Scarybiscuit has published not one, not two but three new levels recently . Is there any stopping the LBPV creating machine ? You can check out and queue them all below .
Welcome to enchanting wood, travel through the woods and travel by flower, in this graphically rich platformer. Thanks ges to tabycatmeow for the music, and smartysloan, legopig and madberty23 for playtests.
Take the streets and blast your way through zombie hordes or find a car and take a ride. Freeroaming shooter in a top down view. Beta version still working on this.
CHUG, CHUG, CHUG. Ladder and ledge climb your way to massive points. Be careful what you CHUG and see if you can find all of the Easter Eggs and surprises to get the high score! -----> Special thanks to @OMGYOUWOULDand @GHOST_CREATORS. -----> Some MUSIC by @MastaBlastya. Additional thanks to @Breezy-The-Profor some fonts and @comphermc for tutorials. -----> Follow me on Twitter @peoriaspitfire to see what I'm working on next.
Let me start off by wishing you all a very happy new year from all the Ghost Creators . If you follow us on Twitter you will know that apart from it being new years day yesterday, it was also #CHUGDay . What better way to start 2014 than with one of the biggest levels any of our members has ever produced .
Epic Tracks Audio debut Gallery. What drama might sound like, if it were music. Composed for the discerning ear! Collectable to spice up your levels, if you're looking for originality, depth, audio complexity & dimension. Several genres are showcased here, & I hope you find something fitting. All rights reserved, so please credit appropriately! Integrity & honor breeds champions! Aspire, & rise above mediocrity to a higher calling! DREAM LARGE! DREAM OFTEN!
RickRock_777 returns with his second musical gallery, but first under the Epic Tracks Audio label . This gallery features a number of tracks split into various groups. Anyone who has heard Rick's music before will know what to expect . His music is deep , sometimes dark , but always unique .
::[ 1 P L A Y E R ] :: [ D I F F I C U L T : H A R D ]:: Have you ever seen the rustiest place in whole craftworld? No?! Then Welcome to the abandoned Sawmill... :[ N O T E ]: you can collect some special bubbles to get higher score... [ M E D I U M : S I Z E ] 5x ( 20 bubbles ) [ B I G : S I Z E ] 10x ( 45 bubbles ) Ambiance Music by Bigsurf77...
Z1091990 returns with yet another level determined to kill you in more and more elaborate ways. Famed for his ingenious contraptions, Z's Abandoned Sawmill doesn't disappoint.
To celebrate the release of CHUG we're back with another Ghost Creators " Introducing " interview . So sit back as we delve into the mind of one of LBP's most talented visual creators .
Some creators can knock off a level in a week, others will spend ten times that working on a single scene . I think it's safe to say that peoriaspitfire falls into the later bracket . Blessed ( or cursed as the case may be ) with an obsessive eye for detail, Spitfire is the very definition of " quality over quantity "
Creator name: John
is my birth name, but I’ll also answer to various other insults. Creator Age: Older
than Pong. That stings a bit, but it is
what it is…
Region: 1 (Peoria, Illinois - USA) PSN: peoriaspitfire (Peoria comes from my home town and Spitfire
comes from years skateboarding and it’s been my PSN since the first
Playstation. I can remember the days
running cat5 cable like 50+ feet from my upstairs to the main level just to
play online. I think back on those days
I was playing a lot of Madden or FIFA.
Tomb Raider was also one of my staples.) Twitter: @peoriaspitfire (Follow me if you want to see what I’m
working on next. I try to follow as
many LBP creators as possible and I always love to see what everyone is working
on. In fact the majority of levels I
play these days often get queued from a link on twitter. Please feel free to tweet me if you ever want
feedback, help testing, etc. with your latest creation.)
Published Levels: -LBP1 GoldenAcorn Hurdles Multi Death Hurdles Afro Troll I actually stopped playing LBP1 for a long
time after one of my son’s friends deleted my profile and wiped out all the LBP
levels I had been working on. It was
devastating to lose so much work and I just stopped playing. Nowadays, I back up my profile often to a USB
and highly recommend everyone else do the same.
That profile wipe also deleted my progress on Red Dead Redemption which
I had almost finished. I’ve still never
finished that, ugh! I guess there are
several games that I haven’t finished because of LBP!
LBP2 I’ve probably been through at least three
LBP2 discs and now use a digital copy. There was a time that my disc(s)/PS3 were so corrupt that it would often
take 15-30 minutes to just get them to boot up after several PS3 freezes. Once the game would finally boot up, I never
knew what in game text would be visible.
Often times I would try to tweak a setting and all the numbers and
settings were garbled, so I would have to do it all by memory or trial and
error. At that point, I was really close
to quitting again out of frustration.
However, I loved the game too much to quit a second time. Luckily, once I downloaded the digital
version it fixed all my issues!
Hearts: 145
(almost all in this year (previous 3 years combined, I think I had like 30
total) Lists: I
just made my first two lists. There a
ton of levels that still need added to my Spit’s Picks, but I currently don’t
have the time right now to go find them all.
Volume 1 is my start and I’m guessing I could have 5-10 volumes when I’m
all done! I would still like to make an
LBP1 list and a list of my favorite Ghost Creator levels. Spit’sPicks – Volume 1: Spit’sTop 5 LBPC Eye Candies:
Okay, lets get into this then. Lets go right back to the beginning. Can you tell us
about your first LBP memory?
While browsing one of my son’s gaming
magazines and before LBP was out, I noticed a
small blip about it and the
ability to create that it offered.I was
immediately intrigued
and ended up buying it the first day.
And what was it that first hooked you on LBP.
First and foremost it was the ability
to create, but the art style also helped seal the
deal.
Can you tell us about the first level you ever published?
That’s a great question. I’m not sure I can exactly recall what I
first published, but I’m
positive it must have had something to do with
grabbing a sponge and probably only
lived a few days before I deleted it! My “first” published level that still exists
is called
“Golden Acorn.” The story
revolves around finding the golden acorn, which doesn’t
happen until you defeat
a mech squirrel at the end of the level.
How have you improved as a creator since those early days?
This might sound weird, but I
improved the most by simply not caring about plays and
my create speed. I’m a slow creator for several reasons, but
the biggest one is having
limited time to create due to my real life
obligations (wife, kids and work!). I
also tend
to rework various scenes to death and then I’ll often delete them and
start over!
What would you say was your best moment in LBP to date?
I didn’t know it at the time, but it
was an LBP Community Meetup in St.Louis, MO back
in the summer of 2011 (fact
check needed). It was here that I got to
meet a few MM
and LBP icons, along with some other awesome community creators.
I had just recently joined the LBPC fan site and that’s where I saw the LBP Community
Meetup announcement and decided it might be a good father/son trip since we
were
both into games and it was so close.
I think the very first people my son and I met
that day were Spaff, Confused
Cartman and Comphermc and we had absolutely no
clue who they were! Obviously, I wasn’t very knowledgeable about
the community
yet…
This was also a bad moment for me
too, because I ended up being sick most of the
weekend and didn’t get much time
to connect with all the super stars in attendance. I
really wish someone would organize another
meetup, because I think it’s a great
opportunity to cement new friendships in
the flesh.
LBPC Eye Candy - CHUG
I think I know the answer to this question before I even ask it but we'll go with
it anyway. If you could change one thing about LBP what would it be?
MORE THERMO!!!!
Ha Ha, I knew it! Okay, moving on. What would you say are your strengths and
weaknesses as a creator?
I’m full of so many weaknesses, that
listing them all would make my fingers bleed
trying to type them all. My strengths are few, but one might be my
attention to detail
every once and awhile.
Now that I think about that more, my attention to detail is
actually a
weakness, since it often complicates my ability to get things completed in a
timely manner and destroys my thermo and makes my cranky. Note to self…drop the
detail for 2014.
If you could improve just one aspect of your creating what would it be
Improving only one thing is a tough
choice, but if you are holding a knife to my throat
then I’ll have to go with
gameplay. Generally, I would much rather
make sets all day
than come up with gameplay.
Can you tell us about some of your influences outside of LBP. What inspires
you?
I’m easily influenced by air and
inspired by tofu. Air allows me to
breathe and Tofu has
so many uses that it makes my mind dizzy just
contemplating them all. Outside of
LBP,
I actually get inspired by things as small as a rainbow on an oil stain or a
crack in
the cement. There really is no
limit to inspiration when you set your mind free. Inside
of LBP, I’m inspired by all the great
people in the community who never ceases to
amaze me at how talented and
wonderful they can be. As a kid I always
thought it
would be cool to have a pin pal in another country and with LBP, I
think I know have
that.
Creating style is something that has
always interested me. Every creator has
one. If I may be so bold, I would
suggest that yours is one of immense
attention to detail coupled with the joy
of hiding secrets all throughout your
sets for the player to find. A powerful
combination indeed. Where did this come
from?
First of all,
secrets are just fun to do! Growing up
as a kid I always remember how
gratifying it was to find a secret/Easter egg
and feel like part of an elite group of players
and then also be able to brag
about it to your friends. The secrets in
my levels are
rewards for the players who enjoy exploring and usually give them
insane points which
help put their names at our near the top of the
leader board. As I think about this
more,
I think my early Tomb Raider days might have had something to do with this.
As for detail, it’s
LBP and I think we all understand most of the limitations it presents. I
guess I’m a sucker for a challenge and I
really think it is LBP’s limitations that I keep
encountering that keep me
coming back for more. It’s like a game
within a game and
I’m battling LBP create mode and thermo to one up it and
eventually beat it, only it
can’t be beat…yet!
Countless times, I
have grand visions of what I want to do and then I open my pop-it,
take some
cardboard material out and then begin to cry.
Eventually, I man up and
start battling the thermo. My real problem tends to be the fact that I
have a hard time
leaving anything alone.
I’m sure there are several medical diagnoses for me, but here
is how it
generally goes for me in create mode:
Day 1 - I
create a section that makes me somewhat happy
Day 2 - I tweak the
section and add more detail
Day 3 - I hate the section,
delete it and rebuild it from scratch
Day 4 - I tweak it
and add more detail
Day 5 - The section
yells at me because it’s too complicated and I rework it all again
Day 6 - While
testing, I add more detail
Day 7 - I find that
my new section has destroyed my thermo and now I need to decide to dumb it
down, use emit/destroy, make a level link, or scrap the section and leave it
sitting on my moon to die
What does being a member of the
Ghost Creators mean to you?
The best thing is
the Ghost Creator sticker! Seriously, it
means a lot to me to be
recognized by my peers and to be part of such a diverse
group of talented individuals.
I’m truly
humbled by my inclusion and can’t think of a better group to be recognized
by.
Tell us about some of your levels.
Like a lot of
others, most of the work I do never makes it off my moon. I have quite a few concepts and ideas in
various stages of development stashed away, but more
likely than not, they’ll
never be completed. This year I’ve tried
to put a focus on my
environments and creating an atmosphere that engulfs the
player. I started this with
my
AQUA-FRIED level, which is actually quite long.
It’s really four levels long and packs
about 2-4 thermos in each level
using the emit/destroy technique.
Unfortunately, my
creating style can cause lag for some players and that
does sadden me. I know to limit
that
issue, I’ll have to change my focus to a simpler and smarter approach and that
will
" Atmospheric adventure on wasted earth, staying alive while being hunted by completely despicable aliens. Incredible terrain, great SFX, and probably more collectibles then any other lbp-level in existence. A fantastic experience. "
Drunkenfist_Lee says...
" Excellent! Love the extreme level of detail you put into everything. Looks great! The impressive quantity of secrets scattered about is awesome. Great work, man. "
" Short but sweet - I enjoyed this lite version very much. You've managed to make it more accessible while keeping the essence of the original. Great job. And I STILL haven't found the shark, lol! "
Greensmurfy says...
" Sometimes you can tell a level is going to be great in the first minute. This is one of them. Beautiful intro. The environment is awesome and the gameplay very creative. I was pretty proud of myself for finding the pink stars lol. "
Tell us about some creators you
particularly admire.
Unfortunately, a couple of creators
that I admire/inspire me aren’t active on LBP much anymore.
Luos_83 is another creator
who’s been MIA for awhile now, although the LBPC Eye Candy brought him out of
hiding for a few minutes recently. I
really admire the attention to detail that Luos_83 put in his levels. One of my favorite levels by him is still[Beta][1P
game] Lockpick's Maze , but Shady Functions and his Reh'Tahl series are all pretty darn
awesome too. The other thing I’ve
learned, again through twitter, is that Luos_83 and Stellakris seem like
genuine nice people and to me that’s admirable.
Another creator you might have heard
of before is Comphermc http://lbp.me/u/comphermc . I really admire his ability to
seemingly tackle anything in LBP and be successful. His levels always wow me, because they seem
so perfectly balanced and polished. It seems
like he always has just the right amount of story, visuals, gameplay and
something new to add to LBP. I also
liked the fact that he would make hard levels for those of us who enjoy a
challenge. His tutorial work on
LittleBigPlanetorials is the icing on the cake and they still come in handy to
this day!
Mnniska is another creator who I instantly
fell in love with because of his art style and sense of humor. I really gravitate towards creators and
artists in general who have their own unique style and presentation and aren’t
afraid to express themselves. Mnniska
used to have an old YouTube series called Speed Create where we got to see him
create levels in a sped up fashion and the best news is that I hear they might
be making a comeback!!! It’s always
great getting a glimpse inside of the Mind of Mnniska.
Besides all my Ghost Creator friends, a few other creators that I also admire or
inspire me are Aratiatia, Fabio71, shookie_monster, ITARBOYI, Nick930930,
RtooDee2, tevlon1, TOBSn08, LIGhTmAre, Jester946, SlurmMacKenzie, BobTox,
Jplusk, Holguin86, Fotosynthesis1, c_mckamey, julesyjules, lordwarblade,
Hammertoe_1, Festerd_Jester, Just_Tom__, Alley_Cat_8633 and the machines known
as steve_big_guns and yu-kamone.
Lastly, I have to say there are
hundreds of other creators that I haven’t listed that I also do admire or inspire
me. Because I spend so much of my LBP
time fiddling around in create mode, I don’t often meet many players or play as
many levels as I would like. I look
forward to meeting more of you and playing your levels in the coming year.
And some of your favorite
levels.
Well this is just
about the most impossible question ever.
I have so many favorite
levels that I can’t even recall them all. I just started my very first list: Spit’s
Picks -
Volume 1 and it’s far from complete.
What I can do is list a few of my most recent
My Companion Bomb, I Love My Companion Bomb 2 , I Love My Pumpkinbyshookie_monster are just
plain awesome if you like a to teeter between joy and a sweaty, controller
breaking, rage hell. I highly recommend
these levels for those of you who like a challenge and have “completion
disease.”
+2000 EMITTERS by yenahc1962 is an example of someone with incredible patience and stamina. I think I would have gone mental after about 100 emitters. This one might not be for everyone, but I hope you can at least admire the work that must have gone into this.
Some great levels there. I have never heard of the last one but will have to check it out.
Do you play any other LBP games?
LBPV
My son and I share a Vita, but I have yet
to open up LBP create mode on it. I
really did enjoy the story mode and all of the create possibilities I read
about do seem intriguing. For some
reason I just can’t get my head/hands around creating on something so
small. I keep saying to myself that I
should give it a try, but right now all it does is act like an expensive door
stop. At the very least, I should go
play everyone else’s awesome levels.
LBPK
I had a lot of fun building a track in the
beta, but that was it. In the end,
create mode was just too cumbersome to give it too much effort and I quickly
settled back into LBP2 create. The
potential and ideas are there, but it still needs several tweaks before it
would get another look from me.
Anyone who follows you on
Twitter can’t help to have spotted some of awesome screenshots you've been
posting for what seems like months now. Without spoiling any possible surprises
you have in store for us, is there anything you would like to share about this
upcoming project of yours?
If you follow me on
Twitter, then you know I’m about to release CHUG in January, 2014. With CHUG, I wanted to continue my
exploration of creating rich environments and atmosphere that engulf the
player. I also wanted to challenge
myself to create scenery very different than AQUA-FRIED and that’s how the
urban-themed level CHUG was born. Due to
the major pain in the rear end it is to work with complex scenes and the
emit/destroy, I wanted to stay away from using that technique in CHUG. I also wanted to create a more non-liner
level which required some back tracking to complete, which also doesn’t lend
itself well to emit/destroy. I found out
early on in development that keeping this thing small and in scope was once
again going to be difficult to do.
Without giving away too much, CHUG is quite the hog and actually takes
up six levels on my planet!
Skateboarding in CHUG
shooting some hoops in CHUG
One of the big
things I learned from AQUA-FRIED is that people would play the first couple of
levels and generally leave yeas, hearts and positive feedback, but would not
make it to the later levels or boss and thus did not get to see a lot of the
work. I was never quite sure if this was
due to difficulty, length, lag, other or combination of all. With CHUG, I start the player in a HUB and
give them access to all the sub levels right from the start. I did this for two big reasons. First, it gives the player who gets stuck on
a particular level, the opportunity to skip it and start on the next one if
they still want to continue the experience.
Second, I’m having a CHUG High Score Challenge with this level and this
will give those players a chance to start anywhere and practice/explore a
specific a level without having to play through from the beginning. To get the high score though, you’ll have to
start from the beginning and play through all the levels and collect as many
coins, bottles and Easter eggs as you can.
There are a couple of pretty big bonus secrets to be had that you’ll
probably also need to get if you want the high score. One is a hidden “Shark ttack” and the other
is a complete “Basketball Hoops” section.
Are there more?
CHUG Hub
Coin jump
You called on the services of
one OMGYOUWOULD to help you with CHUG. What did he bring to the table?
OMGYOUWOULD is one
talented mofo! If you don’t know him,
you should. He is one cool cat who can
do it all from design to music and without his help, CHUG simply wouldn’t have
enough urban-pop. I owe him a tremendous
debt of gratitude for helping me with most of the graffiti tags in CHUG. Currently he’s working on some dope hip-hop
music that I hope he can get hammered out in time for the release. Even if he doesn’t, much respect!
CHUG set
CHUG set
I also want to
thank comphermc and many others for all the helpful tutorials I find
online. Shout out to Breezzythepro for
the some of the fonts in my CHUG level. I also want to give a shout out
to all the positive people I’ve met or will meet in LBP. Overall, there are a lot of talented people
who dabble in LBP and are specialists in certain areas both inside and outside
of LBP. I always wonder what if we could
get the right group together, could we be successful outside of LBP making
games or doing something else?
Apart from CHUG are you working on anything else at the moment?
I'll just leave this here...
Marmalade teaser...
FINALLY!! We get the first glimpse of your fabled silhouette level. ;)
Can you give us 3 tags that describe you best as a
creator?
LBP tags? Maybe Artistic, Sadistic and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. J
Lastly, is there anything else you would like to talk about?
If you ever pop into my pod, don’t
be surprised if you see up to three sacks pissing
their pants because you just
joined. I have triplet girls who just
turned eight years old
and they also love to play LBP on my account. If you see sacks dressed as girls or
animals,
then it’s a good bet you found them and not me.
They have been playing LBP
for years like their dad, so don’t be
surprised if they can out platform you. J You might
also notice
me from time to time hearting some very suspect community levels. This
might be me or it could be them… Let’s
just say I don’t really like playing too many
“Justin Bieber kills 1 Direction
Shark Bomb survival Hideout on a boat with Real water”
levels.
I would just like to thank Peoriaspitfire for taking the time to sit down and do this interview.
All being well CHUG will be released on new years day so keep an eye out for it, I promise you you won't be disappointed.
Until next time, wishing you a happy Christmas and a creative 2014 .
