Little Big Planet 2 Catch-All

Yeah, mastering moving while not retracting/extending the rope is tricky. I really wish that the length of the rope was not a function of the left analog stick, but was rather something like R2 and L2, or the right analog stick. Other games have done this with rope length, and it was annoying there as well.

I am talking about the same part as mrtomaytohead, and I'll try swinging between the two points next time, that does sound like a good way to gain some momentum.

Did you guys already try something similar to this (skip to 56 minutes)? It looks like you can get a lot of momentum with the grappling hook off of a single point by reeling and releasing/shooting the hook at the right time.

Stele wrote:

Legend of Zelda, first dungeon, in LBP2

Standing Ovation.

Anyone want to help me test a level tonight? It's almost finished, I just want to make sure there's no gaping holes or design flaws before I add the decorations and score bubbles and such.

All I can say is where the hell's my LBP2, DHL? My copy's been stuck in Mississauga since the freaking 20th. It can't possibly take 11 days to get it to BC from Ontario. WTF.

Omaha wrote:

Anyone want to help me test a level tonight? It's almost finished, I just want to make sure there's no gaping holes or design flaws before I add the decorations and score bubbles and such.

Sure, sounds like fun. I'll be free most of 2/1 and all of 2/2/11.

juv3nal wrote:

All I can say is where the hell's my LBP2, DHL? My copy's been stuck in Mississauga since the freaking 20th. It can't possibly take 11 days to get it to BC from Ontario. WTF. :cry:

Someone in Mississauga is enjoying your game!

CptGlanton wrote:
Stele wrote:

Legend of Zelda, first dungeon, in LBP2

Standing Ovation.

Here's the link to add it to your queue.

Eldon_of_Azure wrote:
Omaha wrote:

Anyone want to help me test a level tonight? It's almost finished, I just want to make sure there's no gaping holes or design flaws before I add the decorations and score bubbles and such.

Sure, sounds like fun. I'll be free most of 2/1 and all of 2/2/11.

My PSN is DietOmaha, send me a message and we can work it out.

juv3nal wrote:

All I can say is where the hell's my LBP2, DHL? My copy's been stuck in Mississauga since the freaking 20th. It can't possibly take 11 days to get it to BC from Ontario. WTF. :cry:

You ordered via newegg and used super saver shipping, didn't you? In the US DHL will hand off to the postal service / some other service for final delivery and tracking stops where they do the hand off. I'd assume it's been lost and start contacting dhl/newegg/whoever.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
juv3nal wrote:

All I can say is where the hell's my LBP2, DHL? My copy's been stuck in Mississauga since the freaking 20th. It can't possibly take 11 days to get it to BC from Ontario. WTF. :cry:

You ordered via newegg and used super saver shipping, didn't you? In the US DHL will hand off to the postal service / some other service for final delivery and tracking stops where they do the hand off. I'd assume it's been lost and start contacting dhl/newegg/whoever.

Try copying the number directly into Google - sometimes you can get more detailed tracking that way. I know it works with US situation that mrtomaytohead mentioned.

I bought it on amazon actually, and after complaining I managed to get a refund on the shipping, but they say they won't send another one/give me a refund on the lbp2 itself unless it hasn't shown up by the 15th.

edit: just checked the tracking again and apparently it got into a sorting center in Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver) today, so unless that sorting center sucks ass I should probably have it tomorrow. So yeah, apparently it can take 11 days to get from Ontario to BC. WTF.

juv3nal wrote:

I bought it on amazon actually, and after complaining I managed to get a refund on the shipping, but they say they won't send another one/give me a refund on the lbp2 itself unless it hasn't shown up by the 15th.

edit: just checked the tracking again and apparently it got into a sorting center in Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver) today, so unless that sorting center sucks ass I should probably have it tomorrow. So yeah, apparently it can take 11 days to get from Ontario to BC. WTF.

Well, to be fair, that is a very long walk.

On topic, LBP has consumed my thoughts. I also realized that I had lost my LBP1 save since I last played it, and therefore don't have anything unlocked. I might give that a run through this weekend.

I published the level I was talking about, if anyone wants to give it a go. Would love some feedback.

http://lbp.me/v/xe7hjp

Also, if anyone wants to check out some good levels, I added a bunch of good ones to my lbp.me profile. You can queue em up right from the website and it'll load the next time you play the game.

http://lbp.me/u/DietOmaha/hearted_levels

I played your donut level, Omaha. It was quite fun, but there was one little complaint. After pushing the tea cup down the slide, I fell into the hole with the tea cup and got stuck under it. Had to suicide to get back out. Perhaps making that hole a bit wider would help.

Also, the part with the rotating wheels that you have to grapple onto and fling yourself up onto the diagonal-facing bounce pads that bounce you up to more bounce pads was tough as hell, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Others might not be inclined to agree, what with the wonkiness of the grapple hook.

Otherwise, great stuff.

Omaha wrote:

I published the level I was talking about, if anyone wants to give it a go. Would love some feedback.

http://lbp.me/v/xe7hjp

Here are my excessively-critical-and-nitpicky notes as I played through it:

- Got stuck right at the very beginning when I moved to the left and jumped up at the green book; LBP's plane switching carried me onto the brown book and, when I jumped again to the left to see what happened, I ended up under the table with, apparently, nowhere to go.

- I like how there are grapple points in the ceiling of the "library" room (which comes after the clothes hanger grappling puzzles), even though the stamp/hourglass-thing to the right (on top of the book on the ground) occasionally takes priority as a grapple point. If you replaced that stamp with something that wasn't grappleable and put an item bubble on top of the red quill, you might entice players to play around a little bit with the grappling in that room.

- The first JumpPad/Grapple point after that library room has a bit of weird feedback. If you mess up the "slingshot" to go upward, you get sent all the way back to the beginning; if you really nail it, you can reach the top of the area, with nothing to do but to just fall downward to the platform. A set of bonus point bubbles along the top of that room/shaft/whatever could encourage players to really try and master that grappling point. (Also, consider replacing the hard failure at the bottom with an alternate path that leads you back up to the library by jumping on a stack of books, perhaps?)

- The set of arcs with bonus bubbles were a nice change of pace from the more methodical grappling puzzles; if you could tune the angles of those arcs to allow the player to carom from one arc into the next and then, finally, into the jump and grappling test that leads you to the next segment, it would be a real blast.

- Speaking of that jump and grappling test, the big R1 button is certainly an appropriate cue to grapple upward, but it's a bit telegraphed too. Maybe reduce the height of that jump enough so that the player can see the grappling hook in mid-air, grapple it, then trigger a gate closure behind them as they pull upward into the checkpoint? Something like a trapdoor wouldn't be out of place in this segment - the fire that's ahead makes it seem like the player has stumbled into a bit of a trap in itself, and the trapdoor closing behind the player as they grapple upward might add some drama to that.

- I'd definitely recommend widening the fire hallway: the grappling mechanics in LBP2, to put it charitably, are a real mess when it comes to managing height on the grapple. The hooks aren't that challenging, but the low height also makes it incredibly easy to botch one just by giving a little extra downward nudge on the analog stick as your swinging along. A little extra breathing room doesn't remove the drama of jumping over the fire and you can always try and lengthen out the fire pits, if you think the height removes some of the challenge you want there.

- It might be just me, but I blew by the red X that removes the grappling hook after the fire hallway; I jumped right off, expecting to grapple on the ball at the top, and landed in the colored gas instead. A little extra running room might help hint to the player that they need a good running jump to make it to that ball.

- Consider moving the checkpoint before the second "fire room" up to the area where you get the grappling hook. I like jump pads as much as the next person, but it did seem a bit tedious whenever I'd die in that room -- and it's very easy to die a lot in there -- and have to run over and jump back up again.

- If the mood you were trying to evoke with the electricity on those spinning grapple point gears in the second "fire room" was "wanton cruelty," then mission accomplished. Again, the iffiness of LBP2's grappling hook makes that entire sequence pretty difficult in itself, even without the electricity.

- Dig the music in the "tea area," but the crystal-esque background made it hard to distinguish between the scenery and the available platforms at times. Also, like MechaSlinky, I got stuck under the teacup after the big slide.

- I think I liked the "cheese area" the most out of the entire level; lots of playful exploration and puzzling in there. Only minor nitpick I'd mention is that you can probably reduce the number of basketball shots that you have to make with the cheese to proceed in the 3rd puzzle; it's fun for three or four times but, afterwards, can tire just a little bit.

- The cheese deposit at the very end was a little weird; I couldn't quite get the cheese down there by throwing it, jumping into the green tube killed me, and jumping down into the pit with the cheese allowed me to proceed, but without the costume that was mentioned in the speech bubble. Not quite sure what happened there, but couldn't go back to try it again.

Overall, I thought it had some interesting moments. Some of the current difficulty spikes (fire rooms!) would probably keep me from using it in co-op with my daughter, but it could definitely be fairly solid as a single player experience, I think.

Media Molecule announced a Hansel and Gretelbot community level group that looks like a blast to play!

[I'm surprised no one beat me to this news...]

Eldon_of_Azure wrote:

[I'm surprised no one beat me to this news...]

I get the impression that LBP 2 just isn't garnering as much attention as LBP 1 did. It's great, it's fun, but it's just more LBP so nobody's talking about it. Still, I'm a fan of more community levels, it inspires me to actually finish the game.

Thanks for the reviews, by the way. The damn hole in the beginning of the level has been my bane since I published it. I guess I'm just going to have to slap some holo material over it. The teacup area as well has been another iffy point. Everything I try still ends with the same result! I may just enable controllers on the ramp and see if that helps folks a bit at least. The fire and electricity stuff I feel has been tuned just right. I like that it's a bit hard and you have to figure out the timing to slingshot yourself up / over. The hard levels that take some skill to master are some of my favorites, so I tried to make a few bits of my own. I like the inifinite life checkpoints for this very reason. I don't like penalizing people for trying and failing.

I do like your idea about having a little 'bonus' area for people who hit the first bounce pads and shoot themselves up, so I think that'll definitely be implemented soon. Along with a path back up. Thanks for that.

And finally the ending cheese bit is of course annoying as well. Ideally, the player is supposed to throw the cheese in the pit, watch a small movie of the cheese rolling down, and when it comes back the cheese pit is sealed off and then jump into the tube. I think I'm going to make this a bit more obvious as well, maybe make the 'cheese depository' out of the player's range so they have to throw it at it, and can't possibly jump down themselves.

Thanks for playing though, I've fixed most of the things since releasing the level, but there are definitely still a few issues. By the way, the level's been featured in the Cool Levels section over at lbpcentral.com

Does anyone else have any published levels? I'd definitely like to see some from folks here

I've been too busy working on my level to have much of anything of interest to say about the game, since I don't really want to talk too much about my level since it just seems like why bother talk about it when I can just do it? But this is pretty much the only game I'm playing lately, I love it that much. I did do some cool stuff that has nothing to do with my level, though. I made Luigi from the original Super Mario Bros. He animates, he runs and slows down and comes to a screeching halt like in the original. He doesn't jump yet. Won't be using him in a level, though. Just something I was doing to familiarize myself with the logic gates and such.

Just picked this up yesterday. Have only played through the first world so far. I hope to play through the story and get to creating soon.

If you want to play co-op or want me to play through your levels, friend me up. I'm IUMogg on psn too.