Recreating Little Big Planet

Christopher Villedieu, as part of the Alpha and in celebration of 10 years since the launch of Little Big Planet remade the first level in Dreams.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/330637144

Here is what he said on Twitter about the build.

First was Francis making the Puppet of Sackboy in Dreams long time ago… and then, start the impossible thought : Making the real thing! So many challenges ahead, so many barriers, so many questions. But I’m not the kind of creator stopped by limits ! So I started by restraining Sackboy to walk forward/backward. Split input of Left Stick, only use the X signal. DONE. Now 3 layers… Use that Y from left stick to swap from them, Follower gadget to 3 keys with a Selector. Done.
Now auto-layering? Mmm, tricky… Ok get lasers from Sackboy head, checking forward/backward/below, compare values, get shortest but not too low (mean wall) add few conditions, tweak numbers well, tell Selector to switch to layer. Done! Now jump down, easy : Not in layer 1 plus press X, plus no wall in front of you : -1 on where Selector is, plus Don’t play Sackboy jump animation while pressing X
2D physics ! Rhaaa, how to do this? Ok, invisible cube send it’s orientation to the Sponge Sculpt. But I’m only mapping 2 axis, freeing the Z for the LBP 2D rotation, rest is handle by Dreams Balancing weights so lighter but can push Sackboy a bit.
Grabbing Man, that one is the beast. As not yet supported in Dreams. Let’s make it anyway: Sponge got a triggerzone looking for « GrabMe » Press R1, Sackboy trigger that key, make grab pose animation forward (or down if on top) and sponge cube love slowly where sackboy hand is
Jump & Grab ! Sqeeeee! Ok, trickier, same key thing, but here Sackboy move fast to grab point, make hang anim, floppy legs, and stand left stick signal to sponge so you can swing, also send back its orientation in Z so Sackboy swing left right too.
Checkpoints ! Easy, #DreamsPS4 got some already. Just made spawn animation, gong sound, open door, choir, glow, etc. Cechpoint send his layer to Sackboy who go to it as respawn check. One regret : didn’t had time to make the acrobatic on respawn
Customize Sackboy! I mean LBP without it is not a thing. So I first made different Sackboy by hand, tweaking colors… adding one hat to this one, was just the wrong way of doing it… i needed something dynamic, something like :
The Pop-it !! Another impossible idea Just made 2 days ago, using text background, glowing stroke from hand, in world, offset from main camera position. Facing screen. Drawing 2D icons with stroke, using imp as interaction, as hybrid system, adding paging, text, Done!
Customize Sackboy ? Ok let’s set and send a colour to all sculpts. Hats, moustaches, glasses, easy, power ON or OFF sculpts. Eyes… oh they need blinking, let’s do this too while we are at it And store ALL this with Variable gadget so it’s stored on map, accessed everywhere!
Multiplayer ! Ha, was forever 1 player (just my test demo after all) So made it 4 players this morning, 6h before stream, (while working on other stuff) what a nutter Checking compatibility with keys, etc But wait, need 4 pop-it! Ok let’s position them & colours matching DS4
Now let’s make a proper level, yeah The Garden, obviously iconical, let’s make fences, sculpt bricks, but man, the fabric!? Oh well, let’s draw it ! And add the nice sew white dotted lines on it 😉 Pirate wheels, king, and the Skateboard we all fell in love with in 2008
Let’s made a switch to 3D at the bottom, and reveal Dreams Logo… because yeah, it was all made with it ! What a journey, what a thrill, so much memory down the line ! Now… let’s go back to my space level, you can bet I already made customizing ship See ya everyone
Ok i got more question about auto layering. So, Subthread : I’m sending 5 Raycast from top of Sackboy head, all ending to juuust below floor 1 vertically below, 1 layer front, 2 l front, 1 layer back, 1 2 l back. I then compare numbers like this :
If a 1 of the 4 (I compare to actual one) is shorter (I here use Math gadget) but : not 0 (as it mean it hit nothing) not inferior to what a wall distance will be (if layer behind got a wall I mesure that, add a bit, and use a min ref, same for other layers)Then I move Sackboy here ! As it’s shorter, so “higher” than your actual position. I’m also only doing this when Sackboy is not touching ground. This prevent some false positive if floor is slightly uneven. Done