There's been a lot of movement within the walls of Playground Games, and the latest development comes from Anna Megill - a writer known for games like Control and Dishonored, who joined Playground Games as a lead writer in 2020.
In a new update, Megill has now taken charge as the narrative lead of the new Fable game for Xbox:
She brings with her years of experience and also has a special connection to the Fable series, as originally revealed when she was hired by Playground Games:
"Fable holds a special place in my heart. It came out the year I started in gamedev, and its the first game I played with a developer’s eye. I loved understanding the how and why of my story choices and seeing the impact I had on the NPCs around me..."
"But even so, I wasn’t sure this new Fable was right for me. I was like “Is this going to be just a bunch of medieval fart jokes?” But the team’s story vision reassured and excited me. It’s a PERFECT fit. I can’t wait to get started"
This update follows on from concerns raised about the Fable team potentially reiterating the scoping of the whole project - with claims there's nothing to worry about, and everything is going fine.
Apart from the occasional Fable update, Playground Games is also gearing up for the release of the Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels expansion, which arrives on July 19th.
Are you excited about Fable? What do you think of this latest development from within the studio? Leave your thoughts down below.
Comments 17
Don't usually care about this type of news but she seems like a good get.
"....ok now we're REALLY about to start making the game for real this time we're serious!"
I hope she (or at least the other people on the writing team) is British/British Knowledgeable. The Fable series is so intertwined with Britishness it's the one thing I fear will be missing in the new iteration. Everyone from John Cleese to Stephen Fry were in those games and it all felt so perfectly British.
Edit " I really don't want to come across as some patriotic nutjob. Just as a Brit, the little writing touches were very noticeable and appreciated in the old games"
@pip_muzz I’m an American who’s never been to the UK and I 100% agree with your statement. One of the things that made Fable so unique and enjoyable was it’s Britishness. Let the British humor and culture shine in this one.
So um have they even started on the game yet?
@AstraeaV Of course they have started this. Taking the Narrative lead could just mean that they are deciding which parts of that narrative are 'essential', especially with keeping the pacing and flow, and which parts are not important and therefore anymore 'work' (animations, cut-scenes etc) on those sections can be stopped so that everyone is now focussed on the things that matter.
If you hear Cory Barlog talking about 2018's God of War, that too reached a point when the Narrative Lead had to cut and change narrative content to ensure the game had 'great' pacing and a cohesive storyline. Think of it like having a 1000 page novel that you want to turn into a 2hr movie - you need to decide what's important to the Story and what can be cut or condensed to keep the pacing and flow right.
This is where a Narrative Lead comes in and makes those decisions in a game. Early on, they may have all these narrative ideas but when it comes to pacing and game-play flow, its detrimental so you 'need' someone to take the lead and make the decisions on what to 'focus' on now as all the 'parts' start to come together and the team switch from 'creative' (coming up with ideas, creating characters, environmental areas, music etc) into manufacturing - putting those pieces together in a cohesive and complete 'game'.
Sheesh, feel like this game is becoming Metroid Prime 4 (the game that will never come out...)
this game is in development hell
Switching writers, production leads and the rest 15x is never good
Wait... what?
The story & script ain't even finalized yet?
I liked Control so I will take it as good news.
But all I want is medieval fart jokes
Does narrative lead mean writer if that's the case then this game must be still early in development
Believe it was reported that they were in the past where they were “trimming the fat” and deciding what should stay and what should go. So as someone else mentioned, she could be hired to reign in the overall narrative and maybe check the writing overall. I don’t think this means they’re starting from scratch again.
@pip_muzz
I completely agree that the 'Britishness' of some of the game and writing was part of why fable was so fun.
It was a pleasure to know so many of the devs on the original, as I was with Bullfrog with many of them before they set up Big Blue Box.
This writer certainly has a track record of excellent work, so I hope her appointment is a good sign. I would hope that trying to retain some British quirks is part of her remit, as I dont believe the game will exhibit the same charm without it.
I feel like this is a deja vous, but I'm guessing since she really joined in 2020, we all just assumed that meant Fable, since we were pretty sure she wasn't joining to write the atrocious Forza Horizon scripts...
But why are people surprised they're only just now doing the story? Is there anyone who didn't know from the way this was announced that this game would pretty much be the swansong at the end of Series X/S gen?
The script is what makes Fable so special, I hope they get it right. But yes, this game will launch just before Metroid Prime 4.
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