Creating a Little Big Planet

How do you create a video game when the possibilities are endless?

Alex Evans, co-founder and technical director of Media Molecule, explores the creative process of building a video game.

If you haven’t heard of Media Molecule, you might know their most famous creation, LittleBigPlanet – a collaborative platform game featuring what could be the world’s first knitted hero, Sackboy (also known as Sackgirl or Sackthing).

Speaking at BAFTA’s Annual Video Games Lecture in 2010 Evans talks about the importance of building the right tools to both make a game and facilitate collaborative play – allowing users to build new levels, customise the environment and share this creativity with others.

Using complex technology to keep things simple and providing your audience with powerful tools without 'dumbing-down' or patronising them is the key, he says, to creating "a virtuous circle between players, creators and sharers".

Alongside Film and TV, BAFTA have been running an annual awards ceremony for video games since 2003 – partly in recognition of the huge pool of UK talent working in the industry but also the fact that video games now outsell DVD and music sales combined.

You can find more videos from leading figures in film, TV and videos games on their recently launched BAFTA Guru site.