Custom Little Big Planet Vans by KyozoKicks.

I’m not able to recall the first time I saw most games, but I can with Little Big Planet. The game had already begun to create an enthusiastic buzz online, one I had remained oblivious to until I stumbled across a video. Shot at a convention I watched as its creators, Media Molecule, fluently created a tree from scratch. At the end I had to admit something to myself, I didn’t get it. It seemed like such an abstract notion at the time, no longer are we tasked with simply creating a level, now we are able to create the world in which those levels exists.

Did I miss a step in the evolution of video games? Or is this what it means to get old? New things become scary and confusing. I did what I felt most comfortable doing at the end of the video, I forgot about it.

Until the summer of 2008, when I could forget about it no more. I was in Germany, attending what was at the time the largest gaming convention on earth, GamesCom. Playing the biggest games set to launch in the upcoming holiday season, Little Big Planet outshone the rest. I found myself sat on a skateboard some 3 foot high and a dozen foot long, controller in my hand with an enthusiastic Media Molecule employee beside me whilst we played Little Big Planet. Over the next 4 days I would continue coming back to the game and play. Sometimes I would come alone and sometimes I would be joined by strangers. I was among the converted.

The design that would eventually come to make up this pair was taken directly from an experience I had, and continue to have, with the game. Give the sticker tool to someone who doesn’t play games often and they will begin, slowly, randomly and then frantically, placing stickers about the screen. Soon what they are doing becomes lost in a blur, Their eyes widen, they can’t help emit a small, yet audible, manic laugh, like you they too are now hooked. what you are left with once they finally step back from the controller is something not too dissimilar to these shoes I hope. No rhyme or reason to the stickers placement.

I wanted to use stickers from the first game, the PSP incarnation as well as the (at the time of starting these) unreleased second game. The various stickers were actually harder to research and find then I had anticipated, to the point where I though perhaps I failed before I had begun. Then I recalled back to how enthusiastic the guys at Media Molecule were about this kind of stuff. On I whim I sent them a quick email and mentioned what I was doing and if they had anything of use to my little project. In no time community manager Spaff got back to me with folders of images he had gotten off of the artists, stickers from their upcoming game. I was going to get to paint my Little Big Planet shoes.

Things then progressed like most of my other shoes, although this pair was by far my most detailed, colourful (24 separate colours at my last count) and labor intensive. every square inch of the front and backs of the shoes are covered, a change from my previous designs but, change is always exciting. Covered in a final clear matte finishing layer I finally had my Little Big Planet pair.

Well, I did for awhile anyway. I decided that I might be able to do a bit of good with these shoes. Media Molecule was very generous with their time so I hope I can be too. The shoes are now currently up for auction and 100% percent of the money raised in the auction will be going to the fantastic children’s charity Childs Play. I will not be taking any money to cover my time or the initial cost of the shoes, every penny will go straight to those guys so they can buy video games, toys and books for some kids who, stuck in hospital, could really use them. So make a bid, tell your friends about it, even if they aren’t your exact size still bid for a good cause and have them on display, or give them as a gift. This will be your only opportunity to buy this design, a KyozoKicks one off.

Visit the eBay auction to bid on these shoes HERE

Visit the Childs Play Charity website HERE

Follow me on twitter to see my upcoming shoes from games such as Zelda, Sonic, Portal, Final Fantasy and more in the next couple of months HERE