[ModNation Week] Part 3: Share
Our third and final look into the inner workings of United Front's build-your-own kart racer finishes things off with a bang. After you've burned through the Career Mode and whipped up a set of Mods, Karts and Tracks, what's left? Plenty.
Published: May 13, 2010
Yesterday's trip through the complex inner workings of the Creation Station laid bare the tools for creating your own tracks and the riders and vehicles that race 'em. Just making a bunch of slick looking custom characters or a stupid awesome course to bomb around is nothing, though, if you can't share your creations with the world -- and let the world tell you what they think in the process. So come with us as we explain the ins and outs of the final meaty chunk of the ModNation Racers trifecta: Sharing your handiwork.
The first time you drop into the home for all the racers that qualify in the ModNation invitational, it's something to behold; massive banners, lazily arcing searchlights, huge standees, neon lights, likely a bunch of people racing around the center square and a ton to interact with. Thankfully, helpful MRC announcer Gary takes you through the basics, indicating where the Race Station (where online battles, quick races, split-screen action and of course the career path all await you as well as a statue of the racer with the top XP earned at the time), showing off the Creation Station we talked about yesterday, and the other bits littering the sides of the open arena.
We'll get into what happens when you visit the little side areas next to the Creation Station in a minute, but it's those interactive bits that are going to be almost as frequently used as all the community tools. Tucked between the Race and Creation Stations are the top three Mods and Karts as voted on by the community. Drive up to any of them and tap Square and you can pull up the names of each, pan and zoom the camera around for a better look and then drill down deeper to see more.
This is where the whole community aspect of things really comes into its own. You can simply vote on the creation (up to five stars, and votes for creations give their maker XP that goes toward their total level which caps out at 30 right now), view comments on it from other players (or add your own), see what DLC (if any) was used to make it, and report it if there's something that rubs you the wrong way. You can see how many times its been downloaded, used in a race and viewed by other people all at a glance. All very spiffy and all quite useful, but if you like the creator of the monstrosity, you can press Square to pull up their Creator Card.
Creator Cards, as the name implies are snapshots of every player in the game. If you see someone else racing around the ModSpot, you can pull up next to them and chat using voice, text or d-pad gestures, challenge them to a race or just view the same Creator Card. We used the word "snapshot," but there's more here than just an at-a-glance view of their handiwork. You can view reams of information about how much XP they've earned in races for the week, the previous week and all time, see their experience level, vote on them (which boosts their reputation, you can also do this after races), view their skill rating (based on how well they do in all the different race types), their per-race stats for things like wins, total races, disconnects and so on.
That's only the Details tab, however, tap R2 to swap over to the Creations and you can see all their Mods, Karts and Tracks, vote on 'em, report something or, yes, download everything they've made straight from this screen. You can also see their favorites (and favorite them yourself if you'd like), and check out those Creator Cards, following a complex web through the various players online. It's a far more interconnected system than anything seen in community-driven games like LittleBigPlanet and allows you to seek out some of the better creators in the world.
The first time you drop into the home for all the racers that qualify in the ModNation invitational, it's something to behold; massive banners, lazily arcing searchlights, huge standees, neon lights, likely a bunch of people racing around the center square and a ton to interact with. Thankfully, helpful MRC announcer Gary takes you through the basics, indicating where the Race Station (where online battles, quick races, split-screen action and of course the career path all await you as well as a statue of the racer with the top XP earned at the time), showing off the Creation Station we talked about yesterday, and the other bits littering the sides of the open arena.
We'll get into what happens when you visit the little side areas next to the Creation Station in a minute, but it's those interactive bits that are going to be almost as frequently used as all the community tools. Tucked between the Race and Creation Stations are the top three Mods and Karts as voted on by the community. Drive up to any of them and tap Square and you can pull up the names of each, pan and zoom the camera around for a better look and then drill down deeper to see more.
This is where the whole community aspect of things really comes into its own. You can simply vote on the creation (up to five stars, and votes for creations give their maker XP that goes toward their total level which caps out at 30 right now), view comments on it from other players (or add your own), see what DLC (if any) was used to make it, and report it if there's something that rubs you the wrong way. You can see how many times its been downloaded, used in a race and viewed by other people all at a glance. All very spiffy and all quite useful, but if you like the creator of the monstrosity, you can press Square to pull up their Creator Card.
Creator Cards, as the name implies are snapshots of every player in the game. If you see someone else racing around the ModSpot, you can pull up next to them and chat using voice, text or d-pad gestures, challenge them to a race or just view the same Creator Card. We used the word "snapshot," but there's more here than just an at-a-glance view of their handiwork. You can view reams of information about how much XP they've earned in races for the week, the previous week and all time, see their experience level, vote on them (which boosts their reputation, you can also do this after races), view their skill rating (based on how well they do in all the different race types), their per-race stats for things like wins, total races, disconnects and so on.
That's only the Details tab, however, tap R2 to swap over to the Creations and you can see all their Mods, Karts and Tracks, vote on 'em, report something or, yes, download everything they've made straight from this screen. You can also see their favorites (and favorite them yourself if you'd like), and check out those Creator Cards, following a complex web through the various players online. It's a far more interconnected system than anything seen in community-driven games like LittleBigPlanet and allows you to seek out some of the better creators in the world.
