Fable II

Fable 2 (working title)
Developer(s)	Lionhead Studios
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Designer(s)	Peter Molyneux
Engine	Custom in-house
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release	2008
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single-Player

Fable 2 is an upcoming video game for the Xbox 360, in development by Lionhead Studios and will be published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is a sequel of Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters. Announced in 2006, a 2008 release date is planned until further notice. The game will take place in Albion, 500 years after Fable's setting, in a colonial era resembling the time of highwaymen, but guns are still primitive, although the entire area is more developed, with huge castles and cities in the place of towns.

Storyline

At the X06 speech about Fable 2 on September 29th 2006, Molyneux revealed the beginnings of the storyline.

Now let’s talk about the story, let’s talk about the opening of the story, as I said, you can be a man or a woman, the story starts in classic computer game style. It’s all about this bird, this regal bird, flying through this, oh this amazing, incredible landscape, through down valleys, over mountaintops, through city streets, the bird just comes to rest on the top of this, this tower, and, it takes this shit. The camera follows the shit down, it comes down, the shit lands on this kid’s head - that’s you. Anyway, That’s the style of the game. You’re nobody, you’re nothing, you live in the sewers, everybody, you know, just disregards you. Your destiny is to be a truly great hero ...
The story has a baddy, who’s Lucien, we’re trying to make him the most cruel baddy you’ve ever seen, not evil, cruel. He is destined to build this tower, called the spire, that tower will end up fifty miles high, what you do with that tower is very much dependent on how you play the game, we are really going in, and anyone that saw the talk with Peter Jackson this morning and heard some of the things that I said will realize that I’m really into the world and the story connecting with you, what you are, so you will find the story slightly different when you play it, but you still will be able to talk about that, you are destined, in that story, to bring together a group of heroes rather like the Magnificent 7.

Known features

Dog

The player will encounter a dog that will stay with you for the rest of the game. Molyneux has stated that the dog is an attempt to get the player to care, to experience love, when he announced this feature at the GDC 2007. Every dog will be unique in some way and morph depending on a variety of factors such as alignment. The dog will assist the player by alerting him to threats (although never giving the player away) and so completely replacing the minimap, and attacking whatever enemies the player is weakest to, depending, for example, on the weapon drawn. In a recent interview and game demonstration Molyneux showed some of the interactions you can have with your dog including buying toys, playing fetch and rewarding or punishing your dog for its behavior.

Obeying three main laws (do not aggravate 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 than when outside. He is, to a degree, trainable using expressions.

Family

Another mechanism to get the player to care are families. The player is able to chat up anyone (of any gender) and get married. The player may have protected or unprotected sex with NPCs of the opposite gender, which may result in a child. The child's looks will depend on those of his parents, and his attributes will be dependent on the player's actions and alignment. Evil heroes' children will be evil while giving your family a great house and money will lead to spoiled, fat kids. If the house is smaller and you are poor this will result in a skinny kid. If you are playing as a female character, you may become pregnant, which will result in a small cut scene.

Dynamic world

Molyneux has stated that his aim is to create a dynamic, changing world on a large scale. Since the game will take place over a hero's lifetime, many things will change; he gave an example of a trade camp you could help or destroy that would later be a town or ruin. 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. Titles will be awarded for buying property, for instance, if you were to buy every building, and every piece of land in a town, you may become known as the mayor, king, and eventually emperor of that town.

Teaser

Lionhead released a Fable 2 teaser video in 2006 and stated that it included 10 hints about the game's final content. During the GDC seven things were revealed for sure (some of these are known and shown below); there may be others.

• Playing as a male or female hero.
• Using guns.
• Dynamic regions.

• Choose between good and bad

The dog was not alluded to in the teaser; what other hints there have been, or indeed, if there have been any at all is uncertain.

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. The engine is expected to take much of the Xbox 360's power, as leaves will be individually animated and 15 million poppies are already in the game.

External links

• Official Website
• Developer Website
• Fable and Fable 2 Forum