Now they will probably not remember this, but ten years ago one mention of the game Fable caused considerable public resonance. It was the project of Peter Molinjo, who became famous while the creator Populous, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper And Black & White. A kind of Peter Jackson from the video of the video game, which, if it takes on something, is certainly a large-scale and hitherto unimaginable thing. Fable was supposed to become this. We were promised an incredibly living world, trees growing in real time, a difficult choice between evil and good deeds and a lot more. The game was supposed to describe the whole life path of the hero – from childhood to old age – and the universe itself was supposed to change together with the hero.
And as a result, either he heard it was not so, or Molinjo overdid it with promises, but … the world turned out to be almost static, and in addition to tiny locations. Formally, the hero really grew up and aged, but this happened as skills developed – the more experience, the older the character. And the choice between good and evil often came down to “kill/pardon” and in general, he did not put any moral dilemmas in front of the player. Choose a good option all the time and do not eat meat – and a halo will appear above your head. And if you act in a blunder and do not disdain chicken, the horns will grow.
That is, the promises seem to be fulfilled, but we were waiting a little of another. And growing trees, for example, did not wait ..
In a word, the first part of Fable fell victim to the effect of high expectations: every now and then new foci of indignation broke out on the network, and a very serious damage was inflicted on the reputation of Molnia, which is thecap to him and until now.
But in ten years passions poured out. And here is the time to remember that those who did not expect anything super -circular from the game, she gave a lot of pleasant hours. After all, in fact, this is a bright and colorful role -playing game in a fabulous style, where a naive but cheerful storyline was supplemented by a lot of different opportunities.
In a detachment of tasks, the hero could take fish, flirt with girls-NPC, loudly spoil the air in public and kick chickens, sending them to a short-lived colorful flight. Now all sorts of mini-games and fights in taverns are found in every second “big” game, but for 2004 it was a little breakthrough. And the fact that the main character constantly changed depending on the chosen profession (the warrior was heard in the shoulders, the archer stretched up, and the body of the magician was covered with luminous runes), since that time, no one has repeated. Unless domestic " Blood magic "I recall.
► Whatever evil tongues say there, Fable was a great game. At least due to the fact that here, as in Star Wars: Kotor, you can feel like a real Sith.
And in honor of the anniversary of the franchise, the Microsoft Studio started reinstalling the very first Fable on a more modern platform. So far, only on the Xbox 360, but the versions for Xbox One and PC are not excluded – just everything has its time, and you need to see how the sales will go. And it will be not just a remake with HD-textures, but a game with completely redrawn graphics, a game where everything that gained popularity over the past years will be added-achievements, support of social networks and Smartglass and other ruffles, without which the modern project is already incredible. Well, the filling will remain the same.
We contacted the project of the project Ted Timmins to ask a number of clarifying questions and find out what to wait for the time of the release. He is already very close – early February. By the way, then the light will see the Fable Trilogy collection, which in addition to the remake will include the second and third part of the series.
" Gambling ": Hello! Let's start from the very beginning. Ten years have passed since the release of Fable, during this time a new generation of players managed to grow, which could not hear about the game. How would you describe the game in a nutshell?
Ted Timmins : When the first part of Fable came out, there was nothing like her in the world. And to this day very few games will be equal to her. The most important thing is that, in my opinion, there is in Fable – this is the principle of "every choice will have its own consequences".
You play for a little boy who lost home and family, but you got to study the heroes of the heroes. In the future, exploits and adventures awaited him, the choice of the life path and the method with which he would follow this path, he could become kind or evil.
It was in Fable that the hero could be married to the chosen girl (forced wedding under the muzzle of a shotgun in Fallout 2, apparently, is not considered. – approx. Ed). You could change your hairstyle, go to the pub and get drunk, you can drink someone else-a thousand little things that give the game in total, which is not anywhere else. This approach makes Fable special to this day.
► redrawn the game so that even Peter Molino does not suddenly recognize his creation.
" Gambling ": But since then, a lot of games came out where you can cut yourself and get drunk in the bar. Do you think that what was cool in 2004 is now not so impressive?
Ted Timmins : No, I don't think so. Fable is in any case a very peculiar world, unique in its kind. And what can be done in it is still different from how it looks in other games. Yes, you can also get drunk in some "witcher", but this is not the only feature of Fable, there are many of them! In Fable 2 and 3, your choice can change the Earth's face itself! The hero returns to some area, and it has completely changed-only because of your decision. And this choice between good and evil, between feelings and rationalism – this is what Fable does not unique.
" Gambling ": What are the main differences between the new version of Fable and the old?
Ted Timmins : First of all, this, of course, is graphics. Now this is a graph of a good modern game built on the fresh version of Unreal Engine. In addition, we used a completely new engine for lighting, and the entire art is also updated, the sound is completely replaced – if you have a good audio system, you will feel what a real volume sound is. We crossed from a low -format screen 4: 3 to a wide screen and a 16: 9 format, and so on ..
Add all sorts of little things here, inconspicuous at first glance. If you remember how the game looked in 2004, you will definitely feel how much the new game is ahead of the original. Nevertheless, the sensations from her remained the same. This is very important for us – to play like in the first Fable.
" Gambling ": How about new content? This is just an improved and updated good old game, or there will be something new in Fable Anniversary-new locations, for example?
Ted Timmins : After the release of the first Fable, we released a package-explosion called Fable: The Lost Chapters. In our opinion, this is already the most complete version of the first Fable (and this, recall, is about thirty percent of the new content), and it was she who formed the basis of Fable Anniversary.
And only when the artists-and we had more than a hundred of them, you can imagine the scale-we finished work on the game, https://sister-site.org/luck-of-spins/ we began to look if something else was squeezed somewhere. And they found a little: several new costumes, a couple of types of weapons, and we also announced bonuses in pre -order. Not a lot, but for us the main priority was the game itself, which should live up to all the expectations of fans. We began to do everything else only after the completion of the main works.
► the game process of changes, however, did not almost touch. We will get the same thing that we have already played.
" Gambling ": Then as about DLC? Will the game expand in the future, will there be new chapters of history?
Ted Timmins : A very good question … The fact is that I myself am a game designer. And, like any game designer, I want my game to have as much content as possible – to the horror of the producer.
Therefore, I will answer this way for now: wait – we will see. I can’t wait for the results of announcements and premises and, of course, the release itself. Then we will see how she will be accepted, how they will appreciate, how fans will react … And if everything is fine, I can come to the boss and say: “Let's do new content, I want to add several levels! "
" Gambling ": By the way, what can you say about the opportunities that were promised in 2004, but did not get into the game? Suppose ten years ago the technique was weak and could not count the prospecting trees. But now?
Ted Timmins : Another good but difficult question. Now it is very difficult to say what the game would turn into in 2004 if all the promised were implemented in it. It would be possible to grow a tree from a seed of a truly important? She would have changed the game for the better in the eyes of people – just the opportunity to grow a tree?
We asked such questions to begin work on Fable Anniversary. Here, we thought, about ten years or even twelve ago, we said that you could grow a tree from a seed … And ten years later, do we need it at all? From the standpoint of the gamed -designer, for example, if I embed the opportunity to grow trees like that, I want it to significantly affect the course of the game! And just somewhere planted seed will not give anything to the game ..
So we preferred to deal with Fable: The Lost Chapters on Xbox 360 in its original form. We thought that from trees in real time, even now technically possible, will be much less than from Smartglass, new achievements, a processed user interface ..
This interface and the conservation system in the source game left much to be desired, today's players would suck them. The interface was slow, bulky, it was not easy to navigate in it. And the conservation system did not allow me to sign up in the middle of the quest – just imagine this these days! You spent forty -five minutes on the quest – and you cannot survive?! I had to deal with these problems.
► We don’t know how such a sword can fight, but Fable and a fairy tale. But it looks cool!
Now, by performing a quest, when you move from the region to the region you get a new control point and you can survive in it when you wish. Of course, we could grow trees with our technologies … But we preferred a simple work system and a quick, intuitive, beautiful interface. I hope fans will correctly understand our solution.
" Gambling ": And the most popular question in our community: are there any chances to see a female character?
Ted Timmins : I knew what you ask! We also discussed the female character for a long time at the beginning of the project … The main catch with a female character is that the whole plot was built on the story of a young man, it is obviously about the young man, so the possibility of introducing a girl-girl and keeping the game as there is no fable. The fact that it was necessary for a long time – and, since the heroine did not fit into the first game, she appeared in Fable 2 and Fable 3. Lionhead does nothing half, so in subsequent games the plot changed and the characters began to react to the heroine properly. If we could, we would do this for Fable Anniversary, but – alas, no way.
" Gambling ": Thank you very much. And the last question: you left the British flag on the underpants of the protagonist?
Ted Timmins : Still! Such a dear detail from the very first game, and I already said that we are trying to adhere to the original source in everything, so the British flag did not go away!
Success factors
Risk factors
- The first Fable was a great game and remained such;
- not just HD-texts, but completely redrawn graphics.
- This is really exactly the same game as it was; new – miserable;
- And the trees never grow ..
Stage of development
Half a month before the release, there was just a little bit.
We will wait?
The opportunity to play your favorite role on the big screen and with a voluminous sound is always pleasant. And for those who did not play the original, this is also a chance to catch up.
