Introducing 10 Questions from the Academy: A weekly feature from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences wherein significant figures in the video game industry provide their input on past trends, current events, and future challenges and goals for the entertainment software community.


Alex Evans is a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and spoke at the D.I.C.E. Summit in 2009. He's worked for Lionhead Studios, co-developed Rag Doll Kung-Fu independently, and co-founded Media Molecule, developers behind the award-winning LittleBigPlanet.

AIAS: How do you measure success?
Alex Evans: The number of hand written fan letters from 4 year olds showcasing scribbly artwork they've re-imagined from your game.

What's your favorite part of game development?
Top'n'tail - the really fertile bit at the beginning, just messing around; and the final, final, tunnel of light where you actually ship the damn thing. The middle bit itself has phases: wherein you lost site of your initial good idea; realise what you've made sucks in several significant ways; rebuild it (several times); lose sight once more of the original idea; (hopefully) eventually recapture something of the original seed, by now actually usable; and finally enter the glorious 'tunnel of light' towards the end. All of these middle phases effectively only happen because of many, many hours of grind - or 'turning the handle' as my old math professor used to call it.

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