Peter Molyneaux - your opinions?

[Neurotoxin]

I recently played the Godus Early Access and I have to say I wasn't too impressed. I could see myself having fun with it in the right mood of course but, like a lot of reviews say, it seems more like a tech demo than a game. Molyneaux has a reputation for not living up to his promises and I'm interested to hear your guys' take on it.


I don't think he straight up lies about the games, I feel like he has all these really good ideas that he REALLY wants to put into whatever game it is and then fails at the technical aspect. I feel like he's a good idea man but a so-so developer, by so-so I mean he can make a working game. As for the failed promises, you can see the effort to try and implement them in some of his games, the Fable series for instance. There's a lot that wasn't implemented or only half-way but there is still a decent game at the core. When you strip away what you were told the game was going to be, and the bugs (Oh god the bugs, I had to restart Fable 3, 5 TIMES, because of progression breaking bugs like being stuck in an area that I couldn't leave because a story trigger broke, or because my internet was shut off so I couldn't log into xbox live) there's still a decent game there. Although I had to restart Fable 3 5 times, I did, and I finished it because I genuinely had fun playing. And speaking of the bugs, that sorta solidifies my thought that he's a good idea man but a very so-so developer, It wouldn't have been hard to add a fail safe, a quick travel back to the overworld, or make the story trigger able to trigger more than that ONE time that you accidentally walked around it as long as some flag value (hasDoneThisTrigger) wasn't set.


I'm not defending him, I'm sick of failed promises, especially on his front, but I think he's too ambitious. He wants to implement so many ideas into his games, and in the attempt to do so, sometimes the game itself falls short because the features that are already there, or half-way there, don't get the work they need because he's busy trying to put in all this other stuff. I think he needs to make 0 promises on his games until there's a working prototype either in the game or working in a standalone instance (Kinda like Tynan's prototype games).


That being said, I don't like Molyneaux referring to himself as an Indie developer. His reputation brings everyone down.  It's like saying just because Steven Spielberg made a movie without a studio, it's an indie film. (Not that Molyneaux is the spielberg of gaming). He's been Making games since 1984, is constantly in gaming Media, and just about every gamer knows his name. I guess by definition, not working under a publisher, he IS an indie developer but his own fame makes it feel unfair to call him that.


Anyway, what is everyone else's thoughts on him? I'm interested in your guys' opinions. Try to keep the thread civil please, I've seen other threads about him blow up into flame wars (not on this forum but elsewhere).

[vagineer1]

I think he can make great games. (Fable 1 & 2 for example. For me not Fable 3 because I always thought that it is the lesser of the 3 games) But I think that he just needs to put more time into them. Sure it may take a lot longer to release a game but it will be better off for it.

[Neurotoxin]

I think he can make great games. (Fable 1 & 2 for example. For me not Fable 3 because I always thought that it is the lesser of the 3 games) But I think that he just needs to put more time into them. Sure it may take a lot longer to release a game but it will be better off for it.

I agree about the Fables. Gameplay-wise 2 was my favorite. I am really disappointed they ported 1 & 3 to the PC but not 2. What logic is that? RE: waiting longer to release, I agree and I think he needs to not start the hype train until he has something solid, which would kinda equal out time/how long people have known about the game.

[vagineer1]

I think he can make great games. (Fable 1 & 2 for example. For me not Fable 3 because I always thought that it is the lesser of the 3 games) But I think that he just needs to put more time into them. Sure it may take a lot longer to release a game but it will be better off for it.

I agree about the Fables. Gameplay-wise 2 was my favorite. I am really disappointed they ported 1 & 3 to the PC but not 2. What logic is that? RE: waiting longer to release, I agree and I think he needs to not start the hype train until he has something solid, which would kinda equal out time/how long people have known about the game.

By that I mean that it would take longer for the game to be released. But the offset would be more time to put good features into the game.

[Shinzy]

He's made some of my most favourite games of all time
so I respect the man

I'm interested to see how Godus ends up

[Neurotoxin]

By that I mean that it would take longer for the game to be released. But the offset would be more time to put good features into the game.

I knew what you meant, what I meant is if he also waited longer to reveal things, he would have more concrete things to show, and it wouldn't seem to take as long as if he revealed it right away and then took longer to develop it. I think keeping it under his hat would do some good.

He's made some of my most favourite games of all timeso I respect the manI'm interested to see how Godus ends up

I respect him too, thus why I made the points I did. A lot of people think he's a straight up liar for his failed promises but I feel he just gets too passionate over his games and starts getting all these ideas and then he can't fulfill everything he wanted to do.

[Teovald]

He has been involved in some pretty great games. I don't know what his influence has been on these classics (development is a team effort) but he has been around some classics. 
Because of that, and because I liked the vision, I backed Godus on Kickstarter. 

It is very interesting, because my first contact with early builds of Godus and Rimworld have been very different : 
- Rimworld : There is a big lack of features & content, which is normal for an early build but I just love the idea and had a lot of fun with that build. 
-Godus : I don't see how you can salvage this and make a good game out of it. 

After that, I almost totally stopped following Godus development. From what I can gather, my sentiment was shared by many other backers so the Godus team have been rethinking many aspects of the game. 
I have no idea of the result, I have not retried the revamped game. I probably should. 

Earlier this week, Godus was released on iOS, I smelled a fire and had a look at the anouncement update on kickstarter. Yeah, people are still furious about the state of the game .. 

I don't know how Godus will turn out in the end (I don't have too much hope though) but Molyneux's name does not mean anything to me anymore.

[Shinzy]

Peter's more like George Lucas for me these days =P
I really love what they've been part of creating but I'm not expecting either to be able to raise the bar

I like betting on them new horses with my hopes of new great stuff!
<ShamelessFlattery>Like Tynan!</ShamelessFlattery>

[Bog]

I think he just needs to learn to reword his sentences. For example he shouldn't have said "Fable 2 will be an open world game", instead he should have said "I'd like to make Fable 2 an open world game, we'll see if we can manage it".

And when he does have to change something that he's advertised, he should be honest and forthright about it. I remember watching a then-new interview in the last month before Fable 2 came out and he still insisted that it was open world and there would be no boundaries on the map... you could go wherever you wanted.

Totally not true.

But then again, maybe in that case he just didn't understand the lingo he was using. In fable 2 most areas are vaguely circular and you can usually walk ~20 metres off the paths on either end. So it's a lot more open then Fable 1 was, but still nowhere near what I'd call open-world. When I hear open-world I think of the Elder Scrolls, or at least Shadow of the Colossus or something.

Anyways, if you play his games without listening to a word he says they're usually pretty good. His problem is that he always "talks things up" to a point where they're way out of proportion. He tries really hard to make every game the best in it's genre, and then I think he gets so caught up in it that he ends up believing what he's saying even though it usually isn't true.

[_alphaBeta_]

I'll give credit to Peter for the contributions he's made to the simulation and God genres. I really liked some of the early Bullfrog games that paved the way for later creations. Some of his projects felt they weren't quite finished, however. Yes, a developer could probably go one for years and never call his or her creation completely "finished," but there always seemed some lingering bug, balance issue, or half implemented (or missing) functionality in the release that never got addressed.

He's got the vision and initial ambition, but perhaps lacks the project management / technical knowledge to see the full solution through. Between his early creations, and the fact he usually has some kind of team behind him, I'm going to assume the issue may be more with project management. It's not a small thing to balance features, production/testing schedules, budget, demands from fans / publishers etc, and some people just don't have that skill set. In many cases, a lack of planning ultimately meant the game had to be published in a rushed state. It's an all too familiar tale that has turned me off games from larger studios that have too many interests to answer to. (I don't consider Peter an indie developer).

Acknowledging the early successes and contributions, I still have a bad taste in my mouth on Black and White 2 especially. I loved the first one, and the second had such great potential. When playing the second, however, I constantly felt that various game mechanics were hastily implemented or omitted in an effort to make a deadline. It became distracting. Sometimes I wish I could get my hands on the source and just finish it. This was one of the few times I was majorly disappointed in expecting a game to have more functionality than it did. I followed the development, but somehow missed the part where certain features spoken about earlier weren't ever done. I'm not going to say this was malicious as it may have been a lack of research on my part leading up to release, so I don't necessarily feel betrayed. Then again, I haven't played one of his games since.

[DeltaV]

Godus had microtransactions when I checked it out a little over a year ago. No idea where it's at now, but if it still does it's an immediate "DO NOT BUY" for me.

[Snownova]

Godus had microtransactions when I checked it out a little over a year ago. No idea where it's at now, but if it still does it's an immediate "DO NOT BUY" for me.

Were the microtransactions ever actually working though? I mean the gems resource was in from the start and it reeked of microtransactions, but to my knowledge no shop was ever implemented. And now with the latest build they have emphatically stated that there will never be microtransactions in the pc version, since users have already paid for it. (I'm guessing there is/will be a F2P tablet version?)

[Col_Jessep]

Peter Molineux's potential is enormous but he rarely can keep his promises due to limited amount of money and time. A "full" Molyneux game would take 10 years to finish and would cost more than a aircraft carrier. Or he simply manages to completely develop past his audience like with Godus. I've watched a couple of Youtube LP of Godus and it was in a shocking state. Even after they "fixed" it. Molyneux is hit and miss. The result can be gold or dirt, you never know before it's done.

I'll happily support a finished game of his if it is good but I won't pre-order or back his ideas. Too risky.

[gnugfur]

I have very strong feelings for this man.
And they are all related to Anger and Hate!

Fable 3 was a disaster compared to the game he actually promised. Yes, i kept close eyes on the game and i really looked forward to it. I have to admit it was fun having 3-4 bastard kids here and there and roaming around as a fat evil fellow with juicy horns. But all the way through the game i kept searching for the features i was promised. I did not find a single one.

I was drunk one day and noticed Godus. Hey, another god simulator. Perfect! Having blasted my brain into oblivion i bought the game without doing any research. While it was downloading i went and did something else and forgot about it. When i saw it in my steam library the next day i read up on it. Saw who's developing it and got angry with myself.

That beeing said. I've been playing Godus now and then to see whats new and once or twice a month i check up on the updates.
You might as well play farmville on facebook.

The game as it is right now is an endless wait for Faith. You collect faith by building houses. But to get more space to build houses. You need faith.  Wich will give you hours of fun with clicking every god damn house until you unlock the village or farm. These will collect the faith in their vincinity. Right o, lets live with that while we spend hours clicking chests that randomly appear all over the map while you're playing. Prefferably underneath your biggest buildings. Gotta collect those cards. Gods love cards.

On the latest update they presented FARMING. Awesome! Lets build farms! And the map is also randomly generated now.
I build my first farm and expected the farm to produce food on a regular basis, since i need alot to build the next farm. But no, the farm only produces X food and comes to a halt right there.

The game can literally go fuck itself, and the direction it is on is an pay 2 win trajectory fit for facebook and not as a standalone game.

Peter Molyneux, you are the opposite of king midas. Everything you touch these days turn into shit.

[Snownova]

You might as well play farmville on facebook.

This, so very much. Godus has the stench of free to play about it yet they made me shell out something like $20 to get it. Building a house takes 15 minutes? F that!