It’s pretty uncommon for a game designer to openly trash their own work, but in a recent interview with Develop, that’s exactly what Fable creator Peter Molyneux did.
At this month’s Casual Connect, Molyneux discussed with the publication why he’d never be able to create his perfect game – using the Fable series as an example. Molyneux said in the interview:
“In my mind, as a designer, whenever I’m making a game I have this perfect jewel in mind.”
“Fable for me was this beautiful, incredible, amusing, funny, artistic, wonderful gem of a game that anyone could play, that tugged on the heartstrings and that was instantly engaging.”
The end result however was not the “perfect jewel” the designer had in mind. While he didn’t think the game was bad, Molyneux found the game flawed and strove for improvement in future installments.
Looking back, he considers Fable 2 a “step in the right direction,” but isn’t so eager to defend Fable 3.
“I think Fable III was a trainwreck.”
“It was built to be much bigger than what it was constrained to be and eventually ended up as… If I had my time again, I’d take the advances we made from Fable I to Fable II, I’d make the same advances from Fable II to Fable III and spend another entire year working on Fable III. But would it be that perfect gem that’s in my mind? No.”
While Molyneux may have been disappointed with the game, he seems to be in the minority. Fable 3 received generally positive reviews since it’s release in 2010 – far from the train wreck he perceives it as.
