Fable Anniversary continued...

Leading on from my last blog post where I talked about what I wanted to do for my personal enquiry, in this post I’m going to research further into the subject and form a rough draft of my final 1000 word post.

From reading my previous blog post you can see I briefly outlined my idea and some points I could research further into.

These are the short bullet points I made:

•          Change in visual quality
•          Why the change is so dramatic 
•          Texture budget
•          Processing differences
•          Actual in game change
•          Interface
•          Feedback
•          Fan reviews

To add to this I want to expand on interviews which the makers of the remastered game have been involved in. I want to add this because it’s a creditable source and makes the information more interesting. 

The changes made with a new system

It’s 10 years ago since the original box version was released and technology has moved on an awful lot in those years, so there are many improvements. Lionhead have used Unreal 3 for the rendering side which has much more improved Lighting, Materials and Effects than the original Fable engine.

An obvious difference is the screen size. The original Fable was created on 4:3 format whereas Fable Anniversary has been created in widescreen. 

The polygon count has been raised significantly for all in-game models, this means the models edges and silhouettes look much smoother. 

The texture budget was also raised for all the assets in the game. You can see the change in detail in the clothing and objects in the room. 

The way materials work and look in games has been significantly improved since 2004. By including Specular Maps, and setting specific values within a material we can now visually distinguish much better between material types. It’s clear in the image that the glass in the windows and the boys belt buckles have a strong specular value set which give them a much shinier appearance, making them look and feel much lore like the materials they are supposed to be.

Normal Maps are also used in games today. These are special textures used as part of a models material to add extra bump detail. These can be seen working clearly in the weave of the rug and the creases in the bed at the back of the room

Lionhead added extra light sources where required to interior levels to create a better lit and more visually appealing environment.  Notice the candle creating a pool of light at the back of the room above the bed.   

They also added dynamic shadow casting to several key light sources, including the interior fireplaces. You can see the long shadows of the Boy and the chair being cast across the floor

Change in User Interface 

For Fable Anniversary the User Interface was updated but not changed completely. Bigger budgets means that the visual quality is better and the interface can be designed in a way so it is user friendly and easy to navigate around. 

One of the first screens players see in Fable Anniversary is the Press Start screen. The difference is very clear. The newer screen really showcases the environment in the game and invites the player into the game so they can continue to explore the world of Albion. 

As seen in these screengrabs the HUD is still quite similar as the creators didn't want to stray too far from the original as this is a remastering and not a remake. So many features were kept the same like the way objects are shown in golden framed elements. However these have been updated to fit on the screen more effectively and they have been made as vector shapes so they can be resized easily and have multiple uses. The Mini-Map also looks more realistic and all of these elements can be disabled depending on what the user wants. 

As with the Region Map shown here we can see that the different elements have been spaced out so more information can be seen and so that it is clearer to see the actual map. The creator of Fable Anniversary's User Interface Jenny Peers said that " I referred to the original Albion map heavily and was keen to try and keep a familiarity between the old and new. By keeping the colours similar I hope that, at a glance, players still recognise it as the iconic Albion map" 

So here is a brief but more insightful look into the work behind Fable Anniversary, how it has been improved with more modern next gen software and how it differs from the original game. 

There is still a lot more information which I want to put into the final post including some interviews and appropriate video links to those interviews if necessary. 

References: 

• http://www.lionhead.com/blog/2013/november/12/fable-anniversary-ui-old-and-new/
• http://www.lionhead.com/blog/2013/december/16/remastering-fable-anniversary/
• http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/12/5406176/fable-anniversary-review-cracked-frame