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Fable tech director leaves Lionhead to start new company

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 21st 2011 5:00PM

Simon Carter, co-founder of Lionhead satellite studio Big Blue Box and lead technical director on the Fable series, has left Lionhead to found a new team focusing on digitally distributed titles for consoles and PC. He will begin the new venture with his brother, Dene Carter, who is also a developer.

Carter said the decision to leave Lionhead was a "very difficult one," but there are "lots of new opportunities to pursue." Carter worked in the long shadow of Peter Molyneux for ten years, having also held roles as technical lead on Dungeon Keeper and part of the Bullfrog Productions team.

Maybe we can internalize Carter's next game as some form of technical reparation for Fable 3.

Tags: Lionhead, Lionhead-Studios, microsoft, mobile, pc, playstation, ps3, Simon-Carter, xbox

Reader Comments (25)

I get the feeling that he was more fed up with having to cover for Peter every time he made some stupid promise.

@Gibbeynator

I get the feeling he saw the plans for the company for the next 20 years and when he saw FABLE on every single schedule he decided to leave........

@Hunter141072
yup, I think so too.

@Gibbeynator

10 years of trying to convince Peter to make another Dungeon Keeper or Populous probably failed. A man can only try so hard.

"No! It must have monkeys fling poo!"

"This game needs a dog!"

*sigh*

lol all i can say

Lionhead really dropped the ball with Fable 2 and 3...and this upcoming kinect on the rails game doesnt look to be redeeming at all, they gotta get thier house in order

@Tradio MS's M.O. in effect. Buy something wonderful and then watch it burn down by destroying the culture that was originally there.

@Tradio

I agree with you for the most part. I feel Fable 2 was the best of the series.

Peter needs a new love slave. **RAISES HAND**

@CaptainProtonX I'll be your back up.

Abandoning a (possible) sinking ship.

@Yan

It´s so sad to read how a man that was a HUGE legend of game designing ended up being nothing but the good old "crazy-dude of the town" damn, i still remember the good old Amiga times....every time peter talked everybody would listen, every single game he created was a hit and we all knew the next one would be an amazing creation full of fun and originality, and now.......he is the target of nothing but jokes, sad indeed..... I wonder how he ended like this?? when he did the final mistake?? sadly everything started when he accepted the buyout of EA, from that day everything was downhill......

Step 1 - Negotiate the Dungeon Keeper license from EA.

Step 2 - Make Dungeon Keeper 3.

Step 3 - I'll buy it.

@LaughingTarget

We can only dream. Another Populous would be cool. Imagine Populous 1 with Kinect controls to pick people up, raise and lower the land? He's probably just screw that up too by trying to add in a bunch of dumb crud instead of just redoing it.

I don't know what to say about all this Peter hate. Dude has a tendency to flap his jaw, but he and his studios have always made fun and unique games that I enjoyed.

Sometimes I think people only know him for his most recent games, and are unaware of the man who spawned an entire genre.

Now I can't help but picture Simon Carter now as the British-accented Lionhead programmer Justin was pretending to be on the E3 podtacular, and as a result I find this hilarious.

I LOVED Dungeon Keeper!

Calling Dene Carter "also a developer" kind of misses the ball. He was the other co-founder of Big Blue Box, and he, not Molyneux, was the main creative force behind Fable and (I think) Fable 2. He left Lionhead last year.

It's a bit sad to see these two working on "cute" iPhone games.

@Bluebrake Then take heart, there are many epic,charming,violent (other adjectives) games they could be making instead of just "cute" ones.

The money in the industry isn't flowing toward mobile just to satisfy Angry Bird fans, maybe he'll take his experience and make the next fun adventure game for iOS. He's just leaving behind one platform for another it doesn't lobotomize him.

@Bluebrake

Molyneux is not soley responsible at all! Do some digging before spouting off claims like that ffs.

Make yourself look a right fool.

@yomachaser

Dene Carter's new project: Flaboo!
http://www.denecarter.com/

"The cutest game around!

Tap, tilt and shake the screen to make Fat Chick bounce his considerable bulk off clouds and up into the sky in this unique rhythm-action game. On his journey through the weird world of Flaboo!, Fat Chick will encounter magical coffee, his own spaceship, lightbulbs, plate-mail armour and much more."

Maybe eventually he'll return to his roots, but it doesn't seem to be high on the priority list.

@DigitalEmporer

I have no idea what you're even talking about.

I personally loved Fable 3. My girlfriend and I finally had a co op game we could play together! Glitches sucked but in the long run I was still happy with it.

@TylerDurden102680
I absoluty adore fable 3. It saddens me to see all this hate towards a game that I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed fable 3 much more than 2. I felt like they brought something back from fable 1. Something that made me enjoy it so much. I think what they should do is give Peter a partner. Someone that represents the game alongside him. Someone that could state the actual *facts* and have Peter make those facts sound wonderful. Although it had many short-comings, I thought it was a very satisfying experience.

"Carter worked in the long shadow of Peter Molyneux for ten years," which is 10 years of Peter saying, "Carter! I want you to put this giant wooden square into this tiny glass hole."

le sigh.

Looking forward to seeing what kind of downloadable goodies this guy can bring.

Breaking News

Fable tech director leaves Lionhead to start new company

Reader Comments (25)

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:03PM Gibbeynator said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:52PM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 12:08AM echerringtonYAHOOCOM said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 11:28AM Pipp said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:03PM guywithglasses said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:04PM Tradio said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:25PM The angry pro consumer gaming ga said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 10:00AM Tuxy79 said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:17PM CaptainProtonX said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 12:39AM Miranda Lawson said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:22PM Yan said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:59PM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:26PM LaughingTarget said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 11:30AM Pipp said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:27PM Nashk said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 5:34PM onan said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 6:29PM Hawaii Jeff said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 6:54PM Bluebrake said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 7:20PM yomachaser said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 7:44PM DigitalEmporer said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 8:28PM Bluebrake said

Posted: Jun 21st 2011 7:42PM TylerDurden102680 said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 1:47AM The patatoe said

Posted: Jun 22nd 2011 8:32AM Negatron said

Posted: Jun 23rd 2011 6:13PM iceveiled said

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