| Fable II | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Lionhead Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Designer(s) | Peter Molyneux |
| Engine | Proprietary |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 |
| Release date | TBA 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Action RPG Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Cooperative gameplay |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Rating Pending (RP) |
| Media | DVD-DL |
| Input methods | Gamepad |
Fable II is an upcoming role playing video game exclusively for the Xbox 360, which is being developed by Lionhead Studios and will be published by Microsoft Game Studios. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video Lionhead Studios is a United Kingdom -based computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Microsoft Game Studios ( MGS) branded with current logo and moniker in 2002 (formerly the Microsoft Game Division or Microsoft Games) is a Wholly A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer Peter Douglas Molyneux OBE (born 5 May 1959 in Guildford, Surrey, UK) is a Computer game designer A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of computer and video games In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows The Xbox 360 is the second Video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. See also [[Game classification]] Video games are categorized into Genres based on their Gameplay interaction An action game is a game that challenges a player's speed dexterity and reaction time A computer role-playing game ( CRPG) is a broad Video game genre originally developed for personal computers and other home computers An adventure game is a type of Video game characterized by investigation exploration puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters and a focus on Narrative In video gaming, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session Cooperative gameplay (often abbreviated as co-op) primarily refers to a feature in Video games that allows players to work together as teammates with the absence of A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of Video games into suitability-related groups The Entertainment Software Rating Board ( ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, Advertising guidelines and Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is A gamepad, also called joypad or control pad, is a type of Game controller held in the hand where the digits (especially thumbs are used to provide input A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The Xbox 360 is the second Video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. Lionhead Studios is a United Kingdom -based computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Microsoft Game Studios ( MGS) branded with current logo and moniker in 2002 (formerly the Microsoft Game Division or Microsoft Games) is a Wholly It is a sequel to Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters. A sequel is a work in Literature, Film, or other media that portrays events following those of a previous work Fable is a role-playing Video game for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms Fable is a role-playing Video game for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms Announced in 2006, the game has recently been announced for 2008, "maybe when the leaves have a slight brownish tinge - but are still on the trees. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common "[1] The game will take place in Albion, 500 years after Fable's setting, in a colonial era resembling the time of highwaymen or the Enlightenment. The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1617 The term "highwayman" is mainly applied to robbers who travelled on horseback as opposed to those who robbed on foot The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Guns are still primitive, and the entire area is broken into 20 large regions and more developed (large castles and cities in the place of towns). [2] Unlike in the original, the player may choose to be either male or female.
Contents |
Features
Character Morphing
Fable II enhances the innovative system of morphing one's character based on their actions. Character morphing revolves around two main alignments: Good and Evil. New aspects of the character alignment system include corruption, purity, kindness, and cruelty which will enhance a character's features. Corruption and Purity do not follow their respective moral alignments. A character may be "Good" while still performing corrupt deeds and vice versa. [3]
Combat
Announced at E3 2007, all melee combat takes place on the X button. The history of the E3 began with its creation in 1995 and has continued through the current expo in 2008 All ranged combat runs on the Y button and magic on the B button. Flourishes will be shown in a different perspective and time will slow down to show finishing moves. Moves done in melee combat are also dependent on where the player is located. For example, if a player is on top of a tower, pressing the X button may cause the player to throw a certain enemy off of the tower rather than attack with a weapon. If an enemy is above the player, such as on stairs, they have a tactical advantage [1]. Also, the X06 edition with a currently incomplete combat engine shows that the player can use the environment which leads to different combat reaches. X (sometimes called the "X0 events" is an annually held Trade show hosted by Microsoft, showcasing its Xbox - and more recently Games for The character can get into a bar fight shown in the combat demo (the first tested engine). A player's combat style will change according to the kind of weapon they're using. The player can also unlock more skills and combos with particular weapons as they become better at fighting. While using a gun, the player can aim more accurately by using a crosshair. [4]
There are multiple different weapon types known of so far: guns, axes, swords, hammers, staves and maces. A firearm is a Tool that projects either single or multiple Projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape split and cut Wood, Harvest timber, as a Weapon For the tabletop games see Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40000. A mace is a simple Weapon that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful blows It has been confirmed on the Lionhead blogs that the longbows will not be in Fable II due to the appearance of guns in Albion. To see other senses of this word see Longbow (disambiguation. However, crossbows will still be available. [5]
Dog
The player will encounter a pet dog that will stay with him or her for the rest of the game. The dog ( Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated Subspecies of the gray wolf, a Mammal of the Canidae family of the order Molyneux has stated that the dog is an entity that will get the player to care, to experience love or hatred, when he announced this feature at the GDC 2007. Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. The Game Developers Conference ( GDC) is the largest annual gathering of professional Video game developers focusing on learning inspiration and networking Every dog will be unique in some way and morph depending on a variety of factors, such as the player's alignment. The dog will assist the player by performing a variety of tasks. The dog can alert the player to threats without alerting enemies of the player's presence. In performing this task, the dog has replaced the mini-map which was present in Fable. The dog can also attack whichever enemy the player is most vulnerable to. The enemy chosen will depend on various factors, for instance, which weapon the player has drawn. In a recent interview and game demonstration Molyneux showed some of the interactions players can have with their dog, including buying toys, playing fetch and rewarding or punishing their dogs for their actions. The dog will morph according to the player's alignment; A pleasant character's dog will appear pleasant while an evil character's dog will appear scary.
Obeying three main laws (do not irritate the player, unconditionally love the player and self-preservation), the dog features advanced AI. Although the dog is not directly controllable, it will respond to the player's actions; moving to attack will bring it to attack, running somewhere will have the dog run. Behavior is context-specific, and the dog will stay much closer in towns or when the player is hurt in battle. If the player goes to a shop the dog will wait outside until the player leaves the shop. He is, to a degree, trainable using expressions. [6] Molyneux also revealed that if the player does not want a dog, they have to run away from it; preferably when it is injured, although the dog will track down the player, causing him or her to run away again. One example given is if the dog is injured and the player leaves and goes to the pub, later there will be a scratching at the door. Someone will open the door for it and observers will react negatively upon seeing the abused dog faithfully return to its undeserving owner.
Death
Initially, in Fable II, the player's character would not die upon defeat. Rather, he or she would fall unconscious once he or she loses all of his or her health. The enemies would then injure the character while they were unconscious by beating, kicking or stabbing them, which would have left permanent and humiliating scars. Falling unconscious could be avoided with one of three sacrifices: gold, reputation or experience gained.
At GDC 08, Molyneux indicated in interviews that the design for death had changed due to player feedback during play testing. Peter Douglas Molyneux OBE (born 5 May 1959 in Guildford, Surrey, UK) is a Computer game designer It was found that players would rather turn off their console than subject their character to permanent disfigurement. The new design is as yet unknown. [7]
Family
The family aspect of the Fable series will be further built upon, around the love and emotion themes touted by Molyneux. This was demonstrated in the GDC '08 demo, where Peter's female character returned to her home, greeted by a small child and her husband. [8]
The sex aspect, relatively unimportant in the first game, has also been built upon significantly. Players will be able to choose to have protected or unprotected sex, and by extension choose whether or not to have a child. Female player characters also by extension will become pregnant, and they will also undergo the relevant physical changes[9]. Sex will, however, fade-to-black as in Fable. [10].
The player's child or children will look upon the player as an example and will also follow their alignment, looks, etc. A player's family can also be killed by a henchman co-op player, only if friendly fire is made active by the host player. [11]
Same-sex marriages, as in the first game, will be possible. Same-sex marriage (also referred to as gay marriage) is a term for a legally or Socially recognized Marriage between two people of the same [10]
Content
Albion is expected to be 10 times the size from the original game with 20 fully free-roaming regions and roughly 30 dungeons to explore. There are around 100 augmentable weapons, 70 augmentable clothes, and 20 different tattoos and haircuts. There are only eight basic spell types, but they are upgradeable to varying degrees, allowing for around 80 spells. There will be more than 160,000 lines of "AI-driven dialogue", over 150 unique quests and more than 6 minigames. [10] While Molyneux has stated that the player can complete the main story in 12 hours if they rush through it, it would take much longer to complete everything in the game. [12]
Cutscenes
There will be limited cutscenes in the game, one in the beginning which lasts approximately 1 minute. There will be 'points of interest' that a character may focus on by the press of a button, similar to the feature in Gears of War. Gears of War is a tactical Third-person shooter Video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. [13] There are also interactive cutscenes in which a player can use their expressions during the dialogue (such as laugh when a character reveals a sad story) or even run away from the scene, thus skipping it.
Multiplayer
An off-line co-op mode was announced and shown at the 2008 GDC. The mode of co-op is somewhat similar to that of Gears of War; in that players will be able to drop in and out of other player's games at will. Gears of War is a tactical Third-person shooter Video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The host player can set certain rules; eg. how loot gained is split between the players and if friendly fire is active or not. Guest players will get an hourly rate of pay for helping the host out. Guest players can keep all the gold and experience they earn to take back with them into their own game world. Molyneux demonstrated the possible consequences of active friendly fire in the GDC demo; the "henchman" player killed his character's husband, leaving his (female) character's son an orphan. Molyneux mentioned that the player will be able to visit his/her son/daughter in the town orphanage, however to also expect the child's disposition to possibly go to the extreme of resentment. Molyneux demonstrated this as a degree of the freedom available in the game. The actions of the henchman player are permanent in the host player's offline game, so killed NPCs will not be revived. Also, the henchman player's dog will not be able to join the host player's game. Molyneux also mentioned that the host player will be able to give items to any visitors that enter their world during co-op. [14]
Dynamic World
The world in Fable II will be fully dynamic. For instance, the player will be able to jump over fences and climb certain objects. [10] The player will not be assigned a set path or quest to follow. Since the game will take place over a hero's lifetime, many things will change; Molyneux gave an example of a trade camp that the player could either help or destroy. Trading in such camps would increase their profit, resulting in a small town growing around them, while stealing from the camp or massacring the camp will result in the abandonment of the area. Additionally, every property in the world is ownable by the player, often unlocking further content such as quests. Molyneux also announced that players will be able to purchase furniture and fully customize their houses and property. Titles will be awarded for buying property; if one were to buy every building and piece of land in a town, they may become known as the mayor, king, and eventually emperor of the entire land of Albion. [15]
The environment in Fable II will feature trees with branches and leaves that are individually animated according to their own unique physics, each tree having roughly 120,000 leaves. There are also around 15 million poppies in Albion. [16]
Fable II XBLA Games
Keystone, Mage Dice and Wizard's Tower are games to be released on Xbox Live Arcade a few weeks before the release of Fable II. Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to digitally distribute video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners They are unique in that they share functionality with Fable II and all three games will allow players to potentially become rich before even owning the main game. [17] The games are being developed by Carbonated Games and will also be featured in Fable II as pub games. Carbonated Games was the first-party game developer studio for Microsoft Casual Games in Microsoft Game Studios.
Pre-release marketing
Online competitions
Just as Lionhead has done with The Movies, online competitions were made available through Lionhead's forums. The Movies is a Business simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Apple Mac OS One such competition was naming a title to be used in the game, similar to the first game wherein a character was addressed by various titles that the character purchased from a "Title Vendor" Lionhead has stated these titles will be bought but they have to be earned first. They are bought from a town crier in Fable II; the winning title was Lionheart. An "insult the hero" competition is also taking place and the winner is yet to be announced. On May 30th lionhead holds a competition for art that will be used in the game.
Video Diaries
On May 24, 2007, episode one of The Lionhead Diaries, examining the love and emotion aspect of Fable II. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. [18]
On July 30, 2007, episode two was released, highlighting the one-button combat system, and featured the Lionhead staff playing a game of football and a professional combat specialist instructing the animation staff. Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered [18]
On October 8, 2007, episode three was released, going in depth about the Central Technology Group, and featured Lionhead's 10 year Anniversary. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. [18]
On January 11, 2008, episode four was released, focusing on how the graphics department made the world of Albion. Events 1055 - Theodora is crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common [18]
On March 19, 2008, episode five was released, looking at magic, GDC 2008 and co-op. Events 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common [18]
Technology
The graphics engine is written in-house, but middleware is integrated for several other parts of the game: Havok is used for a physics engine and Kynapse is used for some AI. A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of computer and video games Havok Physics, better known as simply Havok, is a Physics engine developed by Irish company Havok. Kynapse is the Artificial intelligence middleware product developed by Kynogon. AlienBrain 8 is used to track assets such as 3D Models, files, and art. [19]
References
- ^ Fable II / About
- ^ IGN: Fable II Trailer, Videos and Movies
- ^ Gamesradar.com | GDC2008 Peter Molyneux demos co-op
- ^ Fable II Feature List
- ^ Fable II Development
- ^ GDC07: Molyneux is Scared
- ^ 1UP Podcast
- ^ [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXTaPBHKE0 peter molyneux at GDC 2008]
- ^ Senzee 5 - Fable II News (GDC08 Preview)
- ^ a b c d IGN preview, February 22, 2008
- ^ Gametrailers.com GDC '08 Stage Demonstration, February 22, 2008
- ^ Fable II Feature List
- ^ Xbox.com | E3 2007 - Welcome to the Xbox.com E3 Blog
- ^ GDC 2008: Fable II Co-Op Preview
- ^ IGN: Fable II Preview
- ^ Fable II Feature List
- ^ Lionhead developer forum posting
- ^ a b c d e Diaries redirect
- ^ Technology – Loinhead
External links
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