grappling hook and creatinator) looks like this
- The Gamescom demo showed off an Animation Tweaker, but we didn't get to see what it's options looked like. Here's a screen of that.
- L3 activates Preview Mode when creating. No need to go into the start menu anymore.
- R3 activates a Static Camera when creating. Static as opposed to one that follows the pop-it/pop-it cursor.
- All tools from LBP2's DLC are available (This includes PS Move support, Custom Sticker Creation, Vita Cross-Play support, DC Comics cape and wall-jump tweakers, the Muppet's Attract-O gel & Attract-o Tweak, etc.) All of the Vita versions new tools are available too (save perhaps for some controller-related tools)
- There is a new tool called a Force Chip that can attract / repel anything you wish.
The new Force Chip can attract / repel items (whenever I say items, you may as well insert characters / players / tagged objects) at will very handy for boss battles, special effects, and I imagine some very cool gameplay mechanics.(Source) - There's a new "State Sensor" that can more easily detect what a player is doing, letting you assign certain occurrences to a player walking/swimming/jumping, etc.
The new state sensor will sense a players activity. Are they walking, swimming, running, grabbing? No more guessing or using fiddly controllinator signals to find out! (Source) - There is an Object Animation Tweaker that will allow you change an animated object/material's animation speed setting to more than two values. Here's hoping it also lets you tweak transparency/color/brightness.
Another little one, which I have only played about with briefly - The Object Animation Tweaker can be placed on any animated material or animated object for you to tweak the animation speed etc. (Source) - The Dynamic Thermometer is a creator-activated setting, which tells the game to only load what is on-screen (meaning that it is up to the creator to keep the level functioning with this method enabled)
- Building off of that, there is a tool called the Permanency Tweaker which tells the level that a specific object is always active, even if it's outside of the screen-space.
- There is also a tool called a Preloader which lets creators guide the level in knowing which objects to load first, so that there are no issues that spring up from loading too much at once, or loading objects in a catastrophically wrong order.
- A similar tool called a Loading Linker lets the creator tell the game which objects should load together. The preloader lets you determine the order in which objects load, and the Loading Linker lets you load two or more objects at once.
The four above tools all fall under the tool bag category "Infinity Levels" and are all geared around saving space to fit as much content in a single level as possible.
Soooo, how about them infinity levels? The term is a slight misnomer, as explained by StevenI in another thread the infinity levels are possible because of the new Dynamic Thermometer. By turning on a Dynamic Thermo, you tell the level to only load what is currently on screen (and you can set loading area sizes and shapes, choosing from standard rectangles to long rectangles, squares, etc) this opens up the crushing limitations many of us face when we just want to squish all the logic, assets and pretties we can into one tight space. I dont think many have had the chance to play with this feature extensively enough yet, but heres the gist of it.
You turn on Dynamic thermometer, and select your loading area. Now, bear in mind that when you do this, objects off-screen are not present in the level much as though they are being streamed to the players system. So if youre working with wireless logic etc, youll need something to help you Theres a tool for that!
The Permanency Tweaker can be used to tell a level that an object is always on say you have a logic epicentre, filled to the brim with broadcasting chips for that yummy wireless logic awesomeness. Pop a permanency tweaker on it and the level will always listen. Without the tweaker, if this logic centre were off-screen, it would be ignored.
The Preloader is also a very handy tool where you can select items which should be loaded before the player arrives at them. A complex object, for example, or You know, I dont know. Im hoping someone else can shed more light on this one but my guess is it will help the creator to reduce lag incurred by streaming a supermassive section as opposed to getting it prepped beforehand.
On a similar tangent, the Loading Linker is a tool which feels like an advanced glue tool using it, you select pieces of the level which belong with each other, so that they always load together. Just imagine a character that youve lovingly crafted from materials is loaded, but only one half shows up at a time! This just wont do using this tool will (I presume) ensure that materials that belong together, stay together.(Source) - There is a Gameplay Tweaker
The Game Jam is over now, but there might be a little bit more info leaking in from the community forums (these are community members, after all.)
You can catch up on other LBP3 info Here or Here OR for the most comprehensive list (and probably the best written one as well) you can check out this thread on LBP Central
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Extra Stuff
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Some footage of a game-jam level in progress. 9 hours in.
Footage of someone else's level. Crab-killing snowman in a 3d environment. 12 or so hours in.
Banana Nunchucks! As promised at Gamescom.
Big and Little Toggle looking good on a bike. Shows off a few of the effects decorations down by the wheel.
Short clip of an old-school looking level. Shows off the faked localized water/swimming through materials.