by Karen Hertzberg on Apr 30, 2008
Brick by (Virtual)
Plastic Brick
The potential for NetDevil's upcoming MMOG, LEGO Universe, is enormous.
Over 20 billion LEGO bricks are produced annually, and millions of
consumers scurry to get their hands on the latest LEGO sets. Since its
announcement, the developers behind LEGO Universe have remained fairly
quiet, yet every time a piece of news finds its way onto the internet,
people flock to it with a frantic fervor. Recently, Ten Ton Hammer
happened upon a Q&A done by the LEGO Universe team for
their own design director, Brian Booker. The Ten Ton Hammer staff was
happy to publish the story, and we hope you enjoy it!
How do
you design "gameplay"?
By providing entertaining answers to questions like these: When you
create your minifig and enter LEGO Universe, what do you see? What
point of view do you have in the game? What can you do as your minifig?
What's the story of the game; what's the fiction behind it? What kinds
of social interactions can players have with each other? How do players
interact with the game from a control standpoint?