If you witnessed my appearances on either Today on the Spot or The HotSpot earlier this month, you might remember that while reviewing LittleBigPlanet 2 I "developed" a game called Lunar Explorer. You might even have caught a glimpse of it on Giant Bomb's LBP2 Quick Look around the 30-minute mark. If you read or watched my LBP2 review you already know that I had a great time with LBP2, but what I didn't really get to talk about is just how fascinating I found the process of designing, developing, testing, releasing, reading reviews of, and even patching my game. I won't be adding "game developer" to my resume's list of previous jobs or anything, but I definitely feel like I gained some insight into some of the trials that developers working on games must face as well as the emotions they surely experience.

I knew from the outset that I wanted to create a game loosely based on Lunar Lander, so job one was figuring out how to make a craft that would be flyable and feel somewhat like the one in Atari's classic using only a thruster and left/right rotation. Ultimately, this meant lots of playing around with engine power, steering sensitivity, gyroscope strength, and the strength of the gravity in my level, but before I could tackle any of that stuff I first had to figure out LBP2's new controlinator gadget. There was a lot of trial and error involved, and just when I thought I had everything figured out, I had to completely redesign the craft because I couldn't figure out how to make my original one blow up properly without leaving unwanted pieces of debris behind. Many Sackboys were harmed during testing.

Once the craft was finished, I started work on the level and, while I'd love to tell you that I had it all planned out on paper or something, the truth is that I made it up as I went along and my only goal was to make something fun that people might play multiple times to try for higher scores. I doubt many real developers work in such an unorganized way, but I reckon that some of the problems I encountered along the way might not be too dissimilar to those that they experience. Early on, for example, I realized that the solid shapes I was using to create the lunarscape were far too complex for me to just have the entire level be constructed from one or two of them. So I had to use multiple shapes instead, and then come up with ways to keep players from seeing the unsightly areas where they met. Nothing particularly clever about it, but I got a real kick out of solving these little problems, and was reminded of my time with WarioWare D.I.Y.'s excellent Assembly Dojo mode while doing so.


The only shape I ever used to make the environment was a pentagon. You'd never guess. (ahem)

Every time I added something new to the level, I made sure to test it over and over again, and because I hadn't (haven't) mastered all of LBP2's tools yet (and didn't think to simply position a start point in the middle), that meant playing the level from the start every time. I identified and subsequently fixed plenty of problems while testing, but the downside of this process was that I got to be extremely good at my own game. I imagine that this must be a big problem for developers and their armies of testers alike; they get so good at their games that it's difficult for them to gauge how other people will play. The two people who got to play Lunar Explorer before I made it available publicly both found the handling of the craft to be overly unforgiving, but I was still able to make it through the entire level without losing a life, so I unwisely chose to ignore their spectacular failures. The result was that the first wave of LBP2 players found the game far too difficult and started giving the game negative reviews.

After working on my game in isolation for several days, I had managed to convince myself that it was great, and that while it was clearly aimed at those players who have played or at the very least remember Lunar Lander, its high score table would be a hive of activity for weeks. Boy, was I wrong. Eagerly looking for feedback in the form of smiley/sad faces and player reviews, I was disappointed to see that almost nobody was able to complete my level and that most weren't having much fun with it. You can read the reviews on the Lunar Explorer page on LBP.me, but in case you can't be bothered, here are some choice quotes:

"…this level is almost unplayable because the ship is so difficult to control."
"I fought the controls more than the turrets."
"The unforgiving controls break this level."
"too damn hard mate"
"didn't like it need smaller ship 2 hardddddd"

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Footage of me pretending to work on and subsequently playing Lunar Explorer.

Not all of the reviews were negative, but the sad faces easily outnumbered the smiley faces (and still do), and for the first few days it seemed like nobody else was ever going to get onto the high score table, much less try to relieve me of my top spot on it. Fortunately, some of the reviews offered constructive criticism and ideas for improvements, and so I took it upon myself to "patch" Lunar Explorer (version 1.1) by making some tweaks to make it a little easier. I removed a couple of the plasma turrets that were turning areas of the level into a bullet hell, and made others fire a little less frequently; I tweaked the handling of the craft slightly by making the gyroscope that straightens it up a little more powerful; and I reluctantly gave the craft a health bar so that it would blow up on the fifth impact rather than the first. For me personally, this has made Lunar Explorer a little too easy, but the good news is that I'm no longer alone on the leaderboard. At the time of this writing, 674 people have played the game a total of 1077 times and completed it 40 times. I know… the game is clearly still too difficult, but I really don't want to make it any easier. I like that it's more challenging than most LBP levels, and there are at least a handful of people out there who agree with me based on their reviews:

"Tough but fun. "
"Hard and unforgiving but good fun"
"Level design is awesome!"
"Challenging and addictive, rivals most addictive arcade games!"
"The difficulty was what set it apart. Perfect the way it is!"

And so now I face something of a dilemma, and perhaps it's not wholly unlike those faced by modern game developers. Do I stick to my guns and keep the game challenging, knowing that it won't be enjoyed by everyone? Or do I take steps to make it easier (which actually wouldn't take long) in the hope that it will appeal to more players? I'm torn. I've made a game that I genuinely enjoy playing myself, but I've also made a game that the majority of other players find frustrating. Either way, there's a version 1.2 of Lunar Explorer coming sometime soon because I've been informed that one of my plasma turrets isn't properly attached to the lunarscape (though I still need to figure out which one) and also learned that there might be a way for me to address the problem that the craft blows up if Sackboy touches it while attempting to climb into its controlinator seat. I'm also toying with the idea of adding an option to play the game in black and white or with different lighting, though I've yet to come up with a more elegant solution for switching between the visuals options than having Sackboy interact with a button or lever.

If any of you have LittleBigPlanet 2 and have played (or are now going to play) Lunar Explorer, I'd love to hear your feedback, good and bad. I'd also love to hear about any games that you've made yourselves so I can check them out and return the favor.