Media Molecule co-founders talk about LittleBigPlanet at GDC Paris

by Alan Tsang { Jun 23rd 2008 at 11:00AM }

Alex Evans and Mark Healey, co-founders of Media Molecule, revealed some information on the development of LittleBigPlanet and how the idea came to fruition at a keynote at the Game Developers Conference in Paris. Healey remarks on how he doesn't believe one needs a team of 200 or more people to make a "great, fresh and successful" game, naming Brain Age for the DS as such an example. Profits from games, Healey believes, will be increased by adopting a model of "user-generated content and a willingness to release early and often, combined with people accepting change, accepting patches." Server access to LPB was also revealed to be free and it was even hinted that gamers can potentially sell self-generated content.

Later, Evans sat down for an interview with Gamesindustry.biz and said influences on LBP were drawn from "this interesting timeline of user-generated content" such as the God game genre and games like Shoot-'em-up Construction Kit. Evans was "amazed" that people in the industry resonated with their idea of "creative gaming", commenting that Media Molecule had a "much more open and transparent process with the publisher (Sony)" and this was for them, "defining features of the development process."

Currently, the LBP team at the stage of "improving the quality and the polish" and promoting LBP; the pressure on them is a double-edged sword -- driving them forward at the same time while putting a large weight on their shoulders, especially with their relatively small team of about 30 people. Finally, the co-founder sounded rather modest about LBP being seen as a lead title on the PS3, claiming he had "no expectation(s)" in the beginning and it was "just ... ambition ... we didn't know we'd succeed", and that the "ultimate test" is "when the game is shipped, that's the best time to judge it."

Tags: alex-evans, interview, littlebigplanet, mark-healey, media-molecule