Molyneux: I've Never Made a Great Game

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Molyneux: I've Never Made a Great Game


The millions of sales he's accumulated over the years aren't enough for Lionhead Boss Peter Molyneux - he needs an enormous hit before he'll be happy.

Peter Molyneux's biography makes for some impressive reading. He's founded two game studios, he pretty much invented the god game genre with Populous [http://www.amazon.com/Populous-Nintendo-DS/dp/B001ELNFEM/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287678150&sr=1-1 ] in 1989, and has been honored by both the British and French governments for his contributions to the arts.

For most people, this would be an incredibly respectable list of achievements, but Molyneux says he won't be happy until he's released what he thinks is a "great" game. Molyneux thought that he had made some good games, but never one that someone might put in a top-five list of his or her favorite games. He said that someone might consider adding one of his games, but they would never make the final cut.

He didn't consider his attitude to be humble, however, instead he thought that every designer should be willing to accept that not everything he or she made was perfect, and should be inspired by their mistakes. Molyneux said that he would actively seek out criticism of his work by posting under an alias on gaming forums and trying to spark a debate. His goal, he said, was to make it into the "triple-A club", which meant making a game that sold over 5 million copies.

Molyneux's willingness to admit to his own mistakes is possibly one of his most admirable traits as a designer, even if he is harder on himself than most reasonable critics ever would ever be. With Fable 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Fable-III-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0JGDM/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287677989&sr=1-1 ], which has apparently taken the mistakes of Fable 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Fable-2-Platinum-Hits-Xbox-360/dp/B002Q21X7Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287678096&sr=1-1 ] and corrected them, coming out next week, Molyneux might finally get that five million selling game he longs for.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/41441/Molyneux-Ive-never-made-a-great-game]




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Baby Tea

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Sep 18, 2008
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I don't care what anyone says: I love Peter Molyneux.
He's the most enthusiastic game developer/designer/idea-man I've seen in the industry. Ever.
He tries new things, he puts his ideas to the test, he's his own worst critic, and he's willing to admit when he screws something up. Seriously, even if he over-promises on some aspects of his games: The guy has a real heart for the industry, and a real passion to keep things moving.

Hang in there, Pete!
 

Fr]anc[is

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May 13, 2010
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Huh, interesting coming from him. Not to put the guy down or anything, but I kinda agree with him. The Fables weren't bad, just not so good. And the only other game I can remember at the moment, Black and White 2, just did so many things wrong despite it's huge potential. When Peter's games actually ARE what he says they'll be, that will be a grand day indeed.
 

IckleMissMayhem

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Oct 18, 2009
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Well, I'm certainly not arguing with him! Is he trying to get people to take pity and buy Fable 3? It's a marketing technique not usually encountered... but it's not going to work on me!!
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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Peter? Hello? The Movies?! The game that I have been begging you to make a sequel for?

Make it. Then you'll be a truly great dev.

Oh, and your Fable III thing looks pretty good, but doesn't it always?

Baby Tea said:
I don't care what anyone says: I love Peter Molyneux.
He's the most enthusiastic game developer/designer/idea-man I've seen in the industry. Ever.
He tries new things, he puts his ideas to the test, he's his own worst critic, and he's willing to admit when he screws something up. Seriously, even if he over-promises on some aspects of his games: The guy has a real heart for the industry, and a real passion to keep things moving.

Hang in there, Pete!
Quoted for extreme amounts of truth.
 

Ben Gepfrey

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Aug 6, 2010
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Fables were good games, they just have some flaws, sooner or later we will have that truly great game.
 

Celtic_Kerr

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May 21, 2010
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Baby Tea said:
I don't care what anyone says: I love Peter Molyneux.
He's the most enthusiastic game developer/designer/idea-man I've seen in the industry. Ever.
He tries new things, he puts his ideas to the test, he's his own worst critic, and he's willing to admit when he screws something up. Seriously, even if he over-promises on some aspects of his games: The guy has a real heart for the industry, and a real passion to keep things moving.

Hang in there, Pete!
He used to be a joke around my home town. He promised so many things and was simply never able to follow up with them. I love his dedication though and his ability to stand up and say "I'm sorry, my expectations were simply too high. I fucked up"

It's a great trait
 

tahrey

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Sep 18, 2009
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I'm not sure whether this unexpectedly shows him as being human after all, or just annoyingly emo.

Maybe no one game has made it to triple-A (possibly because his true magnum opii were released before there were enough gamers in the world for it to be possible), but spread across all of them, it must have happened several times over. He's a visionary and a bankable talent. And that's enough ego stroking, just in case he's said this because he's feeling insecure and wants a bit of ass-kissing to soothe his psyche...
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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Ben Gepfrey said:
Fables were good games, they just have some flaws, sooner or later we will have that truly great game.
Any game that ends with a SINGLE moral choice that renders every last thing you did before that irrelevant is not a good game. The fables are bad, bad games.

I've been saying he doesn't make good games for years, I'm pleased he and I are on the same page.

AugustFall said:
The first Black and White was a great game. Other than that I agree.
That game consisted of hour after hour of trying to get something without a brain to something useful. You need seven loads of wood to make a wheat field while only one for a house, how is that not retarded?
 

quiet_samurai

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Apr 24, 2009
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Baby Tea said:
I don't care what anyone says: I love Peter Molyneux.
He's the most enthusiastic game developer/designer/idea-man I've seen in the industry. Ever.
He tries new things, he puts his ideas to the test, he's his own worst critic, and he's willing to admit when he screws something up. Seriously, even if he over-promises on some aspects of his games: The guy has a real heart for the industry, and a real passion to keep things moving.

Hang in there, Pete!

I agree with this pretty much 100%. The only thing abour Molyneux that kind of irks me is how he sells a game, you know, talks the shit out of it and then it's turs out to be a vague cousin of what he said or not nearly as great ata all. But all in all, he is good for the industry, and I think he will one day make that GREAT game.
 

Uber Waddles

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May 13, 2010
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UberWaddles: No shit Molyneux, now stop wasting my time. Dont you have some crappy game to build hype about?
 

tahrey

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Sep 18, 2009
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manythings: I will however concede that I often can't figure out how to play his games properly. maybe because of having been a happy little pirate waybackwhen and so not having the manuals ... but still... Syndicate was about the only one that was in any way intuitive. Populous was confusing, and Magic Carpet... well, just wierd.

Well ahead of its time in offering red/blue, autostereoscope and flicker-glasses 3D though.