It’s fair to say there was some scepticism when news of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game was announced ahead of its release in 2005. Although the concept was eye-catching on paper, fans of both the world’s most successful film series and the world’s favourite toy weren't sure how well it would play out. Furthermore, the build could so easily have fallen apart since The Lego Group decided to pull out of the games business shortly after development began, heralding the end of Lego Interactive.
Then the pieces came together. Key management from Lego Interactive formed a new, small publishing company called Giant Interactive which immediately gained the exclusive licence for Lego-based videogames. The developer tasked with creating the Lego Star Wars title, Traveller’s Tales, continued its work and formed a close relationship with the publisher – so much so that the studio founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and Andy Ingram would soon end up buying Giant Interactive, creating TT Games in the process.
By this time, Lego Group had formed a long and fruitful partnership with Lucasfilm. It released its first physical Star Wars set in 1999 – the X-wing Starfighter – and the success of this and subsequent sets led to the suggestion that a game within a Lego Star Wars universe would work. “From a developer perspective the conversation went like, ‘Want to make a Lego Knights Kingdom game?’, ‘What’s Knights Kingdom?’, ‘What about a Lego Star Wars game instead?’, ‘Yes!’” says John Hodskinson. The next step was planning how it would turn out.
John was the lead programmer for (he’s now senior advanced game designer at TT Games). From the start, he says the studio’s intention was clear. “We absolutely wanted to immerse players in with the music, text crawls and screen wipes in particular,” he explains. It would also be aimed at a younger audience and be family friendly. “We wanted the game to be accessible to everyone, including parents helping out their offspring,” John adds.
