LittleBigPlanet’s Media Molecule: We are not a bunch of hippies

LittleBigPlanet has been the talk of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) community – or the gaming industry for that matter – ever since it was announced at the recently concluded Game Developers Conference (GDC). It’s being developed by Media Molecule, and news conglomerate BBC was able to talk to its founders Mark Healey and Alex Evans.

The two used to work for Lionhead Studios and Peter Molyneux but eventually decided to start their own company. Ragdoll Kung-Fu was their first project, the same title that captured the heart of GDC 2005 and won the Independent Games Award for that same year. 2006 marked the start of Healey’s and Evans’ dreams.

“We started off in January 2006. We wanted to do the most ambitious game we could. We asked ourselves: ‘How hard can we make it for ourselves?’,” remarked Evans. Healey seconded, “We wanted to make the most fun and ambitious game we could – and more importantly we wanted someone else to pay for it.”

The duo shared that they have, as a company, committed a lot of mistakes in their first year of operation. Healey even mentioned that some publishers gave them a cold shoulder and told them that start-up small companies cannot make games these days. Luckily, these didn’t frustrate them and showed Sony their pet project.

“We went from being unemployed sitting in an office to working with Sony in a short space of time. We have been incredibly lucky. It’s been really hard work too. We are not just a bunch of hippies as some have called us,” reminisced Mr. Healey.

We guess nobody will be calling them hippies now that Sony has got their backs. In a recent Phil Harrison interview, the bigwig expressed his delight regarding Media Molecule as well as the company’s pet project. Despite that, Healey is not getting ahead of himself as he quipped, “We have still got to finish the game.”

Well, what more can we add but take your time. And we are sure that the whole gaming community will be there when LittleBigPlanet becomes ready.

LittleBigPlanet has been the talk of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) community – or the gaming industry for that matter – ever since it was announced at the recently concluded Game Developers Conference (GDC). It’s being developed by Media Molecule, and news conglomerate BBC was able to talk to its founders Mark Healey and Alex Evans.

The two used to work for Lionhead Studios and Peter Molyneux but eventually decided to start their own company. Ragdoll Kung-Fu was their first project, the same title that captured the heart of GDC 2005 and won the Independent Games Award for that same year. 2006 marked the start of Healey’s and Evans’ dreams.

“We started off in January 2006. We wanted to do the most ambitious game we could. We asked ourselves: ‘How hard can we make it for ourselves?’,” remarked Evans. Healey seconded, “We wanted to make the most fun and ambitious game we could – and more importantly we wanted someone else to pay for it.”

The duo shared that they have, as a company, committed a lot of mistakes in their first year of operation. Healey even mentioned that some publishers gave them a cold shoulder and told them that start-up small companies cannot make games these days. Luckily, these didn’t frustrate them and showed Sony their pet project.

“We went from being unemployed sitting in an office to working with Sony in a short space of time. We have been incredibly lucky. It’s been really hard work too. We are not just a bunch of hippies as some have called us,” reminisced Mr. Healey.

We guess nobody will be calling them hippies now that Sony has got their backs. In a recent Phil Harrison interview, the bigwig expressed his delight regarding Media Molecule as well as the company’s pet project. Despite that, Healey is not getting ahead of himself as he quipped, “We have still got to finish the game.”

Well, what more can we add but take your time. And we are sure that the whole gaming community will be there when LittleBigPlanet becomes ready.