LittleBigPlanet Preview

Even the developers don't know what to expect

"We're going to make it up as we go along - that's the kind of game LittleBigPlanet is", says Sony's demo guy. His words prove as accurate as a Ronaldo free kick. Pressing the square button brings up Poppet, LBP's inspired creation tool. This spawns a window from which you can create objects to use in your own levels, move them about and shape them in any way you wish.

Levels you create will pop up on My Moon, which orbits the main planet, viewable from the game's front end. It's then up to decide whether you want to keep them private, share them only with your friends or publish them and make them available to everyone. As a demonstration of what's possible with Poppet, we were shown a never before seen level called The Plains - an Africa-inspired level with giraffes, apes and other animals to climb on. Everything you see in every level that comes with LBP can be created yourself, from the animals to platforms to the music. Here, jukeboxes scattered around each level trigger different parts of the music. At the beginning of a level, you might only hear one part of the music, but as you progress and pass through more jukeboxes, you'll hear more strands of the soundtrack, including beats and melodies. In your own levels you can place these jukeboxes wherever you want, but you won't be able to import your own music, you'll have to use the music included in the game (you'll be able to import your own Photoshop created images or PlayStation Eye pictures and use them as stickers though).

We've mentioned the resources already, but in your own levels you'll be able to set where these are and the parameters for completing the level. So, for example, you might create an animal that appears at the beginning of the level and attach a mouth so it tells players what they need to do to win via a speech bubble. It might be a timed level, say complete the level in under 30 seconds, a mini-game or a cooperative based level, with sections where all four players need to stand in the same area to open a gate - it's up to you.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about LBP is Poppet itself. With it you can create any object out of a range of materials, including metal, wood and sponge amongst others, and have physics apply to it in real time. You can set pivot points, pistons, motors and pressure points. Then, once your level is complete you can set the background. The most amazing thing about Poppet is that it looks so easy to use. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to get hands-on with it, so an ultimate verdict on how easy Poppet will be to use will have to wait, but from what we've seen it looks simple enough for casual gamers to have fun messing around with it and deep enough for those prepared to devote more time to come up with some really interesting stuff.

Creating your own game world with Poppet looks as easy as pie

It seems such a logical and basic mechanic, but creating a sponge cube, having the textures load in real-time and then have physics apply to it, all completely seamlessly, is just stunning to watch. You can pick objects up, move them about, scale them, delete bits and move them in and out of the background with what looks like ease. Sony's demo guy built a motor creature, which began walking of its own accord, then attached it to a block he had created. He then put in a pivot point in his chest, enabling his arms to rock back and forth. Unfortunately a bug meant our creature flew away into the ether, but we were told we could have added fire to his hands to his waving hands and his head to give him threat. And yes, you can cooperately create, with one player building the blocks and another painting with stickers.

And yes, you can build a tank, which we know will be the first thing everyone creates. Our demo guy created a block out of metal, bolted on some wheels, built a cannon and glued it all together with pivots in about five minutes. It wasn't the best tank ever made, and with more time we're sure players will come up with some truly astonishing and complex creations.

We were then shown the pivots in work. A cannon was created out of a long, rectangular block with a smaller block inside that was moved up and down. Steps were quickly stuck to the cannon, and a target was attached to a nearby beam, like a flag on a pole. And to add extra spice a fire pit was placed on the ground between the cannon and the target. Sackboy, complete with human cannon-style helmet, jumped into the piston and flew out, hitting the target dead on. But it took a while to hit the target - experimentation looks like it will be part of the fun of LBP. And what's great about all of this? You can build a switch into the piston so that it will only work when Sackboy moves over it, meaning one player will have to sit in it and another will have to fire it. And, if you make this level public, you can offer up the level as a prize for hitting the target. Indeed, you can place hidden keys throughout levels you create which will then unlock other levels you have created, so that you're rewarded for the skill and time you've put in to your creations.