Friday, January 9, 2009

SuperPhillip: The Game - A Platforming Adventure Come to Life



LittleBigPlanet was SuperPhillip Central's Game of the Year 2008. Perhaps you love this gem, too! I've enjoyed the game enough that I've decided to create a series of levels-- a "game" if you will-- using LittleBigPlanet's expansive creation tools.

Just some quick history: my user name is based off the character I created in second grade as part of some creative project in school. Not the other way around. Since then, I've created multiple versions and mythos of the character. SuperPhillip: The Game will be a yearlong project of mine. I've completed an RPG featuring my character, so this isn't too big of a stretch to do.

The game will have six worlds of three levels each. Each third level will conclude with a boss battle featuring one of the many villains of the SuperPhillip universe. Each level has five prize bubbles that will unlock that level's challenge world-- a shorter, more challenging level-- sometimes a race, sometimes a survival challenge, sometimes a high score affair.

Level 0-1 The Warehouse

This level is the first of many, and it serves as the tutorial level. The information provided from SuperPhillip's friend, Dan, may seem elementary, but I'm making it so the game takes it that LittleBigPlanet doesn't even exist and that SuperPhillip: The Game is all the player has to learn these things. As it is its own game, I'm including everything that a retail game would have-- a coherent story, a tutorial to assist players, and loads of collectibles.

The Warehouse does not have anything to kill the player. I didn't want the tutorial level to have anything like that, but rest assured every other level definitely will. There are checkpoints in case for whatever you reason you get stuck (which you shouldn't since there's a way out of everything).

Unlike every other level, this one has six prize bubbles. The others will have five. They're usually well-hidden or hard to reach. It is a tutorial level, but there are definitely secrets to be found!

Please let me know what you think of the level. Remember that this level is the first of eighteen, so it is easy. It wouldn't be good design to make it tough or easy to die at the very first level.

1-1 Central City

Central City is the first story level of SuperPhillip: The Game! It's actually a two part level which I wasn't really planning, but I ran out of space-- not thermometer-wise but room-wise. There was nowhere left to build to the east. That was a blessing though because it allowed me to add so much detail to make the city come to life. Now this definitely filled the thermometer.

As with 0-1: The Warehouse, there are five hidden prize bubbles to collect. This earns you the sticker needed to reach the key. If you're just rushing through the level, you're not really doing it right. I've built my levels (excluding challenge levels) to encourage exploration. I hope you will look around.




If you own a PS3 and a copy of LittleBigPlanet, please try out my levels. You can find them under the name "SuperPhillip"!

3 comments:

Andrew said...

An excellent idea. Games like LittleBigPlanet could do for gamers what Wikipedia and Youtube (and blogs!) do for everyday Internet users - they provide an easy way for amateurs to express their own ideas and opinions. Hope this game works out like you've planned!

SpinachPuffs said...

It's looking fantastic - makes me wish I had a PS3 to play it on!

Anonymous said...

Yo, Zac here. I just got a PS3 for my birthday as well as a copy of LBP, so I'll check your levels out when I get the chance!

Good luck with this and make sure you stay dedicated to it and don't let it become something on the side you do whenever you want. I want this to be finished so I can review it! ;)