21 Jul, 2011
Kinect was apparently the best tool out there to simulate riding a horse and buggy, and who better to jump all over that than Lionhead Studios. With their latest entry into the Fable franchise, Lionhead produced quite a stir with its unveiling at last month’s E3 conference. Whether the stir was positive or negative is a matter of personal choice at this moment in time.
Tak Sato, the lead artist at Lionhead Studios, sat down to an interview with GameSpot UK to chat about why Lionhead decided to do what they did. We’re sure many of us would enjoy staring at the backside of a horse, right? Well, let’s just say that they were aiming to appeal to less-mature audiences too.
With Fable: The Journey, Sato said that Lionhead was aiming to reel in both core gamers as well as produce a family-oriented title. “Revamping the Fable visual style” was necessary, said Sato. We’re not entirely too sure what “revamping” means in this sense, as Sato said this meant keeping most of the chunkiness and other aesthetic points that have become prevalent in previous Fable titles.
Some may agree that the look of Fable: The Journey may be entirely too cartoonish, but others may like the charm of it all. Sato explained it as “a heightened reality, a world full of visual drama as seen through the eyes of a naive young adventurer.” This young adventurer was first introduced to us in the trailer shown at E3′s unveiling, who is a member of a nomadic tribe traveling to be reunited with friends and family after being separated.
Set in “the less familiar fringes of Albion,” The Journey draws much of its artistic inspirations from the rural countrysides and landscapes of 18th-century England. From the Scottish highlands to the swampy mires of Ireland’s bogs, we’re going to be going for a bit of a ride on the wild side.
Don’t expect it to get too wild though, because we are ultimately talking about a family-friendly entry. Sato said that part of the idea with The Journey was to create a world for the younger members of the gaming audience. There’s going to be a marked absence of the dark humor many gamers have come to appreciate in previous Fable titles.
Sato also said that The Journey‘s co-main character, your horse, was inspired by The Shire horse. “I could look at this horse for hours,” said Sato. “Which is a good thing, because in this game you’re going to be looking at this horse all the time.”
So…it’s not on rails, right?
Via GameSpot UK.
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