Behringer X32 - Audio Media

FEATURE FINALCUT
26 November 2012 | audiomedia.com
Fable: The Journey
John Broomhall
Lionhead’s latest Kinect-only Fable game casts the
player in the role of main protagonist, Gabriel,
who undertakes an epic journey of destiny.
The award-winning developer’s attention to
detail is exquisite, with sumptuous graphics and superb
characterisation, supported by a rich music score and
wealth of intricate sound design.
Music and sound production took place over an intense
eight-month period, which composer and overall audio
head honcho, Russell Shaw, describes as a ‘head-mash’.
To make it through the epic production journey – 20,000
lines of dialogue, some five hours of music, and thousands
of sound effects – Shaw brought in Sound Supervisor,
Steve Brown, to shoulder the day-to-day burdens of spot
effects, foley, and ambient sound requirements.
Brown: “It was an incredible opportunity. As a big
Fable fan, I’m in love with the game world of Albion, so to
work on its soundscape was really amazing. My job was
to organise and divvy up the work, operating in-house
“We’ve had people playing the game
finding themselves apologising
profusely to Seren when they hear her
emote pain – they’re saying a heartfelt
sorry to a virtual horse! It was quite
an undertaking but that emotional
connection, where the sound makes you
feel something, is striking.”
Russell Shaw, Lionhead
at Lionhead’s UK development studio, as well as sound
designing a key area – the travelling experience – and
especially the horse and cart.”
Working with the Microsoft Game Studio’s Central
Media Audio team (directed by Kristofor Mellroth),
Soundelux, Pinewood Studios, and a couple of animal
sound effects specialists, Brown controlled the vision and
directed traffic, working closely with Shaw: “Russ and I
would often have creative conversations about say, what
do we want the tone of this particular area to be like?
What are we going to do with sound? What is the feeling
that Russ is going to conjure up music-wise to support that
or jar against it, or maybe we have no sound at all at some
points for dramatic effect?”
Shaw: “It’s been a great working relationship and in
many ways, it’s been more like doing an interactive movie
than a game – it’s a very linear experience and there’s a
sense that you’re building the game from start to end. I
think Gary Carr, the Creative Director, realised quite early
on in the project that we were taking it in a direction that
he was really comfortable with, so he pretty much left us
to it. I’ve worked with Gary on so many games now and
he knows I’m not going to do anything that isn’t in the
game’s best interest.”
Kinecting Ambitious Ideas
One of Brown’s key ambitions was that the sound design
should help tell the story and convey the actions of the
user, particularly bearing in mind the game is Kinect-only
(meaning the player controls and engages with the game
via the movement of their own hands and body which are
tracked by Kinect’s camera technology). For instance, if
the player over-whips Seren the horse, the whip crack will
become much more abrasive and harsh in character subtly
telling the player to rein back. Brown: “I really wanted
to embed the ‘UI’ (user interface) sounds into the things
that you’re interacting with using your hands via Kinect.
We have an iconic sound for Seren’s footsteps as she goes