Fable: Heroes may be the first of many spin-offs

Fable Heroes is the first stand-alone title to emerge from Lionhead's Creative Days - but probably not the last.

"There has been stuff that's come out of Creative Day before, ideas that went into Fable games, but never something like a full game. Hopefully if this is a success then Lionhead will do this more often," Fable Heroes designer Ted Timmins told OXM UK.

"We're all massive Fable fans, everyone that works at Lionhead, we've lived and breathed it for the last 10 years. To keep expanding it is something that everyone there wants to do."

Fable Heroes was prototyped at a Creative Day - a brainstorming session where staff can try out other disciplines and mess about with ideas as a break from the grind of a regular working day - and appealed to then studio head Peter Molyneux. A team of just 20 was assigned to work on the spin-off.

"They really loved it and put us into development for three months. It's great. It's a first for Lionhead and we've never and opportunity where people have said go away for three months and make a game," Timmins said.

"We came back three months later and said 'this is what we've got' and they said 'great - have another five months'. The whole of Lionhead's been really supportive, and it's not very often you get to be lead designer on a Fable game. To go from a creative day project to a 4-player XBLA game - it's been quite a turnaround."

Fable Heroes is expected on Xbox Live Arcade this year. Check out the debut media here.

Thanks, Shack.