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GAME DESIGN | BETA


thought it was amazing. They then said: ‘We need to have a think about this. We weren’t expecting this’. So they went away, and a couple of days later they came back and green lit the project. “This has never happened before at


Lionhead, it is something new. And although we have had other creative days, we have never had a video game come from it. So there is a lot of pressure on us. It is my first time as a lead designer. There’s a lot of people in roles for the first time. It is great that Lionhead has been so supportive.”


A NEW HERO EMERGES Fable Heroes is not your typical Fable RPG. It’s a four-player hack-and-slash adventure, featuring puppets as the main stars. It also boasts a cartoon visual style and, with Fable’s usual adult themes toned down, it is even appropriate for kids. But this is still very much the series fans


have come to love. The puppets are all modelled on popular characters, the levels are all cartoon representations of iconic Fable


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locations, and the title will even hook up with this year’s boxed release – Fable: The Journey. And like any good Fable, there’s a tonne of


innovative little flourishes locked inside the title to discover. From the extremely testing Dark World, to a special ‘cloud’ zone, which can only be unlocked when the world’s leading Fable Heroes players manage to rack up enough coins. “Heroes came out of the desire to make something different to complement to our main triple-A Fable games,” says Timmins. “I have no doubt in my mind that anyone that has loved Fable over the years is going to enjoy playing this.” Fable Heroes was shown for the first time – in a near-complete state – at Microsoft’s Spring Showcase. And despite the industry’s inability to keep secrets, the game came as a revelation to practically everybody in the packed room. “I am surprised it didn’t leak out before we


showed it,” adds Timmins. “I was really paranoid. We got these T-shirts made and I was like ‘the t-shirt guys, have they signed an


NDA?’. We’ve had work experience people come in, and a whole team of GAME employees. It’s amazing we’ve kept it a secret. “It was great watching people walk in at the


Microsoft event, because they were walking past, and then they took a double take and walked back.”


NEXT HERO Timmins is a man who cannot believe his luck. He’s risen from a temp games tester to the lead designer on his very own Microsoft-published video game. And he promises not to forget his roots. “Because I came from work experience, I will


always spare time for when we have works exs in the office,” he concludes. “I remember what it was like: I was 18, I walked into Lionhead, and I was like ‘Wow, they make video games here.’ And to work on the original Fable, which is one of my all-time favourite games, was just incredible.” That wide-eyed desire to try something new


and nurture new talent lives on at Lionhead. Peter who?


MAY 2012 | 35


Compared to the main Fable canon, Heroes is a visually distinct game


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