Media Molecule's Alex Evans Interview

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Eurogamer: Are you pushing that data out just as standard RSS?

Alex Evans: RSS, yeah. It's awesome!

Eurogamer: You've spoken about how LittleBigPlanet's development process leaves you in a good position for the post-launch support of the game. What kind of plans do you have in that regard? Will you be releasing new content and tools as you go along?

Alex Evans: Yes. Again, the short answer to that is yes. I think the big thing there is really that we've got into a real habit of trying stuff out early, testing it and showing it early.

A lot of people say, "when will LittleBigPlanet be done, for god's sake!" - well, this is the quickest game I've ever worked on! To me, this is an in-and-out, job done sort of thing! It's wonderful that people want it so much - but this is all because we showed it when it was less than a year old. If you go around and ask other developers, "on a new platform, with a new IP, would you show it less than a year old?", those people would be, like... "F*** off!"

We've got used to this idea of really baring our souls to everyone, as much as possible. That means we can react to the community - and yeah, we've got loads of plans. We're going to support it massively. For example, content packs, new objects, new game modes... All of this stuff could be done, and what we're basically waiting to see is what the demand is for.

We can do all of that stuff - we will do all of that stuff - but what order we do it in, and how much weight we throw behind any of the different ideas, is totally down to what the community does. That really excites me, because if people are loving the costumes, we'll crank them out. If people are loving the levels and masterclasses... We've got a slightly scarily long list of great ideas for ways to support the community, and it's just a matter of prioritising at this stage. So, well... Yes!

"We've got a slightly scarily long list of great ideas for ways to support the community, and it's just a matter of prioritising at this stage."

Eurogamer: John Riccitiello from EA was talking about Spore recently, and he said that the potential within Spore for add-on "stuff" is so great that he could see EA eventually having a Spore Division, which just turns out Spore add-ons - that would be their whole economy. That's obviously talking on a huge level, but...

Alex Evans: I think the same for LittleBigPlanet! I would love that for LittleBigPlanet. I mean, people ask me, when did LittleBigPlanet change into being a big AAA game - my answer is always that what changed was the realisation that everyone loved the game, and that was fantastic.

I started Media Molecule with my friends to go balls-out and find out what the biggest thing we could do was. I would love there to be a LittleBigPlanet "universe" of content. All I can say on that is, while I can't speak for Spore, I think he's totally right. Mr Riccitiello is spot-on.

I was talking to the team about this, and in LittleBigPlanet, there's so much stuff we've had to cut from the game just for focus reasons. Those are the constraints we were talking about - it's worth cutting sometimes. But the number of directions, and the breadth you could take from a game like LittleBigPlanet, while keeping it within the LittleBigPlanet universe, is insane.

A lot of people say to me, "when you first revealed LittleBigPlanet, the Sony reveal, that was a big shock". People didn't see it coming. I want to be able to do another reveal where people don't see it coming - it's still LittleBigPlanet, but they're saying, "oh my god, I thought it was this, you're telling me it's this as well?!" That excites me hugely, definitely.

Eurogamer: In terms of the cold economics of it, when you talk about post-launch support... You're talking in terms of paid content packs, right?

Alex Evans: I'm basically saying that all options are open. I can definitely say that there will be content that will be available to people free of charge. I'm just not saying exactly what the content is going to be right now.

I can also say that if there's any way we can reward the community, we'll go there. If the people are clamouring for big chunks of content, it would make total sense for us to do it. We're just exploring all options at this point. Sequels? Yeah, why not! DLC, why not? Paid-for content, why not?

"I can also say that if there's any way we can reward the community, we'll go there."

It's at that stage where we'll do whatever really supports the community, and keeps it really vibrant. There are a lot of ways we could pursue that, and a lot of it will be down to being sensitive to what people want. Certainly, in the spirit of breadth, the constraint I'm looking for now is just seeing what people want. We're ready, we're bubbling away - all we're waiting to do is constrain ourselves such that we can do something really awesome in this direction, or that direction, depending on what people are hungry for.

Eurogamer: You're launching in October - and Sony's other big online fascination, Home, is popping up sometime soon as well. Does LittleBigPlanet do anything with Home? Do they work together at all?

Alex Evans: I know that team really well - actually, it was interesting, there was a presentation done within Home, back at GDC I think, and they built a LittleBigPlanet space. Sony built that for us. It was fantastic, the collaboration worked really well. We went back and forth with them, sent them some assets - and they produced this room which was incredible.

The thing about Home is, they're a team that's just down the road from us. There is loads of scope for us to work with them, and I'm looking forward to getting the LittleBigPlanet space in there, working on it and making it cool.

The short answer, though, is that I can't announce anything right now - but I've already seen great LittleBigPlanet content in Home, which was at that conference and which was public, and I think it's a great sign that that was possible with a very small amount of time and a small amount of effort. I think we could do something really cool with it, but at this stage, I can't say what the plan is.