Poll: Yahtzee+LBP=?

[WTEricson]

I am hopefully getting my obsessive hands on the Little Big Planet demo in the next 2 days and I was hoping for some feedback before I make a level as a testiment to Zero Punctuation. I was thinking of making the whole background yellow, then making a big Yahtzee likeness that you could trigger to move torward a games box art and either have hearts come out expressing he loves a game or have him rip it to shreds. Ofcourse I want to do this with deap game mechanics which are fun and will draw people who don't know who he is to find out.

My questions are:

Would it be against any copywrite laws to make a level like this?

What would you add to the idea? I really want to make something badass and all these Mario, Sonic, Penis levels are just unimaginative level piracy IMO.

 

[Praelanthor]

put it up yahtzee gets a cash bonus based on his web traffic the more people watch the richer he becomes untill he retires

 

[GenHellspawn]

The level idea sounds cool, but as for the game, from the videos I have seen of LBP, all you have to do is move around the level untill you win. Also, since the only games I've been looking for these days have at least above average difficulty, I'm probably going to end up ignoring this game entirely.

 

[Splitter]

I know it's a longshot that he'd actually reply but maybe you could mail Yahtzee himself about this, as he seems to read his hatemail he may get back to you about this.
I think if he endorses it it should be all okay.
Who knows he could be really honoured...
On the other hand he could make a large number of jokes at your expense, I have no idea how he'd react to something like this...
Personally I think the idea you suggested for it sounded cool, you should also take another look through the videos for inspiration of what to include.
The boat sailing to port cock-up in Alone in the dark could be a good one.

 

[ReverseEngineered]

Against copyright? Likely. The character itself is his own creation, and like characters in a novel or movie, they are copyrighted. The black-and-white character on a yellow background motif can't be copyrighted, and it would be a stretch to call it a trademark. Where trademark may be a problem is if you in any way claim (or make it seem like) Yahtzee endorses it. This is usually easy enough to avoid by clearly stating that it isn't Yahtzee's doing.

I would question the game mechanic. As game designers like Raph Koster would say, you have to have a good game before you throw on themed graphics. You could take any existing game mechanic (say, Tetris) and make it Zero Punctuation themed. Using the tetris example, you could have pieces labelled "gameplay", "story", and "graphics", which have to be arranged in just the right way as to complete a "game" (a Tetris). To deepen the mechanic, you could have random elements being pushed in from the bottom as your "deadline" approaches. You could also start off with, or randomly have added, elements like "quick time events" that are difficult to fit in.

Oh yes, and I freely enter this description and idea into the public domain. Feel free to use this idea -- I'd love a game like this.

 

[Caliostro]

I say do it, it's a win-win situation, follow me here:

- Either Yahtzee finds this hilarious, no harm comes of it and ZP and the Escapist get more traffic
or
- Yahtzee finds it ridiculous, and uses the last 20 seconds or so of a review to dispense bile on you, which WE will find hilarious.

As I said, win-win.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Put a big URL to escapist so you don't get sued. Escapist is protective of their angry white rayman looking thing.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Mispost

 

[AntiAntagonist]

Betting you could get away with it. Copyright usually only extends to profiting from a work.

The other loophole is parody. Doesn't necessarily mean making fun, as pornos will tell you. ... Please don't make ZP porn.

 

[WTEricson]

The level idea sounds cool, but as for the game, from the videos I have seen of LBP, all you have to do is move around the level untill you win. Also, since the only games I've been looking for these days have at least above average difficulty, I'm probably going to end up ignoring this game entirely.

I understand this POV, but I've been watching alot of the created videos sofar. When I saw the 1st few levels I too thought "easy-sauce", but after veiwing some of the really well done levels I'm not even sure I could beet them without hurling my controller a few times. The levels are basicly as hard as you allow them to be when your making them. Saw one that it took the nut-sackboy 12 tries to get past a spot where the ground was iced over with 3 pendulums swinging.... every time he would time the first one right the ice would cause him to die from one of the other 2. Then add a few badguys in the mix and some rolling firebells... If you think this game can't be harder than %99 of the games we play you aren't using your imagination.

The one place I can see myself getting stumped is the sound engine. Saw one youtube vid of a level set up to play "Sweet Child of Mine", must of took the basturd 3 days.

 

[Lembata]

If you match one of this categories pls don't make it.
1. You are 12 or smaller or you have a voice of a person of that age group;
2. You bought your mic from "Everiting for one dollar" shop;
3. You get distracted by shiny objects;
4. Your sence of humor is as flat as a 10 year old girl;

Otherwise go nuts I would love to watch it.

 

[WTEricson]

If you match one of this categories pls don't make it.
1. You are 12 or smaller or you have a voice of a person of that age group;
2. You bought your mic from "Everiting for one dollar" shop;
3. You get distracted by shiny objects;
4. Your sence of humor is as flat as a 10 year old girl;

Otherwise go nuts I would love to watch it.

Don't worry, I much like you think if I do Yahtzee injustice I should die in a fire. The countless hours I've replayed his videos to see the part I missed, just to ROFLMAOcopter anything besides near perfection (even if it takes a week) would not be uploaded. If it's not fun and humorous it wouldn't be a Yahtzee testiment.

 

[Myzlo]

Just do your best with tools given to you, we still don't know all of the possibilities LBP will give the player in order to create new and interesting levels