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Having the trees grow would have required 15% processor utilization? Yeah sure =\

There is something I have to say. And I have to say it because I love making games. When a game is in development, myself and the development teams I work with constantly encourage each other to think of the best features and the most ground-breaking design possible.

However, what happens is that we strive to include absolutely everything we've ever dreamt of and, in my enthusiasm, I talk about it to anyone who'll listen, mainly in press interviews. When I tell people about what we're planning, I'm telling the truth, and people, of course, expect to see all the features I've mentioned. And when some of the most ambitious ideas get altered, redesigned or even dropped, people rightly want to know what happened to them.

If I have mentioned any feature in the past which, for whatever reason, didn't make it as I described into Fable, I apologise. Every feature I have ever talked about WAS in development, but not all made it. Often the reason is that the feature did not make sense. For example, three years ago I talked about trees growing as time past. The team did code this but it took so much processor time (15%) that the feature was not worth leaving in. That 15 % was much better spent on effects and combat. So nothing I said was groundless hype, but people expecting specific features which couldn't be included were of course disappointed. If that's you, I apologise. All I can say is that Fable is the best game we could possibly make, and that people really seem to love it.

I have come to realise that I should not talk about features too early so I am considering not talking about games as early as I do. This will mean that the Lionhead games will not be known about as early as they are, but I think this is the more industry standard.

Our job as the Lionhead family of studios is to be as ambitious as we possibly can. But although we jump up and down in glee about the fabulous concepts and features we're working on, I will not mention them to the outside world until we've implemented and tested them, and they are a reality.

Thank you for reading.

Peter.

 

[PhatSaqs]

Old. He said the same stuff in the kikizo interview.

 

[DSN2K]

I have come to realise that I should not talk about features too early so I am considering not talking about games as early as I do.

no shit! :lol

 

[COCKLES]

Having the trees grow would have required 15% processor utilization? Yeah sure =\

No reason for damage control. Fable is better then 99% of shit on Cube and PS2 I've seen this year.

 

[Sysgen]

Thanks for the post. I've never seen this.

Anyway. Peter M., lesson learned. Don't promise what you can't deliver.

 

[Joe]

you gotta feel bad for the guy. he was spewing all that crap only because he was super excited about his game and was giddy like a school child.

 

[Ghost]

Why would he lie about it?

Looks like we've heard the last enthusiastic interview from PM. Alwell, at least the bitching can stop*.





*yeah right

 

[SKluck]

I blame stupid idiots that don't understand game development.

 

[Phoenix]

I blame stupid idiots that don't understand game development.

I blame the schools.

 

[border]

I blame stupid idiots that don't understand game development.

No need to be so hard on Molyneux. He seems to have learned something.

 

[calder]

You guys are trying to give him the "oh he was just excited and overpromised, lesson learned!" free pass he used up a couple of games ago.

At least he didn't try to say he was misquoted or meant something else, and at least he seems to understand that hyping features that don't make it into the game is a valid reason to criticize him, even if the Xbot apologists don't.

 

[Scalemail Ted]

No reason for damage control. Fable is better then 99% of shit on Cube and PS2 I've seen this year.

Ummm...to clarify, I don't think he was defending it against other non-xbox games released this year, but rather features he talked about early in the process which were latter dropped or not included.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

No need to be so hard on Molyneux. He seems to have learned something.

lol.

beat me to it.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

Pete while you are at it, please send me my $50 back for B&W. Thanks.

 

[belgurdo]

Molyneux owes me $20 (the value I lost selling the game on Ebay)

 

[Uno Ill Nino]

Fable is a fantastic game and he has nothing to apologize for. I remember a bunch of things that aren't actually in the game, but there's a lot of things in there that surprised me too. I really hope they make another game like this. Maybe even use the Fable name somehow. Just make it on a more grand scale.

 

[Docpan]

I am not even gonna read anything about Dimitri. 80 percent of it will be lies.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

No reason for damage control. Fable is better then 99% of shit on Cube and PS2 I've seen this year.

Agreed. Just bring out the expansion pack or whatever it is and I'll be happy until Fable II. Where's BC damn it?

 

[Ghost]

80% of nothing...uh...


And did you not read what he said?


whatever i really dont care.

 

[DarienA]

I can't believe you guys really think he just now had this epiphany and is now going to change his tune for future products...

 

[belgurdo]

I am not even gonna read anything about Dimitri. 80 percent of it will be lies.

On release day, everyone will shove this game into their systems and turn it on, only to be greeted by a guy flipping you off and then 4 hours of credit rolls

 

[DarienA]

On release day, everyone will shove this game into their systems and turn it on, only to be greeted by a guy flipping you off and then 4 hours of credit rolls

LOL!

 

[border]

I can't believe you guys really think he just now had this epiphany and is now going to change his tune for future products...

I expect him to continue touting "innovative" feature lists that may or may not actually make a game fun. I just assume that now he will start doing it when a game is actually somewhat finished, and more than "graphic demo + promises".

Seems pretty obvious that they just made a list of things they thought would be cool and started hyping, without any real thought about how they were going to integrate the features into the game or accomplish them within the bounds of the Xbox's capabilities.

 

[levious]

Why does he only mention the most superficial feature that got cut?

 

[human5892]

Fable should've been a PC game.

 

[G4life98]

i blame developers who over promise and under deliver...then get all bitchy when people are a little disapointed.

 

[Insertia]

I have come to realise that I should not talk about features too early so I am considering not talking about games as early as I do. This will mean that the Lionhead games will not be known about as early as they are, but I think this is the more industry standard.

should have did that from the get-go you idiot!

 

[Ghost]

Alwell, at least the bitching can stop*.





*yeah right

Yep, saw this one coming.


Let me join in..


THAT SON OF A BITCH, where does he get off apologising for mistakes! :mad

 

[border]

Why does he only mention the most superficial feature that got cut?

Because he doesn't want you to remember the important and exciting things that were yanked. "Oh it's okay Peter, we didn't really need growing trees anyway..."

 

[DarienA]

I expect him to continue touting "innovative" feature lists that may or may not actually make a game fun. I just assume that now he will start doing it when a game is actually somewhat finished, and more than "graphic demo + promises".

Seems pretty obvious that they just made a list of things they thought would be cool and started hyping, without any real thought about how they were going to integrate the features into the game or accomplish them within the bounds of the Xbox's capabilities.

But this has been his modus operandi since before he started developing Xbox titles... hey maybe this old dog can learn some new tricks though...

 

[B E N K E]

If there had been no Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic noone would be disappointed with Fable. It's pretty sad to see so many people knocking what is essentially a very good game for not being what some guy told you it would be. As a reviewer I tend to look at how good the game is compared to other games, not compared to the hype.

 

[Sinatar]

Pete while you are at it, please send me my $50 back for B&W. Thanks.

Pete while your at it, take a bow for the hundreds/thousands of hours of major entertainment you've given me with Populous, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, Magic Carpet 1/2, etc...

 

[belgurdo]

If there had been no Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic noone would be disappointed with Fable. It's pretty sad to see so many people knocking what is essentially a very good game for not being what some guy told you it would be. As a reviewer I tend to look at how good the game is compared to other games, not compared to the hype.

I read no hype and minimal previews of this game prior to playing it, and regardless I ended up questioning why it was piss easy and there was nothing to do other than kill/marry people, and why the game was so bloody short despite all the time I wasted hunting bandits and doing side stuff

 

[jedimike]

I like Peter. I think his talent as a game designer is better than 95% of what's out there. Fable is a great game and would be scoring probably 5% higher if he wouldn't have been flippin his yip so early on in development.

I also admire his apology. At least he is owning up to his downfalls and is being somewhat sincere to fans.

 

[Mike Works]

No need to be so hard on Molyneux. He seems to have learned something.

 

[levious]

If there had been no Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic noone would be disappointed with Fable. It's pretty sad to see so many people knocking what is essentially a very good game for not being what some guy told you it would be. As a reviewer I tend to look at how good the game is compared to other games, not compared to the hype.

As a consumer, I like to get what I expect. That aside even, nothing prior to release led me to believe I was getting a boring Hack n Slash/Sims hybrid.

 

[belgurdo]

As a consumer, I like to get what I expect. That aside even, nothing prior to release led me to believe I was getting a boring Hack n Slash/Sims hybrid.

Me neither, and that's what pissed me off the most. If I wanted a fantasy beat 'em up, I'll go download Shadow over Mystara

 

[border]

As a reviewer I tend to look at how good the game is compared to other games, not compared to the hype.

Well the game has raised the interesting question of how much a reviewer should take into account the promises that a game's developer has made.

Since the enthusiast press has devoted themselves to being never-skeptical polesmokers that won't criticize in previews or question the feasibility of a particular feature, then I think that they need to address such failures in the reviews. Developers ought to be held accountable somewhere....they can't just be allowed to promise the world to get free press, then completely renege those promises.

 

[snapty00]

I'm not a Peter Molyneux fan (I think the guy is a total self-absorbed weirdo, to be honest), but I really found him to be genuine in this particular instance. I really don't think he meant to mislead anyone.

 

[jedimike]

Well the game has raised the interesting question of how much a reviewer should take into account the promises that a game's developer has made.

Since the enthusiast press has devoted themselves to being never-skeptical polesmokers that won't criticize in previews or question the feasibility of a particular feature, then I think that they need to address such failures in the reviews. Developers ought to be held accountable somewhere....they can't just be allowed to promise the world to get free press, then completely renege those promises.

Please... you make it sound like he promised the world and delivered nothing. What exactly are we missing here? Some tree cutting? Lopping off kids heads? A multiplayer aspect that probably wasn't worth playing?

He delivered a rock solid game and judging by the comments of the haters, they wouldn't have liked it even if everything he promised did make it into the game.

 

[levious]

- More than one character type/gender
- Competing heros on quests

just two completely non-superficial cuts off of the top of my head.

 

[border]

Please... you make it sound like he promised the world and delivered nothing. What exactly are we missing here? Some tree cutting? Lopping off kids heads? A multiplayer aspect that probably wasn't worth playing?

Competing against other heroes, pseudo-real-time aging, career options, and child scarring )) were also taken out.

The point isn't so much about how he disappointed gamers, but rather that the game would not have gotten near as much hype if there had not been so many promises. So if you don't hold a game-maker at least somewhat responsible for the things he's promised then everybody is going to be bullshitting in an attempt to grab magazine covers.

 

[The Faceless Master]

No reason for damage control. Fable is better then 99% of shit on Cube and PS2 I've seen this year.

the trees grow in Animal Crossing

 

[Sinatar]

- More than one character type/gender
- Competing heros on quests

just two completely non-superficial cuts off of the top of my head.

There was never multiple genders/types. Ever.

The competing hero's was definitely trimmed, but you do compete with Whisper a fair bit.

 

[jedimike]

pseudo-real-time aging

What do you mean exactly? My character definitely aged.

career options

I don't recall any promise of that. The game, from the beginning, was about being a hero... not a fisherman, grave digger, or merchant. But you can do all of those things if you want.

 

[Comfort_Eagle]

Agreed. Just bring out the expansion pack or whatever it is and I'll be happy until Fable II. Where's BC damn it?

I seriously doubt BC will ever come out. Just a hunch.

As for fable, I still havent played it but I want to. Just dont really feel like putting $50 down for it. Probably should have gotten in on the outpost.com deal.

Molyneux does need to chill out so early in his games development. When you hype your stuff so early and the final product has so little of what you originally wanted and spoke about, extreme backlash is going to happen.

 

[Ghost]

I seriously doubt BC will ever come out. Just a hunch.

As for fable, I still havent played it but I want to. Just dont really feel like putting $50 down for it. Probably should have gotten in on the outpost.com deal.

Molyneux does need to chill out so early in his games development. When you hype your stuff so early and the final product has so little of what you originally wanted and spoke about, extreme backlash is going to happen.

I highlighted the confusing parts of your post.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

He's just taking the easy way out and I can't believe the support here. FABLE was billed on Hype alone - you think it would have sold as well as it did at retail without the various articles / junkets about how fucking REVOLUTIONARY fable is? Hell, there was THAT article about how Fable was the INNOVATIVE western title.

and now this lame... "my dog ate my homework" excuse. Sure.

 

[Ghost]

and now this lame... "my dog ate my homework" excuse. Sure

Is it the entire english language you have no comprehension of or just the meaning of "the dog ate my homework"?



This thread needs to be locked.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Is it the entire english language you have no comprehension of or just the meaning of "the dog ate my homework"?



This thread needs to be locked.

I do. dog ate homework = don't blame me.

He is essentially saying that is the fans fault for taking everything he said at face value

blaming dog = blaming fans.

Molyneux is a fool - apologising = easy way out instead of addressing it in fable 1.5 or sequel. He's not even saying anythign about those.