{"id":9663,"date":"2018-01-05T19:03:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T19:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/312430"},"modified":"2018-01-05T19:03:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T19:03:00","slug":"how-devs-design-the-lego-games-to-appeal-to-all-ages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/01\/05\/how-devs-design-the-lego-games-to-appeal-to-all-ages\/","title":{"rendered":"How devs design the Lego games to appeal to all ages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creating a game that\u2019s entertaining for all ages is extremely challenging, but there\u2019s one studio that seems to hit\u00a0the mark every time.<\/p>\n

TT Games<\/a>\u00a0seems\u00a0an expert at making experiences for both younger and older players. It accomplishes this by sticking to the studio\u2019s core principles of fun and authenticity, but also through ensuring there\u2019s enough variety in the humor and the stage design.<\/p>\n

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em><\/a>, the latest in the Lego franchise, is a great example. The game asks players to\u00a0control a collection of popular Marvel heroes on a mission to defeat an evil time-traveling villain\u00a0named Kang the Conqueror. Along the way\u00a0you explore Chronopolis, the central hub world, completing missions, and building and destroying the Lego environments.<\/p>\n

Appealing to fans with in-jokes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Like many of the other Lego projects TT Games undertakes, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em> follows a particular formula to ensure it appeals to as broad an audience as possible.<\/p>\n

Arthur Parsons, the head of design at TT Games, says the Lego games stick to two core principles in order to ensure they’re broadly appealing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, fun is number one. Fun, funny, humorous. Everything has to be enjoyable,” he comments.\u00a0“But then the second one \u2013 and I think this is where we probably manage to appeal to older gamers \u2013 is authenticity. And that\u2019s authenticity to whatever the source material is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Parsons points to the humor in\u00a0Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em> to highlight this point. In the game, there\u2019s plenty of slapstick humor for children, but there\u2019s also tons of complex in-jokes and references to appeal to long-term fans. For instance, the game features humorous cameos from minor characters from the Marvel extended universe, like J Jonah Jameson and Giant Man, which may go over the head of those who haven\u2019t seen the Sam Raimi films or read the older comics.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have that in-your-face humor,\u201d Parson says. \u201cThat sort of ‘someone has a ladder on their shoulder and they\u2019re turning around and someone has to duck out of the way’ slapstick. But then we also go onto another level where we do our best to add humor that\u2019s very relevant to the IP. If people analyse the games, they\u2019ll see the various influences [we draw from].\u201d<\/p>\n

The golden rule<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The game\u2019s art direction is another factor that contributes to the franchise\u2019s broad appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually in our games, we have a very clear rule of you have environmental art and you have you\u2019ve got Lego. A lot of people very quickly understand that anything made out of Lego is interactive and everything else isn\u2019t,” says Parsons.\u00a0“It\u2019s really nice because that\u2019s just something that happens naturally when people play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This approach ensures that no matter what your age is, you can understand the environment and what options you have available. It\u2019s a subtle bit of direction, but it\u2019s one that\u2019s been implemented in almost all the Lego games, including Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em>, to help players navigate the map and find key items within the stage.<\/p>\n

Introducing new challenges or distractions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As for the older and more experienced players, most Lego titles are full of additional challenges to cater to people looking for a greater challenge.<\/p>\n

In Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em>, specifically, you have tons of extra objectives you can complete, such as finding collectibles, locating ‘Easter Eggs’, or finishing additional objectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put a lot of Lego and interactive Lego into our levels, because we\u2019ll have our core story path, but along the way we like to fill the level with a lot of peripheral content. A lot of the time that is just hidden free play or extra collectibles,” explains Parsons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s just stuff for fun. So it might be some little ride-on vehicle that you can have a lot of fun with, or just some bits and pieces that can be interacted with for fun. It\u2019s creating something where there isn\u2019t that one route start to finish. You want people to have a different experience. It may be that someone goes in and they just really want to go through the story straight through the level. Then there\u2019s some people who really do just enjoy mooching around, exploring every nook and cranny, and seeing what every bit of different Lego does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focus testing and playtesting<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Playtesting and focus testing are key to balancing these aspects and ensuring that a Lego game remains accessible for all ages.<\/p>\n

For instance, the team on Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em> team put together a “first playable” build very early on in the development of the game to focus test it with a group, including younger players and experienced gamers. This helped them to see how players respond to certain obstacles, whether they are engaged, and where they might need help.<\/p>\n

Parsons gives the example of Doctor Strange\u2019s rune-tracing ability as something that was changed as a result of focus testing. This ability requires players to draw runes by tracing a line around a shape without overlapping.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was something we did focus test. And based off of those findings, we actually put something in where if people actually fail a rune-tracing I think three times, the rune fades and then comes back, but it actually goes back to the next level of difficulty,” he recalls.\u00a0“So as you progress through the game, the runes get more and more difficult, but if it\u2019s something where people actually get blocked it will actually do a slightly easier one. They\u2019ll never notice, hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2<\/em> seems to be well in line with TT Games\u2019 tradition of making games\u00a0not only suitable for all ages, but enjoyable for them as well. The team accomplished this by identifying areas they could improve throughout development, and by sticking to the core principles they\u2019d developed over years of working on the Lego games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To end the interview, I asked Parsons for any advice he\u2019d give to a developer trying to make games for the all ages market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like asking the Colonel for his special recipe. I think any developer will openly state that the success of their game is down to their people,” he said, with a laugh.\u00a0\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a great development team that really buy into what they\u2019re making, then you can\u2019t help but making something fun and engaging and rewarding. We do look at our games and we do try and have fun while making our games, because that\u2019s how the fun is going to come out. We encourage creativity. We encourage people on our team to add to that mix.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creating a game that\u2019s entertaining for all ages is extremely challenging, but there\u2019s one studio that seems to hit\u00a0the mark every time. TT Games\u00a0seems\u00a0an expert at making experiences for both younger and older players. It accomplishes this by sticking to the studio\u2019s core principles of fun and authenticity, but also through ensuring there\u2019s enough variety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}