Sack boys and girls of the world, rejoice; LittleBigPlanet is being remade by fans and coming to PC. The goofy platformer that boasted tens of thousands of user-created levels across three titles all exclusive to PlayStation, leaving PC gamers out in the cold. Titled as LittleBigPlanet Restitched, it’s a non-profit game that’s looking at bringing the adorable content that millions have loved to PC, for free. Under development by Trixel Creative, their alpha reveal trailer was nothing short of inspiring, for all the right reasons.
The LittleBigPlanet franchise has always boasted user-created content, offering a smorgasbord of various tools that everyone could use to make almost anything their minds imagined, from brutally difficult platforming levels to hilarious multiplayer competitions. Yet these creation tools were brought about by menus within menus, as the PlayStation DualShock controller was the only method of interaction. Thus, players were ultimately limited by their patience in moving through the various menus, and slowly building spanning projects as accurately as the controller would allow them.
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LittleBigPlanet Restitched is being optimized for keyboard and mouse, and Trixel Creative has announced that it’s being streamlined to fully exploit the possibilities that would bring players. Trixel Creative has also announced that your creations will be protected by a unique copy-protection system, ensuring others cannot edit your ever-popular levels and claim them as your own.
They have also stated that they’re paying close to attention to bring community interaction to the forefront, as LittleBigPlanet has been known to do.
The PlayStation versions also allowed users to create their own images to place in their created levels; Trixel Creative will likely bypass that entirely, to ensure that adult-themed images don’t creep onto their family-friendly nod to Media Molecule’s universe. Beyond that, however, Trixel Creative has announced that they’re also bringing all new content entirely to the level creator, with new materials, stickers, tools, costumes; generally, expect an increased ‘everything’ in regards to things players will have to play with.
Beyond adding to the already sizeable content, however, Trixel Creative has made it clear that they looking at this as an imitation of the original LittleBigPlanet, using the released documentation from Media Molecule themselves. Thus, jumping, running, and holding on for dear life should be instantly recognizable to fans of the storied franchise.
When we’re discussing a fan-made spin-off, legality always comes to mind. Sony owns the LittleBigPlanet franchise and is being held by Sony XDev Europe and developers Sumo Digital. The only way Trixel Creative is allowed to work on this project is based on a contingency; as long as Trixel Creative isn’t generating a profit in any way.
It may be time to once again get excited about Sack boys and girls around the world.
