This is my final post on my personal enquiry based on Fable Anniversary. By reading through my previous posts you can see the development of research on this topic, in this post the information will be more detailed and involve interviews with Lionhead employee's which have worked on the game.
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. You can really see this when looking at the chair and the main character.
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. This is clear if you look at the rug and the beds in the background.
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"
Interviews with the makers of Fable Anniversary
What's the first thing fans who played the original "Fable" will notice about the new version of the game?
"Apart from how good everything looks, I think the first thing the fans will notice is that it still feels like the same game and that was very important to us. We wanted to add fidelity to the world and to the characters without changing the core experience."
"One of the most challenging aspects was just dealing with the sheer complexity of the original game. There are many systems running throughout the game dealing with everything from player morphing to the NPC AI, all of which were combined with the main Gold and Silver quests and the even more challenging random Bronze quests. We spent a lot of time making sure that all of this was still working just like it did in the original."
"We brought the save system up to more modern day standards. The original game had a ‘World Save’ when you were not on a quest and very confusing ‘Hero Save’ for when you were on a quest. The major problem being that you couldn’t save your progress during most of the quests, so if you died or had to switch off the console you would lose all of your progress. We changed all of this so you now have checkpoint saves when you are on a quest to automatically save your progress and you can create a manual save at any point in the game."
Interested in listening in on some more in depth interviews?
Check out this video:
There are also some really insightful reviews on YouTube, feel free to watch at your pleasure but if you just want a taste, here's a short reviews from GameSpot:
Achievements!
Something that every gamer loves is Xbox achievements. A feature that isn't available on the original Fable, Fable Anniversary now includes 50 fun and interesting achievements. The names of a lot of these achievements reference recent pop culture.
GLADIATOR, READY!
WINTER IS COMING
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Many fans were excited about this new list of achievements as achievements on the original Fable were always asked for.
But what's next for Fable?
With the new release of the Xbox One Lionhead have created a new game for the new next gen console. There are mixed feelings about this game, as many other Fable games that haven't followed the storyline have been a disappointment to fans. However the new game is called Fable Legends and hear's a little trailer for anyone interested.
So this has been my personal enquiry into Fable Anniversary, it's changes and the celebration of a very popular game series. I'd recommend playing the Fable series and taking your time with it, I loved each game although each has its strong and weak points however overall each game carries on with its lovable or despised characters and its interesting gameplay.
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
- http://www.xboxachievements.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324362
- http://www.lionhead.com/blog/2013/december/13/fable-anniversary-full-achievement-list/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V9MGALRPfg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FmJGs-Z4FI
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95tDJtAmeP0
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