LittleBigPlanet 3 almost included a character named Sackworm

LittleBigPlanet 3's lineup of sack-like heroes includes newcomers Swoop, Oddsock and Toggle, but they weren't the only ones created during the conceptual process, according to a post on the PlayStation Blog Europe.

During a recent interview, XDev's Pete Smith explained that every character began as a silhouette; each needed to have personality, be customizable, feel like it belonged in the world and be "game changers." Among those ideas discarded was a character named Sackworm, who "didn't last too long before he found himself on the cutting floor."

According to Smith, the new characters are all instantly recognizable from each other and strike a perfect balance.

With Swoop, a flying bird, players can pick up objects and characters and reach tricky locations. Oddsock is a four-legged, almost dog-like character that can wall jump and slide with speed.

"Once you play the Oddsock levels and start nailing your jumps, it's really fluid and much quicker than the familiar LBP gameplay," Smith said. "It's a very different experience — we didn't just want him to be Sackboy on four legs, we wanted him to be his own unique character."

The last character, Toggle, can be big or small at the discretion of the player.

"What we like in LBP is that we want everything to be very intuitive, so when he's big he's strong and heavy, and when he's small he's light and quick — it's obvious," Smith said. "When you play the game it feels really natural. You'll instantly know where to use him, and it brings in a nice puzzle element."

LittleBigPlanet 3 was unveiled for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 at Sony's E3 2014 press conference. The game is expected to launch this November.