Fable 2 Milestone! (Thursday, 6th July 2006)

This is cool! I'm currently waiting for a desk to become available in the Fable 2 office - it is taking longer then expected due to all the things that are happening at Lionhead Studios lately. Nothing that really interests you of course, so I'll get straight to the interesting bit: Fable 2!

Information is scarce at the moment about the project and that's simply because the team is working away, the community team is reinventing the wheel and in terms of PR we are keeping tight lipped for the time being. However, there's some good news too. To give our publisher confidence that we are on track and to show that we know what we're doing, regular builds need to be delivered so they can see the progress that has been made. This is what the industry calls "milestones" and needless to say that these are quite important. So was our latest delivery, the team made their deadline and the Microsoft Game Studios team was more than happy to see the progress that had been made. Everyone in the team has been pulling together splendidly and things have gone well. Well, okay. Okay, alright. Alright, they've not gone too badly. Tune in next month for news on the next milestone!

The team moving out of their old office into the new one!

Seeing as there are well over 70 people already working on Fable 2 there is a lot to report on. I could tell you about the technology guys who are creating the tools for the team, or the artists who are creating concept art, models and textures to be used ingame. Or I could tell about the MoCap sessions that were organized for the animators (no man should ever see Dene Carter in lycra!) or how the scripters are cracking on with all the quests and story, or how the programmers are experimenting with the gameplay and how the code affects what is possible in Fable 2. However, if I did that, not only would our publisher shoot me in the face, the team would also be upset and I might say things I come to regret further down the line (when inevitable changes are made). So I'm going to pick one subject that's quite vague and allows me to say a few things without revealing anything too early. Oh and there are no spoilers included! No, really!

The story and the flow through it are obviously high on the agenda - the design team has been spending days and days in meeting rooms discussing every little aspect of the story. I've been spending some time with them (a few days) listening to the presentation by Richard, Dene and William. Mark and Peter give their input and changes are made where necessary. Those of you who've had the pleasure to meet Dene Carter know what a charming character he is and when presenting dialogue and characters I can't help but smile at the show he puts up. Fable, the hippy game! I hope this guy will write more of his genius developer diaries, or similar things, his humor hasn't been surpassed by anyone yet. Ever!

So now that the whole story has been set out on paper and agreed upon, the implementation can begin. As you're probably aware Fable 2 is set roughly 500 years after the original Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters ended. This allows for some vital changes in the world of Albion, the characters and setting, but also to build further upon the heritage and back story. Eventually you get a story that is not only longer than the story from the original game but also one that's a little bit more mature! No, we're not going down the route of GTA (violence-grandeur) but with the current plan some people might be shocked by what we have in stock for Fable 2 players. Story-wise this is a slightly different approach but you'll like it, it has some rather cool twists to it. And I'm not talking about someone who rescues you at first and then betrays you, we've seen that a zillion times before, including in the original game.

Our testing guys inform the team each morning about the state of the latest version; this includes the good & bad about Fable 2 and is often referred to as "the smoke test". This is a quite simple Yes/No checklist that checks the major functionality and features in the game and it's of great value to us (the team) as the emails tell us whether it is worth grabbing the build or not (so we can play it)!

And with this small update I leave all of you for this month; we are really looking forward to a few gaming events that are taking place later this year. Stay tuned for more updates...

- Sam -

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