Your Opinion: Mistake to have so much of the Toybox Locked?

It's not the small things... it's the THINGS. You could easily use up all your space with the large terrain pieces, except you'd have a huge world then.

The more pieces of anything the more memory you'll use. So you use the largest piece of whatever you want to build whatever you want. But anything with AI (animals, NPCs, creativtoys) will definitely take up more room than anything without it.

You would expect - especially with design background - that larger pieces like a Terrain Block would take up more space than a Mickey Topiary. That doesn't seem to be the case, it's as if they take up the same space. So 8 tiny terrain blocks would take more space than one large brick of the same geographical size. So yeah - one tree might be equal to one large terrain block - you just need 15-30 trees to fill up that area, so it adds up quick.

There will be some hit depending on how many faces are in the object (don't want to get too technical here -- I used to do 3D professionally so I can easily wander off) but, yes, in general a large terrain block takes up about the same space as a Mickey Topiary. But also AI will eat up a lot of memory AND the textures you load in onto that AI.

For terrain the price you pay for textures is small, since there is (generally) only a map or two that needs to be loaded. But for any one figure you might have a dozen maps, and all will take up the same space, more or less (again, not to get too technical -- it depends on the resolution). So you might load up 10 different kinds of animals or townspeople and max out your memory whereas 1000 large blocks might not do it.

The approach should be to first map out your large areas, using the largest pieces you can, and then slowly work your way in, adding detail. You shouldn't add ANY AI until the very end except for those you absolutely have to have (IOW, think of the animals and NPCs as fillers to use up the last bits). Although I do have in mind a simple playset that just has overpopulation (as many NPCs as I can add, all running around like crazy, and the idea is to be get a certain number in a pen at a certain time).

Ah, the different textures and complexity. I had my 2D design hat on and hadn't even thought of the 3D complications because I've only dabbled with that. That makes sense.

I think it is a giant mistake to have so much of toy box locked away. Even if you use the infinite spin trick to clean out the toy box... IMO all the cool stuff are still locked away in the playsets vaults and chests (except bad guys & NPC costumes... those toy box unlocks are kinda lame IMO, lol). IMO most of the people buying all the figs are collectors... and IMO those aren't the people that will be making maps in toy box. And then all those green capsules... you will probably spend at least 25-30 hours trying to get all those green capsules in all 6 playsets... only a hardcore gamer will probably play through all the playsets to get all the green capsules. Where are all these amazing user toy box maps supposed to come from if most people will not have unlocked most of the toy box?

And then the toy box itself... the patience required to get good at using the toy box... not too mention if you are going to make a good toy box map then you probably need to be pretty good at level design to begin with. So basically... IMO our only hope of getting amazing toy box maps... is if the perfect storm happens... the destined one comes along... the one who is a collector... a gamer... a level designer... and who also happens to have zen like patience to be able to deal with the toy box's shortcomings. Yah... so like... I'm not gonna be holding my breath. LOL.

Well, there are quite a lot of folks who have unlocked most if not all of the toy box so I'm not so sure your theory is valid.

But far more worrisome are the limitations imposed by the Toy Box mechanics themselves. If you look at the ones that Disney uploads each week, you can consider these to be the ultimate of what can be achieved. If they are what you want, if they satisfy you in the ways you want the Toy Boxes to satisfy, then you can rest assured that you will have no end of these available to you, both from all of those who are working on them, and even from yourself if you take even the slightest amount of time to work things out.

My own problem is my reaction to these boxes is... meh. They are boring, sterile places that, with the exception of racetracks (which I hate) don't have any real point to them other than as an arcade sort of game, the sort that even the free version of Angry Birds beats all to heck and back. Yes, they have Disney art but after you've seen that the draw is really over. To me the target age of elementary school really becomes all too apparent at that point. For them, great. For others, not so much.

By contrast something like Project Spark even in alpha has demonstrated absolutely amazing game environments and mechanics that are challenging, interesting and as complex as anyone can imagine. I suspect that even ONE of those games would put all of the Toy Boxes to shame, and the only thing that is lacking is Disney. But as a confirmed Disneyholic (who even moved 2000 miles to be near a park) I can say that that cachet only goes so far, and I think I've gone far beyond it, personally.

But that's just me. Pretty obviously there will be millions of folks who will be perfectly happy buying all the stuff that DI comes out with, and the next generation of consoles is sure to have a DI that will be more immersive, so in the long run the future is bright for Disney Interactive. I do think that at some point fans of the Kingdom Hearts/Playset approach (where there are actual stories to be told, journeys to be completed) will start to realize DI ain't it, but hopefully the Toy Box limitations will be addressed long before then.

I've been working very hard to master the TB mechanics, just so you all know... EDIT That and if you're willing to sit down, and work for an hour or two, the ToyBox is really a powerful tool, if leveraged correctly. It just takes a willingness to sit down, and work around limitations. If I may say so, I should know about working around limitations. I've done so my entire life.(With apologies to Mr. Kelley. I know you're older sir, and have much more experience, but I'm just saying.) I can definitely tolerate limitations, having had my own for as long as I've been alive. EDIT 2Slightly off topic, but I wasn't supposed to be doing anything I'm capable of. Doctors just thought I'd be incapable of so much that it was no laughing matter. So, yeah.

Good for your accomplishments in life (which, after all, are much more important than any game) and good that you're having a good time in the toy box. And I do understand what you are saying vis a vis workarounds -- but no workaround can do the impossible. Unless, for example, you've found a workaround that allows text you aren't going to be able to do almost any "mission" type adventure. I'd argue that even doing something as simple as the gaming involved in the playsets can't be accomplished (again, or we'd be seeing such things in the downloadable toy boxes).

But that's okay -- Disney may have implied that the experience would be "infinite" but I don't see much in any of the promos that was misleading in this regard. I think what you can do in the Toy Box is pretty well as advertised. It's just far more limiting than I wanted, and while I think they are going to address some of this in future releases I don't see any way they can revise their entire engine nor any real desire for them to do so.

But back to this thread -- I disagreed eventually with the premise that too much of the toy box was locked. I had to be convinced of that, but I am convinced and I think most folks who have spent any time playing agree.

And, MTR, I'd love to be proven wrong. Upload a toy box that blows folks away with the game mechanics. I can promise you that if you can do that, if you can make something better than has already been uploaded, it will get exposure from Disney (who is almost surely putting the best of the best out there... to my disappointment :>).

@Mr. Kelley, yup! Trying to!