Lionhead working 10x faster on Fable III

By Robert Purchese Published 20 August, 2010

Game bigger than Fable II "by a long way".

Lionhead has told Eurogamer that work on Fable III is rocketing along at 10-times the pace of Fable II.

In an interview published today, art director John McCormack said having a working engine - albeit one Lionhead wasn't "entirely happy" with by Fable II launch - enabled the team to focus on polish and squeezing the technology that "little bit further".

"[Fable III is] definitely bigger than Fable II by a long way," said McCormack, "but it's bigger in breadth as well. We've got a lot more variation in this one.

"We never had an engine before. Now, with the engine, iteration is faster. We're working at 10-times the speed we ever did on Fable II.

"The framework was there," he added, "and it's the polish now. For us, it's as if they'd started switching things on in Fable III. They'd go, 'Click, there's your specular!' And we'd go, 'Oh look, everything's shiny!' 'Click, there's your normal maps... Ohh!'"

"Working in the dark" with the built-from-scratch Fable II engine, McCormack revealed, was "really scary".

"We'd build things without knowing how it all hangs together - then suddenly the lights are all switched on and you just pray it's not horrible! You'd think, please be like what it was in my head, oh please," he said.

In comparison, then, Fable III development has been relatively "relaxed", thanks to a strong theme and ready-trained team. "We were all raring to go," recalled McCormack.

"That doesn't stop the fact that it was an RPG being developed in, essentially, two years.

Fable III will be released for Xbox 360 on 26th October. A PC version will follow. We played the latest Fable III build this week.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tomo #1 2 years ago

    100/10 from EG!

  • Tomo #2 2 years ago

    2 years is a pretty impressive turnaround though, I must say.

  • NewbieZilla #3 2 years ago

    Who really believes any of the shit that Lionhead says? Gullibility isn't an admirable trait.

  • sentinal101 #4 2 years ago

    Hoping this equals 10 X improvements on fable 2, not that it was a bad game just needed some serious creases ironed out of it.
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/10 @ 18:22

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #5 2 years ago

    101/10 for cockney japes!
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/10 @ 16:53

  • JahB #6 2 years ago

    Lionhead talking 10x more shit than before!

    Seriously, I want Fable 3. Badly. But hyping the thing to heaven and back didn't turn out so well for the last game, so maybe they wanna take it down just a notch to everybody else's hype level.

  • Markusdragon #7 2 years ago

    I would have thought this was a conversation about the technicalities of game design rather than a direct piece of hype, but no, it's Lionhead, so the comments have to bemoan their hyping of their ability to work with a nice stable engine at last.

  • woodnotes #8 2 years ago

    In this parallel universe, Lionhead is working to 2 year cycles while Insomniac is working to 3 year cycles.

  • woodnotes #9 2 years ago

    Hoping this equeals 10 X improvements on fable 2, not that it was a bad game just needed some serious creases ironed out of it.

    Indeed. I'd rather have more polish than more game. In the case of Fable, at least.
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/10 @ 17:20

  • DoctorFouad #10 2 years ago

    I didnt yet play Fable 2,

    but I just have one question : did they achieved yet the projetc ego promises ? if yes than I will buy Fable 3

  • NewbieZilla #11 2 years ago

    DoctorFouad

    In a word. No.

  • glo #12 2 years ago

    I've fallen for their bullshit twice now. Not listening this time.

    Fable 1 and 2 are fairly good action adventure games with some style and humour. Both are also far too easy. Not bad but not great. This time I will pick them up cheap 6-8 months down the line not pay full price for an overhyped but decidedly average game yet again.

    To quote Chuck D - Don't believe the hype

  • monkfishjoe #13 2 years ago

    The fact they're using a now tested engine makes me a lot more hopeful about this. I really enjoyed Fable 2, but it was buggy as hell.

    Hopefully an improved engine + experience with said engine = great game

  • MiY4MOTO #14 2 years ago

    @NewbieZilla

    Didn't Project Ego turn out to be Milo & Kate?

  • TopKatt #15 2 years ago

    It does seem that they're falling into the same trap they have been previous games. I'm sure Fable 3 will be a great game but the continuous hyping of it by Molyneux et al means that, by the time it comes out, it'll not be as good as people have been led to believe.
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/10 @ 20:22

  • Goodfella #16 2 years ago

    They should make it 10x more enjoyable than Fable II, then it 'might' be worth buying.

  • Wheatley #17 2 years ago

    Given the Dickensian setting, I'm inclined to call this game "Peter Molyneux's Great Expectations".

  • immateriaux #18 2 years ago

    Little GoingForrit

  • INTVGene #19 2 years ago

    I see it's time for the weekly post from Lionhead. Man, EG gives these guys a lot of airtime.

  • Yuroko #20 2 years ago

    Hopefully they fixed the engine so your character doesn't slide across the environment. That was the worst thing about fable 3.

  • hiddenranbir #21 2 years ago

    Woo Fable 2! And now Fable 3! Woo! I get it! Woo!

  • smelly #22 2 years ago

    THREE LIONHEAD UPDATES IN ONE WEEK!?!?!?!

    (orgasms!)

    Must be close to release then? Four updates next week?

    Edited by 1 at 21/08/10 @ 09:47

  • smelly #23 2 years ago

    >Who really believes any of the shit that Lionhead says?

    Well EG obviously does - thats why we're getting near daily updates!

  • lionbum #24 2 years ago

    It's a bit harsh tagging every Lionhead employee as talking shit, just because many people think Peter does. John and Mike are straight talking non-bullshitters, and as talented as you can get. It might be Molyneux's company, but it's not a company of Molyneux's.

  • muttler #25 2 years ago

    "Fable III much bigger than Fable II"- yeah well it wants to be. Post #13 sums up exactly how I feel about the Fable series.

  • TRUTH #26 2 years ago

    Larger then the 1st game by far...Yhea but is is repeating and doing the same missions with different names for most of the time ?...Fabel II was actually going point A to B clear area of enemies, collect item then return...All side missions where useless, the world around you never changes, all this good vs evil hardly worked or changed the game. Many flaws in Fable II was simply because you did the same thing for a large majority of the main missions, side quest where a waste of time and effort.

  • Pirotic #27 2 years ago

    Love the fable series, can't wait to get my hands on this :)

  • RevanNL #28 2 years ago

    Maybe now the game doesn't have to load every single area?

  • curtlikesmeat #29 2 years ago

    Is it going to be open world rather than a series of big tunnels? I can't believe WoW was released 5 years ago and yet no one else has been able to create such a seamless massive world for an RPG.

  • Mar27w #30 2 years ago

    lionhead working 10x faster on fable 3,still hardly moving compared to molyneuxs hyperbole mouth ho ho

  • drhickman1983 #31 2 years ago

    I'm looking forward to Fable III, and I've been slightly defensive about the franchise in general in other article comments.

    However, I am starting to feel strangely sad at the ammount of reports Fable III is getting, especially as many of them don't really say anything pertinent. Not angry or upset, just... weary.

  • WizenWolfBain #32 2 years ago

    I loved Fable 2... But i do agree with others who say that it was too easy. I found myself using the same 2 spells over and over again to beat hard parts of the game like The Crucible. I rarely found myself getting killed, and even then, it wasn't hard to bounce back instantly.

    I will definitely buy this game on launch, because it was fun and immersive. Haters might complain that it wasn't very "RPGish", but that's part of what i liked about it. I hate games where you tread the same ground 3 million times to do a pointless objective. And Fable has never been like that. It's unique, and i look forward to it :D

  • r4z0rbl4d3 #33 2 years ago

    @curtlikesmeat: You haven't played Lord of The Rings Online I guess? Ok then... ;)

  • curtlikesmeat #34 2 years ago

    I played the demo for LOTRO, wasn't that fussed but I hear you.

    What I was getting at was single player RPGs really, I suppose I just can't see why single player RPGs haven't adopted the (what I suppose is streaming) technology to do this.

  • mingster #35 2 years ago

    fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
    Fool me three times.. well i must be an idiot.

  • immateriaux #36 2 years ago

    @WizenWolfBain: "I loved Fable 2... But i do agree with others who say that it was too easy. I found myself using the same 2 spells over and over again to beat hard parts of the game like The Crucible. I rarely found myself getting killed, and even then, it wasn't hard to bounce back instantly."

    Have you tried masturbation? Can be fun and immersive too, if never facing any kind of challenge is your thing?
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/10 @ 21:54

  • smelly #37 2 years ago

    >Fable III will be released for Xbox 360 on 26th October.

    So ANOTHER 2 months of these updates?!?!? Erm..YAY!

    I worry EG and lionhead have started the sprint to the finish with all these updates a little too early? Unless they're planning daily updates leading up to the 10/10 review - maybe the advertorial money could've been held off until september at the earliest? Dont want to run out of steam and run out of things to say about it do you?

  • smelly #38 2 years ago

    Besides if it's due out in october, chances are it's already finished anyhow.

    Takes a few months to go through submission/duplication/etc.

    Which is why i always laugh when i see previews of a game 1 month before release which say "still they have a month to clean these issues up"

    Edited by 1 at 21/08/10 @ 22:32

  • Rens11 #39 2 years ago

    I just hope its real open world as promised in fable 2 if you can see it you can go there...........but please ignore the long loading screens that stick the areas together while you do and pop you back nowhere near to where you was before! ;)
    Edited by 1 at 22/08/10 @ 19:31

  • slickster #40 2 years ago

    Do that mean there's going to be 10x more bug's and glitch's in the game.

  • Farzlepot #41 2 years ago

    Rens, as it's using the same engine I'm inclined to assume that it'll be the same sort of affair as Fable 2.

    i.e. Not an open world game.

  • sjmlondon #42 2 years ago

    Can you put all these Lionhead daily news items / bumpf about Fable III in a section on their own so I can subtlety ignore them?

    I found Fable II distinctly average after all the hype and being cynical I can't see this one being any different except there will be a load more DLC coming shortly after release to milk the punters.

  • sjmlondon #43 2 years ago

    Forgot to ask when is Fable IV being released?

    2012 persumably and then
    Fable V in 2014
    Fable VI in 2016
    Fable VII in 2018
    Fable VIII in 2020
    Fable IX in 2022
    Fable X in 2024. This will be the best ever, promise ;-)

  • immateriaux #44 2 years ago

    No, Fable 4 will be made ten times faster. Should be ready just after Christmas

  • ronuds #45 2 years ago

    Fable II is my favourite 360 game. It may be buggy and rough around the edges, but it has a unique charm to it that I've not found in any other game. Can't wait for III!

    As for all of the articles - yeah, a bit much. But we can probably say the same for any big release due to come out within the next couple of months. If you're sick of them, why did you read the article?

  • smelly #46 2 years ago

    >If you're sick of them, why did you read the article?

    Its not being sick of them that's the problem. It's the (legitimate) worry that all this advertorial space has been paid for, and subsequently an unbiased review has next to no chance of happening.

    *snip* - i'll edit this bit out.
    Edited by 1 at 22/08/10 @ 18:48

  • immateriaux #47 2 years ago

    That's it smelly. This stream of articles with no real content are a serious suggestion that Eurogamer is simply promoting the game by repeatedly putting its name on the main page. It certainly questions its objectivity profoundly.

  • ronuds #48 2 years ago

    I'm sorry, but that's a load of crap.

    That is all.

  • smelly #49 2 years ago

    i think you need to go away and have a long hard think about how games websites make money