LittleBigPlanet

LittleBigPlanet is a video game franchise owned by Sony Computer Entertainment. The series was conceived by Media Molecule, who developed LittleBigPlanet (2008) and LittleBigPlanet 2 (2011) for the PlayStation 3.

Following the series' success, Media Molecule stepped away from LittleBigPlanet to work on other projects but numerous follow-ups have been developed by other studios.

A handheld version of LittleBigPlanet (2009) for PlayStation Portable was developed by SCE Studio Cambridge and was followed-up by LittleBigPlanet PS Vita (2012), developed by Tarsier Studios in partnership with Double 11.

The first major home console LittleBigPlanet game to be developed independently of Media Molecule was LittleBigPlanet 3 (2014), which was developed by Sumo Digital and SCE XDev.

In addition to the main series of platforming games, a racing game called LittleBigPlanet Karting (2012) was developed by United Front Games following the studio's earlier success with ModNation Racers, a kart racing game which shared LBP's focus on user-created content.Play, Create & ShareA major concept around every LittleBigPlanet game is user-created content. Powerful editing tools allow players to created their own levels and share them online to be downloaded by other players. Although the toolset of the main LittleBigPlanet games is geared towards 2.5D platforming, experienced creators and employ a variety of more complex tools and features to create almost any kind of game.LittleBigPlanet Karting allows players to create tracks using a full 3D terrain editor and place, move and rotate objects in all directions.

Sackboy

LittleBigPlanet's main protagonist is Sackboy, an 8-inch-tall creature made of cloth and stuffing. Although officially called "Sackboy", the character is androgynous and can be customised by the player to look female or male. Because of this, it is also often referred to as "Sackgirl" or the gender-neutral, "Sackthing".

Sackboy's design evolved out of a very early conceptual demo for LittleBigPlanet known as YellowHead. Although the YellowHead character was only ever intended as a placeholder, it ended-up dictating the final proportions of Sackboy and even exhibited some of the major characteristics of the final character, such as the way it looks like he's stretching and straining when pulling heavy objects.

Sackboy's final look, designed by Media Molecule designer Francis Pang, was chosen because of the customisation it facilitated and for its distinctive silluhette which remains recognisable even after the character has been heavily customised by the player.

Main Series

LittleBigPlanet

LittleBigPlanet was first revealed at the Game Developer's Conference in 2007. Originally the game was a prototype called "Craftworld" where the player controls the main character Mr. Yellowhead moving objects in order to get to the end of each level. After the pitch to Sony, Media Molecule was given six months support on LittleBigPlanet.

The game was released on October 27, 2008 after a six day delay over controversial lyrics referencing the Qur'an in a song found in the game. The song, "Tapha Niang" by Toumani Diabaté, was replaced with it's instrumental version.

LittleBigPlanet was given almost universal critical praise upon release. It won the AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Overall Game of the Year, among many other Game of the Year awards from various video game reviewers.

LittleBigPlanet (PlayStation Portable)

In November 17 2009, Sony released a PSP version of LittleBigPlanet development by SCE Studio Cambridge, in conjunction with Media Molecule. It was first shown at E3 2009. The game maintains the same style of platforming gameplay, with a few modifications to the tools and abilities in the create mode due to limitations on the device. Although the game doesn't have any sort of multiplayer, there is still a level sharing element.

LittleBigPlanet 2

LittleBigPlanet 2 was officially announced on May 10, 2010 with information coming in from magazines and websites preceding and following the date. The game's main focus was to help ease creators deviate from 2.5D platform levels and allow users to create the type of game they want. Thus Mm introduced many new tools and settings helps creators break through control boundaries while maintaining it's platforming routes for backwards compatible level playing.

The game was released January 18th 2011, and since then, the total user level count of the game has more than trippled from LBP1 to over 6 million. Also added since release was support for the PlayStation Move, although use of creation tools for it in create mode is downloadable content.

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita is not as limited as it's PSP counterpart and in fact has LBP2's features plus a whole sling of new tools. It also has controls that utilize the front touch screen and the back touch pad on the Vita device, but for gameplay as well as creation. The game was developed by Tarsier Studios in collaboation with Double 11 and released on September 19, 2012.

LittleBigPlanet 3

LittleBigPlanet 3 was announced at PlayStation E3 2014 media briefing and released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on November 18, 2014. It was developed by Sumo Digital in partnership with SCE XDev. It's the first game in the series to appear on the PlayStation 4 and also the first to feature a fully voice-acted story mode.

The scope of the game and its creation tools has been greatly expanded and now allows for editing over 16 layers whereas previous games only allowed for three. It is fully backwards-compatible with both LBP and LBP 2, allowing players to access any of the 9 million levels previously published, as well as any DLC they have purchased for previous games.

Spin-offs

Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves

Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves is a PlayStation Network downloadable title that is also available on the LittleBigPlanet 2 disc. The game is two player only where one person controls Sackboy and the other uses the Move motion controller to help guide them along.

Although it launched alongside LittleBigPlanet 2, it is a completely stand-alone game and runs in the LittleBigPlanet 1 engine. None of the content from this title, like the materials or costumes, have made it into LittleBigPlanet 2 proper. Utilization of the Move in gameplay and create mode was added to LBP2, but is used differently then in this title.

LittleBigPlanet Karting

Announced March 2012, LittleBigPlanet Karting is a racing counterpart to the LPB franchise being developed by "Race. Create. Share." studio United Front Games. The game takes kart racing traditions and adds LBP customization to karts, tracks, and gametypes. But, many people are seeing similarities to UFG's previous racing game ModNation Racers. The game released on November 6, 2012 to mediocre reviews.

Run Sackboy, Run!

Run Sackboy, Run! is an endless runner for iOS and Android, featuring Sackboy and set in the LittleBigPlanet universe. It was announced on September 4, 2014 and released on October 30, 2014.