Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Molyneux Talks Experimentation and Business

Posted by Zonk on Thu Oct 05, 2006 02:25 PM
from the leap-from-the-lionhead dept.
Entertainment Games
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.
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] Molyneux Talks Fable 2 44 comments
Eurogamer has some details from a discussion with Peter Molyneux, on the upcoming Fable 2 and the as-yet-unnamed 'Project Dmitri.' The site comments on Molyneux's obvious enthusiasm for his work, and manages to get a few tidbits of information from the designer on these in-production titles. From the article: "I think it's exactly what Lionhead stands for - it's uniqueness, it's originality and it's taking something and doing something with it that no-one's done before. And that's really what the core of what the whole of Fable is. Fable 2 should be everything you expect, then 10 times more that you don't expect — and that doesn't just apply to this one feature ... I almost said it then! — that applies to the whole game."
[+] Molyneux Talks Reviving Classic Games 124 comments
Gamespot has a few words with Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, who looks back on some of the great games of the past in the days before the Leipzig Conference, where he is slated to give a keynote. Along with some commentary on modern gaming, Molyneux discusses a wish to reimagine titles like Populous, Dungeon Keeper, and Syndicate. Great ideas ... if he ever gets the chance to make them come true.
[+] Peter Molyneux Talks Next-Gen Combat and Wii 57 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Speaking at the Games Convention Developer Conference in Leipzig, Peter Molyneux gave attendees a sense of what he believes the future of combat in games will be like, some of which he is trying to get his team to include in Fable 2. He also showed videos of some prototypes based on his concepts. Later in his presentation, he responded to a user's question about Nintendo's Wii, saying that he's not sold on motion-sensing controllers."
[+] Being Peter Molyneux 21 comments
simoniker writes "Gamasutra has an interview with Lionhead's Peter Molyneux up, in which he discusses next-gen technology choices, his troubles with the press, and his overwhelming drive to succeed, as well as some new thoughts on Fable 2. On his press difficulties: 'I've come to realize that the way I speak, the things I talk about are going to be interpreted. And that sometimes leads to misquotes, and that sometimes that can be frustrating, but for example — the talk I've given today, there's nothing for me to point to onscreen — I'm just giving you a braindump of my ideas. And half of that — half of the interest of that is the interpretation you put on it in your own mind... I'll be absolutely honest with you, sometimes in the past I've actually changed little bits of the game to match the misquote, however insane that sounds.'"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Molyneux Talks Experimentation and Business 18 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • What does it take.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MojoBox (985651) on Thursday October 05 2006, @02:57PM (#16326735)
    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?
    • But man was populous a good game.

      -Rick

      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Hint: Virtually every "Molyneux success" was a success *contrary* to his efforts and ability. The people around him did the amazing work, he just took all the credit. Indrusty is big enough now that the people who in the past were his shuttle to fame and fortune can find better opportunities rather than feeling like they have to stick their lot with him just because he's the only person they know if in the industry.

        Hence the decline in quality of "his games" as fewer and fewer talented folks get suckered in
    • your comment is pretty amusing, considering in the article, "You're only as good as your last game" appears to be a quote from him.

      I didn't play fable, but I heard all the promises that were made for it and saw all the features that disappeared one by one as it got closer to release. The claims he's making for fable 2 seem pretty similar.
      • Fable was honestly a pretty goodd game. It's a shame that it didn't live up at all to the hype,but once you distanced yourself from expectations a bit, it wasn't too bad.
        • Well, when you say it like that, it makes perfect sense for him to be hyping the hell out of the next game he has in development.
          • It reminds me of some managers I've known: lie like hell to get people on a project/to the meeting/to buy in to a plan. They under-deliver on those initial lies and everyone gets ticked. But since they're all there already, they just do what they came to do anyway. At the end of the project/effort, the chronic lier gets rewarded for being visionary.

            And no, I'm not gonna name names.

    • Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2 get this guy a free pass from me in most cases.

      Those and Theme Park and (of course) Populous.

      I was underwhelmed by Fable and Black & White, but that didn't make either of them trash. I actually thought Fable was pretty fun once I resigned myself to the fact that it was designed for the XBox and I expected something akin to a PC Adventure/RPG (which is what was promised, clearly, and not delivered -- the final result was still fun for me, though).

      C

      • You should have seen what PM was promising for Dungeon keeper 1 a year before release. It was going to be like a raid-style MMRPG. You'd get a group of 6 people as the 'heroes', and one dungeon keeper. The 6 players have to defeat the one player.

        Not exactly what came out of dungeon keeper, was it.

        Compared to the hype, that game was a piece of shit too.

        I'd have to fall back to magic carpet and syndicate (and maybe high octane) to give PM's crew much credit, and he probably just rode someone else's coat-ta
      • Dungeon Keeper. Damn. I still play that.
        But i'm surprised no one has mentioned "The Movies"; as is expected it is not as cool as he said it would be. But it is still pretty darn cool, and classing it as a tycoon-type game is wrong.
        Besides, it is FUN making movies using the game. example at: http://movies.lionhead.com/studio/Changestorm [lionhead.com]
  • 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?" ...
  • More than 8 hours of gameplay.
  • 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 everyon

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.