Lionhead: "Milo lives on in Fable. He's now a little wizard."

Gary Carr, creative director at UK development studio Lionhead, has revealed that while the team are still frustrated by the cancellation of Milo & Kate, the tech lives on in Fable: The Journey.

"He lives on in Fable. He's now little wizard," Carr joked to GamesIndustry International, as he explained that tech used to interact with the virtual child, like seated play and certain gestures, had been incorporated into the Kinect friendly fantasy.

"He is around in tech form. But it is a shame, because I think it was really brave and different and interesting."

Carr is clearly a man that loves not just the projects he works on but the people he works with, and suggested that the very special brand of innovation that Lionhead creates was behind the groundbreaking Kinect project.

"There is just something about Lionhead that makes this wacky thinking about what we want to do next. The Milo thing, so many companies wouldn't do that. Wouldn't say right, we're going to try and make a living breathing virtual boy, and we don't care what you think about that."

He blamed a lack of openness to new ideas for the project's eventual cancellation, but also admitted these cancellations were part and parcel of being a developer.

"We knew Peter was going to leave even when he was denying it, it was the worst kept secret internally"

"We built, finished, two fifths of it. It lives. I'd love to show that one day. I'm not sure I can, but I'd love to."

He also spoke a little about life after Lionhead frontman Peter Molyneux's departure, and teased that the first noticeable difference was the lack of cigarette butts that could be found outside the Lionhead offices.

"Peter isn't a snake, but he needs to shed a skin every now and again. I think when it's running itself, when people know what they're doing, when it's carved its path and it's on a trajectory and it's a working, functioning studio, which can take years, something dies in Peter and he wants to go and do it again," he explained.

"We knew he was going to do it even when he was denying it. And that's good for him, he needs to do that. So there's absolutely no animosity, it was just one of those things. It was the worst kept secret internally."

He refused to comment on the studio's next project beyond Fable: The Journey, although recent job adverts suggest that the company's focus, like so many others, is now firmly focused on next gen.

"We have to have a few other strings to our bow otherwise that doesn't sustain longevity and I think one of the things that's kept Lionhead going for 15 years if they've tended to have other interesting things going on in the background."

"Innovation is core to what we do."