The Gardens

This article is about The Gardens from the original LittleBigPlanet. For the Gardens' LittleBigPlanet Karting appearance, see LittleBigPlanet (LittleBigPlanet Karting). For the England theme centered around pirates and the sea, see The Seaside.

The Gardens
Game:	LittleBigPlanet
Creator:	The King
Levels:	7
Prizes:	150
Theme Chronology The Savannah

“	Learn about basic gameplay mechanics in an English country garden.	„
— Unseen Theme description

The Gardens is the first theme of the original LittleBigPlanet, and home to the King and Queen. The theme is constructed around backyard garden decor and the medieval–Renaissance transitional Tudor period of England, focusing on the Elizabethan Era, often considered the English golden age due to its peace and prosperity.

Overview

Serving as the first area in the series, the Gardens walks players through the fundamentals of the game's mechanics, such as running, jumping, and grabbing. The Gardens' gameplay is fairly safe and straightforward, as you'll be walked through your sackperson's move-set with minimal hazards or punishments for failure. The Gardens introduces the King and his wife, the Queen, as the two provide helpful dialogue throughout each challenge.

Plot overview

Sackboy embarks on his first adventure through Craftworld, guided by the King and Queen of the Gardens and its inhabitants. With their assistance, Sackboy learns the basics of platforming that will become crucial on the journey ahead, venturing between rolling hills, villages, and castles. After proving his potential by climbing to the top of a haunted castle, the King prepares a submarine and advises Sackboy travel to the Savannah to meet Zola, the second creator curator on his trip around Craftworld.

Creator curator

Main article: The King.

The King is the creator curator of the Gardens; he is married to the Queen and rules over the Gardens with her. The King teaches the player on some of LittleBigPlanet's mechanics through the Gardens' main path.

Levels

Main Path (4) Introduction First Steps Get a Grip Skate to Victory Introduction First Steps Get a Grip Skate to Victory Score Challenges (2) Skateboard Freefall Castle Climb Challenge Skateboard Freefall Castle Climb Challenge Survival Challenge Tie Skipping Tie Skipping

Costumes

Music

The theme's musical selection includes Syrtaki Greek music, British indie rock, and elements of early music from the Tudor period.

'Gardens' IntMusic by Mat Clark & Kenneth Young First Steps - Get a Grip - Castle Climb Challenge - Skipping Class

'Get It Together' by The Go! Team Skate to Victory - Skateboard Freefall - Skipping Class

'Skipping Syrtaki' by Kenneth Young Tie Skipping

Cut content

Levels

Score Challenges (6) Castle Climb Challenge - Easy Castle Climb Challenge - Medium Castle Climb Challenge - Hard Horseplay Stars Challenge Mushroom Challenge Castle Climb Challenge - Easy Castle Climb Challenge - Medium Castle Climb Challenge - Hard Horseplay Stars Challenge Mushroom Challenge Survival Challenge Birdshoot Challenge Birdshoot Challenge

History

Development

The Gardens has an extensive history in LittleBigPlanet's development between 2006 and 2008, with its assets, art, and inspiration spanning between LittleBigPlanet's early prototypes and eventual release. As the first theme in LittleBigPlanet, much of the Gardens' art style and assets were taken from early in LittleBigPlanet's development. Some of the earliest assets created for the game came from prototypes, one of which was an early level frequently referred to as the Beanstalk. Developed over a three-month period in 2006, the Beanstalk was functionally a proof-of-concept for LittleBigPlanet prior to Sony greenlighting the project. Many of the Beanstalk's assets were repurposed from its renders, which in turn were repurposed for the Gardens. Thematically and stylistically, the Beanstalk was similar to the Gardens, with the same themes of grassy hills, trees, and European fairytale motifs. The Beanstalk level's purpose in future stages of LittleBigPlanet was minimal, but nearly all of its gameplay features, tools, and assets survived to the retail release of the game.

The Gardens made one of its first public appearances at GDC 2007, where the physics-based platforming and multiplayer interactions of LittleBigPlanet were initially shown off. Certain differences appear in this tech demo, such as the placement of 3D-modeled background hovels, tudors, gates, and other minor cut content features. Additionally, the demo presented a greater emphasis on depth and layer usage that remained unimplemented until its reintroduction later on in the series. The demo included no content or characters related to the Story Mode and acted purely as a showcase for the game's technology. Most assets survived into the full release of the game, save for the absence of certain scenery models, revisions on specific materials, and other general pre-release changes.

Post-release

While the theme itself did not make a playable appearance in LittleBigPlanet PSP, some of its items can be purchased as downloadable content in the Gardens Theme Pack.

In LittleBigPlanet Karting, the Gardens would make a major playable appearance in the LittleBigPlanet theme, appearing as the main location of ten of its fourteen total levels. Karting's story picks up after The Negativitron's defeat, where the inhabitants of The Gardens have recently recovered after their stay at Eve's Asylum. However, a new antagonistic group known as the Hoard invades the Gardens, robbing it of its creations and causing havoc for its residents. The Queen guides Sackboy through the basics of karting, before sending them on their way to save the Imagisphere.

All of The Gardens' standalone items can be collected in the Story mode and used freely in user created levels.

Unlike most other LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2 themes, the Gardens would have been playable by default in LittleBigPlanet HUB without needing to own a copy of the original LittleBigPlanet. Exclusive to LittleBigPlanet HUB, there would have been an updated version of the original Introduction level. However - it is not known what exactly would have been changed in HUB's exclusive version, as the official Sony servers that held the updated level were shut down before the NDA expired and the Internal Beta was archived.

The Gardens appears as the first and fourth areas in Run Sackboy! Run!, and is the debut area of the Magnet powerup.

The Gardens would make two very minor appearances throughout base LittleBigPlanet 3;
Firstly - it reappeared at the very end of the game's Introduction level, during the cutscene where the player is abducted to Bunkum.
And secondly, much later on after the addition of the Challenges feature, it reappeared again this time in a somewhat more major appearance as challenge level - Skipping Class. In this level, the player must survive as long as possible while hitting targets and balloons using a Creatinator, all the while also avoiding getting knocked off into a pool of water by a spinning tie. This level is a homage to the very first Survival Challenge in the original LittleBigPlanet, Tie Skipping.

The Gardens would lastly go on to make a third, far more major appearance in the LittleBigPlanet 3: The Journey Home DLC pack where Larry Da Vinci and Victoria Von Bathysphere are throwing a party for the four heroes of Bunkum in The Gardens, welcoming them home after their prior adventure. However, due to Newton's miscalculations, the heroes go off course and land in The Wedding while all of the parties' invitations are spread across Craftworld. After splitting up, OddSock ventures to The Gardens to gather the last two remaining invitations in Spring Time in the Gardens and Birdy and the Beast respectively.

Screenshots

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Renders

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Concept art

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Name translations

Language	Untranslated	Rough Translation	Notes
Internal	england_garden england	N/A	'england' is used for Gmat filenames and is shared with The Seaside theme.

Quotes

“	How many Sackboys learn how to play, in an English Country Garden? All of them! Your adventure begins in The Gardens, where you’ll meet The King and his wife The Queen; the Creator Curators of this green and peaceful kingdom, and the friendly folk who will guide you through your first steps in LittleBigPlanet.	„
— Theme description from LittleBigPlanet.com

Related achievements

Main article: LittleBigPlanet (PlayStation 3)/Trophies.

The Gardens Complete all levels in The Gardens

Play Complete all Story levels without dying, with the exception of those levels that only end when you die

Just Beginning Complete all the main path story levels

Booty Master Collect all the prize bubbles on the story levels

Forager Collect 25% of the prize bubbles on the story levels

Sticky Fingers Collect 50% of the prize bubbles on the story levels

Treasure Hunter Collect 75% of the prize bubbles on the story levels