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Media Molecule
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Media Molecule is a small development team based in Guildford, UK, who created the LittleBigPlanet franchise. It was founded January 4th 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney.
Definition
Media Molecule /ˈmidiə mɒləˌkyul/ [mee-dee-uh mol-uh-kyool] ¬¬ - Noun
- A small talented team of people based in Guildford, who were brought together by fate, destiny, and recruitment agencies, and who love nothing more than making innovative and creative video game doodads for you to play with. Also ice cream.
- A video games development studio responsible for the creation of LittleBigPlanet on the Playstation 3
Founders
Mark Healey
Mark is Media Molecule's Creative Director, a position which he says "involves a lot of thinking and getting annoyed at people." [1]
Healey has previously worked with Bullfrog Productions on many titles, including the popular Theme Park. When Peter Molyneux left Bullfrog to form Lionhead Studios, Healey joined him and worked as a Senior Artist/Designer on Black and White.
Healey began work on Rag Doll Kung Fu, along with Alex and Dave, whilst still working at Lionhead Studios. He reportedly made the vast majority of the game single-handedly, sitting at his kitchen table in his underwear. Rag Doll Kung Fu went on to be the first third party titles to be published on Steam.
MOAR!
An Interview With Mark Healey on Gamasutra.com
"From Ones and Zeroes to Heroes" - An Interview with Mark and Alex on bbc.co.uk
Alex Evans
Alex Evans is a Technical Director at Media Molecule, and was responsible for building the game's engine, as his handy little notebook depicts.
Whilst Alex was organising the foundation of Media Molecule, Mark Healey went on holiday to decide whether he would stop working for Lionhead. Upon his return, he found that Alex had already packed up his desk for him!
In the 1990s, Alex was active in the Demoscene, where he was known by the handle 'Statix'. His work was highly acclaimed, with his piece 303 being one of the first demos to include and entire vocal track in the music. Tom Thumb, known as a 'generative' demo, was winner of Best Direction at the 2002 Scene.org Awards.
MOAR!
Interview about LBP2 with Alex and Mark on US Playstation Blog
Interview with Alex on Eurogamer.net
Dave Smith
Dave Smith is a Technical Director at Media Molecule. In his own words, his role involves "making dreams come true". [2]
As with all the co-founders of LittleBigPlanet, David worked at Lionhead studios, and was dragged along, kicking and screaming, by Alex Evans, for a fun-filled adventure at MM Studios.
Outside of his unrivalled awesomeness as a Games Developer, Dave is rather partial to the odd spot of crochet. "It's nice because it's very structured and has maths in it, so you're doing lots of little bits of math whilst you are making things..." [3]
MOAR!
An Interview with David at Eurogamer.net
A transcript of an insightful fan chat with David at Playstation Universe
Kareem Ettouney
Kareem Ettouney is an Art Director at Media Molecule. In his words, he was drawn to the video game industry because "I felt that in games I could create fantastical worlds and characters, unleash my imagination without the boundaries of the real world..."
Kareem freelanced for 5 years after graduating in 1998, before joining Lionhead Studios as a Lead concept artist. In fact, you may well have seen a lot of Kareem's work without ever knowing it. How about the box art for Black and White 2? Yup, that would be Kareem.
MOAR!
A Q&A session with Kareem on venturebeat.com
A chat about originality in art at Edge Magazine
Community Managers
Tom_Molecule and Spaff_Molecule, as they are known to the LBP universe, are the Community Managers at Media Molecule. They originally ran LittleBigPlanetoid before being officially hired as Community Managers by Media Molecule in April 2009.
They turn their joint experience to managing the Official LittleBigPlanet Website and developing the systems for LBP.me, as well as keeping the community happy, demonstrating new Downloadable Content at Game expos, fielding interviews from the media, and generally having a good old natter with the community.
Where do you find the time, boys?
Tom Kiss
Prior to working with Media Molecule, Tom has an impressive list of experience within design and web management, including NCsoft Europe (as an Interactive Designer) and a wealth of freelance work (as an Interactive & Print Designer).
MOAR!
An interview with Tom and Spaff at VG 24/7.com
James Spafford
Before his work with Media Molecule, James (Or Spaff, as the community call him) worked with familiar names like Eurogamer (as an Expo Community and Gaming Manager) and NCsoft (As a community Coordinator and later, a Creative Concepts Consultant).
MOAR!
An interview with Spaff regarding the Move Pack on Past The Pixels.com
History
A full chapter-by-chapter retelling of Media Molecule's history can be found at Media Molecule.com.
Game Releases
| Game Title | Release | Platform | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| LittleBigPlanet | 2008 | Playstation 3 | BAFTA Award for Artistic Achievement. Eight AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards. Various Game of the Year Awards. |
| LittleBigPlanet | 2009 | PlayStation Portable | Developed by SCE Cambridge Studio in conjunction with Media Molecule. |
| Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves | 2010 | PlayStation 3 | Developed by Xdev in conjunction with Media Molecule. |
| LittleBigPlanet 2 | 2011 | PlayStation 3 | Set five Guinness World Records, including 'most gaming genres in one video game', and 'most player-created levels in one video game'. |
Awards & Accolades
The folks at Media Molecule are a busy bunch indeed, raking in more awards than you can shake a stick at! The following list is just a selection of the piles of trophies adorning Sackboy's cabinet.
2008
| February | Surrey Business Awards | Creative Industries Award |
| October | Tokyo Game Show | Future Award |
| December | Edge Magazine | Best Developer |
| Eurogamer | Best Game of 2008 | |
| Gameplayer.com | Most Influential Developers of 2008 | |
| Gamepro | Game of the Year (2008) | |
| Spike TV Video Game Awards | Studio of the Year Best PS3 Game |
2009
| January | IGN (2008 Awards) | Best Platform Game Best Artistic Design |
| February | Academy of Interactive Art and Sciences Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Outstanding Innovation in Gaming Overall Game of the Year |
| British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) | Artistic Achievement Award | |
| March | Game Developer's Choice Awards | Innovation Award Game Design Technology |
| Game Audio Network Guild Awards | Best Interactive Score | |
| July | Develop Brighton | Best Independent Developer Best New Studio Artistic Achievement Technical Innovation Best New IP |
| October | Golden Joystick Awards | Best Family Game |
Around the Internet
MediaMolecule.com
Social Media
Trivia
- Media Molecule might have been known as a different name entirely. How about 'Brainfluff', or 'Rethink Games'?
- The Molecules have a profound love of Fridays. Who could forget Fake Hair Friday, or even Hat Friday?
