Why did an established game developer like Guerrilla choose to work with an animation studio to develop the visual benchmark for the game? Christian: Honestly, this was one of the first things I asked Guerrilla. They explained that their philosophy, particularly when tackling new creative challenges or pushing technical boundaries, is to bring in specialists from outside their usual orbit. It’s about injecting fresh perspectives and encouraging growth, both creatively and technically. They believe in the power of external expertise to elevate their own craft. That shows mature confidence in their capabilities and their people in our book. I genuinely hope they saw in us that same potential – that we


could bring a unique lens and a fresh skillset to the table, adding a sprinkle of our animation magic to their incredible world- building. We’re big believers in building strong partnerships across the industry. It’s how we all grow, learn, and ultimately, make something truly special.


Simon: When Guerrilla first approached us they knew they wanted to make a LEGO Horizon game but they were also very busy with other projects. They came to PASSION as they knew we had a background in both game trailers and LEGO animation and worked a lot with clients to develop character, narrative and look. The nice thing, and what I think has been successful from everyone’s perspective, is that an animation studio can work outside the game engine, in a linear or sometimes brute force way to react to creative or technical challenges. We aren’t as concerned about mechanic practicalities. We function like a sandbox, giving the game’s creative teams a safe place to play. I think that’s the real benefit. When all this comes together, we are a relatively fluid extension of the games team.


What was the importance of the visual benchmark you achieved for Lego Horizon Adventures? Christian: For us, quality is a driving force. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing exceptionally well. When you’re dealing with an IP as globally recognized and beloved as LEGO, every single detail matters. It’s almost like our understanding of the human face – we instantly recognize when something is “off.” LEGO is in so many lives, and we felt a responsibility to honor that deep connection with an authentic look and feel. This meant striving for true authenticity in every brick, every


character, every environment, and perhaps most crucially, in the lighting. Even when we were playing around with creative storytelling. It was about creating a visual language that felt both fresh and utterly familiar, a loving homage to both the epic scope of Horizon and the timeless charm of LEGO.


Simon: Having worked alongside Guerilla and Studio Gobo throughout, I think I can say that the work has been incredibly important for both teams. Studio Gobo have said many times how pleased they were to be able to hit the game’s development running, being able to see the potential before you get into the weeds. For


Guerrilla, creatively and technically testing all the elements from look through, to FX and animation, provided a safe place to experiment and fail before the ripple became damaging at scale. Given the super-fast development schedule of the game, I think the time and effort we all put in really helped all involved.


What unique challenges did you face during the process? Simon: Creatively - staying true to stop-frame rules and cinematic practicalities were some of our pillars. Lensing DOF, fogging, implied scale, and colour balance in LEGO legal world were all part of that. We wanted the viewer to see the work and feel like a child (or LEGO loving adult!) when they build or play with the toy, and had to figure out what pieces to use. “Do the pieces pop on and off?” “Do we animate on 1’s or 2’s?” “What does that look like when played back at 60fps?” “How can we leverage LEGOs innate humor in the context of Horizon?” were all questions we had to ask. The animation in general was a super fun challenge. We wanted


to bring the foliage alive in the forest. We wanted the characters and creatures to interact with their environment, to have contact, so dust gets kicked up and stuff like that. We also did so many tests around how you can suspend physicality when you want, and that adds back to the fun. It all came together really nicely in this respect. All the animators were transported to their childhoods. There was lots of that on the whole job to be honest. Composition with a detail-busy medium like LEGO can also be


problematic when directing the eye. It can be overwhelming. We needed to find ways to cut through that noise. We realized that the key was to make large, medium and small shapes within an overall shape, and then avoid repetition and keep as much as we could organic in the environments. We also reduced ground detailing of studs by placing flat broad tiles. Level of detail in general was a challenge too. Some of the procedurally


generated larger environments were very data-heavy, even with an offline rendering pipeline, however, LEGO bricks are a perfect excuse to use USD [Universal Scene Description] and instancing to optimize.


June/July 2025 MCV/DEVELOP | 49


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