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Devs Play videos go behind the scenes with Tearaway and LittleBigPlanet as Media Molecule turns 10

Double Fine's Devs Play series of videos met up with Media Molecule for a look into the development of Tearaway and LittleBigPlanet, just days before the developer celebrated its 10th birthday.

Ozzie Mejia

January 4, 2016 12:45 PM

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Not a lot happened during Shacknews' time away from the news desk. (Well, okay, there was that whole Steam thing.) During the last week, however, Double Fine continued its Devs Play series of behind-the-scenes videos with fellow game developers. And given that today is Media Molecule's 10th birthday, it seems like a good day to take a look back at those videos.

Over the weekend, Tim Schafer and crew sat down with Media Molecule's Rex Crowle to look at the underrated Tearaway. The Vita effort was lauded for its papercraft aesthetic and its creative mechanics, but was largely overlooked since it went head-to-head against Shacknews' 2013 Game of the Year... and its runner-up, all of which released on the same day.

The video below offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how Tearaway came to be, including Crowle's note that the team basically played around with the Vita and its capabilities before ever coming up with the papercraft concept. There's a particularly fascinating story around the 14-minute mark, in which Crowle discusses why 3D software couldn't replicate the look they were seeking, requiring a different approach to the game's engine.

A few days prior to this video, Double Fine met up with Alex Evans, Siobhan Reddy, and Kareem Ettouney of Media Molecule to look back at the original LittleBigPlanet. The anecdotes extend to user-generated content that the team never thought to be possible, the team's pre-LBP gaming background, and elaborating on taking inspiration from UK painter Tony Hart. Check out that full video below.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?