Google's doodlers reveal all: How the search giant turned Doctor Who into a game

Deep inside the Googleplex, just past the giant spaceship suspended from the ceiling, there is a unique office stuffed with toys, art and dogs – the home of Google’s famous Doodles.

How Google draws its doodles

They have taken the internet by storm, becoming a global phenomenon seen by everyone who visits Google’s homepage.

Google Doodles, which began life as a way for the firm’s founders to tell people they were at Burning Man, have grown into a huge operation.

Recently the team finished its biggest ever challenge – a complete game based on Doctor Who, to tie in with the show’s 50th anniversary.

Stuff was given exclusive access to the Doodle team, led by Londoner Matt Cruickshank, to find out how they did it – and why the Doodle has become a key part of Google’s culture.

The team of 15 is housed in a corner of the Googleplex, and it a unique office where almost every surface is covered with toys and artwork, while the teams three dogs keep a close eye on proceedings (at Google, the dogs are even allowed ID badges).

The Doctor Who project was shrouded in secrecy, with most Google employees unaware it was being created.

It features all 11 doctors, who players must guide round a series of levels, avoiding Daleks and other baddies from the hit show – with levels set in London.

The idea was first suggested by a Google employee to the Doodle team, who say they welcome ideas from anyone.

Normal Doodles will take around six weeks to complete, but Doctor Who took four months to finish, and is the most advanced Google has ever attempted.

Cruickshank first drew the characters on screen, then programmers began building the game, which remained on the Google homepage around the world for 48 hours.

“We wanted something for fans and a game people who don’t know who Doctor Who is,” said Cruickshank.

“The age demographic is huge, I’d say 7-70, and what attracted us all was the science fiction.

“We get a lot of funky ideas from sci fi that aren’t too far from what some parts of Google are working on.

“In fact, we’re just testing the driverless Tardis,” he joked (at least, we think he was joking).

The team worked with the BBC on the project, with engineers from other parts of Google joining to program the game.

Putting the office dogs to work

Corrie Scalisi, an engineer on the project, said the Doctor Who doodle is the most complex ever attempted.

“This is definitely the largest Doodle we’ve ever attempted – it’s huge," she said.

Her dog, Cody, a 6.5 year old mini Alaskan Husky, provided some of the sound effects for the game.

“Cody is the squeaky gate, and also the sound effect for a weeping angel,” she explained.

Rui Lopes is the main engineer on the project, and joined the team as part of his ‘20% time’, a Google idea that lets workers take part in different projects as part of their working day.

Cruickshank, who previously worked as an animator, joined the team a year ago, and claims “Doodles are the perfect mix of technology and art.”

“Within Google, doodles are seen as really positive – they’re a fun way to engage users,” he said. “I think people see it as one of the coolest job within Google.”

The team now creates hundreds of Doodles every year, celebrating holidays, people and events around the world.

“We’ve done thousands of doodles, and we on average do around 400 a year around the world," said Cruickshank.

“We aim to do one global doodle at least every quarter, then 4 static doodles as well."

He also revealed that the future is bright for the Doodle team, with the only issue being thw wait for technology to catch up.

"We could do anything with that homepage, it’s really exciting, and we often wait a bit for technology to catch up with what we want to do."

How Google Doodles began

Doodles began life at Google in 2008, when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival.

They placed a stick figure drawing behind the 2nd "o" in the word Google, and the revised logo was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were "out of office."

Since then, thousands have been created to mark holidays, special events and famous figures.

The first Google Doodle

In 1998, before the company was even incorporated, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. They placed a stick figure drawing behind the 2nd "o" in the word, Google, and the revised logo was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were "out of office."

Bastille Day

Two years later in 2000, Larry and Sergey asked current webmaster Dennis Hwang, an intern at the time, to produce a doodle for Bastille Day. It was so well received by users that Dennis was appointed Google’s chief doodler and doodles started showing up more and more regularly on the Google homepage.