User-generated content gets a few tweaks in the free update to Sucker Punch’s superhero game.
One of the most overlooked features of Infamous 2 was the ability to script your own missions and share them with the masses. These missions would appear in other players’ single player games with a green mission indicator, or they could search for user-generated content (UGC) from the menu based on title or rating. When I reviewed Infamous 2, there weren’t than many UGC missions beyond what the developers added as examples. But in the 3 months since its been out, Sucker Punch said they’ve logged almost 80,000 user-generated missions. That fairly large number is probably why the team is releasing a free update to their game that gives mission authors the ability to use two huge boss models, link missions together for story-telling possibilities, and to submit text reviews of missions to help other authors make their missions better. The update is now live, all you have to do is switch on your PS3, pop in the Infamous 2 disc, and download away.
“The Devourer and Titan are now placeable characters,” read Sucker Punch’s announcement on their website. “These are mammoth characters that can be used in any way you can think of. Have the two be friends, have them fight each other, have them protect Cole.”
The inspiration to implement linked missions actually came from the community already creating content. “Shortly after the launch of Infamous 2 we started to see UGC mission series, one great example is The Conduit Community Saga by jedicam10,” the announcement said. “Playing these missions in order was a little on the challenging side.” Now with mission-linking, you’ll be given the option to play the next mission in the series after completing the previous one.
As with anything crowdsourced, playing UGC is an exercise in separating the wheat from the chaff. Players were able to rate missions and only play the best, but now Infamous 2 will allow you to submit short text reviews to give the author tips on how to improve.
Overall, it seems that Sucker Punch is still committed to UGC being an integral part of Infamous 2. For a game with no multiplayer component, UGC is a way to extend the life of one of the PS3’s flagship titles. I think it’s great to see the kind of creativity that’s usually relegated to PC games make its way to consoles. If more developers had features like this, maybe PC and console gamers would get along much better.
Nah, that’s crazy. What am I talking about?
Source: Sucker Punch
Published: Sep 9, 2011 07:09 pm