Peter Molyneux Plans Only One More Game

[Marshall Honorof]

Peter Molyneux Plans Only One More Game

The Fable creator wants his last game to be definitive.

The man behind Fable has made some only develop one title [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108540-Peter-Molyneux-Apologizes-for-Over-Promising], but according to Molyneux, this title will be his last entry into the world of gaming. The good news, though, is that he plans to make it a worthy capstone for his career.

"I'm only going to make one more game, I think," says Molyneux. "And that thought - the thought of every ounce of my energy, every ounce of my experience, every mistake that I've made in every single game - if I can learn from that, and use that energy to make one game... that's what I'm trying to do." Molyneux admits that he does not have a solid conception of what the game will be in terms of genre, gameplay mechanics, or story, but believes that "it's going to be the defining game of my career." That said, the British developer already has a name in mind for his last work, and a list of design decisions he would like to implement.

Molyneux hasn't said exactly why this next game will be his last, save for a (hopefully) joking remark that "death has got to be coming soon, surely." With his unusual Curiosity [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120529-User-Overload-Crushes-Curiosity-Servers] project launching this week, Molyneux still obviously has a few very unconventional gaming ideas up his sleeve. Whether they'll all make it into his proposed magnum opus or he'll decide he needs "just one more game" afterwards is a question nearly as inscrutable as the man himself.

Source: BeefJack [http://beefjack.com/news/peter-molyneux-im-only-going-to-make-one-more-game/]

Image: Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileeter-molyneux-at-university-of-southampton.jpg]

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[drisky]

What's really said is that he won't be marketing his games any more. No one builds up a game with crazy hype and lofty promises like him. And he's already doing it with this game, before we even know the first thing about it.

 

[RA92]

Oh man, I'll miss his lofty promises.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

So, he doesnt know what the game will be about story-wise, how it will play or even what kind of game it will be, but he has a name picked already and thinks it will be the best game he has ever made?

Maybe he should stop making games then, as he is doing it wrong.

Sounds like pretty much every aspiring game creator from junior high, if you ask me.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

One more broken pile of promises on its way

 

[faefrost]

So wait? is he trying to combine ALL of the flaws, mistakes, and missteps he's learned into one last game?

Is it me, or does old Petey seem to be getting crazier by the day?

 

[cerebus23]

I wish him the best of luck if he is really trying to make his ultimate "theisis" and it is his final game, i really hope he make use of all that life experience to really make something special, else i might feel more sad for him than i would about a crappy game, when you put your heart and soul into a project and it fails it is always painful for the creator.

So for one last go peter hope you nail it best of luck and thanks for all the games.

And if this is another can of b.s. well you were a real artist at one point.

 

[Dogstile]

Awh come on, why does everyone hate on this guy? You guys may love to harp on him but the man is seriously passionate about his games, and the industry needs more zany characters like him giving us interesting (albeit flawed?) concepts.

I'll miss ya Pete

Agreed, this man has actually gotten some pretty amazing games out the door. He's just overly excited about each one and then actually talks to people about the ideas in his head, it was lovely. I was planning on going up to guildford and finding 22cans just to see what the building looks like. I kinda expect it to be glorious.

 

[Callate]

One game that actually came out looking like the original design document would be pretty fantastic, really. But I feel like we haven't seen that happen since, I don't know, Dungeon Keeper, maybe?

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Breaking news, indie studio 22Cans rebranded to 1Can.

Let's just hope it's not another Curiosity, that game was honestly horrendous in terms of *enjoyment*. Clicking cubes gets stale after a while, even if you're writing dick jokes for the rest of the world to see.

 

[Gabanuka]

Breaking news, indie studio 22Cans rebranded to 1Can.

Let's just hope it's not another Curiosity, that game was honestly horrendous in terms of *enjoyment*. Clicking cubes gets stale after a while, even if you're writing dick jokes for the rest of the world to see.

I actually really like it for some reason. And that sickens me.


So let me get this straight: Curiosity is one of 22 "experiments" leading up to a final game which will be the Madmans last.

It better be Black and White 3.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Awh come on, why does everyone hate on this guy? You guys may love to harp on him but the man is seriously passionate about his games, and the industry needs more zany characters like him giving us interesting (albeit flawed?) concepts.

I'll miss ya Pete

Agreed, this man has actually gotten some pretty amazing games out the door. He's just overly excited about each one and then actually talks to people about the ideas in his head, it was lovely. I was planning on going up to guildford and finding 22cans just to see what the building looks like. I kinda expect it to be glorious.

My belief is that he never worked with a studio that could make his promises come true. All his promises for the Fable series could have been done by Bethesda. Hell 38 Studios did Fable much better than Fable. I had my hopes up since he was out of that creativity crushing environment and now he only promises one game? Sigh.

 

[VladG]

I'm actually somewhat interested. Sure, he's NEVER been able to match his vision, but who knows... maybe the time is right, maybe the technology and the previous experience will come together in a truly interesting game.

Haven knows he's nothing if not ambitious to innovate and I've liked some of his games in the past very much (Black and While comes to mind, flawed as it was. Back in the day it was 100% unique and quite enjoyable even if it ran out of steam pretty fast)

I'm certainly MUCH more excited to see what will happen with this project than pretty much anything else the AAA industry has to offer. Better to aim high and fall short than a have zero ambition.

 

[Rad Party God]

Please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck...

This is your last chance Pete, don't screw it up.

 

[DiamanteGeeza]

Awh come on, why does everyone hate on this guy? You guys may love to harp on him but the man is seriously passionate about his games, and the industry needs more zany characters like him giving us interesting (albeit flawed?) concepts.

I'll miss ya Pete

Agreed, this man has actually gotten some pretty amazing games out the door. He's just overly excited about each one and then actually talks to people about the ideas in his head, it was lovely. I was planning on going up to guildford and finding 22cans just to see what the building looks like. I kinda expect it to be glorious.

My belief is that he never worked with a studio that could make his promises come true. All his promises for the Fable series could have been done by Bethesda. Hell 38 Studios did Fable much better than Fable. I had my hopes up since he was out of that creativity crushing environment and now he only promises one game? Sigh.

I've worked with Pete over the years, and it's not necessarily the studio's fault, but rather a combination of things.

Here's what happens: he comes up with a grand and intriguing idea that is (quite often) vast in scope. This is broken down into individual gameplay elements that people start prototyping. Quite often, these elements are pretty novel and haven't always been done before, or done in the way he envisions it, so this means it's going to take a LOT of iteration to see whether it'll pan out or not.

All good so far, but then his obsessive personality kicks in, and he'll have a stick up his ass about one particular part of one particular gameplay element and will then constantly revise and change what it is, and that has the knock-on effect of the original idea never having had time to actually be iterated on to a point where it becomes clear whether the fundamental idea is good or bad. Pete just keeps changing it and changing it, and obviously the prototype team can't get the code written at the same speed as his brain works, so concepts never get fully prototyped.

And then, stage 3 of Hurricane Pete, is he'll show up one morning after having had another epiphany during the night, and will scrap that entire gameplay element in favor of a new one he's dreamed up.

This then goes on until the publisher forces him to actually release a game, which ends up being full of interesting ideas that never got the development time they needed to be any good: a bunch of half-baked failed promises.

But it isn't from lack of talent or effort from either Pete or the dev team. His style of working is now counter-productive for much of the time.

 

[cerebus23]

Awh come on, why does everyone hate on this guy? You guys may love to harp on him but the man is seriously passionate about his games, and the industry needs more zany characters like him giving us interesting (albeit flawed?) concepts.

I'll miss ya Pete

Agreed, this man has actually gotten some pretty amazing games out the door. He's just overly excited about each one and then actually talks to people about the ideas in his head, it was lovely. I was planning on going up to guildford and finding 22cans just to see what the building looks like. I kinda expect it to be glorious.

My belief is that he never worked with a studio that could make his promises come true. All his promises for the Fable series could have been done by Bethesda. Hell 38 Studios did Fable much better than Fable. I had my hopes up since he was out of that creativity crushing environment and now he only promises one game? Sigh.

I've worked with Pete over the years, and it's not necessarily the studio's fault, but rather a combination of things.

Here's what happens: he comes up with a grand and intriguing idea that is (quite often) vast in scope. This is broken down into individual gameplay elements that people start prototyping. Quite often, these elements are pretty novel and haven't always been done before, or done in the way he envisions it, so this means it's going to take a LOT of iteration to see whether it'll pan out or not.

All good so far, but then his obsessive personality kicks in, and he'll have a stick up his ass about one particular part of one particular gameplay element and will then constantly revise and change what it is, and that has the knock-on effect of the original idea never having had time to actually be iterated on to a point where it becomes clear whether the fundamental idea is good or bad. Pete just keeps changing it and changing it, and obviously the prototype team can't get the code written at the same speed as his brain works, so concepts never get fully prototyped.

And then, stage 3 of Hurricane Pete, is he'll show up one morning after having had another epiphany during the night, and will scrap that entire gameplay element in favor of a new one he's dreamed up.

This then goes on until the publisher forces him to actually release a game, which ends up being full of interesting ideas that never got the development time they needed to be any good: a bunch of half-baked failed promises.

But it isn't from lack of talent or effort from either Pete or the dev team. His style of working is now counter-productive for much of the time.

Interesting read there, makes sense.