Slashdot Mirror
Molyneux Talks Experimentation and Business
Over at Gamasutra, they have details on commentary by Peter Molyneux during the London Games Summit. Speaking in the grandiose, pie-in-the-sky manner he's become known for, Mr. Molyneux described some experimental gameplay ideas they're hoping might someday make it into Fable 2. From the article: "Elements of design that are changing from Fable's development to Fable 2's are what the players can purchase and own (wealth is likely to play a large part in Fable 2's characters); the responsiveness of and fantastical quality of combat (Fable 2 hopes to keep the combat more dramatic than realistic, but more responsive to objects and locations around the player); and the range of experience the player can have (Fable 2 is aiming to allow the main character to become pregnant, give birth, and raise a child)." The leader of Lionhead Studios also spoke on the business side of indie game development, warning developers not to enter the 'spiral of doom': using payment from a contract for a new game to finish development of one already in production. From that article: "Another key point: 'Every game says something about your company', as it was noted: 'You're only as good as your last game' - the industry has a relatively short memory, and signing subsequent titles is vital to indie developers' livelihoods." Update: 10/05 21:43 GMT by Z : Whether or not it contains any of these experimental ideas, at least Microsoft now has its hands on some playable areas of Fable 2.
How many games does this guy have to completely under deliver on for people to stop giving him so much credit? B&W2 was trash, Fable was a super linear hack and slash that failed on pretty much every promise, Black & White had some neat ideas but was fundamentally hampered by dull gameplay. What glorious feat of game design is this guy still coasting on? Populous?
"What glorious feat of game design is this guy still coasting on? Populous?"
Umm, dungeon keeper, theme park, magic carpet, syndicates (+wars), The Movies... and plenty more. I mean, I'm not directly sticking up for the bloke, I agree, he has released some poor flawed games in his time; but he definately does have the experience to give others a lesson
For one thing, instead of an old wizard continually saying "Have you checked for more quests at the Guild" while you're on a quest, it's now a young albino princess who says "Are you sure you want to open that booby-trapped door?" ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
More than 8 hours of gameplay.
"I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability."-Oscar Wilde
I'm pretty sure I spelled his name wrong, but oh well. I liked the open style of black and white it was insanely fun however only when I would cheat so that I could use all the spells and have my creature large so he could trop the enemy and use the really big explosion spells. B&W2 I kept winning while I was making giant cities for huge armies, not because I needed them to win the game but because I just like watching really cool epic battles...however those giant rathole cities would impress everyone and they'd join me before I was ready to attack :(
I don't know much about Fables, however I played the hell out of Fables the lost chapters and it was FANTASTIC. I was all of the RPG games were abit more like this. The graphics were good, the action was great there were a ton of little things to do and see along with some spice here and there ala the whore house as well as getting your wife to sleep with you. It was tons of fun! The personalized modifications you could make to how your character looked were great too, just too bad there wasn't a way to really play with how old they looked or how they looked after you maxed out their stats (always grey eyes/wrinkly, always large build). I'm hoping this next game is just as much fun because I've played through lost chapters about 10 times now and I still get a kick out of it.
Yes, I am abit of a fan boy of his games, I find that they might have some loose ends here or there, but they are a hell of alot more interesting than the usual doom clones that I've been seeing now for like a decade straight.