Well, I finally got around to it.

Figure 1 - Timing is key. I added the poisonous gas to remove the shortcut past these difficult jumps.

I had been sitting at 70% or so complete for trophies on LittleBigPlanet for PlayStation 3, with the only trophies left to achieve being those associated with creating a level.  I had put this off for awhile, picking up other games, figuring this would be a large undertaking consuming days of my time.  I also struggled with the dilemma of what my level should be about.  I didn’t want to just make a level, I wanted to make a good level.

I decided the best way to design a level was to draw it out on paper first.  I began making rough sketches of individual ideas and obstacles, both from my own mind and from my experiences playing the game, and a level began to take shape.  I had already completed all of the level creation tutorials, so I knew what I was getting into, but I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I was able to create and tweak different things in my level.  I had forgotten how intuitive the system is.  This basically put to rest my theory that this undertaking would take days.

Just over one day after starting, my first level, “Sackboy Skills Training” was published.  I went with a basic level concept with no distinct theme so as to get my feet wet.  Future endeavors in level creation might yield a more imaginative concept.  The level consists of standard grab and swing obstacles, jumping and timing hazards, a times two area, a disappearing bridge, an extremely hazardous cave section, a Paintinator section, and a zipline.  The disappearing bridge is available as a community object encapsulated in the only prize bubble in the level (though there are many score bubbles).

I think for a first level, this didn’t turn out too bad.  I think my next venture will be a survival mode level involving explosives.  After spending a decent amount of time creating something, I would not mind a break to blow some stuff up.

Video after the break.