EA goes for User Generated Content

There is no doubt that LittleBigPlanet has been a huge success.  Over 2.5 million levels and the promise of what can be done in LBP2 looks amazing.  User generated content works.  So now EA want to get into the game (so to speak…):

Electronic Arts has unveiled an ambitious new design package named Create …  Set for release next year on PC, Mac and console the title will allow gamers to construct their own 3D worlds using a simple set of tools, menus and customisable items. In the demo footage we’ve seen, the player assembles a stunt car track complete with ramps and realistic physics properties, and a space station with controllable star craft flying overhead. Judging by this footage, the game seems to use a drag-and-drop interface, allowing players to grab objects from a menu and place them anywhere on the screen. The game is PlayStation Move compatible, which should offer a more intuitive way to chuck stuff about in your virtual art studio.

According to EA’s press release, you’ll be able to employ a vast selection of textures, brushes, stickers and ready-made animating objects to populate scenes. However, it seems there’s no Spore-style character creation element, so users will have to think outside the box if they want to construct human inhabitants. Meanwhile, they can complete up to 100 design challenges to unlock new areas, and learn about the possibilities. In order to beat these tasks, users have to select and manipulate available objects in a variety of emergent ways, to move items from one end of the screen to another.

I read this and thought it sounds a bit like 3DSmax with a easy to use wrapper and a game engine:

So is it an art package or a game creator? Humble says it’s actually neither. And both. “On one hand you can just make 2D scenes,” he explains. “If you just want to paint a picture in your living room without any mess, you can do that. The next step is similar to the way paintings work in Harry Potter – you can make them a little bit alive and add a touch of interactivity, So for example, I like to draw landscapes in Create, and once I’ve added the clouds, I just give a little flick to create some wind and they drift across the screen. Or you can go all the way to a fully interactive 3D scene where you’ve decided you’re going to put in a challenge where the player has to collect four objects to make X happen. You really can do anything with it on that spectrum. It’s not a game maker it’s not a 3D art tool, it’s this lovely mush in between.”

So a 3D sandbox then…