Lionhead Speaks: The Future of Fable, the Xbox 360, and The Elder Scrolls

Find out what The Lionhead Three had to say about The Lost Chapters, the future of Fable, and next-gen game design.

On August 30th, we had the opportunity to speak with a group of Fable developers we'll call The Lionhead Three: Simon Carter (lead coder), Mike West (game designer), and Louise Copley (Senior Producer). Though most of the conversation revolved around the imminent release of Fable: The Lost Chapters (for PC and Xbox), the discussion touched on a variety of topics: next-gen game design, the Xbox 360 and PS3, and the future of the Fable franchise.

Lost and Found
We started by asking what the trio felt was element was the single most important addition to The Lost Chapters, the quasi-expansion pack arriving imminently for the PC and Xbox. "It's the story, basically...the added quests," said West, putting to bed any fears that Fable: TLC is just a graphical upgrade with a few new features. Carter drew special attention to the fan favorite character of Whisper, who received a somewhat one-dimensional portrayal in the original version of the game. When you play TLC, you'll now find Whisper "drowning her sorrows" in one of the local taverns. And in your other interactions with Whisper, you'll find that the developers took the opportunity to make her a more flesh-out character.

Xbox players may be disappointed to learn that the upcoming Xbox version of The Lost Chapters won't include any graphical tweaks or control overhauls. It will play just as the original version did, but will include the new areas, quests, and items found in the more extravagantly reworked PC version. On the other hand, the Xbox version will only cost $19.99, compared to the PC's $49.99.

RPG: The Next Generation
It was interesting to learn more about The Lost Chapters, but it was when the conversation turned to the future that the conversation took a more tantalizing turn. The challenges of next-gen game design were apparent when Carter summed up his feelings: "trying to make a next generation title with lots of content [like Fable] is going to be a struggle for anybody developing a role-playing game in the future." Will the Lionhead team face challenges should they choose to make a Fable game on the Xbox 360 or PS3? Carter elaborated: "Role-playing games are already the most difficult game in the world to make, and that's going to become increasingly so in the next generation." Despite these concerns, Carter's feelings towards the Xbox 360 are straightforward and uncomplicated: "[the Xbox 360] kicks complete ass." He also thinks that the differences between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have been trumped up, describing the two consoles as "extremely similar" aside from a few unique strengths and weaknesses.

At one point we even touched on Bethesda's upcoming Xbox 360 RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Carter expressed deep admiration for Bethesda's work, saying that "they're doing a damn good job" with Oblivion. Carter even admitted that the Lionhead team was "a little worried" by the release of TES III: Morrowind, but was pleased to see that Morrowind and Fable ultimately took very different paths.

The Future of Fable
When we asked the group about the possibilities of a second Fable, Copley responded that although the Lionhead team felt "a lot of enthusiasm" for further entries in the series, "we have nothing to report just yet." When we asked if they could at least confirm that they were planning on a sequel, the response was a conclusive "no." Hey, we had to ask.

Shifting gears, we asked the group what changes the Lionhead team, speaking strictly as gaming fans, might want to see in future iterations of the series. Carter teased us with a little more about their plans. "We have an awful lot of ideas for future iterations of Fable. It's safe to say that when we were originally designing Fable, we had so many ideas for it that it could've taken us ten or twenty years to develop. So we have no problem coming up with different ideas we want to crowbar into future version of Fable...should that happen." Carter went on to explain that "there are some key things that Fable does well, like giving you a sense of ownership over the world," and that any sequels would likely focus on those aspects.

In the end, we learn anything conclusive about Fable 2. Still, it was hard to ignore the excitement in the voices of Carter, West, and Copley when the topic was discussed. We're sure that, in due time, all secrets will be revealed.

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