Manglewood/Sable Oak

To do:

Cover narrative(?)

This article covers cut content.

The contents of this article are sourced from development information and may be inaccurate or incomplete.

Manglewood
(Sable Oak revision)

Game:

Theme Chronology
◀	Prologue

Back to: Manglewood

Manglewood's development began around mid-2012, where it was based around traditional Japanese culture. Its narrative followed the wolf factions and the beginning of Sackboy's journey back to Craftworld through the ancient Sable Oak Tree.

Overview

While LittleBigPlanet 3's story mode still revolved around the "back to Craftworld" storyline, Manglewood was intially conceptualized as the first major theme. It was meant to introduce the characters of Rusk, Jacob, and the wolf factions. Leftover dialogue from this era of development suggests that the overarching narrative would follow Sackboy and Rusk as they ventured up into the White Wolf Tower to retrieve the White Wolf Stone; this artifact would be capable of revealing a magic door at the center of the Sable Oak Tree. Other plot points like warring wolves, Sable Oak Village, and a Black Wolf Stone amongst other things are also referenced in dialogue.

Based on internal timestamps, this revision of Manglewood was nearing completion around the end of 2012, with assets such as its background, interactive music, and other collectibles as proof of this in later prototypes. It remained this way until around sometime between early-to-mid 2013 when it was largely cut, marking the beginning of Manglewood's Tiki revision. A year later, the theme was shown off prominently in one of LittleBigPlanet 3's internal trailers at PlayStation Experience 2014,^[1] where various elements and differences between it and the retail product were briefly covered. Aforementioned levels such as Sable Oak Village and White Wolf Tower, as well as cutscenes involving Rusk, Jacob, and Albi are seen throughout the footage. The theme would presumably end with the Sable Oak Tree blossoming, and Sackboy entering a portal at the centre of it.

Certain aspects of this version of Manglewood remained in later iterations, including:

A quadrupedal character, introduced here with Rusk and later with OddSock. Gameplay sections would involve the player riding on Rusk's back utilizing the cut Saddle gadget.
An infiltration level, originating with White Wolf Tower, later with Hamster Fort, and finally with High Stakes Heist.