Post by quantum82 on Apr 30, 2017 20:26:35 GMT
First post, don't kill me if I sound noob-ey.
I really enjoyed playing the original LittleBigPlanet in the early 2010's, and a few years after originally playing it (probably 2012 or 2013) I read online that there were 4 themes originally in the game that were cut, (those themes were English Seaside, American Midwest Trainyard, Japanese Window, and Russian Theater). I've searched endlessly for these themes, but the only real evidence I have come across are the ambiences that originally accompanied them, as the first 6 results: here
To the right are the music tracks: Tea by the Sea (English Seaside)
Well Trained (American Midwest Trainyard)
Party Ghouls (Russian Theater)
Wise Owl (Japanese Window)
What I have deduced so far:
- Many assume these themes only to be Beta names for the current themes, but this is in fact, incorrect. The themes in question have different main, tweakable audio tracks that would be the main music used throughout the level. The existence of this music, (confirmed with the MM Music Pack 1) supports the idea that these themes were seperate or independent from any other themes.
-English Seaside, the most complete theme, was removed somewhat hastily from the game, as evidenced with the odd transition from The Gardens to The Savannah. At the end of the level Skate to Victory, the King sends you in a submarine to Zola's island. However, looking at deleted dialogue from the game, a character (most likely a pirate) says, "Egad! Mermaid's spit has mutated me wretched parrot! She's got me SUB! Find it, or you'll never get to ZOLA'S LAND!"
What is interesting about this line of dialogue is the mention of a submarine. Most likely, the Seaside was to come in between The Gardens and The Savannah. The King would send you to The Seaside, you would help a character, like a pirate or something, and he would give you a submarine to head to the island. The theme has many pre-release screenshots, and has the music "Tea by the Sea". Picture: English Seaside
-American Midwest Trainyard. I can't say much about this theme. You can imagine what it would look like, based more heavily on steam engines. People have likened it to The Metropolis solely on the fact that both themes take place in the USA. I do not think these themes are related. Once again, I believe all of these themes were completely separate versions of the themes released in the game, that these themes had different backgrounds and stories. The Metropolis did have trains (subway) but AMT would be midwestern. Very interesting sounding, but for this and Russian Theater, I do not have that much info.
-Russian Theater. Again, little to no info, but the music would suggest a jaunty, Russian adventure taking place in, well, a theater. I could see some of The Wilderness' Communist undertones appearing, but remember all of those odds and ends stickers found in The Wilderness that were very generic and fit nowhere else? I believe those to be from the real Wilderness, a heavily altered version that was supposed to originally appear in game, probably not even going by the name "The Wilderness", which features those odds and ends. If you think about it, every object in those levels is completely random. Egg cartons? Pencils? I am not necessarily saying that such a theme existed, but it is certainly something not to be out rightly denied.
-Japanese Window: I was interested by this theme the most. It sounds interesting, and I myself am kind of a weeb, so I put a little more effort into researching this one. When listening to the music, you get a very techno vibe from it, which would explain all of the other Japanese stickers in the game. There were the traditional ones, and then the more modern stickers (i.e. the Moshi! one, the Japanese Schoolgirl outfit, the food stickers, and many others that don't immediately come to mind). This makes me think that this theme may have been based on modern Tokyo, Osaka, or something of the sorts. I'm guessing this is part of why it was cut: traditional Japanese art and culture would be more representative as a whole for Japan as a country than the industrial parts of it (all of the themes are culturally based on real world countries and areas). The ambience also lends itself to this idea, as it sounds urban, with car horns and people all present in the ambience. I'm going to assume that this theme took place maybe in an apartment, or store, and set beside a window overlooking the city's skyline. Another thing to note: there is a Japanese screenshot from an early build of the game where a city is prominently featured, in the link to the right: LBP 1 JAPAN
-Scrolling through Media Molecule's Concept Art on Flickr, you will see what appears to be a theme based on Las Vegas. This most likely did not get as much publicity as the other themes as it does not have an ambience, and likely never left the development stage, found on the link to the right, and click on the "right" button to see the other picutres: Las Vaguness
-Another reason for the theme's revamp-ment or deletion would be that they are too defined. Think about it: how many levels can you make in a winter forest? Probably quite a few. You would not be able to make as many levels in, say, a theater or trainyard.
Forgive me if I am inquiring to the wrong forum, or if I violated some secret, Lost-Media Hunting code in posting this. Anyone who could shed any light on these or help in an investigation would earn my gratitude. I have been searching for this stuff for nearly a decade now, so any info is appreciated. I had a letter I was going to send to Media Molecule, the game devs, about the themes, though I never sent it, and lost it, as it's only copy resided on a flash drive I cannot find.
Once again, thanks for reading that wall of text! Looking forward to uncovering some hope in this despair-filled situation!
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I really enjoyed playing the original LittleBigPlanet in the early 2010's, and a few years after originally playing it (probably 2012 or 2013) I read online that there were 4 themes originally in the game that were cut, (those themes were English Seaside, American Midwest Trainyard, Japanese Window, and Russian Theater). I've searched endlessly for these themes, but the only real evidence I have come across are the ambiences that originally accompanied them, as the first 6 results: here
To the right are the music tracks: Tea by the Sea (English Seaside)
Well Trained (American Midwest Trainyard)
Party Ghouls (Russian Theater)
Wise Owl (Japanese Window)
What I have deduced so far:
- Many assume these themes only to be Beta names for the current themes, but this is in fact, incorrect. The themes in question have different main, tweakable audio tracks that would be the main music used throughout the level. The existence of this music, (confirmed with the MM Music Pack 1) supports the idea that these themes were seperate or independent from any other themes.
-English Seaside, the most complete theme, was removed somewhat hastily from the game, as evidenced with the odd transition from The Gardens to The Savannah. At the end of the level Skate to Victory, the King sends you in a submarine to Zola's island. However, looking at deleted dialogue from the game, a character (most likely a pirate) says, "Egad! Mermaid's spit has mutated me wretched parrot! She's got me SUB! Find it, or you'll never get to ZOLA'S LAND!"
What is interesting about this line of dialogue is the mention of a submarine. Most likely, the Seaside was to come in between The Gardens and The Savannah. The King would send you to The Seaside, you would help a character, like a pirate or something, and he would give you a submarine to head to the island. The theme has many pre-release screenshots, and has the music "Tea by the Sea". Picture: English Seaside
-American Midwest Trainyard. I can't say much about this theme. You can imagine what it would look like, based more heavily on steam engines. People have likened it to The Metropolis solely on the fact that both themes take place in the USA. I do not think these themes are related. Once again, I believe all of these themes were completely separate versions of the themes released in the game, that these themes had different backgrounds and stories. The Metropolis did have trains (subway) but AMT would be midwestern. Very interesting sounding, but for this and Russian Theater, I do not have that much info.
-Russian Theater. Again, little to no info, but the music would suggest a jaunty, Russian adventure taking place in, well, a theater. I could see some of The Wilderness' Communist undertones appearing, but remember all of those odds and ends stickers found in The Wilderness that were very generic and fit nowhere else? I believe those to be from the real Wilderness, a heavily altered version that was supposed to originally appear in game, probably not even going by the name "The Wilderness", which features those odds and ends. If you think about it, every object in those levels is completely random. Egg cartons? Pencils? I am not necessarily saying that such a theme existed, but it is certainly something not to be out rightly denied.
-Japanese Window: I was interested by this theme the most. It sounds interesting, and I myself am kind of a weeb, so I put a little more effort into researching this one. When listening to the music, you get a very techno vibe from it, which would explain all of the other Japanese stickers in the game. There were the traditional ones, and then the more modern stickers (i.e. the Moshi! one, the Japanese Schoolgirl outfit, the food stickers, and many others that don't immediately come to mind). This makes me think that this theme may have been based on modern Tokyo, Osaka, or something of the sorts. I'm guessing this is part of why it was cut: traditional Japanese art and culture would be more representative as a whole for Japan as a country than the industrial parts of it (all of the themes are culturally based on real world countries and areas). The ambience also lends itself to this idea, as it sounds urban, with car horns and people all present in the ambience. I'm going to assume that this theme took place maybe in an apartment, or store, and set beside a window overlooking the city's skyline. Another thing to note: there is a Japanese screenshot from an early build of the game where a city is prominently featured, in the link to the right: LBP 1 JAPAN
-Scrolling through Media Molecule's Concept Art on Flickr, you will see what appears to be a theme based on Las Vegas. This most likely did not get as much publicity as the other themes as it does not have an ambience, and likely never left the development stage, found on the link to the right, and click on the "right" button to see the other picutres: Las Vaguness
-Another reason for the theme's revamp-ment or deletion would be that they are too defined. Think about it: how many levels can you make in a winter forest? Probably quite a few. You would not be able to make as many levels in, say, a theater or trainyard.
Forgive me if I am inquiring to the wrong forum, or if I violated some secret, Lost-Media Hunting code in posting this. Anyone who could shed any light on these or help in an investigation would earn my gratitude. I have been searching for this stuff for nearly a decade now, so any info is appreciated. I had a letter I was going to send to Media Molecule, the game devs, about the themes, though I never sent it, and lost it, as it's only copy resided on a flash drive I cannot find.
Once again, thanks for reading that wall of text! Looking forward to uncovering some hope in this despair-filled situation!
