Kotaku: user created content

LittleSporePlanet?

Brian Crecente — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:00:00 MDT

On it's surface LittleBigPlanet is a very unique game, a highly-stylized title packed with evocative smiley-faced character and oozing charm. But for some reason I can't shake the feeling that deep down it is in some ways reminiscent of Spore.

I think both games are playing around with the concept of user-created content, of delivering more a system of creativity than play. In fact, the folks that I've spoken to from both teams say things that could be about either game. They both talk about giving gamers a pallet of creativity, of broadening the user experience by handing over control of the game to the gamers.

The chief difference I see between the two games is that they've approached the idea of shared creative control from opposite sides of the same coin.

In Spore you're given a game and the tools with which to populate it. In LBP, from what I've seen, you're given characters and the tools in which to create their world.

At least that's what I thought, but when I floated that past the LittleBigPlanet guys earlier this week they totally shot it down.

"LittleBigPlant allows you to create your own characters and world," Kareem Ettouney, Media Molecule art director, explained. "And it doesn't stop there. You can animate your own creations, you can make them speak to you.

"That exceeds just the aesthetic."

Ettouney, like Wright, believes that user created content has the potential to push the medium of gaming forward.

"At the end of the day people have so much to say, to do, to express," Ettouney said.

Dragon Age Packaged With Powerful Toolset

Mike Fahey — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:30:00 MDT

Continuing a tradition the company established with Neverwinter Nights, BioWare has announced that their forthcoming PC RPG Dragon Age: Origins will come complete with a robust toolset, allowing players to create and share their own adventures with the community. Users will have access to a full set of assets and areas to use in the original creations, along with a script editor that will allow them to fully tweak creature AI to create their own customized combat encounters. BioWare plans to create a dedicated community web site to go along with the editor, where people who think they are better than you can tell you what you've created sucks.

BioWare will be demonstrating the features of the toolset at PAX this weekend, with a showing at 1:30PM on Sunday afternoon.

By my calculations, the first nude patch for the toolset should be created and in place at least a month before the game comes out, if it isn't already lurking on some crafty fellows' hard disk, eagerly awaiting release.

BioWare Reveals Dragon Age Toolset Details
Toolset to Debut at 2008 Penny Arcade Expo

Penny Arcade Expo
SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced that it will continue in the studio’s long tradition of delivering powerful content-creations to the gaming community by releasing the Dragon Age™ Toolset. BioWare will be presenting the Dragon Age™ Toolset at the Penny Arcade Expo in the Washington State Convention & Trade Center today through Sunday. Designed specifically for the highly-anticipated Role-playing PC game Dragon Age™: Origins, the Dragon Age Toolset provides players with developer-grade tools that will allow them to produce their own content.

Attendees of the Penny Arcade Expo will be the first ever to see the new toolset in action as BioWare will provide a live demonstration of some of its exciting features and capabilities. The Dragon Age Toolset will be part of a stage demonstration during the Penny Arcade Expo at 1:30pm, August 31, on the main stage at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Washington. Key features include:

Create Original Adventures – Using the rich set of Dragon Age assets and locations as starting blocks, users can modify these stunning areas by adding new quests, characters and scripting to craft their own adventures, fate-defining conversations and cut-scenes.
Powerful Script Editor – Users can fully customize combat and creature AI, allowing them to create detailed action sequences full of heart-pounding party-based tactical combat.
Content Creators Community – BioWare plans to have a dedicated community area online where content creators can share content easily and get content updates for the toolset.
On-Going Toolset Content Updates – BioWare plans to release additional assets and features for the toolset in the future, allowing for expanded creation of new areas.
BioWare has a long history of delivering powerful content-creation tools and support to its community. In 2002, the studio released a Toolkit for the ever popular Neverwinter Nights™ which has allowed fans to create over 5,000 adventure modules of their own design, the most fan-created content in BioWare’s history. Fans have not only created stand-alone adventures with the trailblazing Neverwinter Nights toolset, they still continue to create modules, five years after its original release and have crafted thousands of completely new monsters, hundreds of thousands of in-game objects (eg. weapons, armor, food, special effects, building facades, etc.) and dozens of worlds.

For more information about Dragon Age: Origins, the latest updates, or to join BioWare’s Dragon Age community, visit www.dragonage.com.

TheSimsCarnival.com - You're The Game Developer

Mike Fahey — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:20:15 MST

EA has just announced the closed beta for TheSimsCarnival.com, a new online community that will allow you to create your own games, share them with the community, and play games created by others. The site provides all the game creation tools you need, whether you just want to toss your own pictures into an existing template or design the next Mario killer platformer.

"We're very excited to launch TheSimsCarnival.com, a new and accessible gaming experience that gives players all the tools they need to play, create and share games online with friends," said Rod Humble, Head of The Sims Studio. "Whether you're a new player who wants to simply customize a game with a family photo, a gamer who always wanted to make the best platformer or a seasoned expert ready to create the next big game, TheSimsCarnival.com makes game creation and publication easier than ever before."

So what are the games like? No clue! If you want to find out, head over to TheSimsCarnival.com and create an account for a chance to participate in the closed beta. This could be huge!

EA Announces Closed Beta for TheSimsCarnival.com, New Online Community and Gaming Experience From The Sims
TheSimsCarnival.com Designed to Convert Millions of Players Into Game Designers and Allow Anyone to Play, Create, and Share Games

Game Developers Conference 2008

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced an invitation to participate in a special closed beta at The Sims Carnival™, a new online community and gaming experience from The Sims™ studio. An innovative online destination, TheSimsCarnival.com empowers members to play, create and share casual games within an online community. This announcement comes out of today's Game Developers Conference (GDC) in a speech presented by the Head of The Sims Studio, Rod Humble.

With the launch of TheSimsCarnival.com, hundreds of games will be available to play and as members create and contribute games this number will grow. The online community is made to be collaborative, so that designing games becomes a fun and shared creative process. To design games, TheSimsCarnival.com provides game creation tools for a range of user skill sets so that millions of players can become game designers with no prior programming abilities necessary. TheSimsCarnival.com will be available to the public online in spring 2008.

"We're very excited to launch TheSimsCarnival.com, a new and accessible gaming experience that gives players all the tools they need to play, create and share games online with friends," said Rod Humble, Head of The Sims Studio. "Whether you're a new player who wants to simply customize a game with a family photo, a gamer who always wanted to make the best platformer or a seasoned expert ready to create the next big game, TheSimsCarnival.com makes game creation and publication easier than ever before."

To potentially be selected for participation in a closed beta for TheSimsCarnival.com, create a new account at TheSimsCarnival.com.

PS3 Unreal Tournament III Gets Its First User Created Content

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:20:00 MST

The PlayStation 3 version of Epic Games' Unreal Tournament III has long been crowed about as the first game on Sony's console to support user created content, such as mods and maps. Today, owners of UTIII have their first taste of homebrewed PS3 add-ons, as FileFront presents the game's first player-created map, DM-Shrine, for download. The deathmatch map is designed for 2-6 players and was built by 23 year-old Thomas Browett of Nottingham.

FileFront has the download and installation instructions, which, curiously, point out that removable storage of some sort is required for import. Whether it be compact flash, Memory Stick or simply a USB thumb drive, it seems one can't simply download to the PS3's built-in mass storage via the internet browser. What's up with that?

FileFront Exclusive: First Ever PS3 Unreal Tournament 3 Map [FileFront]

Ubisoft Focuses On User Created Content

Mike Fahey — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:40:07 MDT

Delivering a keynote speech today at the Edinburgh Interactive Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot called for a focus on user-created content in the gaming industry, declaring that the gaming industry needs to "make sure that our consumers are the stars." He then of course revealed that Ubisoft is working on a top secret next-generation title that features that self-same focus. He went on to state that in order for user created content to work, developers would have to make a shift towards increasing customer support.

"If the creator only has an Xbox 360 then we will help him port [content] to another console. Although some users will be happy to see their creation just on one console. The goal is to make sure that users can show their friends that they are capable of creating content and prove it to themselves."

Guillemot went on to explore how to get lapsed and new players interested in the daunting task of creating content that will ultimately be judged by their peers and laughed at in internet forums and blog comment sections. On top of making sure the tools that come with UCC games are easy to use, he also details a mentoring system that Ubisoft will include in their games, where more experienced players are rewarded with points or free games for helping the more novice users along.

I'm always a little wary when developers start talking about shifting focus, mainly because they rarely do so without having a title in the works that shares said focus. It loses some of the power when you know they are trying to generate buzz for something they are doing. That having been said, I wholeheartedly approve of more UCC games, especially if someone is there to hold my hand and make sure the content I create doesn't suck.

EIF: "Our consumers are the stars," says Guillemot [GamesIndustry.biz]