Proto:LittleBigPlanet Karting/Milestone 4/Story Mode Differences

This is a sub-page of Proto:LittleBigPlanet Karting/Milestone 4.

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A basic Story Mode in place. Some of the levels are merely placeholders, while others are early, unfinished versions of tracks that would appear in the final game.

This page covers the levels accessible in Story Mode. For levels which are only accessible through the Single Player Race Setup menu, see Milestone 4/Unused Tracks.

General Notes

To minimise redundancy, this section lists some general qualities that apply to practically every level in this build.

The structure of Story Mode is different, with 27 levels split across four planets (as opposed to the seven planets seen in the final game).
- None of the main path levels have VS variants yet.
The story hasn't been finalized at this point. As such, and none of the story characters are present, and aside from the auto-generated flyovers, there are no cutscenes.
- A handful of levels (Garden Grip, Turtle Island, Sky Loops and Drum Smash) attempt to play an FMV when first loading them, but these either show a black screen or the initial boot animation.
While some tracks like Sky Loops and Huge Spaceship do contain crushers and other hazards, they are not capable of killing drivers in this build.
None of the levels contain Prize Bubbles at this point of development.
Many of the lighting and logic tools found in the final game have not been implemented yet. In general, levels have simplistic, less vibrant lighting, and no reactive sound effects beyond the ones built into certain props.
The music is randomised in this version, so levels do not have any particular song associated with them in this build.

Story Chapter 1

Tutorial A (Training Wheels)

LittleBigPlanet Karting's tutorial was originally spread across two levels: one for the core driving controls, and another for the weapons. Later in development, the two tutorials were merged into a single level, with the old tracks being repurposed for a few side-levels in the first chapter of Story Mode.

Tutorial A focused on the core driving mechanics, and its layout was repurposed for the Training Wheels side-level, albeit with the following changes.

The swaying grass ground cover was removed.
Some of the material trees and buildings near the startline were replaced with different props, and animated puppets cheering the player on were added.
The LED light signs were replaced with fully cardboard signs instructing the player to drift.
Two cardboard archways were added in between the castle towers on the third right turn.
The wooden gate with a cow skull was removed.

The tutorial itself also differs from the final game.

The voiceover is completely different, seemingly done by one of the developers.
The prompt for confirming the player's control scheme is triggered just before the third turn, and activates regardless of whether or not the narrator is talking. In the final version of Karting Lessons, the trigger is just before the end of the first lap; once triggered, it is buffered until after Stephen Fry explains how to steer.
The player is teleported to a specific point on the track when "drifting" and "steering while drifting" are explained, or when they fail a section of the tutorial. In the final, the player stays where they were when these mechanics are explained to them.
- The player maintains their speed in whatever direction they were travelling, which usually results in them flying backwards or to the side.

Tutorial B (Target Practice, Self Defence)

Tutorial B is considerably less fleshed out than its predecessor. It houses the weapons tutorial in this build, but after the tutorials were merged into Karting Lessons, this level's track layout was repurposed for the Target Practice and Self Defense side-levels. Notable differences to those levels include:

The sides of the bridge are broken, both in terms of visuals and collision; it's possible to fall through the bridge.
The distribution of weapons throughout the track was changed. As this layout was repurposed for two separate side-levels in the final game, the distribution varies between the two.
- Tutorial B has three sets of weapons, one just after the start line, another after the second turn, and one last set just after the bridge.
The weapon portion of the tutorial is also shorter than the final, missing lacking the section about defending against homing shots (you can't defend yourself in this build).

Garden Grip

The lighting is significantly darker, with an orange sky and low hanging sun giving the level a sunset appearance.
The grass in this version makes use of ground cover brushes to create giant clumps of swaying grass at the sides of the track. Since ground cover brushes were removed after this build, the final game uses Terrain Material brushes for its grass; most of the environment uses a green floral fabric texture, while ghostly woods area use a green check denim texture.
The universal LBP-themed startline arch was replaced with a bespoke Gardens themed arch in the final game.
The blinking LED arrow signs were replaced with cardboard signs that wave back and forth.
The Queen is standing to the left of the first overpass. In the final game, she was replaced by a photo of the King.
The Score Bubbles along the first turn are missing, and the first set of weapons are found immediately afterward — these were moved further forward in the final.
A group of three weapons after the second turn was replaced by a Jetpack and two trails of Score Bubbles in the final.
The group of four Weaponators in the first hairpin turn, along with the inner Score Bubble trail, are missing in this version; the outer trail is present, but only covers the latter portion of the first hairpin leading into the second. The two straight bubble trails that precede the second hairpin are also missing.
The second hairpin only has one trail of Score Bubbles in this version, and the bubbles are spread more thinly in this version.
The row of four weapons after the second hairpin were replaced with three Score Bubble trails.
The arch leading into the ghostly woods is adorned with more flowers than in the final game, and a moving boost pad immediately before it was removed.
Past the arch, there are are three weapons attached to a Piston Motor, causing them to slide back and forth. In the final this piston was removed, and in its place a fourth weapon, as well as a Jetpack and two bubble trails were added.
The fences near the ghosts have small fairy lights on some of the posts to illuminate the path foward. These were removed from the final, and replaced with invisible Magic Lightbulbs.
The chained ghosts have different animations that cause them to float up and down on their own. The final game removed this vertical motion from their animation, so Piston Motors were added to make them rise and fall.
There is only one set of cheering puppets in this version: the ones at the startline. The final game sprinkled more cheering puppets throughout the track.

Sugar Rush

This level is grouped with levels based on the original LittleBigPlanet in this build, but was moved to a dedicated Victoria's Laboratory world in the final game.

The scenery outside the factory is completely different, being more closely themed around Brainy Cakes from LittleBigPlanet 2 with fabric bushes, flowers and doily trees. The final version uses a different road and fence, and replaces most of the foliage with cakes, iced doughnuts and cookie trees.
The entrance to the factory is higher up than it is in the final game, and the large ramp leading up to it was replaced with a bridge across a jam river.
The decor inside the factory is more simplistic, with a cookie road surface instead of ivory tiles.
A slightly dodgy shortcut found shortly into the factory was removed, replaced with a caged cardboard cutout of Victoria von Bathysphere.
The slowing jam puddles and cake obstacles on conveyor belts have not been implemented yet.
As the factory is higer up in this build than in the final game, the track sharply curves downward after the first U-turn, rather than gently ascending upward.
Weighing scales with cakes on them serve as an obstacle on the second U-turn, which were removed from the final version.
The terrain outside the factory exit is a lot flatter than in the final game. Again, the jam river and its bridge are missing, and there are six weapons just outside the exit rather than five.
The distribution of weapon pickups is different; there are more than in the final game, and they are in slightly different spots.
- The first set was moved from the first turn to the first bridge.
- The second set on the ramp was removed.
- The third set on the third turn was moved slightly forward.
- The fourth set before the first U-turn was removed.
- The fifth set was moved a bit further out from the factory exit.
- The sixth set on the final U-turn was removed.

Serpent Shrine

Very unfinished visuals. The lighting is once again different, showing the level at dusk rather than midday like the final.
This level is set to have four laps, but this gets cut down to three when loaded in Story Mode.
This version of the level may have been intended to take place mostly indoors, as the entire track is surrounded by walls. The final version has outdoor areas inspired by Boom Town.
The track has more extreme elevation changes, particularly in the first half and in the area with the fourth shortcut.
The shortcuts are different.
- The tunnel after the first left turn opens on Lap 2, and skips more of the track. In the final game, this was split into two tunnels that are always open.
- The right path in the fork opens on Lap 3 in this version, opening on Lap 2 in the final.
  - The path is curvier than in the final, and the open turn where it reconnects to the main track is less open.
- A tunnel on the way to the Launch Pads is supposed to open on Lap 4, but since Story Mode overrides the level's lap intended count, the shortcut becomes inaccessible if loaded that way. If loaded through Race Setup, the lap count gets set to 4 and the shortcut becomes accessible.
  - In the final game, the door is instead triggered by a green pressure pad.
  - The road is much steeper than in the final, and the ramp at the end is missing.

King's Castle

The King is present alongside the Queen in the audience. The final game just has the Queen on her own, so this may have been from before the Hoard were factored into the game's narrative.
The same terrain surface is used across the entire arena; karts don't slow down in the centre.
The potted trees in the centre of the arena are bigger, rectangular, and don't bear fruit.

The Mines (Mine the Gap)

As with Serpent Shrine, the art is very much incomplete.

The startline is further back, just before the turn into the mines rather than just before the descent like in the final.
There are set of boost pads at the top of the ramp, which were removed from the final. The twin Launch Pads at the bottom of the ramp were also swapped out for a single wide Launch Pad.
The first row of weapons consists of six bubbles, rather than seven like in the final.
The portion after the chicane is completely different. In this build, it consists of two straightaways with obstacles that are lept over using Bounce Pads. These obstacles were removed and replaced with a hairpin into a straightaway with a shortcut. The elevation of this portion is also more varied in the final version.
The paths on the final straightaway are different.
- An additional elevated path on the right hand side of the room was cut from the final, though the track still curves to the left slightly as if to accomodate it.
- The Launch Pad on the left hand side was moved closer to the entrance, and hazards were added on top.
- The shortcut just before the final turn is absent here.

Story Chapter 2

Firebug Circuit

An early version of Firebug Circuit, grouped with the levels that would make up Monster Islands. This and Tree House were moved to a dedicated Eve's Asylum world in the final game.

All instances of Launch Ramps were swapped out with Launch Pads in the final game.
In the final version of this level there is a fork in the road near the start, where the player is forced to turn right for the first two laps, going down the left path on the final lap. In this build, both paths are accessible by default.
The three lanes of firebugs after the fork was cut down to just two.
Just before the hairpin turn after the firebugs is a shortcut that cuts through a wooden structure. This shortcut survived all the way to the Public Beta, but was removed from the final game.
The circular room with the golden apple is narrower, and is missing item pods. The firebugs also move much faster, and travel counterclockwise.
The downward slope after this room is significantly steeper, and has a Grapple Sponge above it leading to a set of item pods. The grapple sponge, the archway and the item pods on top of it were all removed.
There is alternate path leading into the lake with a Bounce Pad at its end, which launches karts high into the air.
The left fork uses a Eve's Asylum themed tunnel road surface. This path was redesigned in the final to account for the removal of tunnel road surfaces.
The interior section on the left fork is completely different, with numerous pathways and Launch Pads to take. By contrast, the final version is a flat room with hazardous lava puddles dotted about.

Rooftop Swing

A circular arena with a sinkhole surrounded by four ramps, with weapon pickups and Grapple Sponges directly above it. The AI drivers tend to get trapped in the inner circle, stuck on the edges of the ramps.

By default, this level is accessible from Story Mode, but not in the Pre-Made Tracks list. No equivalent level exists in the final game.

Wedding Reception

A simple heart-shaped track using the Canyons backdrop. Accessible in Story Mode, but not the Pre-Made Tracks menu. A level based on The Wedding is present in the final game, but it's part of the first world of Story Mode.

Turtle Island

Exists in name only; the layout in this version is completely different (seemingly a placeholder), and no items or props of any kind are present. Accessible in Story Mode, but not the Pre-Made Tracks menu.

Bomb Sands

A simple, triangle-shaped track using the Monster Islands background. This level is accessible from Story Mode, but requires modifications to access from the Pre-Made Tracks screen. No equivalent level exists in the final game.

Story Chapter 3

Sky Loops (Future Perfect)

The most striking difference compared with the final version is the loop-de-loop not too far into the track. This was replaced with a jump and another Grapple Sponge in the final game.

Tree House (Roots Of All Evil)

This arena is grouped with the levels that make up The Progress Emporium. This and Firebug Circuit were moved to a dedicated Eve's Asylum world in the final game.

Jam Jam Pass

A very primative track. The main attraction is the double corkscrew on the right half of the track. A chunk of road immediately in front of the start line is missing; since the Sky theme has terrain disabled by default in this build, karts that do not jump over the gap will fall through the tile floor and into the abyss.

Best Before Date

Yet another level whose name was kept in the final game, but with a completely different layout that has very little to do with what it would become. By default, this level is accessible from Story Mode, but not in the Pre-Made Tracks list.

Current Events

A small, circular battle arena that uses the background from Victoria's Laboratory. By default, this level is accessible from Story Mode, but not in the Pre-Made Tracks list.

Story Chapter 4

Huge Spaceship

Very rough and unfinished, but the basic layout is here.

Pinball

By default, this level is accessible from Story Mode, but not in the Pre-Made Tracks list.

Funky Spirals

A very basic track similar to Jam Jam Pass, except this track uses loop-de-loops rather than corkscrews. By default, this level is accessible from Story Mode, but not in the Pre-Made Tracks list.

Negativatron

It is a large, barebones arena with spawn points on one end, and Weapon Bubbles on the other. It is listed as the second-to-last level in CAREER.XML (behind Vert Inversion), suggesting it was meant to be a boss of some kind. This level is accessible from Story Mode, but not the Pre-Made Tracks list.

Vert Inversion

A simple track with lots of windmills. By default, this level is not accessible from the Pre-Made Tracks list, and no equivalent for it exists in the final game. It is listed as the final level in CAREER.XML.