Take a Tour of the LEGO Studios Backlot

[Hapori Tohu]

It looks like the latest episode of the Bits N' Bricks podcast went up early on Spotify and other podcast platforms again! This week, Ethan Vincent and Brian Crecente talk to several alumni from Templar Games - Peter Mack, President & Creative Director, Lucas Meyer, Lead Programmer of Backlot, and Justin Luchter, Senior Audio Designer - about the LEGO Studios Backlot game. You can go listen to Alligators, Buckaroo Banzai, and LEGO Studios Backlot to hear about how the company's work on the Bionicle Mata Nui Online Game and other titles led to their work on this project, and how it came together quickly yet maintains a lasting legacy. It was interesting hearing them admit to it not being their best work despite the fond memories so many people have for it. Check it out for yourself!

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[Chronicler06]

Once again, glad that I didn't have time to listen to this yesterday, because today I was able to find the YouTube link for this week's episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZ94XwbuvM

Much like with the episode about Junkbot, it was interesting to hear about an early web game that I never really got a chance to play. I think there's little question that being a 3D web game from 2001 is really impressive on its own simply due to the technology limits at the time. I also found myself in agreement with what they said near the end of the episode that it's such a shame that many web games from the early 2000s are practically impossible to play these days (in fact, I can think of a lot of internet games I used to play as a child that I would not be surprised if it turns out they simply don't exist at all anymore). I mean, let's face it, earlier forms of media were created in a physical format (like paper or film) so that it was possible to find an intact copy decades later that could still be enjoyed just like they originally would have been, but with early digital content, unless someone was insightful enough to archive everything as it was made back in the day, it's like a vast majority of that stuff has completely ceased to exist. Thankfully, it seems that Lego content is among those rare cases where fans were dedicated enough to find ways of preserving these things for future fans to have an opportunity to experience (and hopefully, I can one day get around to trying that experience for myself).