Lionhead Studios’ next project, the online-based. four player co-op game Fable Legends, is bringing a whole new level of graphical detail to the wonderful world of Albion. It might be a younger world than we’ve seen from the other entries in this Xbox-exclusive franchise, but game director David Eckelberry admits in a new post that his team has been able to push the franchise forward through the use of Unreal Engine.
“The output and quality of what can be achieved with the engine is an order of magnitude more advanced than what we could’ve done if we tried to write everything ourselves,” Eckelberry explained. “As content creators, we used to have to wait for months or years before we had a stable toolset to use, but now we’re able to get straight into building games without having to wait for the systems to arrive.”
Instead of spending months building an engine stable enough to run the game, the studio has been able to focus on the core gameplay and mechanics since the beginning of development.
“The architecture and toolset provided by UE4 allows us to dive straight into making this without waiting for tech to come up to scratch. Immediately we are able to fully utilize the incredible team we have available,” executive producer Geoff Smith said. “We’ve been able to get assets into the game in double-quick time, plus we’re getting visual feedback in a matter of seconds. All this, combined with the flexibility of the materials and shaders, leads to a better looking game.”
Look to hear more about this episodic content in the coming months.
