LEGO Island Wes wrote a six page article about creative stuff in 2006

[lol username]

It's an interesting read.

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/310/proven_preliminary_planning_.php

But in case you're just there for the LEGO Island-related bits:

Low res, but nifty layouts, eh?

Also:

Racing games are really hot in Europe while Action/Adventure is most popular in the states. Often times, companies will have different versions of the same game for different countries. I've had a few somewhat humorous translation issues when working on projects where localization was an issue. On Lego IslandI had a joke (of sorts) where one of the LEGO characters mentions that he has no knees. Somehow in the translating of this to French, it came out as though the knees were talking. I received a phone call one evening from a very confused French interpreter. We straightened it out eventually. Another evening, the Japanese contingent called wondering which one of these two characters, Nick and Laura who are brother and sister, is the oldest. Apparently age is very important in Japanese syntax. I decided to make it easy and just went "Oh, they're twins." "That may be true." said the Japanese gent "...but which one is the oldest?" Oh, I could go on with odd translation war stories but this is our summary of sorts and I want to be able to pass along some helpful hints. Culture is important.

[PeabodySam]

Another evening, the Japanese contingent called wondering which one of these two characters, Nick and Laura who are brother and sister, is the oldest. Apparently age is very important in Japanese syntax. I decided to make it easy and just went "Oh, they're twins." "That may be true." said the Japanese gent "...but which one is the oldest?"

Just some wild mass guessing, but perhaps this is why >Nick gained seven years on Laura for the sequel despite originally being twins?