Fable sounds like it was a tough project. Peter Molyneux, lead designer, sat down for a close personable talk with around a thousand of his closest friends to go over what went wrong during development. There was nothing particularly shocking about the production. Sure, the game's story was 15 times the size of the end product, but we all know Molyneux. If anything, I'm surprised it was only 15 times bigger. Some interesting tidbits came out.
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It used to be a game with battling mages, with a multiplayer focus, called Wishworld.
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Fable used to take place on multiple continents. It was so big that they had the world on a globe at one point.
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One sketch of a young-looking warrior started the entire discussion about beginning the game as a kid. It just goes to show you how important the concept art stage is.
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Everything in the world used to transform as you made your good vs. evil decisions throughout the game. Every other person, the bushes, the birds, everything was touched.
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The name Project Ego was brainstormed last minute before an E3 announcement. They needed a name and that's the best they could do at the time. Next time, have some Jack Daniels before you make the call, Mr. Molyneux. It does wonders for the imagination.
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When the first playable build was due, they had no story, and no combat. Microsoft must have been as close to nervous as Microsoft can get.
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Choice quote, when talking about MS being nervous about "intimate relations": "To be a hero and not have sex? What's the point?"
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Molyneux was disappointed in the cinematics. He thinks they get in the way of the gameplay. We agree.
