Peter Molyneux's Twitter Hack Casts Spotlight on Developer's Recent Failings

Gary Stott writes: "There's something more to all of this, though. For just a few minutes last week, many people truly believed that Molyneux had given up on Godus for good. Why would they believe such a thing? Well, because Molyneux and his studio 22Cans have been struggling with the wildly off-rails project for some time now. There's a long and messy history behind the game. We've discussed it at length."

[garyanderson]

I like Molyneux, the industry needs more crazy dreamers.

[-Foxtrot]

His "crazy dreams" end up turning into gamers "crazy nightmares".

He's basically a block of cheese. Don't read an interview of him hyping up a game before you go to bed.

[Zeref]

Not for me. I like hearing him talk so passionately about his games even though some of his ideas dont make it in his game. This guy is my inspiration its because of him I want to be a game developer.

[-Foxtrot]

"This guy is my inspiration its because of him I want to be a game developer"

So you want to make promises you obviously know yourself you can't keep and use these lies to exploit gamers hype so they will rush out and buy your game which really, at the end of the day is nothing to what you actually hyped up and promised

You want to be like that....yeah I don't think you would be liked very much if that was your mind set. Gamers and the community would have shot you down early in your career before you even get started. Before you know it you'll be working on smartphone gamers.

[IamTylerDurden1]

A block of cheese? Molyneux is a genius, look at what happened to Fable when he left. No one can deny Black & White, Fable, and Fable 2. All 3 are classic games that are imaginative and fresh, Fable 2 is a masterpiece imo.

Molyneux is 1 of the best idea men in the industry, he alone was the reason for Lionhead's success. Show some respect.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Foxtrot

His dreams end up turning into gamers crazy nightmares? Huh? I think a hell of a lot of ppl enjoyed Black & White and Fable. Fable 2 won multiple goty awards including X-Play's goty. Black & White is a 90 on Metacritic. The only nightmare is the nightmare that has become Fable since Molyneux's departure. A kinect game and a free 2 play..

[Zeref]

My god, you act like the guy raped your sister or something. His ideas weren't that far fetched. A good example is the plant a seed and it will grow into a tree feature thing. It just didn't work because consoles were too weak. You Peter Molyneux haters act like he was just too lazy to put it in or that he just lies. Its not like that at all. He likes to share his ideas and that leads stupid people to believe everything he says will be in the game.

[hay]

At least he was trying to do something fresh each time. Dungeon Keeper is still my top dog.

[frostypants]

This guy has been making classic games since before many N4G readers were conceived. Yeah, he is in a rough patch, but have some respect for his work.

[-Foxtrot]

This is hillarious

Everytime he's opened his mouth in the past...what? 6-8 years people shit on him and can glady admit how much he's fell and now people want to stick up for him for what he HAS done.

That was years and years ago. If we take what someone has done in the past and ignore their flaws or failures then everyone is going to look perfect.

/s

[Rachel_Alucard]

@foxtrot

Nobody even mentions how royally Godus has been screwed since its conception. I absolutely enjoyed that RPS interview he had some time ago where he got called out on all the crap hes done with Godus plus all his years of over-promising. People can make up whatever excuse they can to cast him in the good light but in his position he shouldn't be making claims that were never going to happen to begin with. Fable was never a good series, 3 being the worst PoS I've owned on the 360. He's at a point now where him retiring was a cause for celebration based on the reactions I saw before it was dismissed as a hacking, which was also met with dread right after.

[hay]

@Fox: I shat on him myself, but I think the guy admitted way too many times he refused to shut up when it was the right time to do so.

[Zeref]

Same here.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I agree, ppl like Molyneux help push boundaries and are the type of creative minds we need.

[rainslacker]

I'm all for the crazy dreamer, but it's helpful if those dreamers don't build the expectations of their games to levels which they can't actually accomplish. Gamers are capable of doing that on their own, and the dreamer should be a bit more moderate when talking about their own games, and leave the crazy dreaming to things involving broader principals.

I do like Molyneux for the most part. I respect what he wants to do. I just think he has a hard time making achievable goals some of the time.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

This dude certainly knows how to over sell and under deliver on promises, I'll give him that. Fable 1 is still one of my all time favorite games.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Fable is in my top 3, while i realize Fable 2 was a better quality game i just have such an affinity for Fable 1 and what it meant to me at that time. Are you really sore about the trees in Fable 1? I admire Molyneux for his ideas, i'd rather have someone who thinks big than someone who delivers on all of their simple-minded ideas.

[Zeref]

"Id rather have someone who thinks big than someone who delivers on all of their simple-minded ideas"

Thank you!

End of discussion.

[traumadisaster]

I don't follow games until they are released, therefore he could have promised a harem will visit your house if you buy it and I would never know.

Advice don't listen to the pre game crap before the Super Bowl.

[2pacalypsenow]

I think the last good game I played of his other than Fable on the Xbox was Black And White

[PancakeLova]

Hahaha

[Archmagel]

He's not a bad guy. He just set himself up to disappoint people. After Fable, Fable 2 was supposed to be this big, epic, long lasting journey with all these features and epic combat with a freeing experience.

It turned out to be an OK story, lasted me about a month (with school and all), and combat felt less fluid. Same with Fable 3.

Black and White was a great time as well, just, again, not the game he said it would be.

I love the guy's passion and visions, but he just can't meet them. He doesn't deserve that.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Aren't you supposed to aim high? He shared concepts with us, he was open. If u knew half the ideas that get scrapped in games due to budget and time you'd be sick. The thing is, many of his ideas that never made it were due to processing limitations. He was almost too forward thinking for the hardware.

Fable 2 had many of things promised in Fable 1, it was bigger, more intuitive, had co op, terrific combat, real estate, dynamically changing towns, dynamic aging ect.

The combat in Fable 2 was superb, much better than Fable 1. The ability to use guns, magic, and melee simultaneously was well executed. Precision shooting, weapon upgrades, and of course the hound.

[rainslacker]

"He was almost too forward thinking for the hardware."

Except, he's a game designer and director, and as such, he is required to work within the limitations in which he chooses to release his visions.

Almost all game productions aim big, and almost all have stuff scrapped due to processing restrictions. Other reasons can include they just don't work when implemented, or they aren't as compelling to the overall experience. Then of course, there are the ones that get scrapped due to time.

I've sat in, or been part of pre-production meetings where the concept and design are discussed at great length on how to achieve them. I've heard some crazy things that designers want to do, that honestly would be quite amazing should they be possible. But, when software engineers are part of such things, sometimes they have to curb these ideas, because sometimes they just aren't possible. Sometimes though, they are possible in a different form, and that's what these meetings are for....to discuss what's possible, and try to make happen what can be done in some way. Often times, an almost innocuous concept can be discussed for hours just to determine if it's possible on a technical level.

You may think that is limiting ourselves or the games to pre-conceived notions of what we expect, and us devs need to work harder. But that's not it at all. It's about being realistic and pragmatic. Some people, particularly programmers who aren't the artistic type, can look at things logically, but most of them will go over in their heads, or discuss among others possible ways to make it happen, and at times say they'll see what they can do. But ultimately, there is only so much time and resources that can be devoted to a project, and producers and directors want that time to be utilized in the most efficient and productive way possible...not spent spending 2-3 months on a concept which isn't possible, or won't improve the game, or worse, be completed, and just not actually come together with the rest of the game.

Anyhow, side note aside...know it was long...sorry.

The difference is when you talk about how he shared concepts.

That's a great thing, and I do wish more developers would talk about this kind of stuff. However, they should do so on a philosophical level, or if they don't want to delve to deep, as an developer diary type thing where they talk about some of the things they wanted to do, but couldn't.

Molyneux has a very bad habit of discussing these things as if they will be actual features of the game. He's applying his vision and dreams and using them as a way to discuss a product, which is then applied as a selling feature of the product by the consumer base. When this happens, people set their expectations higher, and because of the way Molyneux presents his ideas, I can't fault others who think it could be so.

If one is going to present these ideas in such a way, they should do so after they are sure they can achieve what they want to do, and as a game developer, he has to be acutely aware of what constraints he will have to adhere to...money, time, hardware, etc.

[dcbronco]

It seems to me a person having their Twitter account hacked should put the spotlight on Twitter's security. Making that an extension of whatever is going on at 22Cans is a reach made capable only by a mind desperate for hits on a unknown site. A site I'll avoid for now unless the headline appears more intelligence based and less needy drunk girl at the party based.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Agreed, blame Twitter.

[dcbronco]

Molyneux should respond to this article by blaming Twitter for every problem he has ever had.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

I think people are way too hard on him. At the very least when it comes to popular devs he's not a total dick to everyone.

[rainslacker]

He's a very likable guy. Very personable, and obviously very passionate about games.

I think they're hard on him because he doesn't deliver what he says he wants to do, and he should probably not discuss what he wants to do, rather what he's doing, and people would probably not be so disappointed, thus they would probably come to respect him. I feel he actually does deserve respect. He's one of gaming's eccentric types, and every artistic medium needs those kinds of people to really push it forward. However, those eccentric types need to realize they're talking to the consumer of the medium, and people tend to be judgmental when they don't get what they've come to expect....whether that expectation is warranted or not.

[IamTylerDurden1]

People are fools to think every concept will make it in game. Bottom line is Peter Molyneux has delivered on many fantastic games and he's helped push the industry in new directions.