When I mention to m 11-year-old stepson that I’m going to interview Peter Molyneux, the man behind video games Godus and The Trail, he is very impressed.
So, would he like to come along? You bet he would.
“Wow, that would be great!”, is his animated response. “It would be brilliant to meet someone really important.”
So here we are, Lewis Moran (video games enthusiast) and me (never played a computer game in my life), at 22cans in Guildford, waiting to meet the man who set it all up.
In the Studio
In the main workspace, we can see designers, art directors, coders, writers, and producers busy at work, creating new games or improving the host of those already produced here.
As we sit in a meeting room, we ponder what a digital games inventor will be like. And when Peter walks in, he is nothing like the techy nerd I had expected. Instead, he is warm and friendly and – strange to relate – appears perfectly normal.
He is full of questions too. What, he asks, is Lewis currently playing? What is his favourite game of all time? If he could create any game, what would it be about? “Such curiosity,” he says, “is key to a successful inventing career. That, and passion.
Level One
“When I entered the business, you needed passion because there wasn’t any support. If I’d told my parents that I wanted a career in computer games, I’d have been sectioned,” he says.
In fact, his parents had more sober ambitions: they wanted Peter to become an accountant. One trip to Guildford, however, when he was just 16, and any prospect of a life in ledgers disappeared.
“I so clearly remember it,” he says. “I was walking down Guildford High Street and I spotted a pong machine – one of the first computer games ever – in a shop window.
“I thought: ‘I have to get that’. So, I went home, stole the money from my grandmother’s purse and bought the console.
“Interacting with that computer was one of the most magical experiences of my life. Suddenly these hands, that couldn’t draw or write well, could make beautiful images on a computer.”
Setting A Waypoint To Success
It was a pivotal moment. Not so much for Peter’s grandmother – she eventually got the money back – but for Peter himself. Badly dyslexia and written off by teachers at school, he suddenly knew what he wanted to do.
“I was at the bottom of every class, didn’t do sports, I was clumsy, and was the least likely person to succeed.
“In my soul, I think I knew that I was a creative person, but I couldn’t write, play an instrument or dance. I couldn’t do anything to express that creativity, as there were just no outlets. It wasn’t until I saw and touched my first computer that this magic happened.”
Peter credits his former careers teacher for his business drive.
“He said that I was never going to pass an exam in my life, and that I wouldn’t find it easy to get work. It was the best thing he could have told me. I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to accept that.’”
So Peter chose A-levels that enabled him to use computers and went on to study computer science at the University of Southampton.
“For a dyslexic, it was the most perfect place to be – learning how to programme and what to programme on – as the number of words you had to spell was limited.”
But his real education began with his first job, working for a local entrepreneur who sold sports equipment.
“To him, nothing was ever a problem, he just came up with solutions. That taught me so much about business and the drive you require.”
Building The Homestead
At 28, Peter set up his first company, Bullfrog Productions, in the familiar setting of Guildford – a town which he regards as “a part of my heart.”
Today, it’s firmly on the gaming map too. After Bullgrog launched in 1987, other companies followed. There are now around 60 studios in Guildford and the town has become known as the Hollywood of the UK’s gaming industry.
Bullfrog gave Peter the success his careers teacher could never envisage – he eventually sold it to the US firm Electronic Arts for “hundreds of millions of pounds.”
He then followed up with a second games company, Lionhead Studios, before launching 22cans in 2012. “It’s a highly lucrative business,” he says coyly. “Profits are in the tens of millions of pounds.”
In all, he has devised 27 games – from shoot’em ups to real-time strategy and adventure games. He is best known perhaps for creating the ‘god game’ genre, in which the player controls a world.
Yet still, after almost 40 years in the business, he oozes a youthful zeal.
Looking Ahead
“Films, TV, and even books pale by comparison with computer games,” he insists. “They’re so passive, but with a game, you’re part of the unfolding story. It’s the ultimate entertainment.
“We have been exploring worlds created by books for centuries, and by film for more than 100n years. But gaming has so much further to go.
“As the technology gets better, so will the games. The worlds we can realise now are almost photorealistic – not quite, but we’re close. And the way people interact with them will keep changing.
“Right now, we have clunky VR helmets, but the technology is improving all the time.”
So, the gaming future is bright?
“Ultimately, you are the future – the people who aren’t yet playing,” he tells me. “It’s our job to make the game that will persuade you to play, rather than go home and watch TV.”
Lewis could hardly agree more.
Q&A by Lewis Moran
Q: What is your favourite game that someone else created?
Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Switch is breathtakingly brilliant – a beautiful world where players have absolute freedom.
Q: What is your favourite game that you invented?
Black & White – a game I created about 20 years ago. It’s about teaching this creature to be good or evil.
Q: How do you come up with ideas for games?
An idea can pop into my head at any time – in the middle of the night, or when I’m eating dinner. I’ll then obsess about it and add detail.
Q: What would you say to mums who think we play too many computer games?
When I was a kid, the criticism was that I watched too much television. Before that, you’d be criticised for reading too many books. Now it’s computer games. They are educational – they teach moral codes and the consequences of actions. I’d much rather somebody explore morality inside a computer game than in real life.
Q: Did you ever think of one idea for a game, but it ended up being totally different?
Games have a life of their own, so every game is like that – completely different at the start from the finish.
Q: Do you have any further goals?
That’s very easy. We’re making this game called Legacy to enable everyone to be creative and I want it to be great. Not just good, but great. That means a game that people will remember.
Q: How would I become a games inventor?
You take an academic route – go to university and get a degree in games design or computer programming and then apply to join a company. Alternatively, think of a single idea and develop it over time and then pitch it.
