Egg Hunt
| Egg Hunt | |
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| Game | LittleBigPlanet Karting |
| Location | Monster Islands |
| Creator | Ray the Wonder Turtle |
| Level type | Side, score challenge |
| Prizes | 28 |
| Number of players | 1 |
| Prerequisite | Podium finish on Huge Monster Rally |
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— Level description | ||
Egg Hunt is a single player side level in LittleBigPlanet Karting. It is unlocked by finishing on the podium in Huge Monster Rally.
Overview
The level consists of a large egg shaped arena, with the target zone on one side, and Huge Monster on the other. Equipped with the Grabinators, the player must pick up Huge Monster's eggs and take them to the target zone. For every egg retrieved, the player receives 1,500 points and a time extension; they are also awarded prizes for reaching certain egg counts, with 21 being required for the level to count as Looted.
At the start of the game, there are seven eggs in predetermined spots: four in front of Huge Monster, and three more scattered around the arena (marked with red crosses). All subsequent eggs are spawned from Huge Monster, at a rate of about 9 seconds per egg. She also shoots fireballs from her mouth every 0.8 seconds; If the player gets hit by one they will be stunned for a few seconds, dropping whatever they're carrying.
While the minigame is endless in theory, there is a time limit of one minute; when it runs out, the level ends. Whenever an egg reaches the target zone, the time limit is extended by a few seconds, depending on how many eggs have been retrieved. The time bonus starts at +15 seconds per egg, but this decreases by 2 seconds for every six eggs collected, indicated by a message informing the player that Huge Monster is getting angry. This diminishing time bonus is where most of the challenge comes from; despite what the message claims, her behaviour never actually changes over time.
Logic Breakdown
Counting Eggs
Every egg in the level (including those emitted from Huge Monster) uses the same simple logic, contained in a Microchip found atop each egg. A Tag Sensor checks if a purple Tag (found underneath the target zone) enters its radius; when it does, it transmits a signal on the purple colour channel, and destroys itself after 0.5 seconds. It also transmits a blue signal whilst being held, but as there are no blue Receivers in the level, this effectively goes unused.
Time Limit
| Egg Range | Intended Bonus | Actual Average |
|---|---|---|
| 0-5 | +15s | +15s |
| 6-11 | +13s | +13s |
| 12-17 | +11s | +11s |
| 18-23 | +9s | +9s |
| 24-29 | +7s | +7s |
| 30-35 | +5s | +5s |
| 36-41 | +3s | +6s |
| 42-47 | +1s | +4s |
| 48-53 | +1s | +4s |
The logic for the countdown timer can be found in a Microchip above the target zone.
As mentioned above, whenever an egg is collected it transmits a purple signal, which is picked up by three Receivers. The first Receiver is wired into a Counter B to initiate the time bonus, as well as a Counter D to determine when it's time to switch time payouts. The other two Receivers get fed into Timers set to 0.1s and 0.2s respectively, both of which reset when reaching their target times. The first Receiver and the two Timers then get fed into an OR Gate, which sends a Negative signal to a Counter C with a Target Count of 10. This serves to buffer pending time bonuses; if one or more eggs enter the target zone while a bonus is being processed, the player will still receive the time they are owed for all the eggs deposited.
The time limit is controlled by a Counter A, which triggers a Game Ender when it reaches its Target Count of 60. A receives both Positive signals — incrementing it by 1 every second — and Negative signals whenever the player collects an egg, which decrement it by 1 every time a Timer N reaches its Target Time of 0.1s. N gets triggered when a Selector gets flipped to port 2 by B.
A 9-port Selector is used in combination with a series of AND Gates and Counters to determine which time bonus to award, with each of the nine Counters determining how many times N should pulse. When N pulses, it increments whichever Counter the Selector has activated, and when one of these Counters reaches its Target Count, it increments C by 1; if C is equal to 10, it resets B to signify that all queued bonuses have been processed.
D is connected to the Selector's Cycle input; when it reaches its Target Count of 6, it resets itself, cycles to the next time bonus, and displays a message on the HUD.
Due to the way LittleBigPlanet Karting processes logic, N can still pulse for a brief period after the time bonus is supposed to finish. This manifests as fluctuations from the intended time value when the Selector cycles, e.g. receiving +16 seconds when switching from port 1 to port 2. In the most extreme case, this results in the +1 second bonus (intended for the "end" of the level) awarding +4 seconds instead.
On the right is a table summarising the time bonuses and the egg ranges they occur in. It should be noted that because of how the Selector's Cycle function works, the time bonus will actually wrap back around to +15 seconds if the player somehow manages to collect 54 eggs.
Collectibles
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This level has 28 prizes to collect. As mentioned above, these are earned by gathering a certain number of Huge Monster's eggs.
Prize Bubbles (28)
Music
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'Monster Islands' by Richard Jacques Instruction Text |
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'Airbrushed (RAC Remix)' by Anamanaguchi Main level theme |
Dialogue
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— Narrator's pre-load commentary | ||
Instruction Text
Imagine an alternate universe in which you and Huge Monster aren’t best friends!
Press the 
button to grab her eggs and toss them into the target zone to keep the clock running!
You have to put away 21 Eggs to win all the prizes! It’s your lucky number!
Gallery
Preview screenshot for Egg Hunt
