The story mode consists of eight themed areas, in which Sackboy helps out various Creator Curators across LittleBigPlanet before fighting the Collector, who has been kidnapping and stealing creations.

After a prototype called Craftworld was created, it was pitched to Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison.

He can also grab jetpacks to fly, move between the three layers of the game,[1] and access a menu known as the "Popit", which has the appearance of a floating vertical rectangle connected to Sackboy with a filament.

Although the story mode is in sequential order, each of the levels can be replayed to collect prize bubbles, which contains items, including costumes, stickers, songs, and objects.

[6] In particular, in areas of the story mode, there are blank canvases that required a specific sticker to be placed on them for Sackboy to collect prize bubbles.

They are able to select a base colour and texture for their Sackboy from a range of materials and designs along with giving them accessories, including glasses and hats.

The editor incorporates a large number of editing tools and objects, accessible from the Popit, to create levels from a low to a high degree of complexity.

The conflict is resolved when Sackboy proves King Croc's innocence in the disappearance of Meerkat Mum's son, Stripy Tail, after finding him at a VIP room in a club.

Prior to forming Media Molecule; Mark Healey, Kareem Ettouney, Alex Evans, and Dave Smith worked at Lionhead Studios and developed the 3D platformer Rag Doll Kung Fu (2005), the first third-party video game released on Steam.

[13][14][15] After a cinema visit to see Howl's Moving Castle, Healey and Smith discussed a game that had character controls similar to Rag Doll Kung Fu that would be playable on a console.

[17] The company chose to pitch their idea to Harrison using their own software, rather than PowerPoint, which allowed for bullet-point information as in standard presentations, but also for live, controllable movement of game characters.

They presented the prototype purely as a playable game, and only briefly mentioned the user-created content aspect; Evans relates that Harrison actually picked up on the creative side, and had asked them why they had chosen not to explore this element further.

Media Molecule was aware of the fact that Sony wanted them to demonstrate the game at the upcoming convention, but they were not told they were to be part of Phil Harrison's keynote speech until near the date it was due to take place.

Healey stated that it was only when they arrived in San Francisco for the conference that they realised just how much Sony was devoted to the game—much more than Media Molecule had previously thought.

These gifts include a sticker book, a burlap pouch, and an official game guide, along with downloadable costumes for Sackboy of Kratos from God of War and Nariko from Heavenly Sword.

[67] In September 2008, a limited public beta was made available with a focus on stress testing the sharing functions of LittleBigPlanet.

[72] Jeremy Dunham of IGN reported that in GDC 2007, "even in the presence of Home,[a] Sony's impressive new community software, LittleBigPlanet stole the show at Phil Harrison's Game 3.0 practice conference, and was the thing that everyone was talking about.

[91] On 19 December 2008, version 1.07 was released, featuring the addition of an in-game store to buy downloadable content (DLC) and an overhaul of the level search function.

It featured a music player that allowed users to play songs from the PlayStation menu and an improved decoration mode, among other fixes.

[102][103] Following the 2011 PlayStation Network outage, Sony offered two free selections out of five games as part of the "Welcome Back" campaign for 30 days, one of which was LittleBigPlanet.

[120][121] After being announced in August 2009,[122] water was added in the game through a level kit based on Pirates of the Caribbean was released on 22 December 2009, along with a related costume pack.

[123][124] DLC related to The Incredibles, which includes costumes based on the characters and a level kit containing themed stickers and items, was released on 8 April 2010.

[125] Marvel DLC was added to LittleBigPlanet on 7 July 2010, including a few costumes and a level kit containing Marvel-themed stickers, music, and items.

[4] Game Informer's Joe Juba has noted how "The tools are complicated enough to perform complex tasks, but simple enough to be accessible to any motivated gamer.

[155] Sony responded to the lacklustre sales by saying that they were pleased by the performance, citing the LittleBigPlanet being a new IP and claiming that it was released in an "incredibly volatile time of year and the chart reflects that.

[164] It won all the categories it was nominated for in the 2009 Develop Industry Excellence Awards, winning "Best New IP", "Technical Innovation", and "Visual Arts".

While it was not as successful as LittleBigPlanet, other games like Trials, Planet Minigolf, and Joe Danger would follow suit in applying the same philosophy.

[201][202] Alex Evans said he did not want to ship a traditional sequel because of the "huge emotional investment" users have made in LittleBigPlanet.

[204][205][206] In February 2009, Sony announced a spin-off of LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation Portable developed by SCE Studio Cambridge and Media Molecule,[207] which was released in November 2009.

[217] The game, titled LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, would be developed in conjunction between Tarsier Studios and Double Eleven[218] and it would be released in September 2012.