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LEGO Print Creator


Ben24x7
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Hullo everyone,

 

Several years ago, I got a copy of LEGO Island from a childhood friend (yes, this is relevant, keep reading), and included on the disk was a program called "LEGO Print Creator", it was even mentioned on the back of the box as a selling point.

I tried out LEGO Print Creator as a kid, and honestly I thought it was boring, so I've never bothered using it since.

 

Anyway, skip forward to today, where I rediscovered LPC (LEGO Print Creator), and asked on the RRU Discord if anyone knew about it. Some people were aware it existed, but nothing else. So I decided to boot it up, record some footage of it, and see if there was anything interesting I could dig up from it.

 

 

 

According to the "credits", LPC was produced by a company called "The Bending Spoon". Upon Googling their company name (and digging through the various search results for "bending spoon magic trick"), I found a website for a company called "Bending spoons". While they do produce tech products, I can't confirm if their company is related to the one that made this program.

The credits also list "The Lost Highway" for assisting with the game's "artwork". Considering half of the application's pictures/images are directly from LEGO Media/Software's previous titles, I'm guessing The Lost Highway was responsible for creating the UI, or the 3D renders used for LPC's icons/buttons (its not unusual for Classic LEGO game developers to outsource stuff to other companies, such as how DDI outsourced "LEGO Rock Raiders" cutscenes to Artworld UK).

 

I should probably mention that my copy of LEGO Island was published by GSP (Global Software Publishing) sometime between 1997-2002 (according to the back of the box. When starting up LPC, and the obligatory LEGO Software logo appears, it states that the game is "copyright 2001", but I cannot confirm if that's the year my copy of LI was released). I've heard that LPC was also included in other classic LEGO game bundles, and I'm curious if those bundles were also published by GSP, or if they were also released between 1997-2002.

 

 

Initially I was going to explain how the game works using words, but instead I recorded some footage of LPC in action, which you can watch here (I sincerely apologise for how long and boring it is, but I'm only trying to show it in action);

 

Sadly there's not much to it.

For a program based on a series of games based on a construction toy that promotes creativity, this software feels extremely... limited.

Like, you can rotate and scale characters/objects, but only to pre-set angles and sizes. You can't change the position of a single element, and you have to use the "Select layout" wand to move everything to pre-set locations. There is some indication that the developers wanted the user to have more control, as you can import your own images/pictures (as long as it's a .jpg or .bmp image), and you have full control over the font/size/colour of text, but its not a lot.

 


Probably the best thing about LEGO Print Creator, are the character/object renders, mainly because they are high quality renders of previous LEGO Media:

Spoiler

For example there are two screenshots from LRR's cutscenes, albeit without the video compression, making them look crisp and clean.

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There are renders of characters/vehicles usually used for promotional work that don't have any visual tampering/modification.

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(Sorry about the pink background. The .bmp images use pink backgrounds)

 

And there's some Bionicle posters...

...theres not much I can say about 'em.

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So because LEGO Print Creator has a great collection of high quality renders, I have bundled all the "high resolution" images together into one giant pack for y'all to download and enjoy. Admittedly, some images didn't come with a "high resolution" version, so the quality overall isn't consistent, but its a pretty sweet collection of official high-quality LEGO Media/Software renders. Enjoy:

http://www.rockraidersunited.com/files/dl-r197/

 

 

 

-- Ben24x7 --

(I'm sorry if this is all incomprehensible gibberish. Its getting extremely late, and I'm having trouble thinking straight)

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 years later...

If anybody else wants to use LEGO Print Creator, I've uploaded it to RRU
Installer:

Program files (No install required):

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