As lovely as the original but with the considerable bonus of being based on decent films, Lego Star Wars 2 was a treat. Jonathan Smith, Creative Director at developers Travellers Tales talks fanboys, favourite films and why online didn't happen.
Did the success of the original game surprise you?
We were certainly surprised by the success of the original LEGO Star Wars. We knew we had a game which we loved ourselves, but we had no idea at all how it would be received by our potential audience. We were doing something new for LEGO, and new for Star Wars, at the same time as the official Star Wars Episode III movie game was launching - it was certainly a gamble. And we were so delighted when it turned out that lots and lots of people, of all ages, enjoyed playing the game as much as we did.
Did you feel more pressure with LSW2?
In some ways, yes, there was more pressure with LSW2. We were confident we'd be able to please fans of the original game; but we very much wanted to raise the bar second time around. The trade had high expectations, based on the success of the first game. But we lacked the surrounding brouhaha of a new Star Wars movie, which brought us some attention with our Episode III content - so we knew we'd have to work hard to take the game content up a level. We wanted to respond in detail to everyone's comments on the first game, too. Luckily, I think we've managed to do all that successfully!
Do you think you got the balance right between making the game accessible to both 6 year old and 30-somethings?
We were really focussed, in both the original game and the new sequel, on the younger audience. We felt, and still feel, that this is a hungry and demanding but under-served category of gamers. I also still very much believe that, where we can please younger players, we inevitably make a game that's better for older players too. And we of course played the game all the time throughout development, as older gamers, and naturally made a game which we loved to play ourselves. Looking at the end result... yes, I think we can feel pretty proud of that balance.
How important was it to appeal to the 30-something nostalgia market?
We've had a bigger commercial success in that area than we'd planned for, certainly - so it's been important from that point of view. But it was never something we consciously identified as an opportunity, or strived for. The effort to make a game that we ourselves found funny, which matched our expectations as Star Wars fans whose imaginations were shaped so strongly by those original movies, was entirely and naturally bound up in all our work, all along, from the very initial concept.
Did the greater pop-culture appeal of the original films, compared to the last 3, make it harder to design LSW2? Were you worried about criticism from more "committed" Star Wars fans?
Dealing with Original Trilogy content was a complete joy for us. And no, we didn't fear fan criticism at all - because our "LEGO-ness" gave us such brilliant licence to play with expectations in our own way.
Star Wars games have traditionally been very serious - how did you guys persuade LucasArts to let you take a lighter look at the franchise?
The Lucasfilm organisation has endorsed many different interpretations of the Star Wars universe over the years. They've been working with these characters for 25 years now; it's their job, day-in, day-out, to live in that Star Wars world. Although we were nervous in the original approach; looking back, I think it's entirely natural that they were energised by a fresh perspective on that material. In this case, we were at a huge advantage with the success of the LEGO building sets and characters, first launched in 1999. That had already established the principle that a LEGO Star Wars universe played by unique rules. We're all massive Star Wars fans, and all the work we do is consistent within an authentic LEGO Star Wars universe.
Which of the three films - Star Wars, Empire, Return of the Jedi - offered the richest source material for levels in LSW 2?
That's not an easy question; there was so much to work with in all of them. Looking back at the levels we chose to build, though, I think it's probably the original Star Wars: A New Hope which has given us the greatest variety of locations, gameplay and characters. From the Blockade Runner to Tatooine; Mos Eisley, the Death Star, and of course the final Trench run.
Why was there no online for Xbox 360?
LEGO Star Wars was always conceived at core as a 2-player co-operative game. The fun of that experience, with two people playing together, talking together, fooling around and fighting together, was probably our greatest achievement. As gamers, we play online multi-player games, of course; but we felt that our "offline" co-op mode was really distinctive - so that's where we continued to put our focus. We were generally wary of introducing young players to an online environment, too - for safety and security reasons. Ultimately, it's turned out that the 360 Live environment is more seamlessly a part of the 360 experience then we'd expected; so this is of course an area we'll look at again for the future.
After the success of LSW do you think there will be more "mashup" style games featuring different properties?
The game industry works in such a way that the commercial success of LEGO Star Wars and LSWII will of course incite new conversations within publishing and licensing companies. And if any of those conversations yield fun games, then that's great. For ourselves, we're definitely planning to produce more LEGO games - we have a new title in development right now, in fact, which gives a LEGO treatment to another new world of brilliant characters and stories. Hope you like it!
