When will Fables be released?

[Weeksy]

I think the fact that he states "they're ready to get going" (or words to that effect) means that we won't be seeing "Fables" this year, so it appears the "Walking Dead" delays have bumped it to 2013.

[Vainamoinen]

Very probable - but I'd even say early 2013.

[Hero1]

It would make sense to release the first epiosde of Fables directly after the final episode of Walking Dead so you can capture all those fans.. and get people into it while they would be hitting the Telltale web site .. even a trailer at the end of walking dead 5 episode would be a good idea

[tbm1986]

Originally Posted by Hero1

It would make sense to release the first epiosde of Fables directly after the final episode of Walking Dead so you can capture all those fans.. and get people into it while they would be hitting the Telltale web site .. even a trailer at the end of walking dead 5 episode would be a good idea

That would make sense, but it sounds like they won't have completed episode 1 before November. I think all we can hope for is a pre-Xmas teaser trailer and the hype machine to start around the same time.

[bunglebb]

Bill Willingham spoke a little about the game at NYCC. He didn't give a release date, or any other details. When asked if you would play as Biby, he said he knew the answer, but didn't want to give it away, bu thinted that this was the case.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Hero1

It would make sense to release the first epiosde of Fables directly after the final episode of Walking Dead so you can capture all those fans.. and get people into it while they would be hitting the Telltale web site .. even a trailer at the end of walking dead 5 episode would be a good idea

They can't tack a full blown trailer on episode 5 as a video, because that would be too much to download; and they can't render it in the Fables engine, because that would be even more to download.

But a hint or first picture, we've had that before at least in the ToMI-S&M3 transition. I think they might do something like that...

Originally Posted by bunglebb

Bill Willingham spoke a little about the game at NYCC. He didn't give a release date, or any other details. When asked if you would play as Biby, he said he knew the answer, but didn't want to give it away, bu thinted that this was the case.

Welcome! We like people with this kind of info here.

[bunglebb]

Originally Posted by bunglebb

Bill Willingham spoke a little about the game at NYCC. He didn't give a release date, or any other details. When asked if you would play as Biby, he said he knew the answer, but didn't want to give it away, bu thinted that this was the case.

wow, so many grammar issues.. sorry about that! I think I've grown accustomed to my iPhone just auto-correcting for me...

Vainamoinen, your avatar looks wizened.. could you tell me what TTG has done, historically? Have they waited until promotion for the physically collected version of a game dies down before sharing a release date for the next game? If the collected Walking Dead comes out in November, are you saying there might be a hint of what's to come leaked at that point? Is there a standard time between releases?

I'm new to TTG: dabbled in Jurassic and BttF, but am completely hooked on The Walking Dead.. and an avid avid avid reader of Fables...

[Zeruis]

I'm guessing early 2013 after TWD season 1 is released as retail in December. I can't wait for Fables!

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by bunglebb

Vainamoinen, your avatar looks wizened.. could you tell me what TTG has done, historically? Have they waited until promotion for the physically collected version of a game dies down before sharing a release date for the next game? If the collected Walking Dead comes out in November, are you saying there might be a hint of what's to come leaked at that point? Is there a standard time between releases?

There is no standard time between releases.

Things are changing for Telltale, and I expect a lot of yesterday's things to not repeat. But I also think that they'd rather accelerate than slow down.

What I loved about earlier Telltale games was that any franchise could be suddenly announced and only three months later you could have the first episode. Times have changed - with the simultaneous announcement of several franchises at once in February 2010, some of which have not yet seen the light of day, Fables among them.

Then there was the plan to release episode 1 of Jurassic Park while the Back to the Future Season was still running - and they cancelled that idea only days from the intended release. So we really got mixed signals here about what Telltale wants to/can do, or what "traditions" were about to be changed.

I can imagine that a definite hint about the next game can be found at the end of TWD episode 5. TWD being a comic franchise just like Fables, it would fit to place it there. Even if there isn't, the first info for the next game will probably be out VERY soon. The TWD retail versions are a great bonus, but I doubt they'll be advertised to death while new and exciting things are afoot. Things are moving forward.




...also, I expect Mike to be VERY eager to finally open his mouth again about what he's been up to these last nine months.

[Jennifer]

Telltale's hinting about Fables again (finally). It was reannounced at New York Comic Con this month, and Telltale tweeted a reminder that the game was in development around the same time. So, it shouldn't be long now.

Coincidentally, it's the 10th anniversary of Fables this year. It would be great to see the first episode come out in December in celebration.

[Vainamoinen]

That at least settles which will be the next game.

And they should REALLY be going with their advertisements. This sub-forum is practically dead. Where's the action!?!

[Hero1]

I think a December release for fables episode 1 wold be perfect..even if episode 2 came a few months later at least it would get everyone into the game over the holidays

[WanderDreamer]

Eh, not sure if it'll be that soon. They would have shown a screenshot or two as hints before it is released.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by WanderDreamer

Eh, not sure if it'll be that soon. They would have shown a screenshot or two as hints before it is released.

This would be true in any case if Telltale were a company with one release every year, but special circumstances apply to their their episodic concept. There might already be screenshots and even videos around for presentation, but they might be held back to not get in the way of the continuous release of The Walking Dead. I also don't think we'll have a first episode by December, but don't rule out the possibility too quickly.

The Wallace & Gromit Season concluded on July 29th, 2009;
Tales of Monkey Island started 22 days earlier.

The announcement, however, had already been made and screenshots were shown.

If I really really had to guess, I'd say early March.

[Hero1]

They've been working on Fables for over a year though? You are telling me they haven't finished one episode??

[Vainamoinen]

Sure. Concepts can go for any length before a programming stage is even remotely considered (see Beyond Good & Evil 2 for an extreme example).

[Jennifer]

It takes a long time to create a game. Even more-so considering Telltale does multiple releases in a year, and they're still a medium sized company at only around 100 employees for the entire company.

If the process is still the same as it was when Jurassic Park was released, future projects are developed with a small team, and then when the current game has been released, some people split off to join the next project in the pipeline and other people split off to join other future projects.

I've never been involved in developing an episodic game, but judging from experience in helping to develop retail games (to which Telltale's overall seasons are comparable), depending when it's going to be released, it's likely either at the beta stage or the prototype stage now. I'm sure they have the season arc set in stone by now, and probably have the script for episode one done (or at the very least, mostly done). As far as the game itself, they probably have the basics up and running, like the engine, and some placeholder art (or maybe even some final or near-final art if they're only months away from release). Sound-wise, Jared's likely at least got some scratch tracks done for the music. If it's releasing in the next few months, he might even have recorded the final (or near-final) tracks by now.

[Vainamoinen]

OH GOD if Jared can do TDP's music miracle again... and Fables has ample opportunity for some epic cross-genre tunes... this could be wonderful.

But I do think he probably hasn't yet started. TWD binds him in more capacities than just composer.

[Hero1]

Mike Stemmle was on this forum a year ago talking about voice acting so I'd expect they'd be further along.. They have separate teams at Telltale too, so I don't think they would have been doing nothing for the last 12 months. They are separate to the walking dead team.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Hero1

Mike Stemmle was on this forum a year ago talking about voice acting so I'd expect they'd be further along.. They have separate teams at Telltale too, so I don't think they would have been doing nothing for the last 12 months. They are separate to the walking dead team.

If you're referring to this thread, you're looking too far into it. It was a thread for fun, no different than if a regular fan posted it. He was talking about fan wishes for popular actors to liven things up in the forum. Nothing more, nothing less.

As far as how the team structure works at Telltale, like I said above, it was revealed during the time that Jurassic Park was in development that the team for a future project starts small and then grows once the current game finishes up.

As to why a game can still be in the prototype stage a year after it was announced to be in production, look at it this way: they have 100 employees (give or take), and they have 5 probable projects going on now (The Walking Dead, Fables, King's Quest, The Walking Dead Season Two, and Back to the Future Season Two). So, in the best case scenario, that's 20 people per team. However, the latest project (The Walking Dead) has more people on it (and so it should). So, if you figure that the current team has 40 people working on it, that leaves 15 people per team for the other projects. Now, when you consider that some of this staff includes the website developers, IT people, lawyers, business managers, and other non-gaming-related staff, that leaves the teams even smaller. So, you're probably looking at closer to 10 to 12 people per team for the future projects.