Today is the end of a 17-year adventure for this veteran trained in autodicate on his Commodore 64, whose career began at Codemasters in the late 80s on the game KGB Superspy. Hired by Bullfrog in the early 90s, he did most of the graphics for games like Theme Park, Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper. Subsequently, the young Mark Healey followed Peter Molyneux when the latter founded Lionhead Studios in 1996 to work on Black & White and (a little) Fable. “I arrived when there were 4 people and left when there were 200,” he recalls. The departure in question takes place in 2005, but Mark Healey never stays long without working.
In January 2006, after having fun creating Rag Doll Kung Fu in his free time, he became one of the founders of Media Molecule, a studio that was noticed by PlayStation after only a few months and whose alliance gave birth to LittleBigPlanet, whose concept of platform game and creation tool marked its time with its inventiveness. Both a programmer and an artist, Mark Healey is a real jack-of-all-trades adept at code, graphics and music.
After LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2, he leaves the adorable Tearaway to Rex Crowle to start building a crazy project called Dreams, a one-of-a-kind creation platform whose evolution will however cease from next September, the date from which the he team will be fully focused on their next project.
- Also Read | Dreams: Media Molecule turns the page to focus on a new project
Unfinished dreams
By reading this interview with the VGC website dating back to the official launch of Dreams in early 2020, we realize that several of Mark Healey’s wishes will never come true. For example, he wanted to find a way for creators to monetize their works, if only by helping to market the most noticed games as products in their own right on the PlayStation Store. Dreams itself will never have been monetized while Mark Healey clearly mentioned having paid DLC projects. After the departures of Alex Evans (in September 2020), Kareem Ettouney (in December 2022) and Mark Healey today, it should be noted that David Smith is the last of the co-founders of Media Molecule still in place. The studio has remained headed since September 2009 by Siobhan Reddy, who is one of many to pay tribute to the brilliant creative director on Twitter.
(1/4) So, after SEVENTEEN incredible years of co-birthing and building Media Molecule – I have decided it is time for me to fly the nest – set sail and chart a new course – today is my last day at MM. pic.twitter.com/Z5tORKEr74
— Marcos (@marcoshealey) April 17, 2023
