IndustryGamers is kicking off a multi-studio interviewing tour, talking with various developers about one of the most important aspects of development for games: the protagonist.
Mario, Master Chief, “The Lone Wanderer,” Nathan Drake; the list goes on for the options available to gamers. As we see gamers become fans of the characters within these game spaces, we must realize that they are an important aspect of the development process. These characters are symbols.
This is an academic research study, complete with hypotheses, conceptual design and definitions, data sampling and conjecture, testing and evaluating, and of course a conclusion. This project seeks to find out exactly how consumers react to those that they control within the game, and perhaps find a causal relationship between the gamer and the protagonist.
To start, we will be speaking with various studios and their creative leads on how characters are developed, what is important for that development process and how the studio feels about creating characters. Our reach will be expansive on genre selection, and our intent is to find just what, exactly, glues gamers to their seats when they play a game, to find what makes these characters so adored, and to find what kind of character appeals to the consumer base the most.
The methodology of the project will be two-fold for our interviews. The first four questions for each interview will remain the same, a control, to gauge development process. We then aim to find specifics about characters through details that each game provides (be it through relations, actions or unique game features).
After we’ve concluded our interviews with developers, we'll tackle the consumer side of the equation, but more on that later.
For now, we kick off the interviews with Lionhead Studios and Fable III’s Lead Writer Mark Llabres Hill to talk about the Fable series and how each game has offered the consumer a “blank-slate” character that has evolved over time due in part to consumer response and developer intentions.
Control Questions
IG: Developing a character is assuredly a major concern for a game. How important is it for the development of Fable III?
MH: Story was a much more important part of the development process than it has been in the past. For the first time, the writers were involved right from the start of the project, so that design and story could be created in unison. All of which means the characters were part of the foundation of everything we did. The drama, the humor, and the structure... they all come from the characters.
IG: What led to the design concept of the protagonist?
MH: The protagonist was in many ways the hardest character to create, because we've traditionally embraced the philosophy of giving you a blank slate so you can develop that character yourself. Fable I and II both began with the protagonist as child, which immediately stopped us from defining a personality and establishing a detailed history. This time round, the Hero is not only a young man (or woman), he's also the child of the Hero of Fable II, living in a castle as a prince/princess. He's a much more established character.
IG: Why did you decide to develop the character in the way you did?
MH: We also decided that if we wanted to create truly dramatic scenes, then a silent Hero just wasn't an option. He needed to react. He needed to speak. The trick was finding the balance between that specificity and still giving players the freedom to project themselves into the game. It's the balance between the two sides of Fable really: the one with a traditionally structured story and the one with an open, simulated world.
Fable Specific Questions:
IG: Why did you refrain from providing a name for the character? Was this intended to give the player a sense that they were "The Hero," or is this intended as something such as a fairy tale story?
MH: We did discuss it at length, but in the end we felt it was one of those things that tipped the balance too far in the direction of this being a fully realized character, instead of a vehicle for players to live in another world. When you give something a name it's no longer open to interpretation, it's no longer yours. In Fable II, you had the nickname "Sparrow," which worked because you were a child, and it was your older sister who called you by that name. We experimented with something similar in Fable III, but it never felt right. We found that how other characters feel about you as the Hero, and how they treat you, told you much more than any arbitrary name could - and had the advantage of nobody saying "But I don't want to be called that!"
IG: The focus on the protagonist remains on the balance of "good and evil," "purity and corruption." Why was this a major focus, and why was it important to let players choose their path?
MH: Having freedom of choice and accepting the consequences of those choices have always been an integral part of Fable. It goes down to the core of the franchise. In the past, that's been represented by very clear-cut choices between good and evil, so players could follow completely opposing paths. In the end though, that moral naivety is both limiting and rather uninteresting. We wanted the choices in Fable III to make people stop and think, to figure out what the right thing to do is, or even if there is a right thing to do. Because it's a story not just about revolution but about leadership, we wanted the choices to reflect the dilemmas all leaders must face. We didn't want people to decide at the start that they were going to be good or evil, and automatically pick the obvious choice for their path. It's much more interesting to be challenged. "What would you really do in this situation?"
IG: Fable II introduced us to families, even same-sex marriages. Why offer this option?
MH: It goes back to the idea of freedom of choice and of giving you a simulated world to live in. Each town is full of people who have jobs, go shopping, drink in the pub... But none of that matters too much if you can't interact with it in a meaningful way. Which means it isn't just about giving you the option to go crazy and kill everyone. You can establish relationships, make friends, get married. And if you can get married to anyone, it stands to reason that you can have a same-sex marriage. Albion is a very liberal place. In Fable III you can even adopt children if you can't or choose not to have ones of your own.
IG: The visual cues on good/evil and pure/corrupt are readily apparent. What effects does this have on the player, and why make the concept of morality so black and white?
MH: As I said earlier, we made a very conscious decision to move away from the moral extremes and offer more interesting, ambiguous choices. With that we have also toned down the physical effect of those choices. They're no longer as extreme as they were. But at the same time we added weapons and hero morphing that's much more dynamic.
IG: Is "The Hero" designed to be an independent character, or are players intended to feel as though they are "The Hero?"
MH: We've moved closer to a compromise between those positions. Earlier Fable games were definitely about offering an experience where you could feel you were the Hero, or at least that you were creating your Hero from scratch. That isn't always conducive to good storytelling though.
IG: Do you believe that Fable could be what it is today if you had gone in a different direction with "The Hero?"
MH: That "blank slate" Hero is definitely one of the reasons a lot of people love Fable, especially those who are more interested in the simulated world than the story. But the series has to grow and develop if it's going to stay fresh. The move from light RPG to a more action-adventure experience definitely favors getting closer to a fully fleshed out character. It was the right time to pursue that direction. And who knows where we'll take it in the future.
IG: Thanks for your time.
