Open-Source Set Design

[SlyOwl]

With the likes of Market Street designed by Marc Bannerman, it would seem that open-sourced set designs are becoming a more common feature in the Lego world, the Blacksmith Shop in 2002 being the first, and then extending to others such as the Hobby Trains and Factory Competitions.

However, rumour has reached my ears that in the near future, Lego Futura (where they design the sets) will cease to exist as LDD will take over completely, with each set simply being a modified for retail version of a submitted design. However, this change has not completely taken place (that is, if it will), as the LDD pallettes are not sufficient to construct entire themes. Lego Futura is an extremely secretive organisation, and so obtaining a job there is very difficult, although this signifies that it still exists and is operating.

Does anybody have any information regarding this rumour?

In the future will we be seeing more fan-designed sets? Will it extend beyond Creator and the Blacksmith shop? It seems like an unlikely business venture and would not practically or financially make any sense, but if someone could please dispell this rumour, I would be most grateful.

SlyOwl

Edited January 4, 2008 by SlyOwl

[tedbeard]

I am finding your analysis somewhat confusing.

With the likes of Market Street designed by Marc Bannerman, it would seem that open-sourced set designs are becoming a more common feature in catalogues.

I was under the impression that Mr. Bannerman was employed as a LEGO Designer when he designed Market Street. He was influenced in style by having been an AFOL but there was never a direct contribution to this set by anyone outside of the LEGO design team.

I also wonder what you mean by "in catalogues"? The ONLY fan-contributed (which is what I think you are meaning by "open-sourced") sets were the original winners of the LEGO Factory contest and the Hobby Train set. The most recent catalogue I saw had nothing in it that could be described as "open-sourced".

However, rumour has reached my ears that in the near future, Lego Futura (where they design the sets) will cease to exist as LDD will take over completely, with each set simply being a modified for retail version of a submitted design.

I have no inside information but that would be a stupid business idea. Why would you throw away so much control? It would still require a lot of work to turn an LDD MOC into a viable set within a theme. The basic design of a set, to me, seems like the easy part. Testing, negotiating with the production side and refining are where the hard work happens and using LDD MOCs as a starting point does not really change those tasks nor who will have to do them.

Since LEGO Factory is already running and could be expanded why would they try to turn it into something else? As it is LEGO gets to profit from people's designs when they are sold via the website. I think there might be more reluctance to letting LEGO take designs and turn them into sets to be sold in stores. Unless they started giving "designers" a percentage like on CafePress I cannot see quality designers giving their creativity away like that.

[Guurahk101]

That sounds odd, having sets like the Cafe Corner, that showcase AFOL-influenced designs is one thing, but every set like that? When I was a little kid, I once considered a job as a set designer, darn their secretiveness. :-P

Edited January 8, 2008 by Guurahk101

[Starwars4J]

Not only have I heard anything discounting this rumor, I've heard nothing supporting it either. For that fact I never heard of this at all :-P

But think about it, Lego is a business, right? They want to make money. This would be a horrible business idea. First of all, it would be the end of new parts for the reason that new parts are mostly designed to do things current parts could not, which would not be incorporated in fan designs for obvious reasons. Secondly it would take the fun and surprise out of things, not to mention the most important aspect. They'd owe royalties to those who submitted their sets. It would be impractical to have everyone sign waivers, and even still there would be endless frivolous lawsuits claiming that they didn't understand the wording or were tricked.

To me this sounds like sensationalist end-of-days thinking. I'd bet anything that this won't come to be LEGO policy. I'm all for some more fan-made or fan-inspired sets though, but as extras, and I'm sure we'll see that ;-)

[blueandwhite]

As an adult I think this would be fantastic. As a child, this would be an absolute nightmare! Fan designed sets have typically not been very child friendly.

When it comes to new pieces, I really think LEGO could cut back. I like new bricks as much as the next person, but I also appreciate that we have a ton of bricks to choose from. Short of very specialized bricks like Batman's cowl or a Storm Trooper's helmet, we already have a huge assortment of pieces that fill most needs. Alot of AFOL models show just how far one can go with the existing selection of bricks. Sometimes it seems that LEGO is inventing new pieces simply for the sake of doing it. If producing fewer new molds could save me a few bucks on sets, then I would be thrilled.