Prerelease:LittleBigPlanet Karting

This page details pre-release information and/or media for LittleBigPlanet Karting.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

To do: The announcement trailer and accompanying screenshots showcase some differences from the final.

Development on what would become LittleBigPlanet Karting began shortly after United Front Games finished and shipped ModNation Racers.

Development Timeline

• 2012
  • February 7: LittleBigPlanet Karting is showcased at a "Destination PlayStation" retailer event. Pictures of a standee showcasing an early logo and four screenshots were leaked shortly after.
  • March 22: LittleBigPlanet Karting is announced to the public with a trailer and screenshots.
  • August 1: the Sample Code included with the LittleBigPlanet 2012 Press Kit is compiled.
  • November 6: LittleBigPlanet Karting is released in the US.
  • November 7: LittleBigPlanet Karting is released across Europe.
  • November 8: LittleBigPlanet Karting is released in Australia.
  • December 5: the demo is released onto the PlayStation Store.
• 2013
  • January 17: LittleBigPlanet Karting is released in Japan.

ModNation Racers 2

An early mockup of the ModNation Racers 2 logo, created by Mat Thomas.

LittleBigPlanet Karting was originally pitched as a sequel to ModNation Racers. Some work had been done on it — as evidenced by remnants found both in the final game and some early prototypes — but a few months into development it was decided to retool the ModNation sequel into a LittleBigPlanet spin-off to try and reach a wider audience. Very little is known about this stage of the game's development, but two UI concepts and a logo were shared by former UFG staff.

• ModNation Racers 2 UI concepts
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  Search results concept

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  Search filters concept

"A conceptual design made for the new and improved creation searching to be done in ModNation 2. Project was later transformed into LittleBigPlanet Karting and a major shift for the UI styling."
— Jayson Kirby, Lead UI Designer at United Front Games

Nicolas Williams Showreel Footage

A showreel was put together by VFX Artist Nicolas Williams in 2014, which showcases visual effects from games he had worked on. Clips from various points of LittleBigPlanet Karting's development are shown starting at the 0:34 mark, many of which have debugging information visible on the screen. On the right is the showreel from Nick's website, trimmed to just the relevant gameplay clips. Below is a list of observations in the footage, in order of appearance:

• An early version of Garden Grip with a different HUD layout. Of particular note is the early weapon icon at the top of the screen.
• A very early build using a different HUD layout. The level shown is Clints Garden, a scrapped level that is present in the Milestone 4 prototype, but was removed from the final game. Notable changes include:
  • The lighting is brighter and less foggy.
  • The Wooden Walkway road texture is different, made up entirely of wood rather than having dirt on the sides.
  • The fence model is different and features white banners with red chevrons. These banners were replaced with chevrons made from popsicle sticks in later builds.
  • The Seeker missile Sackboy fires is lifted from ModNation Racers.
  • The drifting animation is different, but it's difficult to tell if the build shown is still using ModNation's driving physics.
• Another early version of Garden Grip using Milestone 4's HUD layout (albeit with the secondary item well missing).
• Basic Savannah track in Test Drive. Custom weapons appear to be implemented (as evidenced by the homing star weapon leaving behind a trail of bubbles), but the weapon pickup itself hasn't been finalised yet.
• Early version of Garden Grip using the Milestone 4 HUD layout (albeit with the secondary item well missing).
• Simple oval track which, judging by the terrain texture, is set in the Progress Emporium. The clip appears to have been recorded with a freecam to show off the lighting trail left by a green rocket.
• Another simple oval track set in the Gardens.
• Oval track set in the Progress Emporium. Sackboy seems to explode when manually resetting in Test Drive.
• Another oval track in the Progress Emporium. Sackboy seems to use the fire death animation when manually resetting in Test Drive.
• Yet another oval track, using what appears to be the final game's default HUD layout.
• A seemingly empty Battle Arena flooded with water. The leaderboard in the top right incorrectly includes the Sackbot icon paths as part of the AI racer names.
• An early version of Huge Monster Rally.
• A clip showing off the Dissolve effect on the Destroyer. The level shown is a default oval track in Create Mode. Spawn Points and logic are present, as is the early startline.
• The next two clips show various particle effects in the Savannah background.
• An early version of Future Perfect. The giant loop-de-loop from the prototype is intact according to the minimap. Notably, the HUD features an early Self Weaponiser icon.
• The final clip shows fireworks in the Progress Emporium background, and then the showreel moves onto Sleeping Dogs.

(Source: NickWilliamsPortfolio2)

Early Game Intro Music

The game's cutscene composer, Paul Thomson, has an early version of the Live Action Intro music on his website. This ultimately went unused, and a different track was composed by Peter Chapman.

(Source: games reel — Paul Thomson, composer)