One of the most surprising and biggest announcements at GDC was that there would be a new LEGO based game coming out, but that this one would be unlike anything it has ever lent its license to before - a MMO experience. While at GDC, we got to talk with Scott Brown (President) and Ryan Seabury (Project Lead) of NetDevil, and though they couldn't really reveal too much, they were willing to share some information about the LEGO MMO, what players might be able to expect, and how the project came around.

With the press release having just come out not long before the meeting, of course the talk of a LEGO MMO was on the tongues of a lot of people, and we especially were interested in the project, mainly because of all of the sheer amount of possibilities that can come from the LEGO license. Though he didn't share too much, Scott Brown started off the LEGO talk by talking about just how involved so far LEGO has been in these early stages of the game's development. "It's too early to really get into the game, other than we can say it is a game. Here is some stuff we can say. Here is some stuff, within working with them that is really cool. So far, we've only worked with game publishers. When you look at the industry of game publishers, it is young. But LEGO has been around for years and years and so we're already, just working with those guys, it is amazing. So our designing team is going, 'We solved that thing. We know how to do that thing we wanted to do and it's going to be really cool.' And they are like, 'Awesome.' And so they just pull the trigger and the moms come in, and some kids come in, and it's like, which audience do you want to hit today. We'll go get these three groups. They know how to do that focus testing. They record it. They analyze it. And everything is done like that. It's like, wow. I'm sure as a toy company, you have to focus test that stuff to death. So with that alone, we are seeing significant improvements in how to design games that are really fun and people are going to like and be into. We love LEGO. Who doesn't really? And they are so passionate about it. And we are sort of an excitable company, we really get into what we do and we love it. And so it is also very cool when are partners are the same. And we work on things and say, 'Oh, this is going to be cool.' And like we feed on each other's energy a lot. And another thing that's cool is they came to us. This is their deal. We didn't have to convince them that MMOs are cool."

After finishing up their work on Auto Assault, NetDevil was actually looking for their next project to work on, and LEGO had never even crossed their mind during brainstorming, and if not for an email, the project might not have ever come around. "That week we were sitting there talking, about three months before Auto Assault shipped, and we were thinking about what would be our next thing," said Ryan Seabury. "What could we do? So we were sitting around brainstorming and nobody talked about LEGO. And that same week we got an email about LEGO out of the blue about working on the game. And the whole company went crazy. And we were like, 'We can do this. We can do that.'"

The final thing they could actually get into a bit was the design aspect, and how different it has been thanks in part to LEGO being the driving force behind the game. Scott started off by telling us, "And one of the things we can talk about is that, one of the things that is really fun too, is when the designers are working on ideas, they have LEGO plates with mini things, and are saying, 'How would this work?' It's such a cool tool to design with, because they can just take the pieces and design. They can actually make this. We have professional LEGO builders on staff."

Ryan continued up by saying, "It's a different skill set. Building with LEGO takes a very intimate knowledge with the LEGO set. The stuff those guys make in the adult community are, man, you're just blown away. You can't imagine these people building this stuff. You have the stuff you build when you are a kid, like a little tiny house, and these guys are building giant massive spaceships that are fully detailed inside with movable parts and interchangeable modules. It's like fifty people working on a section. All that creativity that is out there, and the thing that kind of really shocked us, is we didn't know how big that community is and how excited they are about working with the brand. And another cool thing about LEGO, is they know their customer."

Throughout the years LEGO has had so many sets, placed in so many different worlds, that the possibility for the LEGO MMO could be practically anything. Massive worlds built around things like medieval castles, space stations, and much more. We don't know much yet about the LEGO MMO, but we are enticed and excited so far, and can't wait to start seeing more information come through. Until then, be sure to be on the lookout for more from this game.