As everyone is working very hard over here at Lionhead on Fable, and as we all saw enough pictures about Lionhead at Night, we thought it might be a good idea to put some people in the spotlight! This time we have our producers talking about what they do, how they feel and how they manage to keep out of the webcams... Sort of anyway! They all know what's going on on these boards but as they have lot's to do, I asked them some questions and posted them on the board. Now we've also included these for your reading pleasures on LHtimes! Just to make sure all of you know who's making this incredible game!

1. Who are you and tell us a bit more about your work.
I’m Louise and I’m the Lead Producer on Fable. I have overall responsibility for tracking and scheduling work, ensuring we deliver milestones on time and are progressing as we should be. My aim is to always have a clear picture of what our problems are and how each area of the game is progressing at any one time, which with a team as large as ours can be tricky, but I have three excellent associate producers, Toni, Adrian and Rob who look after specific areas of the game and keep me up-to-date. Other parts of my job include liaising with the publisher, writing reports, keeping the team informed of important information, dealing with any problems anyone on the team has, prioritising work and issues, supporting the design team and generally keeping everyone on the team happy motivated and on track!

2. So how does your day look like? What do you normally do?
Blimey that’s a tricky question really because each day is very varied, I am always talking to the production team and directors of both BBB and LH firefighting problems that arise, and raising new issues, so today I’ll spend a good deal of my time on the phone, email and MSN! I also spend a fair bit of time looking at our schedules, tracking documents and being involved in design meetings and sorting out any problems any team member has.

3. What are you currently working on?
We are working on a pretty massive deadline at the moment so I am taking stock of where we are and planning the next phase of work – so I have my head stuck in emails and schedules! I’m also signing hundreds of Christmas holiday forms (yes we will get a tiny break!)!!

1. Who are you and tell us a bit more about your work.
I’m Toni, I’m the Associate Producer looking after the Scripters, Cinematographers, animators and sometimes James and Mark who look after the dialogue. Oh yes, and currently a couple of the artists too! Generally I’m responsible for making sure that everyone knows what’s going on in my areas of Fable and that the guys all have what they need to make sure they can create great scripts, animations and so on. I also look after their schedules and make sure nothing’s over-looked

2. So how does your day look like? What do you normally do?
First thing in the morning I’ll generally catch up on any emails and make sure my to-do list for the day hasn’t had anything left off it by mistake. Then I’ll do a catch up with all members of my team – finding out how they’re getting on with what they’re currently up to – whether they have any problems or whether they need anything to help them so I’ll be requesting code support or assets for the scripters, chatting to design about the animations or the dialogue and so on. This normally takes up quite a lot of the day and then it’s time to respond to the emails again!

3. What are you currently working on?
Fable – if that’s what you mean! But at this moment I’m making sure that each script displays the code features that it should successfully and trying to build up a picture of what further work needs to be done in all of my departments and schedule it accordingly.

1. Who are you and tell us a bit more about your work.
My Names Rob and I look after the Art and Animation, based over at the Big Blue Box office. I look after the artists, level designers, engine coders and occasionally the animators. Whether I spend most of my time protecting them from everyone else or vice versa is something I haven't yet figured out.

2. So how does your day look like? What do you normally do?
That depends. Assuming my "Busy" status on MSN is convincing enough, or I've left it off entirely, I can sometimes actually make it through my allotted tasks of catching up with email, doing my rounds, sorting out queries and schedules and inter-departmental communication/warfare. Otherwise, I spend all day fielding complaints. Today was a day of "self-illuminating textures on a washing line mesh"-related complaints.

3. What are you currently working on?
Retaining my sanity and that of those on my team. We're also digging a comprehensive tunnel system beneath the streets of Godalming for use as escape routes, just in case.

1. Who are you and tell us a bit more about your work.
My name is Adrian Price – I’ve been with Lionhead for almost 2 years and have been working on Fable since about April and I am currently working with the programming team and the Audio department. There are different types of programmers consisting of engine programmers (so there’s the lighting issues, optimizations memory things, saving/loading etc, and all the ‘under the hood’ type stuff that only they understand) Then there are the game coders and villager team who bring to life the creatures that you’ll be fighting and the NPC’s you’ll be interacting with. The amount of work that’s gone into all the creatures and villager AI is quite unbelievable – I think the villagers themselves are going to be a highlight of the game. And of course there’s Simon who is massively busy overseeing all things programming and helping out where needed. Overall I’d like to say that the programmers on Fable are an incredibly talented and hard working bunch of guys. What I essentially have to do is keep track of what they’re all doing, when they’ll have their tasks completed, who needs help from them, and if they themselves need any help with anything.
I also work closely with Russell Shaw our Head of Audio. He’s busy shoe-horning in sounds and fx into the game. I really like what he’s done with the Graveyard ambience. It does sound really spooky in there. Also, I try and stick my head into the testing dept a few times a day. About once a month we have a milestone that we send to Microsoft so I work with Jeff and Charlton a lot to make sure Microsoft have a full list of items that we’ve worked on throughout the month. All in all, it’s a busy day working on Fable and there’s plenty to do for everyone on the team.

2. So how does your day look like? What do you normally do?
Well, today looks quite sunny both inside and out. The game’s looking in great shape and at this moment in time is quite stable, meaning we’re able to get a lot out of it before a crash comes along and spoils the fun. This is normal though in game development so we’re not that bothered. I normally spend a fair while looking through emails from everyone and seeing who needs some support from the programmers. Otherwise it’s just a case of chatting to people and seeing if there are any problems and making sure other people on the team are aware of any problems before they spiral out of hand. It’s going well so far.

3. What are you currently working on?
Fable. This week is one of our biggest weeks so far (can’t say why – people might still be reading this!), not least because the team’s about to take a well deserved 2 week break. As I mentioned, it’s about that time where I am trying to get our Microsoft checklist in good shape so they can see what progress we’ve made this month. There’s also planning for next year for when the guys do come back as well as the inevitable crunch that comes with getting everything sorted before Xmas. And that’s about it.