Worldbuilding Backwards (On Purpose): How Story, Script, and Design Evolved Together

A Phil Svitek Podcast - A Series From Your 360 Creative Coach · Feb 2, 2026 · 11m

Worldbuilding doesn’t have to start with an encyclopedia—and in fact, sometimes it shouldn’t.

I break down how I approached worldbuilding for my animated feature by working backwards on purpose. BTW, if you want to follow the project as it’s actually being built, I’m sharing the full behind-the-scenes journey on Patreon (development updates, concept art, proof-of-concepts, and real creative decision-making along the way): http://patreon.com/philsvitek.

I walk through how we broke down the script to identify what actually needs to exist onscreen, how that led to deeper systems around…