Interview: Peter Molyneux over Fable 2

Achtergrond

Gepost door Niels ’t Hooft op 30 oktober 2008

Niels ’t Hooft - Hoofdredacteur van Bashers. Schrijft ook voor Nrc.next, Bright en Control.

Naar aanleiding van mijn Fable 2-artikel in nrc.next mocht ik Peter Molyneux via e-mail wat vragen stellen. Hij had het duidelijk druk met alle pr-werkzaamheden, want zijn antwoorden zijn vaak korter dan mijn vragen. Of misschien waren mijn vragen gewoon te lang. Molyneux zegt gelukkig ook wat interessante dingen, vandaar dat ik het hele interview hier bij deze publiceer (in het Engels).

Niels: At E3, I witnessed you presenting Fable 2 to a group of journalists. It seemed like that’s what you did for three days straight. Wouldn’t you rather spend that time on game creation? Even though you obviously have a talent when it comes to promoting your games?

Peter Molyneux: “Firstly, I don’t think of shows such as E3 as promotion but more as a chance to talk about what I love doing. I’ve been showing off since I was two years old and I still love to show off! The thing I love most in my life is making games and I enjoy talking about what I love.”

As I recall, most of the questions (at E3) were journalists asking “can I do this” and “can I do that” in the game world. Surprisingly, to most questions, your answer was, “yes you can”. Is the ultimate game a game in which you have the freedom to do anything?

“I certainly think computer games are the best medium to allow you to be whoever you want be. I do think Fable 2 allows the player a lot of freedom, but that is not total freedom. To explain a bit better: in Fable 2 you are free to chat up whoever you want, but you can only do this with the mechanic we give you to do so this, i.e. the expression system. So I would have to describe the freedom you have in Fable 2 as ‘contained’ freedom.”

Will your next game be that game in which you can do everything, or are you also interested in trying something smaller, more focused?

“The only thing I can say about our next project at this stage is that it’s so big and ambitious that it feels a bit scary! Terrible things would be done to me if I revealed anymore than that!”

You’ve highlighted a lot of features in Fable 2. The co-op, the dog, the storyline, the combat system, the moral choices. What is the single feature you think will stand out and will be remembered ten years on? That might be nicked by other developers?

“It’s not just a single feature. it’s a combination of features which will lead you to an experience which is unique. We want you to remember Fable 2 for the rest of your life and this was this first thing I wrote down about Fable 2.”

I think the last time I asked you, you said you were focusing on just one or two games now. Still true? Is there another project besides Fable 2? If so, how are you managing this personally? How much of your time is spent on these game projects, and how much time to you spend doing management and PR stuff?

“This is how my work life is: I touch more than one project, I help run the studio and I talk to the press. But there is always a single obsession, up to this point it has been Fable 2, very shortly that single obsession will be a new project (see above).”

Most games are just about winning or losing. Most game creators don’t seem to be interested in players’ moral choices, or maybe they think players don’t care. Why do you beg to differ?

“Because at the end of the day I believe choice and freedom will make you remember the experience, especially if you make a choice and there is real consequence to that choice. I think that is far more engaging than just following a linear story.”

As far as I can recall, these moral choices first popped up in Black & White. Is that right? In what way have the choices, and their gameplay results, evolved since the first game in which you incorporated them?

“You’re absolutely right, Black & White was one of the first games to give you moral choices. But they were very simple choices, such as: feed people or hurt people. Now in Fable 2 there is much more colour to those choices: purity versus corruption, cruelty versus kindness, greed versus generosity. And then we play around with those moral choices. We want people to play as themselves rather than deciding to be good or evil.”

What’s the attraction of the fantasy type of world in Fable 2 to you?

“I think of the world of Albion as being on the edge of fantasy as opposed to the very extreme fantasy worlds you see in some games. I think some players find high fantasy very alien and daunting. I want people to still find our world slightly familiar and understand the logic within our world.”

What’s left for Fable 3? I remember reading that most of what makes up Fable 2 is what you couldn’t work into Fable 1. Is there anything like that this time around?

“Actually I disagree with this. It is true to say that we did compile a long list of things that were missing from Fable and needed to be ‘fixed’. But on top of this we did include some very big features which were totally new. If we were to work on Fable 3, we’d adopt that same approach and that would have to include innovation as well as fixing.”

As far as I recall, Fable was your first fantasy RPG type of game. Where did the inspiration come from? Any particular game you liked, that you wanted to improve on?

“My main inspiration for Fable came from long conversations I used to have with Simon and Dene Carter, when we were all working on Dungeon Keeper. We talked for hours about different RPG’s we’d played and what we liked and didn’t like about them. These conversations were the basis for the initial ideas for Fable. Other influences on the visuals were the film Sleepy Hollow and the idea of European fairy tales.”

Any genres you haven’t tackled, that you’d like to take on? Any chance that you’ll be telling me about them now? :-)

“No chance just yet! I think now we’re seeing different genres mixing together and evolving and I find the idea of blending different genres together very exciting.”

Final question: Bungie recently split off of Microsoft, and Ensemble Studios was disbanded. What do you reckon is the future of Lionhead Studios within Microsoft?

“I hope the passion and professionalism of our studio means that we are a part of Microsoft for a long time.”

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