The game development process can take several different forms. Whether it's a big team working on yearly installments in the Call of Duty series, or a small group of dedicated gamers working on a title like Celeste, part of the industry's charm is how video games can provide such a wide range of experiences. Many big franchises can have hundreds of people working on a game at once, but there are rare cases where a company will shift from a large team to a small game with a much smaller team. That's exactly what LEGO Games has done with LEGO Builder's Journey.
LEGO Builder's Journey breaks from the LEGO formula in more ways than one. The franchise is known for taking some of the biggest licensed properties and turning them into family-friendly collect-a-thons, with development teams that fall in the same range as most AAA games. LEGO Builder's Journey not only takes licensed properties out of the equation, but it was also developed under a much smaller team known as Light Brick Studio. Game Rant spoke with LEGO Games Creative Director Karsten Lund about the benefits of this shift, and how it felt to work with such a close-knit team.
Building Something Different With LEGO
Just looking at gameplay for LEGO Builder's Journey, it's clear it takes a more artistic approach compared to other LEGO titles. Instead of focusing on the comic world of Marvel or the expansive galaxy of Star Wars, the game focuses on the adventures of a small child and their parent. The player's focus is guiding the child to their parent through a series of levels using LEGO Builder's Journey's puzzle mechanics, and it makes for a deeply intimate experience. Lund said it felt "fresh" to work on something so different from what many gamers expect from the LEGO name.
"I think we were trying something that had never been done before, yet felt obvious to do. It turned out it wasn't without problems and we spent many months testing and iterating to get the experience we have today. It was a great learning process for all of us, and not being big was a strength while we experimented with new mechanics and gameplay features."
The Light Brick Studio Team
For a game on as small a scale as LEGO Builder's Journey, it would make sense to have an equally scaled team. LEGO Games got what it was looking for with the creation of Light Brick Studio, an in-house development team with a focus on creating artistic titles that players can personally connect with. The size of Light Brick Studio is a fraction of what most AAA game developers have, and this can create a much greater feeling of closeness when developers have a better sense of the individuals that they're working with. Lund talks about this closeness, and how it allowed for a very unique development experience.
"Nothing brings a team closer than having to build and ship a game in a short period of time! I think we were very aligned on what we were trying to do, but also very good at disagreeing and being candid about what we believe. We test a lot and get a lot of input. We're also very quality focused and that is often tough, but we stubbornly hold to our 'quality first' mission together."
LEGO Builder's Journey straddles the line between meeting the expectations of a LEGO franchise and delivering a uniquely intimate experience. It proves that a game doesn't have to be a huge production to elicit a reaction from players, and now that the game is coming to Switch, it'll be available to more players than ever before. Light Brick Studio has gotten off to a strong start in delivering an experience that players can come to for the recognizable image of LEGO, and stay for the beautiful journey it provides.
LEGO Builder's Journey is available now on Apple Arcade and iOS. It will be available for PC and Switch on June 22.