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The LBP3 Jam is over, and we?re all starting to get back to our daily routines now (yawn) ? But there?s so much to tell you all! As it happens, the good folks at Sony have allowed us to share any details about Create Mode that we can find, and so I?ve tried my best to summarise as many of the additions to the game as I can below.

Create Mode Rehaul

With 16 freshly laundered layers to play around in (Now with that clean linen smell), you?ll find a small shift in the feel of create mode. For the most part, it still feels very much like LBP2? but a few things have changed. For a start, the popit has a new layout, and some of your most used gadgets will have been moved to the global section. Don?t panic! They?re all still there.

Navigating through the 16 layers can get a little tricky, but there?s a handy tool for that ? when hovering, you can use the shoulder buttons to pop back and forth between the layers (working close to the layer you?re editing will help the camera to focus on you properly). You can also use the L3 button to toggle preview mode, and the R3 button to activate a static camera, as opposed to the default which follows the popit.

Many of the vita tools are there, including Dephysicalise, static / dynamic materials, memoriser etc. All of the DLC pack tools are also there, including move, cross play and marvel. (You can even use Move paint with the dualshock controller now ? squeee!)

And the thermo. Oh my, the thermo. We?ll get on to dynamic thermometers later, but I can tell you that the standard thermo already feels like a mighty improvement over LBP2. I built my entire level for the jam (which was admittedly pretty small and simple, but would have taken maybe 4-5 notches in LBP2 with sackbots etc) in under a single notch. Yup. I really think it?ll take a long, long time before we see any problems there.

Summary:

- Handy new controls for navigating create mode.
- Vita logic, and all DLC pack tools included.
- Thermo, what thermo? I didn?t even look at the thermo!

Super Logic

Starting off the barrage of new tools, let?s talk about the Broadcasting Chip. This handy little microchip acts like any other, except that it will transmit anything you place on it, wherever you want. Send the logic to a character, a tagged item, an item in range, a character in range? the possibilities are endless. You want a player to have superpowers, for example, but don?t want to use a sackbot? That?s cool, whip out a broadcasting chip and send the powers directly to them! This tool is going to be as much of a game changer as the memoriser.

Another handy dandy tool is the Wave Generator. This tool will output an analogue signal which oscillates from +1.00 to -1.00, at a speed and frequency you control. No more fiddling with timers! What?s the point in that, you may wonder? I?m sure others can answer this better than I, but a few thoughts that come straight to my mind include easier visual and audio effects, utilising dimmer input settings on lights, audio objects etc.

A couple more to chew on ? The new Force Chip can attract / repel items (whenever I say items, you may as well insert characters / players / tagged objects) at will ? very handy for boss battles, special effects, and I imagine some very cool gameplay mechanics. The new state sensor will sense a players activity. Are they walking, swimming, running, grabbing? No more guessing or using fiddly controllinator signals to find out! As well as the memoriser, we now have an Object Saver tool, which will save the state of any object it?s placed upon. Say you move a piece of grabby sponge, leave the level, and come back. If this tool is used, it?ll be right where you left it. Another little one, which I have only played about with briefly - The Object Animation Tweaker can be placed on any animated material or animated object for you to tweak the animation speed etc.

Some small but incredibly handy tweaks to pretty much everything in create mode ? Every tweaker (to my memory) now has an analogue input (as well as the standard on/off input), allowing for even more fine-tuned tweaking than before. Oh and pistons have outputs. Analogue outputs, which will send a signal depending on the pistons position at any particular moment. Want to synch a vertical platform with an in/out platform? Piece of cake.

Summary:

- Broadcasting chip is so much awesome.
- Wave Generator does away with fiddly timer fussiness.
- Using the Force Chip to feel like a Jedi.
- State Sensor senses what? state you?re? in?
- Object Animation Tweaker adjusts animation speeds and settings on materials and objects
- Object Saver makes for a very useful shortcut for Arrr-Pee-Gees.
- Sooo many little additional tweaks my mind has just melted. I?m sure I haven?t included them all.

To Infinity And Beyond!

Soooo, how about them infinity levels? The term is a slight misnomer, as explained by StevenI in another thread the infinity levels are possible because of the new Dynamic Thermometer. By turning on a Dynamic Thermo, you tell the level to only load what is currently on screen (and you can set loading area sizes and shapes, choosing from standard rectangles to long rectangles, squares, etc) ? this opens up the crushing limitations many of us face when we just want to squish all the logic, assets and pretties we can into one tight space. I don?t think many have had the chance to play with this feature extensively enough yet, but here?s the gist of it.

You turn on Dynamic thermometer, and select your loading area. Now, bear in mind that when you do this, objects off-screen are not ?present? in the level ? much as though they are being streamed to the player?s system. So if you?re working with wireless logic etc, you?ll need something to help you? There?s a tool for that!

The Permanency Tweaker can be used to tell a level that an object is ?always on? ? say you have a logic epicentre, filled to the brim with broadcasting chips for that yummy wireless logic awesomeness. Pop a permanency tweaker on it and the level will always listen. Without the tweaker, if this logic centre were off-screen, it would be ignored.

The Preloader is also a very handy tool where you can select items which should be loaded before the player arrives at them. A complex object, for example, or? You know, I don?t know. I?m hoping someone else can shed more light on this one ? but my guess is it will help the creator to reduce lag incurred by streaming a supermassive section as opposed to getting it prepped beforehand.

On a similar tangent, the Loading Linker is a tool which feels like an advanced glue tool ? using it, you select pieces of the level which belong with each other, so that they always load together. Just imagine a character that you?ve lovingly crafted from materials is loaded, but only one half shows up at a time! This just won?t do ? using this tool will (I presume) ensure that materials that belong together, stay together.

Summary:

Infinity Levels ? are they infinite? In physical space? No. They still use the same building area as other levels on LBP3 (which does feel substantially bigger btw? that might be my imagination, so not confirmed yet) But with the dynamic thermo and the infinity level tools, you will be able to squeeze so much more epic into your levels!

Adding Some Character

Yeah, we?ve all heard about the new characters, and we?re pretty familiar with their abilities and how many gameplay ideas their existence is already bringing to the table. But how will it all work??

To be honest, every scenario I can think of about how to change characters, using their abilities etc, is doable in so many ways. So many tweakers, it?s incredible. The only way I can cover this section without going crazy is to list them.

The Character Change Gate is a level-link type object where one character enters, and emerges morphed into the character of your choice. As another option, you can use the character tweaker, which does the same job, but without the visual door-like effect of the change gate, allowing you to insert your own custom animation, cinematics, or whatever you choose.

The Gameplay Tweaker allows you to fine tune the abilities of a character ? so you can refine whether a player can climb walls etc. Perhaps you want to use LBP3 to create an old fashioned LBP1 level? None of those fancy powerups and new-fangled things? Use this on a broadcasting chip and take all the new stuff away!

The Kill Tweaker? Oh poor poor sackthing. The kill tweaker does what it says on the tin. Gas don?t kill people, tweakers do. It?s just a logic piece which will allow you a lot more fine control over when a player dies. No more invisible death gas etc ? the other nice thing is that you can customise the death animation, either using the presets, or perhaps your own animation created with?

The Character Animator.

Oh my. This is? I have to stop myself from drooling. At first, this too sounds amazing. Then, you pop it on a sackbot and open it up, and it?s beyond your wildest imaginings. Every. Animation. Every single one ? swimming, dying, climbing, emotions, layer shifting, jumping, running, EVERYTHING. It?s all there, and it can be combined with rotation on any one, or a combination of the three axes.

Yes. Your sackbot / players can walk in topdown. No, you don?t need a controlinator. Yes, your characters can walk with their back to the screen. Yes, you can move them.

This tool. This tool is ?. *cries*

On top of all this? Say you don?t want to use Toggle, swoop, oddsock. Say you wanted to use your own character, with their own custom costume and abilities. Like those amazing sackbot superhero demos that we see everywhere. You can capture a character of your own, and use them as if they were toggle etc ? game sensors will pick them up, character change gates will work with them. Heck, you can even tell a checkpoint to spawn a player as that particular character. Amazingness.

Summary:
- Character Change Gate ? Swapping clothes, superman style
- Character Tweaker ? A sneakier costume swap
- Gameplay Tweaker ? The creator giveth, and the creator taketh away
- Kill Tweaker ? A million ways to die
- Character Animator ? for cinematic loveliness, and gameplay wonderfulness

Making an Adventure

A big change to the way that people publish levels has arrived in the form of the Adventure Crater. When you pop into your moon, you will notice a few craters that look different to the rest. When you open them up, you?re invited to create a mini-map, in which you can place multiple levels, linked together as a cohesive whole (no word on level number limitations at the moment, I have the number 10 in my head but please wait for confirmation from someone with a better memory!) Not only can you create a whole story in these adventure craters, but you can create and track your own custom quests, with the help of the new Organisertronand quest tools.

Creating a quest in your organisertron can be done in any level, but when it?s done in an adventure crater, the quest can be tracked across multiple levels. Yes, your RPG dreams have come true.

Quests can be activated, completed in their entirety, or completed in stages by assigning objectives to each ?mother quest? (my term, not LBP?s ) All this is triggered by the use of the Quest Tweaker, and quest destinations and guides can be activated with the Quest Tracker (which can even guide you to a level link if your destination is in another level). When quests are activated and completed, they are displayed with a popit-like notification (which can be automated or activated with the triangle button) which both looks very neat, and is accompanied by a cutesy drum roll sound which I just love. Players can also refer to the quests they have active at any time by referring to their organisertron during gameplay. (Overwhelmed yet?)

Add in to this, the new Sackpocket feature, which has many uses, but I fancy it as an RPG style inventory. Grant your players items along their journey and demand they use it when necessary. Items in the sackpocket can be used as powerups (held in the players hand), or selected as an item for use. The Sackpocket Sensor will help you determine which items your players are using at any given moment, to activate other logic in your level.

Give items to players either using the Sackpocket Pedestal (a powerup-style pedestal which will show your custom item) or with the sackpocket tweaker for sneaky logic only item acquisition. As far as I can see at the moment, the sackpocket was limited to 5 items at the time of the game jam. I couldn?t see if there was any way to extend this inventory further.

Another handy addition for all gameplay, but especially RPG style, are the new Collectabells. A score-bubble-like item which once collected, does not reappear, this non-farmable currency can be used at a Collectabell Shop in return for item purchase or prize selection ? it?s a swap, use it for whatever you like. Perhaps a potion shop? An Inn? A weapon store? Your imagination is key here. You can also use scores as a currency, but bear in mind that score is not persistent, and will be farmable by players.

This one is a bit of an odd one out, but I?m going to go ahead and pop it here ? The Progress Board logic tweak is a new form of scoreboard. As well as the traditional scoreboard we all know and love, you could also use this tool to display a fancy drop-down screen, which will tell players any statistics you choose from the selection ? score, % of items found, collectabells picked up, etc.

Summary:

- Adventure craters ? Make a story fit all neatly on your earth
- Quest Tools ? Arr You Pee Geeing Yet?
- Sackpocket ? Your friendly LBP-ish Inventory
- Collectabells & Store ? Because an RPG isn?t complete without a weapon shop
- Progress Board ? Finishing in style

Getting Around

Phew! I?m starting to need a few shortcuts here. Little Help?

LBP2 brought us the grappling hook, The Vita Crossplay DLC brought us the teleporter, and now LBP3 has a whole host of new travelling gadgets to keep us zooming and spinning around levels in a super sleek style.

The new Velociporters are a (Gulp, I?m going to have to say it guys, I know it?s been a while but?) Portal-esque device which will allow players to enter one side and exit the other, while maintaining their movement speed and trajectory.

The Bendy Rails, as already seen, allow players (and objects) to move smoothly along a vector-like curve of your choosing around your level. Wanna make a rollercoaster? Go ahead and use the bendy rail to make your track, then use a Rail Hook to attach your carts to it. If you?d like players to dangle from the rail using a strange helmet like device, you could grant them a Hook Hat, which players can attach and detach to the rail at will, making for some very awesome gameplay possibilities.

The new layer launchers we?ve already seen in action ? a fancy bounce-pad style mover where the target can be set to whatever part of whatever layer you choose. Too much fun. The slide we?ve also seen ? the depth of the slide and the material used can be adjusted to your liking, and the speed of the player?s movement, and how much control they have whilst sliding, can also be adjusted.

The Advanced In/Out mover allows you to move objects smoothly between layers ? IE, no more pop-pop-pop, just a smooth transition from your starting layer to your chosen destination layer. The other settings for the mover are as you would expect by now ? speed, etc etc.

Last but not least, there is a Character Teleporter, which when activated will zap your player or chosen character from one end of your level to the next, logic only, allowing you to insert any animations or cutscenes you choose.

Summary:

- Now you?re playing with Velociporters
- Bendy Rails ? make your rollercoaster dreams come to life
- Movers and Launchers Galore to explore the full depth of your levels
- Character Teleporter ? poof! Where?d you go?

All the Shiny Things

That?s just so not it. There?s so much more, some of which you guys saw us tweeting the other day, some other stuff I can?t even remember now.

I can?t go on. I?m 3000 words in here and I haven?t even covered half of what I?ve seen so far ? I?m really hoping that my fellow jammers will descend on these threads and help fill in any blanks that my frazzled brain has left out.

To summarise, I really hope that this little (pah) guide has helped fill in some of the blanks of knowledge about the new create tools, and maybe start a little discussion as to the possibilities. I?ll hang around the threads as much as I can, and I?m sure the other jammers will pop by and answer any questions too ? please have at it! We?re officially allowed to talk about anything in create mode, the only subjects we absolutely cannot cover (so please don't ask ) are:

Music & all things audio - I can only think of one thing I can say ? The audio objects in create mode are gone. They?re not there any more. They were replaced with this one, super awesome audio object, which has every sound in the game. Categorised. In one menu. So handy you wouldn?t believe.

Story Plot ? Its just not cool to spoil it, ya know? Plus we?d have folks knocking our doors down and it would really sour the experience if we ended up going to court! I will say, story mode is awesome, I really think you guys are going to be thrilled with it. But that?s all I can risk for now.

Please, if you have questions, ask them. Wish you were there. (Yes, you, all of you <3 )

Note: I promised pics, but it's like 11:45pm now, and I'm sleepy. I'll be back tomorrow to edit some imagey goodness into this thread to illustrate some of the tweaks etc a little better <3

Nice!

*brain explodes due to heavy influx of awesome content*

And yet that is but one part of the iceburg. Thanks for writing this, ria.

AWESOME! Also, one more thing you left out! (GUESS WHAT DESTRUCTION LOVERS) There is also a new tweaker were you can emit a cutting tool! So if you lets say want a tower to crack and fall apart, hit the ground and explode! THERE YOU GO!

Very informative! Thanks a ton

! DLR you already got beta!

Amazing writing! Thanks for sharing @rialrees!

Wow

Admin's why don't you give this nice fell'o 500 points! !

Such an amazing and well written article! Thank you so much for detailing your findings! Hopefully it'll make the transition from LBP2 to LBP3 that much swifter! ;D

Very awesome post! I'm sure everyone is drooling all over the place now

I almost forgot to ask. Was there anything to do with the music sequencer? Did anyone check? Myself and many others from the music community are hanging on the edge of our seats.

The level loading stuff is significantly more involved than I anticipated. I figured there would just be LBP1/2 level sized chunks, with the surrounding level chunks being streamed to the player. It's cool we've been given so much control over that.

Sorry @nerd_dog I haven't checked the music sequencer so I can't tell you much about that, but I think there will be some new tunes.

I read most of this post, and just in case you did include this sorry, but there is also a way to adjust how your level visually starts.
What does this mean?
Well using a depth camera you can change the starting camera to be back there with that awesome background stuff to allow new gameplay possibilities!
Hopefully someone better at explaining could shed your minds with a logical explanation.

can you turn, twist, or rotate objects on the z axis?

@nerd_dog i doubt it the music sequencer was not designed to be a DAW, it was put in for additional creation, probably it was intended as a gimmick, according to tril they said they ''were not going to add an EQ'' not even a 3 band one like on a standard guitar/bass amplifier though a part of me hopes it happens and that it will if the person in charge of the music had enough brains.

well. I guess I saw something about the music sequencer from game jam... I guess no one from the game jam is allowed to say anything or something.. idk

I don't think anyone looked at the music sequencer at the game jam, most of them were looking at create tools rather than music

They know about the music too but they can say...

uhmm... the music sequencer is a create tool...

And she did say something about it on another forum. basically she implied that she's not allowed to say anything. that's all I was saying.

Tools to create levels, not music