A month back or so I noted that Colorado game developer NetDevil had signed a deal with a big toy company to make a massively multiplayer online game.

There were some impressive guesses in the comments, but none of them, I don't think, have the potential that the actual game will.

On Monday we broke the news that NetDevil and LEGO had announced a deal to create an MMO. Earlier today I had a chance to speak with Ryan Seabury, the upcoming game's producer, about how they landed the title, the game's terrific potential and other things NetDevil.

While Seabury couldn't talk about what the game, due to hit late next year, would include specifically, he could talk generalities.

"The specific IPs we will use are still under investigation, but you can safely say it's World of LEGO. It won't be confined to one thing," he said. "We are focusing on an experience that is playing and building and socializing."

"There will be building components."

Seabury said the team was first asked if they were interested in working on the game last year, several months before Auto Assault shipped.

The team was trying to figure out what they should work on next when they received an email from the company asking if they were interesting in the concept.

"We went to the store bought a bunch of LEGO and put them on the table and we were building stuff," he said.

Then in December a business developer and technology evaluator from LEGO flew out to Colorado to meet with the team.

When the finally got the tap to make the game, Seabury and the team thought it was because of their work with destructible environments, but later they heard that the real key was their passion for gaming.

LEGO is leaving much of the development process in the hands of NetDevil, so far they've decided it's going to be a fully-realized game, not just a sandbox and that the community is going to play a big role.

Since getting the project the game has grown from their all-time high of 48, just before the Auto Assault ship, to more than 60 people. And they expect they could grow to the 150 person range in a couple of years.

I think this could be one of the biggest things to happen to MMOs in a long time. Could be? The point is it has great, tremendous potential from the variety of IP and the ability to create your own in-game content to the blending of the virtual and the real worlds.

For instance, when I asked Seabury if there was any talk of a function that would allow you to create something in -game and then buy it in the real world he would only say that that idea is not off the table.
Brian Crecente

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