Interviews// LittleBigPlanet PSP

SPOnG: I can imagine with the vehicles, as well, you move faster so you have to make the levels longer.

Andy Knowles: The Formula 1 car level, it can go from one end of the level to the other [really quickly] so we have laps that it goes round upside down and stuff. There's some quite impressive stuff going on in there. Again, with the jumpjet, the logic is spread all across the bottom of the level as you go through it to lock it into place, so it has emitting static geometry to hold it in place, and it even has a reverse thrust so that the vehicle handles correctly in the air, because obviously it's a floating object that can move at speed. So, yeah, there's some really complicated stuff going on in the background that the users probably won't see.

Mark Green: One of the features of my days for a while now has been Andy coming over and going 'argh! It's hurting my head!' I think the landing of the aircraft had [Andy] going for months.

Andy Knowles: Oh yeah, it was easily the most complicated thing that I've had to work on in LittleBigPlanet.


SPOnG: Were there any points when you were worried that you just weren't going to be able to do it?

Andy Knowles: With that one, yes! Again, with the pogo stick, that was another one that I didn't know if it was going to work. In fact, quite a few people told me not to do it, but I thought, 'it must be possible', and going through all those versions, like 'right, just adjust the buoyancy a little bit, swap the materials over, I can adjust the strenght of this piston', just going through every iteration, it's like 'right, that's it. It's nailed, spot on.'

Building the level around it was actually really easy. I think the level was only a few weeks work, where getting the actual pogo stick was more than that just for that one little object. There are some tricky things to get right and it's all about standing back and just having a think about it first. Thinking, 'how is this going to work? What materials do I need? How heavy does this thing need to be to make it fit and feel like it should do?

Mark Green: And hopefully, with reverse engineering, rather than spending months picking over it, people will be able to work out how it's done for themselves.

Andy Knowles: They've got all the components as well, haven't they?


SPOnG: One of the things that comes across, reading the developer diaries, is that it's almost listening to someone talk about what they've been doing with their Mechano set, or LEGO Technic or something. Often when you hear someone talk about development, it's hardcore coding stuff that non-developers don't really understand. But reading you guys discussing things like the weighting of vehicles and the arc of projectiles and so on, it's almost like you're having fun just mucking about with it...

Andy Knowles: Yeah, it's a great system to work with. I think it's also good for teaching people about physics and how all the mechanical things work, as well. I did read an article a little while back about libraries in America. They were getting copies of LittleBigPlanet in for people to look at and learn, people in schools, as well. Because, it's such an easy, visual way of teaching how physics and logic work. It's actually quite a good learning tool - I wish I had it when I was at school, anyway!


SPOnG: So, LittleBigPlanet 2 has been announced. Do you guys have more DLC in the pipeline, or perhaps a sequel...?

Mark Green: Yeah, we've DLC lined up for a few months to come as yet. Right up until - we've got a Christmas pack lined up.

SPOnG: And will it be more LittleBigPlanet after that?

Mark Green: Well, as a whole studio, I think you saw TV Superstars for Move announced a little while ago. We're still working on Play TV, Play TV 2. And then we have other guys working on other concepts...