The question ...

It's been three months now since I've been working with Lionhead Studios; so far I've had an incredible time with amazing things happening all around me. I've been playing Fable since on a regular base, and have been involved with different aspects of the development cycle. I also had a brief presentation of B.C. and Jonty Barnes showed me a very nice and playable version of Black&White 2. Other projects I was introduced to included The Movies but no sign whatsoever yet about DIMITRI and Unity. Let's wait and see...

Currently the whole Fable Community is requiring most of my time and effort, as it's most likely for this game to come out first. You heard me right; way too many people are moaning about a release date at the moment so I tell you here and now; Fable will be the first game from Lionhead to be released this year. The people at Lionhead Studios and Big Blue Box are working hard; the weekly emails from the whole development team are talking about bits and pieces they've done the past week and the work they've got on the schedule for next week. I found these mails very interesting, as they give you a nice idea on where in terms of development we currently are. Things are looking good, people are confident 'till a certain degree (heck, you can never be sure until you actually have a gold disc pressed) and the "Press Beast" is getting started, which means we are getting closer to finalizing this game. By no means should you expect this game to come out before May 2004 though, it will be after that for sure. More details on the release date or related topics will be released as soon as we have more information, which should be in the near future. Just like everyone else with some sort of sense out there, we will announce a release date when we're absolutely sure the game will be out and done at that time, which we can't do at this time of writing. The following months will be very important in terms of finishing the final bits of Fable; just wait and see for us to bring you an update.

When I started for example, Lionhead was still refining the user interface, with a temporary design being in place. It didn't take long for a programmer (Guillaume Portes in this case) to nail down this aspect and it took the poor man a lot of work, stress and grief but I dare (or he) to say it's now something we all think works really well. Just to show you how things are looking at the moment; every day is a day closer with more work being done.

On a personal note, I get the question about a release date at least fifty times a day (which I reckon isn't as much as other people within the team). Even cab drivers from Guildford (where Lionhead Studios is located) ask me for it, managers and employees from other companies ask me on a side note while talking to them on the phone, press, fans and industry people keep sending me mails, private messages or even letters (not really letters) to get some sort of clue. They all seem to think I know the answer to their question, but that I'm being a prick for not telling them. Sadly enough, I don't know an exact release date myself, all I hear is an estimated time of release (somewhere this year; 2004), schedules to meet (milestones everywhere!) and a lot of speculations from a million websites, magazines and people. It is absolute insanity and idiocy! I'd rather prefer to eat my shoe if that would mean no one would ask me this silly question ever again!

We've had some key people from Microsoft visiting our studios recently, talking and discussing all sorts of topics with different people for several days. We will be having several big announcements to make in the near future (think of GDC and E3 for example), but also more and more details will be revealed as we get closer to finishing this game. Of course LHtimes.com will be playing a role in all of this, and the boards are also a tool we really like to use to release information. Expect some hot news about Fable later this Spring , the world and we have several events at stake for all of you - our fan base and community!

Sam, Community Pet Lionhead Studios