Industry legend Peter Molyneux took to the stage at the Game Developers Conference on Friday to talk on the risks and rewards of experimenting in video game design.

The man behind countless classics at Bullfrog and Lionhead Studios--including Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Syndicate and Fable 2--explained how Lionhead turned its love of dreaming and experimentation from a vulnerability to a great strength.

Black & White: a chimera born of mad science
Molyneux began by describing the development of Black & White as "utter chaos."

Many ideas from this chaos were turned into game features--"that incorporated such things as the creature--okay, that was a plus. But also..."

I had one idea actually at GDC, and this was back in 1998 or 9, I can't really remember. And I was talking to a journalist, and for some for some reason, maybe because I was in sunny California...

I said 'Hey, why don't we make the weather inside Black and White the same as the weather outside in your garden in the real world.' And so I went back to Lionhead, and went back to all the programmers and said look, I have this really good idea.

They went off, went to 10,000 weather sites, translated all the data, did all that stuff. While they were doing that, they weren't working on the game itself, the game mechanics weren't working.

It was just a dumb and stupid idea, and it really derailed the game for a little while. And that chaotic place, where this game Black & White was made, is where these experiments came from.

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Lionhead formalise experimentation
The rampant experimentation had to be reigned in, but this was risky in itself:

Lots of people have cool ideas. It's not just designers. It's certainly not just me. And because we just focus more and more we're doing "the game," there's no forum for these people to experiment.

And if someone has a really bright idea, what do they do? Well a lot of times I'll tell you, they leave your company and they go somewhere else, because the idea is so smart.

The solution was to formalise dreams and experiments at Lionhead.

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