Interview with Lego Universe
MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood spoke recently with Ryan Seabury of NetDevil and Mark Hansen from Lego about the upcoming MMORPG based on the wonderful world of colored bricks and people with cylindrical yellow heads.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with NetDevil’s Ryan Seabury, the Producer on the studio’s upcoming MMORPG, Lego Universe Online. Joining us in the interview was Mark Hanson from Lego itself.
We here in the MMO space have known about Lego Universe’s existence for quite some time. What we don’t know is exactly what form the game will take once it hits shelves. Unfortunately, the team still isn’t quite ready to talk about specific details of the game. The good news though, is that we were told that we should expect to see more specific information coming out of the studio beginning in January.
Even without the ability to talk about deep down specifics, I still managed to have an interesting chat with the guys from Lego Universe. We were able to talk a little bit about the overall philosophy for the game, to whom the game is targeted, and more:
You know, it’s funny that with all of the major intellectual properties being turned into MMOs (Lego, Warhammer, Star Trek, Stargate and others), we rarely stop to think about the IPs themselves. Lego provides a unique opportunity for the developers to create something that appeals directly to the many of us out there who spent untold hours snapping those damned colored bricks together only to break whatever we had made apart and start all over again.
In an attempt to capture that market and stay true to Lego fans, this is the mindset that the developers seem to be using. The idea is to bring Lego fans together in an online space and to give them a new way to interact with the versatile toy. It was described to me as the “natural evolution” of the franchise and I can’t say that I disagree. While I don’t think that anything online could really top the hands-on experience, I can clearly see the potential in this game and the almost limitless play experiences that it could provide.
Lego, I was reminded during the interview, covers all genres, from cars to airports to underwater to fantasy to space and beyond. The developers at NetDevil and Lego are working hard to make sure that everything is represented in the game as well.
The developers though, seem to have another rather unique challenge on their hands. Because the Lego fan base is so huge, the team has to create a world that stimulates adult professional engineers who grew up playing with Lego and still love the experience, but they also have to make the game and its tools simple enough that an eight year old can pick it up without an issue. Is it a big challenge? Yes. Is it one that the developers from both companies feel is important? Definitely.
I was surprised to learn during the interview that while many development studios have close ties to the company that has licensed them their IP, few relationships run as deep as the one between NetDevil and Lego. The relationship runs so deep, in fact, that seven full time Lego employees are currently assigned to the NetDevil offices where they work with the studio on making the game. NetDevil also participates in major check-in meetings every six weeks where the head honchos over at Lego get an update on the game’s progress.
In case you’re curious Lego Universe currently has a staff of about 105 full time employees and 30 – 40 part time employees. Twenty two of those full timers are working for Lego (including the aforementioned seven that work at NetDevil). With a staff of nearly 150, this is no small-time project. Lego and MMO fans alike should expect something very interesting and very in keeping with the spirit of the Lego franchise when this game finally launches.
The last thing that I wanted to talk about before I wrap this interview up is the community program that the guys spoke to me about. According to Hansen, Lego has over 3 million fans that have somehow registered with the company and their input is important to the development of the game. As a result, the development team has come up with a rather unique approach:
Once a year, the team flies a number of Lego fans in to their Denver studio to let them see what is going on in development and to add their input whenever possible. When the program started in 2007, 47 fans made the trip. This year, the number was 68. I am told that as the game comes closer and closer to launch, this number will continue to increase.
Well, that pretty much covers our short conversation, but for a game that isn’t yet ready to talk about what they are planning, Lego fans everywhere can rest assured that everything that can be done to make Lego Universe an entertaining experience for them is being done.
What makes this even more interresting is all the franchies Lego has made or bought rights too.
They could actually make different worlds in this game - Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc. - and still stay within their agreements with the franchise owners.
I guess only time will tell, but Lego rarely allows their name to be used in something that isn't worth it's money, so this could turn out to be a shocker of a game tbh.
I know my 10 year old son is excted about this. The Lego console games (Star Wars, Indiana Jones) have been some of his favorite games he's played.
" It was described to me as the “natural evolution” of the franchise and I can’t say that I disagree. "
Excuse me? A natural evolution? Let's see lego's are natural building blocks that you put together to make things. Please in a sane way can you explain how this upcoming game is a natural progression? We are going from building blocks to a MMO? Nothing like a huge leap from two very disparate things.
Suggestion, instead of letting your kid play this game, why not do something educational for him and get him some lego sets to play with.
MMO's are just not for kids period. Any parents that let their kids play such should be severly censured.
They could make a really awesome crafting in this game, and I'm not being sarcastic. I always thought that if someone ever wants to make crafting an equal part of the game for the players to show off their creativity, it has to be something like lego - give people the building blocks and let them fire off their immagination.
Until that time, crafting will always be a mindles grind.
I started Everquest at age 12. I can now type at an avg speed of 93 words per second which I credit due to my ingame experiences at a young age. I also learned many words and expanded my vocabulary due to the vast array of item names and spell/ability titles. I learned words like apprehensively, indifferent, dubious, bauble, maelstrom, pauldren, etc. So in a way, playing everquest was somewhat an education experience to me.
Obviously you haven't played MMOs that are meant for kids before. If you had, you'd know that these games put a lot of emphasis on problem-solving, communication, as well as mini-games that are meant to improve school-related subjects like math and english. Many of them also give parents ways to monitor their children's actions, as well as how they progress through certain games. They're safe environments as well for kids to interact with each other.
The vast majority of these games though would never interest adults (unless they're looking for something for their kids to play) and that's why you don't hear about them on regular MMO sites. Lego is different because we all played with legos when we were little, so there's that element from our childhood that will draw many of us towards it.
Oz time to join the real world!
While I agree with getting the kids Legos to play with, I'll definitely let my nephews play this game, too! Some MMO's ARE for kids, and even some of the ones that "aren't" [who's to say?], can be played by the kids WITH SUPERVISION. My 4 1/2 yr old nephew loves to visit and play DDO with me. We play outside [a rarity these days for kids it seems] when we can and play a dungeon or two after dinner. What makes you think I should be censured for that? Too much violence? Didn't you ever play Marines or anything as a kid? We stormed many a jap held sandhill as kids, using sticks and rocks or bb guns and water balloons. I have yet to kill anyone in real life [tempted a few times...] MMO's are just another form of play for kids - keep an eye on them and they'll be just fine...
Edit: Why hasn't MMORPG started coverage of this yet? It seems to be less vaporware than some games with coverage...
it'll likely be a very kiddy game, but if they manage to make the creation aspect the #1 focus on the game it could be revolutionary in the MMO world.
Makes sense to me. While things are still sketchy, most of my Lego play was solitary. Not that I didn't want to play with others, it was just that as an only child out in the country, there weren't many kids around to play with. A Lego MMO sounds like a hiuge sandbox - a bunch of people getting together to play with their Legos. We just won't be sitting right next to each other playing with physical toys.
I dearly hope adults will stay out of this. The mere thought of cyboring lego characters makes me want to enlist in a mental hospital. *grins*
Enlist now, because I have been waiting for this forever. I'm 31 and Lego's are still the absolute No. 1 greatest creations of all time and it's going to take divine intervention to keep me from trying it. And how in the world do you associate adults with cybering?
I'd like to see some age related settings in the game.
For example, if the game is targetted at kids then chat is going to be phrase-based whereas that's going to be a real pain for adults. Hopefully parental controls will be able to lock chat so that kids can play safely and only read and write in phrases. With the locks off, full chat is enabled.
Of course, this won't stop people building giant phalluses (as seen in Spore) so I think GMs are going to be busy :)
I'd be fine with having servers for kids and servers for adults as well. I don't particularly want to play with young children although I can understand some parents might want to with their kids.
When I was a child I always wanted to stay in and play with my lego instead of going outside so I guess this MMO is the evolution of that.
This could be really, really good. As others have said, I hope the crafting side of the game stays strong
Will look forward to seeing more on the development .
So, as I understand it, nobody knows exactly what it is, in any sense, way, or fashion, other than that it involves building bricks.
Exactly what purpose did the article serve?
Lego was one of my fave toys as a child - but personally there's no way I'd pay to play this game. That's just me. But I do wish it all the best because it's an AWESOME idea :) especially for children. If I were a kid I'd be all over it for sure.
I can't help, but wonder if things will happen like the immature kids did with Spore. You know, create nasty things of genitals and such. Stuff like this happens when you give people TOO much creativity and lego is nothing but creating things.
My 7 year old loves lego's, we have a dang room full of em, and at the moment he plays roblox online, which is a cheesy version of legos, he was very excited when i told him a ''real'' legos online game is coming out.
LOL all genitals when made out of legos just look like sky scrapers, not enough curvy parts in the blocks to make it look real enough.
is this a joke
Whats a joke? A lego MMORPG? Nope. Its real and its coming.