Creator Pick – Geosautus
Those lucky few who got into the beta might not recognise the name Ole-Marius Lakselv, but will probably know his username Geosautus. In fact it is likely you played one of his excellent levels such as World of Color or Mad Mansion.
Here, in the first of an irregular series of creator interviews we track down Ole-Marius to his Norwegian lair and ask him questions until he tells us to go away.
Media Molecule: So, introduce yourself!
Ole-Marius: PSN, Gamertag, Steam ID etc: geosautus.
My name is Ole-Marius, I’m 21 and from Norway. I don’t think I have a favorite color, I like them all. My favorite sackboy costume so far is the pirate outfit. Especially if colored completely blue and with an underwear-sticker on the hat. But when playing with friends it often ends up with a costume covered in donkey tails. When I’m not busy designing levels in LBP I’m usually at school studying animation.
MM: How did you find out about LBP? How did you get on the beta trial?
OM: GDC. I was blown away instantly. And so was everyone I showed it to. When the beta keys went out on eurogamer.net I sat for about an hour just refreshing the page because their server went down. But it paid off! I got a key, and 10 minutes later it was LBP time!
MM: Where do you start when you’re designing a level, do you begin with a specific idea or just doodle until something happens?
OM: The first thing I do is come up with a concept, color, style – what have you. Then I just build as ideas come to mind, stringing challenges together. I often spend a lot more time tweaking my challenges/puzzles than I spend making the main triggers and geometry. I always playtest each challenge many times. I also try to “fool proof” every part of my level, though this if often easier said than done. When I’m happy with the overall design of a challenge I usually get my girlfriend to playtest it. If she breaks it (and she usually does. She is amazing that way), it’s back to the drawing board.
MM: Have you got much attention for your levels?
OM: Yeah, it’s really weird – people are recording themselves playing my levels and talking about them in forums, arguing wether I’m a dev and/or MM employee. It’s really crazy. My PSN friendslist exploded in a couple of days. The real highpoint was when I got my first friend request from a MM employe. That was unbelievable!
MM: How do you know when you have finished working on a level?
OM: I usually just keep building challenges until I run out of space or the level overheats, though it usually overheats well before I’m satisfied. I often to go back and redesign some elements so that they eat less resources. When all the challenges are complete, I try to add secrets if possible and a last bit of visual polish followed by playtesting. If it all works then it’s done – off to the next level!
MM: Who or what influences your designs? Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with?
OM: I would say that almost all the levels I’ve played influence my own – they let me see what works and what doesn’t. My girlfriend often has an idea for a segment of a level, though sometimes they’re rubbish. The puzzle in Mad Mansion was her idea, so I guess I owe her some chocolate.
MM: Do you have plans in the works for any new levels?
OM: I do, but it’s secret!
MM: What’s your favourite level you’ve seen in LBP so far?
OM: I really like levels that do something I haven’t thought of myself. I played one level that was pitch black and used only the light from magnetic switches to show the way. I thought that was really cool.
MM: Your levels are very varied, we were very impressed by the variety and detail that went into them. How do you find inspiration and keep things fresh and varied?
OM: I like to think of new concepts to avoid making the same thing over and over again. So when I’m finally finished making a level I just want to make something different. I usually come up with a concept pretty fast, then I just base the challenges around it.
MM: The sound design on Mad Mansion is epic! Was that added later, or as part of the process?
OM: Both. I added sounds to my challenges as I went along (creaks, bangs etc) – after completing the world i added another sound layer (like the ambient noice). I tried to tweak the music to fit, but it was too cheery, so I just went with a lot of ambient noices. I think it worked out pretty well. My future levels will definetly benefit from what I learned designing the audio for Mad Mansion.
MM: Have you designed games before? If so, what sort of stuff?
OM: No not really. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a lie. I’ve helped design a small java Smash Bros type of game at school. It was a lot of fun.
MM: If you could ask for one more feature in LBP, what would it be?
OM: I can think of two just from the top of my head:
1. Rumble emitters. Works like the sound speakers, but instead you can make the controller rumble (different types, pulse, heartbeat, weak, strong etc). I think that could result in some interesting stuff.
2. A way to change the lighting in just some parts of the level. Going from daylight to pitch black as you enter a cave etc.
MM: What other games live on your PS3/Xbox/PC?
OM: Right now it’s a lot of R2 beta and WipEout HD. I haven’t really played my 360 in a while, but I’m looking forward to playing Fable II. On my PC it’s either podcasts+TF2, or Crysis Warhead right now. Haven’t touched my Wii in ages (oooh, that sounded naughty!).
MM: What was the last great film you saw?
OM: Wall-E. Pure genius. And The Dark Knight before that.
MM: Any greets or shout outs?
OM: I would like to thank everyone who plays and hearts my levels. It’s great seeing that people are enjoying my creations.
MM: Thanks Ole-Marius!
OOh! hes getting Fable 2
im getting that tomorrow, cool interview 
Wow O_O I want an interview xD But I’ll never get that famous
Nice work MM & Geosautus.. Very impressive levels
Kudos to you mate, you really did a great job!
And thanks for the interview MM, it’s great that you care so much about the community!
i was in the first 10 people to play world of color and it was my fav leval
This is the same guy that made the God of War: Demon Skull level right? All his levels are genius.
keep up the great work ole !
Jau, den rokka den.
Great pick! Those levels were definitely some of the best of the Beta.
This guy’s levels are genius, I remember World of Color was one of the first online levels I played and I loved it!
Can’t wait to see what he creates next!
Congrats geo! All the hard LBP work you’ve done has made you some what of a celeb.
Mad Mansion was awesome! I must have played it four or five times. The audio was really cool, as well. I thought that it was something that I hadn’t unlocked yet. But it’s neat to read that the audio was created by the designer.
Rock on, man!
I really like the idea of these interviews.
Hopefully they’ll be done regularly. I think it’s a brilliant way to solidify community. Getting to know each other is great.
Nice levels, brother.
All of Geosautus’ levels on the beta were great (and fortunately they will still be in the final version! Thanks for not deleting the beta levels
)! He surely would have needed more than 5 publishing slots.
I’m looking forward to the new levels created with the full set of materials, stickers and sounds.
The rumble emitters are a great idea! Mm go for that
And I also missed the possibility to change the lighting in defined areas of a level (similar to a camera zone).
Ole-Marius ur 2 cool 4 school!! <3<3<3<3
Great interview. I really liked it and all of his levels! I hope you guys do some more tutorials too, like one of your developers did with the “I want a ruby” guy and the one time switch.
TF2!!
First… I think it is great that Mm is featuring people who are contributing to LBP. After playing the beta I don’t think anyone will say that this game won’t be big. It’ll be huge.
Second… Will everyone keep making such great levels if Sony take ownership of them, and then re-sells them?
I really would like to know what everyone thinks. I think designer like Ole-Marius are awesome and I would hate to see people stop making levels.
Thanks Ole and all the LBP designers!
And the best part is,
He’s not a jerk about being awsome.
Way to go dude.
Det der så dritrått ut, gleder meg noe helt vilt til selve spillet kommer ut
Superkult at Geosautus er fra norge da!
This guy is seriously amazing.
I fell in love with “World of Colour” when I first played it, I said to myself “wow… this is really inspiring”. The level design is flawless and all the mechanics in the game really set it off the edge. And the secrets too!
The level “Mad Mansion” was also one I fell in love with. The puzzle at the end was awesome! I looked at how he did it, and it seemed really complicated, so I made a simpler version, but his was a great job. The lighting in the level was perfect, it was dark, but not dark so that you couldn’t see (absolute perfection). The little secret “rooms” were a treat, like the one with his picture at the top lol.
All in all, Geosautus is my favorite designer so far, and I hope that his levels will inspire me to create works of art just like his.
Both of his ideas where epic btw love it!
And I have a feeling that MM will put them in
Yes, Geo did design “God of War: Demon Skull” also and that level was sweet too!!
But I broke the cart once and had to start over lol
nice levels, Geosautus. Really though.
I really enjoyed the level of immersion, as well as, the choice of color in the levels as well.
Its nice to see designers like him create such works or art with the tools presented.
Best levels I’ve played in the beta. Good suggestions for updates, too. Mm would do gamers a favour by incorporating smart ideas like these (which they will undoubtedly do).
I still wonder how much time it took him to make each level, cause quite some hours went into the crappy levels I made, and they weren’t even NEARLY as long or as fool proof.
@ LeonBlade
I broke the cart too at God of War: Demon Skull. If the level wasn’t extremely well designed, it would have been a pain to replay it but I seriously enjoyed every single replay.
Congrats Geosautus!
Nice interview. And keep up the good work Geosautus, I’m definitely looking forward to playing some of your new levels!
awesome guy, I’m gonna try and add him to my steam friends.
Awesome, his levels are soooo amazing, demon skull is my fav.
I have an idea for MM to add in the game, an option to use some kind of ruler or measuring device os some kind when you are making somthing extra detailed creation, just a suggestion and I HOPE!!! MM adds it in at some point…. whos with me!!!???? By the way MM, your game is a true work of art and I have played very very few games that have even come close to LBP, I hope you and sony are rolling in the cash.
Hey, thanks for all the positive comments.
I’m not sure this is the right place to ask but here goes: I just want to know where you guys managed to break the cart in GoW? Crushed in an elevator somehow? I would like to know so I can prevent my new puzzles/levels being so breakable. Thanks.
Will need to download these. Great work and shows anything is possible.
Aiming to create a LBP game with 30 levels all in one. A bit like an advanced Sonic 3 – but better (with very very very difficult puzzles). I wonder how many hours it will take to create the thing tho!!!
yay! fable II the only game that could stop me thinking about LBP
lol if the LBP dates were unchanged i would probably buy fable II and LBP but Fable would collect alot of dust . xD.
i didn’t get into the BETA (well i could of but i would of had to play £7) but i did play it in manchester. was pure awesome i loved it. and my friend who was getting a bit sick of me talking so much about LBP started to get as obsessed as me.
Hey really nice article. Got a reminder on my phone this morning to tell me to collect my LBP pre-order *sobs*. Really looking forward to playing these levels when the game finally makes it to the shelves.
Du vil ikke lage en vill bane basert på norrøn mytologi da…har hatt den tanken gående ei stund.
Nice lvls Geosautus! i really love them! <3
He did use around 1 week on each world i heard some1 said
Awesome, he deserved it, althought i didnt get into the beta, every level I saw around the net of his levels which where “GOW,world of color,mad mansion” were all awesome. I’ll be looking out for him when I get the game
Hmmm if there was a feature I’d like to see added, I’d say it would be lighting control for some areas… and whatever happened to the Ice hazzard you guys demonstrated once? was it taken out?
Me and my friend played World of Colo(u)r it was AWESOME!
Look forward to seeing your levels when the full game is out (roll on November 5th)
TheRook21 <PSN ID
i hearted “world of colour” and the author it was def my fav level of the beta. i had never seen “mad mansion,” was that added towards the end of the beta period? now looking at the video of mad mansion, it looks great and i look forward to playing once the servers are up.
Mm that interview was great and you def should feature more authors/creators that make LBP what it was created to be.
Ole-Marius i look forward to many more great levels from you. you did a great job. as far as levels to play, you made the best. we’ll see you online, my psn id: hidefkill
geosautus, I broke the cart section by only putting the cart partway on the elevator, then lowering it. The cart ended up flipping over. I hope this helps.
Kjempebra Ole-Marius
)
Hilsen gjengen på Åsemulen!
The LBP community is the most exciting thing every. Please continue with the interviews. It is so great to hear from the people who created the levels. Geosautus levels are awesome and I can’t wait to play them again.
Thanks, Geosatus, for your great effort. I really liked ur levels when I played at a friends’ house. To bad I didn’t had a chance yet to build levels, but I hope I can make levels just as good as you when I get used to it. And you inspired me already just to that thing. Also, nice work Media Molecule for interviewing this guy. Good luck, geosatus, with futher levels.
I hope you continue doing creator interviews. That creative lighting is a good suggestion. I wish that we could hide layers from view when constructing because if I mess up on putting something in the back or can’t see something then I’ll have recreate the whole level.
Well done Ole-Marius, you’re officially the 1st LitteBigLegend. Your God of War level was really well constructed an’ how you pulled off the level with the tools in the beta is nothing short of spectacular. Keep up the good work!
Hate to comment in a wrong section but this is sorta urgent. Today at around 7:30 – 8:30 pm PST I received a call from an official gamestop representative stating that my copy of LBP that I Pre-ordered would be in the store Tomorrow Saturday 25. I am going down there before the store opens to wait and see if this is true and raise hell in the store if it isn’t
Reason: The message I received said that I would receive LBP early due to the fact that I reserved it xD. (PS this message was frm Ashley at gamestop are code 817 in the US)
A team-mate interviewed !
That’s cool
.
I can only say that this interview is really really good !
And : Viva Geosautus and Team-Bidulz !
I can’t wait to play on LittleBigPlanet, I want to create levels and have fun with all my team-mates !
Well, nice interview and I think I’ll come and say hello to you guyz at your office when I’ll be in the sector, if you don’t mind.
Bye Bye !
Best regards,
Team-Bidulz,
Hawknight.
I just got the game today from GAMESTOP. It met all my expectations! Way to go Mm. You made an awesome game!
Man, his girlfriend must be super awesome!!!:) Geosautus, you rock.
“Geosautus” is pure genious! I’ve played his levels on the beta and fell in love with them (no offense MM). Cant wait to see more of his creations!
you are possibly the best level creator out there as of late. keep up the good work
i absolutely love world of color 
FYI some poser with the psn id Angelsbane72 has been copying geosautus’ beta levels and posting them as their own. In the future lock your levels geosautus and somebody should warn Angelsbane72 that he’s a thief!!
Some dude has stolen at least one of your levels! And he is getting a lot of cred for them. Mm, you guys need to stop this thief! His ID is Angelsbane72.
hm comments disabeled everyhwere or just on the server is on post?
comments are disabled ?
He made some awesome levels, which in turn Angelsbane72 stole and reuploaded in order to get trophies.
I wish I could make a level like those. Its really cool that he did those without all the tools
I am Angelsbane72 and I want everyone to know that I have deleted the stolen levels. I am truly sorry for my actions and can only hope that the creators forgive me.
Its ok, Angelsbane. you did the right thing.
I’m sure geosautus will forgive you, as well as, the LBP community as a whole.
Most people wouldn’t do what you did, so good for you. ^_^
I can’t find God of War Demon Skull any more,
is it deleted could some-one check?
This guy’s levels are my benchmark you know? Whenever I think my level is looking
alright, I play one of his to check the quality.
It’s cool to see he’s a regular guy and he really is an inspiration.
Looks like MM is doing a great job alienating their best community designers. Geosautus first (who has yet to publish a new level, after his GoW level got removed) and now Donkey Show with a truly WTF level removal. There wasn’t anything even remotely wrong with Azure Place to make it worth of removal.
… and super-WTF at World of Color being removed. Yeah, good luck getting Geosautus to make anything anymore after that. If something so entirely original and so completely devoid of any offensive content can be removed, then it seems like it’s not even worth trying to make any elaborate levels, or putting big amounts of time into designing anymore. What’s the point when they can just arbitrarily remove anything. We should wait until they expand their warning system and actually let you change the offensive parts before doing anything significant.
How does he feel about Sony deleting his levels?
Hi Geosautus. So, how was the fact that your level was moderated communicated to you?
GEOSAUTUS: Well, My PS3 is broken so I haven’t really been able to play the retail version of LBP yet. The only info I’ve gotten is through various forums commenting on the sudden absence of my (and other people’s) levels. I feel totally helpless.
So how do you feel after all your hard work has been denied the audience it deserved?
GEOSAUTUS: It seems as though both God of War and World of Colour has been taken down. God of War was understandable – since it contained copyrighted material and pretty excessive gore it didn’t really come as a shock. Today I read that World of Colour had been moderated too. It contained no copyrighted or offensive material so I don’t understand why it was moderated – and with the current system I doubt that I’ll ever find out. I’m furious.
They need to sort this stuff out. I usually spend about a week or so building and testing each level before publishing it, so if both my levels have indeed been moderated that’s two weeks of work wasted. What makes it all even more frustrating is that when some of my levels were stolen (e.g. copied and republished), they didn’t do anything about it. So stolen levels are okay, great levels are not. Nice. The moderating system is clearly broken.
Has there been any communication regarding changes that would allow the levels to be reinstated?
GEOSAUTUS: I have just sent emails to members of the team at Mm, but I haven’t recieved a reply yet. If they can’t work this out, I can see a lot of people – myself included – abandoning this game. And that would be a real shame.
If his levels were so great that you even interviewed him, I have to ask, why was his levels deleted by moderators??
I know this is old, but how come World of Color was deleted!?
I played it during the beta and just got the game for christmas and wanted to play this… =[
Why cant I find the level World of Colour?
I found Geosautus, but there isn’t any level called World Of Colour.. Help