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Attention: Fable Series Development This page contains information regarding the development of the Fable series, people and/or companies directly or indirectly involved in it. |
Simon Carter is a British programmer and game developer that spent many of his years programming for Bullfrog Productions and Big Blue Box Studios. After the departure of Peter Molyneux from Bullfrog Productions to setup Lionhead Studios, Simon and his brother Dene Carter, along with Ian Lovett, founded Big Blue Box Studios and began development on Fable.
Simon and his brother Dene were co-creators of the original game, its inspiration partially influenced by a ridiculously ambitious Role-Playing Game concept that they began back in 1985 (then simply known as 'The Game'). Simon served as a lead programmer for the Fable franchise, even contributing to Fable Anniversary. Along with Fable, Simon is also credited as a co-creator of the Dungeon Keeper series. He is also known for working on other games such as Magic Carpet, No Man's Sky and War for the Overworld.
Bullfrog Productions[]
Simon Carter's game programming career actually began when he was still a teenager and served as one of the artificial intelligence programmers on Magic Carpet at Bullfrog Productions. He was still in education at the time, which would occasionaly interrupt his contribution to the project. However, Simon would continue working at Bullfrog Productions. He would later become the co-creator, lead programmer and a level designer on the strategy game Dungeon Keeper.
Big Blue Box Studios[]
After the departure of Peter Molyneux from Bullfrog Productions to setup Lionhead Studios, Simon along with his brother Dene Carter and Ian Lovett founded Big Blue Box Studios and began development on the game that would become Fable. Simon took the role as team director and lead programmer for the game.
Lionhead Studios[]
While working on the game that would eventually become Fable, their company Big Blue Box Studios merged with Lionhead Studios to help produce the game. This was following an acquisition where Lionhead was bought out by Microsoft Game Studios, making Lionhead Studios a subsidiary of Microsoft and Big Blue Box became a satellite studio for Lionhead. He would continue his role as a team director and lead programmer for Fable. In 2014, he would return to Lionhead Studios briefly to help work on the remastered Fable Anniversary.
Another Place Productions[]
In 2011, Simon and his brother Dene Carter would leave Lionhead Studios, along with John McCormack, Guillaume Portes and Jeremie Texier to form another company called Another Place Productions.
DeepMind[]
Simon Carter currently works for DeepMind. A British artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. in 2014, the company was acquired by Google.
Trivia[]
- In an article on Fable's development, Simon Carter mentions that the inspiration for WishWorld was the Ultima series of games and Jim Henson's TV series, The Storyteller.
- Two characters in Fable II and Fable III named Sam Spade and Max Spade are believed to be a reference to Simon and his brother Dene Carter.
- There is a character in Fable: The Balverine Order that is named after him and Dene Carter.