The brains behind LittleBigPlanet talk about the game’s art style after lifting the BAFTA for Artistic Achievement at a glitzy ceremony in London’s Park Lane.
The Media Molecule trophy cabinet welcomed a shiny new addition on March 10, 2009, as LittleBigPlanet added the BAFTA for Artistic Achievement to its many awards. Minutes after collecting the gold statue from Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker at the plush London Hilton, Creative Director Mark Healey and Senior Producer Leo Cubbin spoke to eu.playstation.com about the game's award-winning aesthetic.
How does it feel to win the BAFTA for Artistic Achievement?
Mark Healey: I had secretly hoped we would get the award for artistic achievement because we strove to create something that looked like no other game.
Leo Cubbin: It's also satisfying for us as Sony Computer Entertainment because when Media Molecule first pitched LittleBigPlanet to us three years ago they had no art; they had a technical demo which was very good, but it had none of that visual charm. Mark and Kareem Ettouney, the Art Director, gave a really descriptive explanation of how the game would look and we bought into it. When people pitch games to us, the end product doesn't always live up to how it was described, but LittleBigPlanet is spot-on.
MH: One of our biggest inspirations is children's television and the handcrafted look of things like the Cosgrove Hall cartoons. It has been nice for us to show off the power of PLAYSTATION 3 while at the same time creating something charming and not going down the predictable route of having very realistic brick walls and blood flying everywhere.
LC: A lot of games are great to play but not as fun to watch, but when we first showed LittleBigPlanet at 2007 Games Developer Conference, people were completely taken in by Sackboy and were watching him and his little mannerisms.
Does this award mean that LittleBigPlanet is a work of art?
MH: Absolutely - it's millions of people finding a brand new means of expression.
Which is the most satisfying; awards, positive reviews or strong sales?
LC: I'd say strong sales, not for the money, but because it means people are playing the game.
MH: It's flattering to have critical acclaim but I think that sales are a genuine measure of how much people like something.
LC: There has been a lot of goodwill around this game and we've been lucky to have had all three. And on top of that we've had over half a million levels created by the community - 35,000 levels are uploaded every week.
Which user generated levels do you like from an aesthetic point of view?
MH: There's a level that I played just a few days ago, I think it was called Dark Coaster, which was a rollercoaster in the dark; I loved the way it's creator used lighting.
LC: There are a couple called Anticolour, or something like that, which are very artistic.
MH: Someone recreated Dead Space and put an incredible amount of effort in, really capturing the atmosphere. What excites me most is when people make things completely outside the platforming genre.
LC: I met a guy in America who built vending machines. They don't work, but they look amazing, and it's all achieved using the in-game tools.
The phrase open-ended gameplay has been used to describe LittleBigPlanet, what does this mean?
LC: It sounds like a clich because we have said it so often but with LittleBigPlanet, what you get on the disc is just the beginning. There are 35,000 levels created each week, all completely different to the last 35,000. The community is still doing amazing things with the tools; things that the people who made the game had never thought of. We call it emergent gameplay, and I think Mark and the guys at Media Molecule have hit the nail on the head in terms of that.
MH: I've loved the sense of serendipity; when I'm playing at home I dip in and out of levels at random and I'm seeing what's inside people's minds. It's like a journey into the human consciousness.
