My copy of LittleBIGPlanet for the PS3 arrived this week. What a beautiful, amazing, addictive thing it is. At heart it's basically a 2D platformer, of a type that has existed since the dawn of home computers, but now with photo-realistic 3D graphics, a wonderfully animated and configurable character ('Sackboy', so called as he is made of rough knitted cloth!) and a deep physics model that means problems can be solved in many many ways. It is presented in rich 3D graphics, although movement is constrained to a stack of three 2D planes - you can move freely up, down, left, right, and then hop into the screen by one or two hops. What can we call this - 2.3D?
So what is the relevance to Virtual Worlds? Firstly control - the main character can be controlled in very detailed ways using the 6-axis PS3 controller. In addition to the norml walk, run, jump, if you tilt the controller forward and back, side to side, his head moves in sympathy. Combinations of single buttons and the thumb joysticks allow free movement of his arms individually. Degrees of smiling, frowning, looking angry or scared are equally easy to achieve without a menu in sight. A large library of wigs, clothes and costumes is also available and grows as you explore the levels. Why is all this available? Because a key feature of the game is the online co-operative element. Many levels in the single player game have sections where additional points and prizes are on offer by solving problems that require two or more players working together. In addtion, you have a home 'room' which you can decorate with things you have earned and screen shots of your exploits. I assume you can invite other players into your room although I've not yet seen how to do this.
All this would be enough but the groundbreaking aspect is still to come. The game comes with an integrated level editor that is an absolute joy to use. Anyone struggling with letting their creative juices flow in Second Life with the awkward building tools should give this a go straight away. Within minutes I had a complex wooden sculpture and various stone and sponge bits and pieces assembled into a 'level' of sorts. Uploading it to the online community is trivial and others can be playing it. There are already thousands of levels out there, tagged with a simple but effective tagging system to make them easy to browse. The way all this is integrated perfectly into the game is also part of the charm
So we have customisable characters exploring beautiful graphic worlds with user generated content and great physics plus an intuitive control system and set of build tools. Add voice to it and you have a 2.3D vitual world :-) I so long for this level of control and ease of building in a world like SL.