The Making of LEGO Star Wars

The Escapist has an excellent piece up on the making of LEGO Star Wars. The article covers not only the prenupt involved for the marriage of Lego, and Star Wars video games, but all the hard work that went in to making something so fun to play.

Ex-Codemasters Jonathan Smith, producer of LEGO Star Wars, explains the many considerations that had to be made as far as how to make the game challenging without it becoming too frustrating for a young audience and allowing game progression to be fun without leading gamers around by the nose.

“Throughout the course of developing LEGO Star Wars, almost every meeting [we went] into, people had not known what to expect,” Smith says. “They were, to some extent, confused to what a LEGO Star Wars game could be. How did it fit in with LEGO? How did it fit in with Star Wars? How did it fit in with the gaming market at the time? Was there a place for it?” That lasted until they actually saw it.”

The article goes through all the in-house advertising and pre-launch jitters to reveal the essential reasons for the success of the game. It isn’t necessary to know the stories or the characters to enjoy the physical comedy, double takes and the sheer joy of breaking and building things.

“Seeing people laugh” is something that sticks with Smith, which surprised him at first. “One of the most important things about LEGO Star Wars is that it’s funny,”

I have really enjoyed reading the Escapist in the past few weeks. The articles and subject they cover are fresh, informative and highly entertaining. Check them out.