The 1994 isometric action-adventure Little Big Adventure left fans on the proverbial cliff with the final third instalment lost to the years after multiple (and imaginably frustrating) attempts to revive the series. Co-creator Didier Chanfrey said in a blog post concerning the complications faced with the series - “It appeared very fast that no major publisher would be interested in LBA. The sad truth is that the community - while active and loyal - is too small to build a game release on. The financial risk is simply too big.”
However, after securing the I.P. back from Delphine Software in 2012 to re-release on Steam and Mobile, it seems like Little Big Adventure is getting the financial injection it needs with a brand-new studio comprised of original co-creators and passionate fans to reboot the story of Twinsen and his enemy Dr. Funfrock.
Didier Chanfrey reports he was approached by long-time fan and business entrepreneur Benoît Limare to propose the idea of trying once again to bring the story to new generations with Team 2.21 - “His vision as a LBA fan, his business strategy as an entrepreneur and his genuine interest in doing what’s best for the IP, convinced me that we could do something great together. I took the leap of faith and we created the studio with Ben and Gwen for this new adventure, with Fred’s (co-creator of Little Big Adventure) support.”
With finances in mind, Team 2.21 are looking to start production once they reach a core team of around 12. “Even though the team and budget will be smaller than what was used to create the original LBA2, we’re confident that through hiring the right people, making smart decisions and utilising new technologies we can create an amazing experience for both newcomers and existing LBA-fans.”
Their vision for this reboot is to make the series last and while they understand why fans would be upset to miss out on the conclusion of the original games, it simply doesn’t make sense to revive the series just to end it again, therefore the conclusion of the original story has been seemingly scrapped stating “We want to attract a wider audience and share the wonderful world, iconic characters and story with as many players as possible, so that more Twinsunian adventures can be created.”
All is not lost though; Team 2.21 has released the original engine source code and in their words will fully support any fan projects/mods to the best of their abilities around the old games.
With the idea of a reboot in mind, the title has been slightly reworked to avoid confusion and marketing complications with the now overshadowing PlayStation exclusive series Little Big Planet. The title change has already been implemented with the Steam and GoG versions as Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure. Didier says “‘Little Big’ became more and more associated with this IP instead of LBA. The latest release in this universe dates from November 2020 and is called Sackboy: A Big Adventure, which is one ‘Little’ away from Little Big Adventure. This makes marketing and publicity around LBA all the more challenging.”
Team 2.21 are invested in hearing from and updating fans of the development process through their blog and social media right down to what engine they’re using (Unreal) and why saying “We will be as transparent as we can and involve the community with the development, to make the best game possible, together.”
Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure is aiming for a 2024 release in time for its 30th anniversary. Keep up to date on their socials or through their blog https://twinsenslittlebigadventure.com/ and grab the original 2 adventures on Steam or GoG for yourselves.