Oddworld boss wants "co-creative participation" with players

Oddworld fans were behind the Abe's Oddysee HD update, New 'n Tasty, and the co-founder of the eponymous studio, Lorne Lanning, liked that so much that he had other fans contribute art and music to the game as well. And now, he says, he'd like to give more say to the players, citing Minecraft as a natural precedent.

"First, I'm speaking pie in the sky, but I love the model of being able to provide clay to an audience, and they provide back sculptures," Lanning told Joystiq.

"When you put the power of creativity in someone's hands, just like great designers we all like working within limited constraints," he added. "The wider the page, the more open the possibilities, the harder for the writer to write, the same with designers. That being said, I think the future is all about that, is all about people having a co-creative participation. The question is, with what you're doing, how adaptable is your property to be able to facilitate that to the audience."

That last part is important; he's saying that not all art can or should be crowdsourced in that way. Right, now, he and his studio are looking into the feasibility of doing more of that with Oddworld itself, which doesn't seem to be conducive to that sort of approach. There's much more discussion of that dilemma in the full interview here.