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While it’s easy to just assume that the team has great things to say about PlayStation 3 because format-holder Sony is paying the bills after snapping up first-party rights to LittleBigPlanet, Media Molecule chose to focus on PS3 from the very beginning, an investment that has clearly paid off (and not just in that it grabbed Sony’s attention).
"Choosing PS3 only at the start was a big step for us," explained co-founder and technical director Alex Evans. "But I think now lots of other studios are starting to get a good feel of PS3.
"We had soft body physics and things like that running early on because we got lots of other smaller things sorted out or decided before hand – and even with all that in place there’s still loads more headroom. The PS3 has this insane quantity of power, which seems to take a cloth simulator, and then lots more you want to throw at it. It’s just a really enjoyable machine to code for."
The team’s other technical director Dave Smith says that the new format was ideal for the new team, which came together after their part-time indie PC game project (they all previously worked at Lionhead) Rag-Doll Kung Fu turned industry heads.
"We’ve come to the PS3 without baggage," explained Smith: "If you arrive with legacy code it just doesn’t work.
"Prior to speaking to Sony it was a conscious decision," adds director Chris Lee on the decision to focus on Sony’s new machine.
"The game itself sits with their strategy – but going with them meant the team could be focused. It all aligned really well. And that gives us a lot of confidence that we are with the right partner."
The full interview – which also looks at the challenges of running a small team and creating a game around content-generation tools – is available to read in full in the latest issue of Develop which can be downloaded here.
