Before we begin I may as well point out that if you visit the blog for the art (You poor fools) then you might want to skip this post because there's no art in it. Well, some sort of art, but not the type you usually get. I'm not really sure why I'm even making this post - it doesn't really belong on here, but I guess it does explain part of the reduction of art output over the last two months. The rest of the reduction I've gone into before; and I've mentioned this too in passing, so you may as well see it.
Little Big Planet 2 may be the greatest time suck ever invented by man. It's a game, but unlike other time sucks such as RPG's or MMO's the actual game is really quite short. It has that in common with those FPS games with a focus on Multiplayer like Call of Duty or Homefront (Which you should totally buy...), but it's online experience isn't really the focus either, although it has 4 player co-op and verses portions. No, Little Big Planet 2 is a time suck because it allows you to make your own levels. The original LBP allowed this too, but LBP2 takes it to another level entirely (Har-Har). My son loves the game proper, and I'm addicted to making (mostly dreadful) things.
So with my Son's birthday approaching I thought it would be nice to merge these two things. I would make him a level as a birthday present. Yes, yes you capitalist mooks we bought him a real present as well - it's a bike; he loves it. But where's the care and attention in that? By making him a level it could be custom tailored to his likes and interests. I was off the mark a bit since he got into pirates in a big way when it was half finished, but thankfully he didn't completely go off fire engines. Anyway, lets get on with it.
This is close to the start of his level. When it begins he meets a Sackbot bearing a remarkable resemblance to
Fireman Sam's Station Officer Steele who tells him he'd better get off to work or he'll be late. Sackbot's are just programmable characters in the game. In the game's levels proper they look like cardboard robots - that's my Son's character in the screen above(which looks like them) - but they can look like anything really - this one looks like a potholing Steele, since Steele likes potholing. Anyway, you travel through the caves for a bit. The screen above is right before a cave-in, which is handy since without it you couldn't continue.
Here's a random skull inset into the wall. It's possible to "lethalise" the level at the beginning, making it harder - When you do that the skull jumps out of the wall and laughs at you, but usually it just sits there as decoration.
As well as the cave-ins and the random skulls this quiet cave in Wales also turns out to be an active volcano. Who'd have thought it? You have to use a grappling hook to traverse to the far side. He's 4, it doesn't have to make sense as long as it's awesome.
This bit is in a cave with a giant electrified 4 in the background. In order to proceed you have to grapple up a wall, but when you do so the wall splits off from the cliff and falls down to form a bridge (With a jump pad on it allowing you to ascend). The arrows at the top there tell you where to go once you've made it up there - they light up and everything. Complicated stuff this you know...
Eventually our hero is ejected from the caves through this well looking thing. I was going to have it be a mini volcano, but then I forgot, so there's just a big spring that kicks you up to the surface. I claim no responsibility for the awesome background as it comes with the game. Actually most of this comes with the game - everything is built of preexisting materials - you just reshape them to your needs. And yes, everything has a sort of homemade crafty look to it, hence the stitching on the grass. Those water droplet looking things are score bubbles by the way - you collect them for points.
Around the corner you meet Elvis the firefighter who's forgotten how to drive the fire engine. He's the only character who's actually named, which is relevant to a joke later on. Of course it's only a joke if you know the show it's based on, and are 4. It has nothing to do with his name - Elvis, as far is my son is concerned, is a Welsh firefighter, and not the King of Rock and Roll. Thankfully I don't believe he thinks Mr. Hitler is a greengrocer (though he knows he only has one ball, but has yet to realise this means testicle).
Here's another picture of the fire engine. I spent an hour building it, I may as well get some mileage out of it.
This is the halfway point of the level (and this post). Yes, really, it's quite an epic when you're 4. In this bit you drive the fire engine around the city putting out fires, like this one:
No, the city really isn't all that pretty is it. That's because I was running out of the time I already didn't have. I'm working on a prettier version of this that I can take my time over. It will be quite some time coming what with everything else I have going on.
Once you've put out a few fires you get called tot he mansion that's now ablaze. When you arrive you get out of the fire engine and are greeted by this little cutscene showing you that you need to rescue this ostentatiously dressed woman. The female firefighter at the scene informs you that you can't use the big hose on the engine until the house is empty (and I think that sounds vaguely rude personally).
You both don your fire helmets with built in hoses and wade into the fray.
That's quite an inferno. The hardest and most time consuming thing to do in the entire level was to have the other fire fighter follow you into he building and then go off and fight the fire downstairs while you go up. Then, after the rescue she gives it up and follows you out again. It sounds so simple but it took hours to work out, with many minutes of me yelling "Stop following my guy upstairs you tart!". It made doing the end sequence a lot easier due to what I'd learned doing this (seemingly) simple bit though.
Once you save the unnamed and overdressed woman you hop into the fire engine and use the big hose to douse the fire. Then the Woman says "Thank you so much, if you go in the back room there's a reward for you." Up until now the back room has been blocked by fire. This shot is from the now fireless house on the way to the room. Before you get there though all the lights go out. When they come back on it's to reveal a cake in the shape of a 4. Then the camera pulls out to reveal your firefighting chums who shout "Surprise!"
"Happy birthday" says faux Officer Steele, "Elvis has baked you a cake." "Yes," continues Elvis, "It took me all morning to make."
The number 4 cake promptly catches fire and Elvis looks devastated (This is the Elvis joke - Elvis is the worse cook in the world). Shortly afterwards the cake explodes, but not before the fire has popped the balloons. How sad.
It's all Okay though because then a whole host of assorted characters run into the room, fireworks fly, holographic sun and moon start whizzing around and basic insanity happens. Officer Steele looks confused and Elvis looks crushed but everyone else is having a fine time. The end, fade to black, and then the words Happy 4th Birthday.
The whole thing took a few weeks to make (it might have been less but I was busy with work and sick a lot of course) and he loves it, or seems to. We had to play it through 3 times back to back, the final time with the lethaliser sticker in place (He just about died himself when the skull popped out laughing at him). So all in all quite the success. I put it up online for others to play (You have to in order to have multi part stuff like this as it won't all fit in the game's memory at once) and a grand total of three people bothered to try it, and one of them didn't like it. Well, bollocks to them, my Son did and it's his present, so there.
If you're interested in actually experiencing this epic adventure yourself (and have Little Big Planet 2, and have in fact made it through to this point in the post), you can find it under my game name (which just so happens to be the same as the one I write the blog under; HarlequiNQB), just do a text search in "Community" and this and my other levels should pop right up. Or you can search for "Fireman Sack's Big Birthday Adventure" instead, but the first option is quicker.
Okay, now that's out of my system I promise not to wrote another post specifically about a Little Big Planet 2 level ever again. Unless I do something completely awesome...
