Fable (video Game) - Development

Development

Fable was the first game developed by Big Blue Box, a satellite studio of Peter Molyneux's Lionhead. Dene and Simon Carter, Big Blue Box's founders, stated that their first project would have to meet several criteria in order to be accepted by game publishers, but that they weren't interested in producing such a generic title. To offset the costs of running a fledgling studio, Molyneux proposed Lionhead 'satellites', where Big Blue Box would receive the technology and support of Lionhead so that Big Blue Box could focus on making the game. After some difficulty in finding a willing publisher, Big Blue Box was contacted by Microsoft who offered a contract for their game. According to the Carters, they wanted to create a role-playing game like no other:

The world would be a breathtakingly beautiful place filled with waterfalls, mountains, dense forests, populated with compelling and convincing characters with real personality, people who actually reacted to what you did. We wanted to give the player control of a hero who would adapt to the way they played, who would age, become scarred in battle, who could get tattoos, wear dreadlocks and a dress if the player was so inclined. We wanted each and every person who played our game to have a unique experience, to have their own stories to tell. And we called it 'Thingy.'

Early in Fable's development, the game was called Project Ego.

The game took roughly four years to create, with a team of around 70 developers working on it. The main ideas that constituted the entire development of Fable were that the hero visually reflects his experience and that the world reacts in a manner appropriate to the player's actions.

Peter Molyneux aggressively promoted Fable, at one point stating that "It's gonna be the best game ever."

Fable previews noted that the somewhat absurd humor and atmosphere of the game, which GamePro called "Terry Pratchett or Piers Anthony fantasy" was far different from what was seen on contemporary RPGs.

With the exception of the title theme, Fable's music was composed by Russell Shaw, who had previously worked on Molyneux games such as Magic Carpet and Black & White. The job for composing Fable's theme music was given to Danny Elfman. Elfman noted in an interview that Hollywood composers did not typically cross over to video game work, in part because many game developers wanted a synthesized score that sounds like an orchestra, instead of the real thing. At Elfman's insistence, the developers used a small orchestra, which Shaw noted was much more of a challenge than previous projects; "There are more people involved (even without considering the orchestra), and the complexities of any music interactivity are brought to the fore."