Game Developer Takes 7-Year-Old Kid's Lego Design And Puts It Into The Game As A Birthday Present
from the being-awesome dept
And here we have yet another tale of content creators being awesome to connect with fans. It’s a story involving a 7-year-old kid, Zias, who really loves the game Edge (I assume it’s unrelated to the trademark troll who tried to sue everyone who used “Edge” in the title of a video game). Zias likes the game so much that, when he’s not playing, he’s been building his own levels for the game out of legos. Zias’ father tweeted the developers of Edge, asking if they might send a promotional item (poster, business card, something) to give to Zias for his birthday. Instead, the developers decided to go much, much further:
Hi Martin,
I don’t have much marketing material except for some digital flyers. But I thought it would be nice if Zias could make a Lego level for us, which we would rebuild and put back in the actual game. The level will have his name and be put on Steam.
Not sure if this can be arranged, but would that be a nice present?
Cheers,
Collin
The company then created a cool invite for Zias to come visit them, and telling him they’d make his lego level into a real game level.
The whole story is yet another example of content creators going above and beyond what’s “necessary” to be both awesome and human. The more you look, the more you find great stories like this, and it begins to make you wonder why so many companies simply go in the opposite direction.
Filed Under: awesom, connecting with fans, edge, video games
Comments on “Game Developer Takes 7-Year-Old Kid's Lego Design And Puts It Into The Game As A Birthday Present”
Simple Answer
Many companies go in the opposite direction because they aren’t run by people who love what they put out. They’re run by lawyers, executives and accountants, not people to whom the users are anything other than anonymous “consumers.”
To such people, the consumer is nothing more than an annoying blob whose sole justification for existence is to cough up cash for whatever the company puts out, whether it’s light bulbs or movies.
And so such companies simply can’t be bothered with anything as unimportant as “people.”
Hell yeah.
As a developer, it’s stories like this that make me smile.
I feel it’s extremely important to show appreciation to the people who appreciate your work.
This is a great story! I’ve also played Edge and beat it, great game made by an even greater developer! Props to Two Tribes for giving this kid a great birthday present!
This is amazing. As sehlat pointed out, most game companies wouldn’t bother. They also wouldn’t have even gone so far as to offer a poster for the kid. The reply would have been pimping some new DLC or new version that you could buy to keep your offspring happy instead.
I am willing to bet they will see a bump in their sales, just because there are people who will get the game to support a company willing to make a child happy. Big companies will give you the laundry list of why it isn’t feasible for them to do something custom just to make a devout player happy. The smaller companies understand that connecting with a fan has so many other benefits, some tangible and some intangible. This story will get them more mindshare. People scrolling a list of games might see Two Tribes listed, and they remember oh that is that awesome company who made that level a kid designed… You can’t buy publicity like this, this is organic all on its own.
Two Tribes, way to connect with the fans and I hope we hear more about all of the benefits you see from it.
Funny thing is:
Lego lost its patents and doesnt count as copyright.
Perhaps because its not an american company.
So everybody can make parties with Denmark creative genius and inovation.
Can Denmark make parties with Mickey Mouse?
Re:
Lego did not lose its patents. Its patents expired. Big difference. The reason it does not count under copyright is because the bricks are utilitarian in nature. However, the actual model kits and instructions are probably covered by copyright.
Of course, I have no real idea what this discussion has to do with the topic at hand.
Re:
While the overall design can be copyrighted (if they arent reproducing anothers copyrighted design… think x-wings and ATST’s) the instructions would carry no such protection.
In the US, directions/lists/facts/recipes are not covered under copyright unless there is significant creative input into the piece; Ie a funny story or narration that runs you through the design/recipe.
Lego instructions DO not fall under this definition.
Two Tribes for the win!
If you like this story and want to support the dev, you should go download some of their games. They make some really nice indie games that won’t break the bank.
There’s Edge, there’s also Rush, and Toki Tori.
I’m going to check out that game right now. It doesn’t sound like my type of game at all so normally I would not even bother to search any info about it, but just because the devs are so awesome, I’ll at least have a look.
“The whole story is yet another example of content creators going above and beyond what’s “necessary” to be both awesome and human. The more you look, the more you find great stories like this, and it begins to make you wonder why so many companies simply go in the opposite direction.”
It always depends on the main motivation someone’s doing what he’s doing.
The mainly creative people create because they feel the urge to do so and as it is their form to honestly communicate with others they want others to notice (and appreciate) their work. Money is secondary to them – sure, they want to make a living out of it, if they can. But most won’t give it up if it doesn’t make them rich.
Then there is the people who’s main motivation is money, who will always do what makes them earn the most money. They still might be creative, maybe even very skillful at what they do, but they won’t feel the aforementioned urge to create. It’s not a form of honest communication for them but a means to an end. An end called money.
Obviously these are two extremes and I’m sure there are a lot of people inbetween. But they’ll definetely tend either to one side or the other.
Companies are mostly run by the latter, especially (but not exclusively) the big and “the old” ones.
Very cool, am looking at the developer's site now
Not a fan of Steam, but I’m definitely looking around.
I went and purchased the game from steam.
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