NYT Profiles Creator of Black & White and Fable

Amy's Robot writes "The NYT has a profile of Peter Molyneux, creator of 'Populous,' 'Black & White,' and the upcoming 'Fable.' In Fable, the moral decisions you make affect the character's appearance, the outcome of the game, and so on. You get the impression that Molyneux's unconventional approach to game design infuses each of his creations with something more than your average game. Fable will be released for X-Box on September 14."

Comments

High Concept, Low Gameplay

[cephyn]

Mr. Molyneux's game concepts are always amazing, topnotch, and sadly, overambitious. Thats how I've always felt. B&W was a disappointment, because for all the hype and all the "open-ended" promises, the game played pretty much the same for everyone, and had a ton of bugs too. I put it down after getting about 3/4 of the way through and just never picked it up--just didn't live up.

Now that I hear that a lot of the promises of Fable didn't make it into the final game, I wonder if the same thing will happen -- huge concept, big promises, but weak on the execution.

This isn't to say the games are bad, they're just horribly disappointing to me. A game that sounds like 10/10 ends up being more like an 8 or a 7/10, but given the expectations, tends to "feel" more like a 5/10.

Re:High Concept, Low Gameplay

[GeorgeMcBay]

Black & White was a disappointment, yeah, but as a key player in the creation of many great games like Populous, Syndicate, Theme Park, Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper, I think I can overlook one overhyped flop.

And from what I've seen Fable looks really good. I'll surely give it at least a rent.

Game creators

[El Cabri]

I don't have celebrity game creators in very high esteem. In almost 30 years, they have failed to make gaming a recognized art form, which cinema had achieved at the same age by the 1930s. They leave no legacy, since video games mostly disappear with the platform they were running on. And game designers, instead of concentrating on the entertainment value of their games, like to hype BS "artificial intelligence", "real virtual worlds that interract like the real real world", and armchair philosopher's mumbo jumbo.

Re:Black & White

[Scrameustache]

Ultimately though it came down to micro management and resource gathering.
Nothing revolutionary.

Well, I Villagers need food... really liked the game.
In fact, I found it quite Villagers need food... addictive.

Hell, I had a game tester job back in those Villagers need food... days, and I would spend my evenings playing that after a hard day's playing something else. Villagers need food...

It even did stuff like tell Villagers need food... you you'd been playing for a long time in a fun way. Once I came home straight from work and just played until the little devil Villagers need food... helper told me "Hey boss, its gettin' kinda late. Maybe you should rest a little.", that was surprising, and it made me realise it was 11:30 and I'd been playing for over 5 hours straight! : )

Villagers need food...
death...

But man, the last level was a bitch, I never actually finished it. I get the feeling the game was released unfinished. In fact, I'm sure it was death.... That's why I like console games better, at least there is an authority such as Sony or Nintendo that forces the devs and editors to actually FINISH the game before they release it. Villagers need food... On PC its free-for-all, "patch it later" mentality. Sad really.
death...
death...

Face evolution

[Espectr0]

Hey this is cool. This is my starting evil character in the game.

After doing some non evil stuff, my character now looks like this