As we head into the second quarter of 2021, we continue on our Restitched Public Roadmap path. What's up this month? Well, for starters, a brand-spankin'-new contest for Restitched. In fact, it's our first-ever contest for the game. how exciting, right!?

Restitched is full of creative assets to use, and we're always looking to grow that library with assets that our players and creators alike will find useful. Whether you're dressing up, building a scene, or planning a full adventure, "Stamps" play a big part in that visual design process.

So, from Saturday, April 3 through Saturday, April 17, we're looking for up to three beautiful stamp designs from our community of creatives (psst... that's you!). Contest participants will be required to adhere to our developer stamp design guidelines, as well as the contest theme for the stamps: "household".

​What is a "household" theme? Anything you can find in a home. A toaster, bedframe, television remote, etc. You're in charge of what it is! The household theme of the contest is not mutually exclusive with what Craftbook category the stamp will go in. This will be decided at the developers' discretion. You can cover any Craftbook stamp category, like patterns, objects, architecture, character bits, signs, etc.

What are the prizes? Well, of course, we'll be adding the winning stamp designs to Restitched, so you'll be able to see and use them in-game when Restitched is available! As a small bonus, members of our Discord server will receive a special "Event Winner!" role. Finally, your winning creation will be promoted on our social media platforms.

​Good luck, and happy designing!

With the first quarter of the year having drawn to a close, it's time to look forward toward the remaining roadmap goals of the year. From January-March we've covered all planned roadmap goals, which we will recap in this post. Going forward, we're working hard to cover the remaining roadmap goals throughout the year, with a few surprises along the way!

For now, let's recap what went down in Q1 2021:

After an influx of fan art following Restitched's reveal, Stuffy told us to open a fan art submission form for all of your amazing artwork. We will periodically sort through the submitted fan art to share on future News Blog website posts and on our social media profiles.

After what feels like forever, we're finally ready to show you more of our little (not-so-little) adventure into indie game development! Our extremely talented team of passionate developers have been hard at work stitching together various pieces of Restitched in order for us to show you what we've been up to.

Restitched was initially unveiled in June of last year (2020), and since then our official channels have been pretty devoid of any updates regarding the game. But rest assured, our team have been hard at work behind the scenes, and we are proud to show you our progress so far.

Crafting a game from the ground-up is a massive undertaking; a bigger feat to accomplish than on any of our previous projects. With a UGC game there's no way to jump around in development. We need strong, sturdy roots in order to build upon them and make a functional, stable, robust level editor that will become the basis for everything that's yet to come. Developing this game is exactly what we want to be doing, and we're rapidly learning things as we go along. We're so excited to take you on this journey with us as we continue to develop!

We're a small team of hobbyist developers, and these things take time, so we'd like to thank you for your patience. We'd also like to thank our trixel+ supporters for their generous donations. Your pledges support us to no end, and we are extremely grateful for your kindness. We hope that seeing the progress of Restitched so far makes you feel like your donations are worthwhile.

We're volunteering to do this on our own time, and we encourage others to join us! The more help we get, the faster the project develops, the wider our scope, and the better it will become. If you're interested, be sure to take a look at our open roles and join us!

A very important feature to us is the ability to customize Stuffy to your liking. Stuffy is prominent throughout the whole game, so it's important to us that you feel your own personal connection with them. There are a lot of ambitious ideas we have for the cosmetics system, and we're eager to keep exploring more ways to offer even more layers of customization for players.

By offering multiple categories of cosmetic items, you can customise Stuffy from head to toe! But that's not the extent of it - you can also place our in-game graphics, called 'Stamps', onto Stuffy or their cosmetic items to recolor, add patterns, etc.

Stamps aren't the only way we plan for cosmetic recoloring. As stated, we're still exploring the technical aspect of these ambitious ideas, and we will share more with you as they develop.

To customize Stuffy, simply open the Craftbook and navigate to the 'Cosmetics' section, as denoted by the t-shirt icon. Opening the Cosmetics page will focus the view onto Stuffy, so that you can see all of the necessary details when dressing up or adding some flair.

In these screenshots/gifs you may notice a lack of cosmetic items within the Craftbook. Alas, these are not the only cosmetics that will be available in the full game - we have a bucket load that we've yet to fully implement or develop!

The most crucial part of Restitched is the in-game level editor, which we call 'Construction Mode'. In this mode you can build impressive scenes, small creations, full levels for Stuffy and friends to venture through, or you can use it as a sandbox to faff about in! Regardless of what you choose to do in Construction mode, it's the heart and soul of the game; and all of the content will be produced within it - from official adventure levels to community creations!

We have a very talented community of supporters. These fans love Stuffy and go above and beyond by creating their own fan art of our cuddly little friend. We very much love to see it and appreciate it, and we know Stuffy does too!

Take a look at some of the amazing Restitched fan art submissions we've seen on our Discord server:

If we've missed your fan art, we apologize! We try to round up as many images as we can find as they come in, and sometimes we may miss a couple. Don't worry though, we are planning to launch a submission form on our website soon so that all you artists out there can show your love and support for Stuffy and Restitched!

October is the official month of spooky! Stuffy loves to dress-up, so it's no surprise that Halloween is a very exciting holiday for our plush friend. There are so many options to choose from, whether it be a mummy, raven, skeleton, ghost, ghoul, vampire, grim reaper, etc. - Fortunately, Stuffy decided on a grim reaper this year!

​With the sharp scythe and the ominous black robe and hood, Stuffy looks as spooky as hoped for, and they wish you a very happy Halloween!

We are extremely happy to announce the return of our community-led, UGC-oriented livestream event, Tri-Expo, for its fifth year!

​Our 2019 stream was a huge success for the event with thousands of concurrent viewers and spotlights from both Media Molecule and LittleBigPlanet, cementing the livestream's place in the UGC-gaming landscape. We couldn't be prouder of where Tri-Expo stands today - so we're going to make sure Tri-Expo 2020 is the biggest and best yet!

What is Tri-Expo?
Tri-Expo initally began as an annual event for Trixel Creative to announce our own upcoming projects in the LittleBigPlanet series.  However, as time progressed the event became more community-focused. Now, the event is focused entirely on the community and their creations in UGC games - and not just LittleBigPlanet! We like to think of the event as an "E3 for UGC projects".

When is Tri-Expo 2020?
Tri-Expo 2020 will be taking place on December 12, 2020 at ​7pm UTC!
​
What's new for 2020?
Previous Tri-Expo events have been streamed via Twitch, but this year we will be livestreaming the event as a YouTube Premiere. This is being done for various reasons, not least for the assured quality of the premiere feature.

Additionally, while in previous events we have focused on submissions from LittleBigPlanet and Dreams, this year we are also actively branching out into other UGC game communities and independent publications as well. If you have your own UGC content for any game (such as Minecraft or The Sims, for example) - or you're creating your very own game - then we'd love for you to submit a Spotlight Request!

​Unlike previous years in which the submissions were mixed, these different platforms will be bundled separately, meaning there will be a 'LittleBigPlanet' section, a 'Dreams' section, and so on. These separate sections will also be individually uploaded as YouTube Premieres. This means that, if you wanted to, you could simply turn on notifications for the segments you are interested in. More information on which segments will take place will be revealed as we begin to receive Spotlight Requests.

This year we are also announcing the premiere of Tri-Extra. Tri-Extra will focus on gameplay demos, announcements, giveaways, Q&As, and audience interactivity. As a result, the main Tri-Expo stream will focus on shorter teasers and trailers. Tri-Extra will be treated as another 'segment' of the stream, meaning it will be in the main livestream event as well as its own separate premiere. You can feature your submission as both a trailer for the main event and a gameplay demo for Tri-Extra if you desire.

How can I submit a Spotlight Request?
A Spotlight Request is a form that you can fill out if you'd like to be featured during the Tri-Expo 2020 event. To view the Spotlight Request form, simply click the button below.

The deadlines for submissions is November 26, 2020. We will not be accepting submissions after that date, even if you submit a Spotlight Request registering you interest before then.

See you there!
That's all for now! We hope to see your submissions for Tri-Expo 2020 soon!

​- The Trixel Creative team.

It's been just over a month since we revealed our new puzzle-platformer UGC video game, Restitched​ to the world! To put into words how overjoyed we are at the overwhelmingly positive response would be nigh on impossible. We are so extremely grateful and thankful for every one of you who has stuck with us through our journey into game development. We are driven by the encouragement and shared passion that you all exude, and rest assured we are typing away behind the scenes to bring Restitched to your eager palms as soon as possible!

That being said, you may have been wondering what we've been up to since the reveal! For starters, we've brought on fresh talent to the team. We've also been responding to the amazing community fan art of Stuffy, and we've begun our journey into releasing new Restitched-themed merchandise for you to rep! Let's take a look...

Some of our absolutely favorite things to witness are the amazing pieces of fan art that you all create! It's no secret that you love our little hand-stitched teddy bear, and we can't say we blame you! As a way of saying thank you and shining a spotlight on the beautiful art that's been made, here are some of our favorite pieces of Stuffy fan art:

Do you have your own Restitched fan art to share with us? Tweet it to us @Trixel_Creative, email it to us via the "Contact" section, or post it in #share on our official Discord server!

​Return to Carnivalia is a community level pack created by a team of us here at Trixel Creative. It released on September 22, 2018 and was Team Picked shortly after. It remains the only adventure to be Team Picked on a Monday instead of a Friday, and was highly-acclaimed across the LBP community.

Gameplay Motifs
Gameplay motifs are a way to block out the basics of a playable segment within a level's design. Nearly every platformer level is made up of a certain number of motifs. Creating a gameplay motif is essentially about making the bare bones of it, and its purpose is to make a clean, separated version that prioritizes functionality over visuals. Once your piece of gameplay works and is polished you can simply insert it into your level like a puzzle piece, then decorate! Working with motifs this way ensures easy access to make changes and keeps your level creation tidy.

Trailers and Videos
(2015) Reveal Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmZYWNWDYcA 
2016 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgL9fr1lXU0 
2017 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAb79mtuI_o 
(2018) Launch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBQfPhHQDJw

Thank you!
It should go without saying, but remember that the photos and concepts shown here are not representative of the quality or content of the final product. Return to Carnivalia was a very large community effort and things were always changing. There are likely more unseen pieces of content out there, and if we find them we will post them to our Discord server, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Thank you all for your support throughout the creation of Return to Carnivalia. It's been a very long, constantly-evolving experience... but now the adventure is published and available to play right now! Without your patience and support this never would've happened, but it did (yay!), and we are very happy with the feedback it's received thus far. 

You can play or queue Return to Carnivalia right now by visiting: https://lbp.me/v/q3g9v1y/ 
To learn more about Return to Carnivalia, visit: https://www.trixelcreative.com/returntocarnivalia.html 

Return to Carnivalia is a community level pack created by a team of us here at Trixel Creative. It released on September 22, 2018 and was Team Picked shortly after. It remains the only adventure to be Team Picked on a Monday instead of a Friday, and was highly-acclaimed across the LBP community.
​
In this post we will be sharing some of the behind-the-scenes scripts from the community level pack's development. Please remember, these are not representative of the final version and things may have changed throughout the creation of the adventure!

Scripts
When making Return to Carnivalia we needed to be on the same page about certain things, so we went with Google Docs for Scripts. We updated the pages collaboratively and had group discussions about what should take place in the cutscenes and story. Creators may have injected some of their own creative freedom into the final cutscenes, but they're ultimately the same as the scripted version and storyboards!

Trailers and Videos
(2015) Reveal Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmZYWNWDYcA 
2016 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgL9fr1lXU0 
2017 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAb79mtuI_o 
(2018) Launch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBQfPhHQDJw

Thank you!
It should go without saying, but remember that the photos and concepts shown here are not representative of the quality or content of the final product. Return to Carnivalia was a very large community effort and things were always changing. There are likely more unseen pieces of content out there, and if we find them we will post them to our Discord server, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Thank you all for your support throughout the creation of Return to Carnivalia. It's been a very long, constantly-evolving experience... but now the adventure is published and available to play right now! Without your patience and support this never would've happened, but it did (yay!), and we are very happy with the feedback it's received thus far. 

You can play or queue Return to Carnivalia right now by visiting: https://lbp.me/v/q3g9v1y/ 
To learn more about Return to Carnivalia, visit: https://www.trixelcreative.com/returntocarnivalia.html ​

Return to Carnivalia is a community level pack created by a team of us here at Trixel Creative. It released on September 22, 2018 and was Team Picked shortly after. It remains the only adventure to be Team Picked on a Monday instead of a Friday, and was highly-acclaimed across the LBP community. The project was in development since mid-2015 and has seen numerous setbacks, delays, and various different versions that were (prior to this post) only seen internally, aside from screenshots posted periodically since the project's announcement.
​
Today we are sharing a literal boatload of screenshots from some of the earlier builds of Return to Carnivalia, including multiple versions of the levels from 2015, 2016 and 2017! There are many reasons why content is removed and we couldn't begin to cover them all. Some of the things you will see here may not have functioned properly or fit the theme we were going for. Stability and optimization played a big part in why levels were scrapped, but it also comes down to who is creating it and whether or not they stick with their content or assigned level.

Version 1 - 2015
The first version of Return to Carnivalia was loosely based on a work-in-progress story concept that would later change drastically. The first levels shown in 2015's Reveal Trailer were staged for the trailer itself. The levels were originally made for the project's announcement at Tri-Expo 2015, although they would later be remade to fit the newly-evolved story.

Version 2 - 2016
The second version of Return to Carnivalia was majorly different than the first. At this point we were working with a far more developed storyline and had concepts and storyboards to build off of. The announcement in 2015 only fueled our fire after we were met with positive reactions and community-wide excitement for more LBP3 content.

On January 18th, 2020 we posted a survey mainly for our Discord server members and Twitter followers to take part in. The idea of the survey is to ask questions about the Discord server experience, outlook on Trixel Creative and its content, and various personal questions (all anonymous) so that we can have a better understanding of our audience.

We received a high number of survey submissions, so we want to thank our community for taking part! The results will influence our platform going forward, and we intend to post similar surveys more than once a year to best understand the community's feedback.

The results of the January 2020 survey has encouraged the following changes and plans:

We have tinkered a bit with things behind the scenes and are working to change our moderation methods. We have now appointed a lead moderator to oversee the moderation team, have recently brought on new moderators, have written extensive guidelines on general Trixel Creative team member ethics, and specific moderation guidelines as well. Additionally, the moderation side of the server now has an audit log for record-keeping and tidier communication. Peer approval for a moderator's question of the day suggestion is mandatory, and moderators are generally more interlinked with internal happenings at Trixel Creative, such as events, giveaways, contests, etc.

We are still working to improve in the near future, including further changes to the way the Discord server's rules and auto-mod bot is handled.

We've seen how open the community is to the idea of starting server-wide activities and events. We're in the process of creating an all-new Discord Create-Off contest for February. The contest will be based in LittleBigPlanet, and the winner will receive a reward! Along with community contests, we are looking into server-wide game nights, more giveaway opportunities, streaming events for general gaming and project development, and even more...

It's gone! The phone verification requirement was put into place last month, and has proven to be a bit of a pain to newcomers. We've lifted this requirement and already have alternate security measures enabled for the server.

Hello everyone!

​Some of us are back from a short break, and our creative cogs are already turning for 2020! We had an excellent 2019, and in the last month of the year we grew our community by a nearly overwhelming amount. So, thank you for joining us and being part of our creative journey!

​To start the year off, we have a few things we'd like to cover, including news and content:

We've given the site's Downloads page a much-needed overhaul to fit with the aesthetic of our redesign! From the Downloads page you can find useful media and assets, such as our:

• Trixel Creative Media Kit
• LBP3 Icon Pack
• LBP3 Fansite Kit
• Return to Carnivalia Slipcover
• Return to Carnivalia Soundtrack
• LBP Flash Soundtrack
• + more...

You can visit the Downloads page now to view our collection of growing content, including our new Trixel Creative Media Kit that will provide you with our signature patterned backgrounds, themed and standard logos, and various useful assets related to our platform.

If you find yourself wanting to support us while still receiving some neat goodies, you can take a look at our site's Store page! On our Store page you can find a small selection of neat project-related designs for various merchandise items, or you can represent our platform by purchasing a Trixel Creative design on products like apparel, notebooks, stickers, and more. We also have a Tri-Expo logo for fans of the event!

Profits from our fan art designs (we're in the fan art program now, woohoo!), Trixel Creative designs, and project designs will go straight to our reserved money pool for the platform, where we hold funds to use for domain/site costs, web storage hosting, and more. Most t-shirt items will profit us with around $2-5 each.

The lovely community manager, Steven Isbell, has given our Tri-Expo spotlighted LBP3 projects a glorious pink rosette with this Friday's Team Picks.

Whack away those pesky minions in the Evergreen Park spin-off mini-game, "WHACK-A-BUBBLE!", or play our large sticker kit giveaway level, "'Restitched' Sticker Kit", where you can collect 80 new stickers to use in your own creations!

These levels are only available in LittleBigPlanet 3, and can be played right now!

Wow... Wow! No, seriously... WOW. You guys have blown our minds, and our numbers! Before Tri-Expo, our Discord server had around 280 members, and our Twitter following was around 980 followers. After Tri-Expo, our numbers shot up to 2,200+ server members and 1,900+ Twitter followers (and growing!).

We can't thank you enough for your support. Numbers mean nothing, but community means everything. Each and every one of you play an important role in allowing us to create and share the things that we do. Without you guys, our platform itself would just be a dream. Thanks to our growing community we can make sure that our projects and platform are as well-supplied and well-maintained as we can make them, and that's a gift that will keep giving.

If you're new to Trixel Creative, be sure to take a look around our site and check out our previous projects. You can find some really neat info and accolades on the "About Us" page!

To stay up-to-date on all things Trixel Creative, join our Discord server. It's where the cool kids hang out, and if you're not a cool kid, then you're... a less cool kid!

Our Discord server offers immediate access to chat with our community and team members, and we also post announcements and internal info and media there. We also host the occasional competitions where community members can enter to earn potential rewards like LBP DLC and physical items. We plan to do a lot of neat community activities soon, so come and check it out! We can't wait to chat with you. :)